Switzerland

Wow! I had quite the weekend. This may be a long entry considering everything that happened! Allison, Carissa and I left for Switzerland Thursday afternoon. We were flying EasyJet, which is a budget airline. Europe has about 3 popular budget airlines that compete with each other and the major airlines. The great thing about these airlines is that they are cheap; the bad thing is that they often do not operate through main airports. So instead of flying out of Heathrow, London's main airport, we flew out of Gatwick, which is about a 30 minute train ride outside of London. We checked in online and printed our boarding passes ahead of time so checking in was fairly smooth. Since this was just a weekend trip, we only brought a back pack instead of checking a bag. One of my liquids got tested going through security, but that was the worst of it. The cool thing about EasyJet is free seating. This means that first come, first pick on the seats. We were early enough in line to get great seats in the front of the plane. The plane ride was only 1 hour and 15 minutes. It is unbelievable that I can fly to a different country in less time then I could fly across a few states in America. Also crazy that it cost me about 70 pounds (105 dollars) round trip to Switzerland when I can't fly from Des Monies to Chicago for that price. Although I do have to include the train ticket to get to the airport, but that was only about 10 pounds. Traveling is great when it is cheap and easy! The flight went well and we landed in Zurich, Switzerland around 9:30p.m. The Zurich airport was one of the nicest airports that I have ever been in. Everything was clean, organized, and easy. Next we had to take a train from Zurich to Interlaken, where we were staying. This train was quite expensive, 134 Swiss Francs and it took us 2 1/2 hours to get to Interlaken. The nice thing about visiting Switzerland is that the dollar is slightly stronger than the Swiss franc right now, so all the prices were fairly relative. The train was a double decker and very nice. We had to make 3 changes total. One of the times we got on we accidentally sat in first class. When the ticket collector came around he started speaking to us in French. We were just smiling and handing him our tickets. When he handed my ticket back to me I said "thanks." Then he started speaking English, not very nicely. We were pretty much told that this was first class and we needed to move immediately or pay extra. We got out of there very quickly. We arrived in Interlaken around midnight. The mountain air smelled awesome. We started following the directions to our hostel from the train station. Not too far into our walk we realized we were definitely not in London anymore. It was silent, there were no people around at all, and hardly any cars. The silence was eery when you are used to a buzzing city. We got a little lost trying to find our hostel because it was so dark and no one around to ask. Not to mention all the street signs were in a different language (I believe it was German). Finally 30 minutes later we found the Funny Farm Hostel. Great name, right? We were pleasantly surprised that it was a decent hostel. We had booked a 10 person, mixed gender room because that was the cheapest. However, we ended up getting a four person room to ourselves. It wasn't the nicest room, however it worked for the price and location. Once we got settled we went right to bed after the long day of traveling.

Friday proved to be one of the most intense days since I have been abroad. We woke up and went downstairs by 8:00 so we could book an activity with the front desk for the day. When I walked down the stairs I couldn't believe what was sleeping on the steps, a huge St Bernard. Switzerland is known for this breed of dog, but I didn't think I would see one so soon! Of course I had to pet her then all the sudden I smelt a familiar smell - dog. Even half way across the world they smell the same! When we told the lady at reception that we wanted to book an activity for the day she said, "Oh sky diving or bungee jumping?" I almost choked on my own saliva. I quickly assured her we wouldn't be doing anything that extreme. Then she said, "Okay, how about paragliding?" She definitely didn't get it. Carissa then told her we were thinking about skiing or sledding. She gave us some options and we decided that we should go skiing since we were in the Swiss Alps and all, even though Carissa and Allison had never been skiing before. A van picked us up a short while later and took us to the ski shop. The view was so picturesque. The mountains towered over the town like giants. It was incredible to just take it all in. At the ski shop we got fitted for snow pants, boots, skis, poles, and etc. It cost us 165 Swiss francs (about 150 dollars) for everything we rented plus a train pass to get around the mountain and our lift ticket. We were so excited. I was the only one out of all 3 of us that had ever been skiing before and that was a long time ago in Dubuque a few times. We didn't rent helmets or goggles because the woman told us that it was pretty nice at the top of the mountain as this was the last weekend of their skiing season. Down in Interlaken, it was about 45 degrees with no snow on the ground. All dressed for success, we boarded the train to head up the mountain. Pictures Below of the St. Bernard and us 3 in our gear (My outfit isn't exactly trend setting, considering the rental people do not take fashion sense into account when sizing you up!)


I was surprised that the journey to get to a small town half way up the mountain took about 30 minutes by train. However, The further up we went the more snow there was. The scenery was amazing. I can't explain how perfect everything looked with the fresh snow glistening around us as we chugged up the mountain in the train. We took the next train to the highest point we could go, this is where the ski rental lady told us some flat runs would be. It took another 30 minutes to get to this stop. When we got off it was snowing really hard, but there were skiers all over. We thought it was simply beautiful. However, we were soon wishing we had goggles and a hat because it was freezing. However, this didn't stop our excitement. I showed Carissa and Allison how to get into their skis and we got some pictures all ready to go. We asked a random man to take the pictures; he was very nice and asked us where we were from. We said the States and he told us that he had been to Breckenridge, Colorado to ski last year for a week. I figured he was a pretty serious skier. Then I looked around and pretty much everyone looked good at this sport. There were people flying down the mountains like Olympic athletes, most of them way older than me too! We moseyed over to the beginner's run because Carissa and Allison were having difficulties just standing up. Switzerland isn't like the States with the bunny hills and blue, green, red, and black classified, difficulty level slopes. There was simply a small beginner's run and then you were on your own to figure out if it looked hard or not. Carissa took off down the beginner's hill and fell within 10 feet; Allison crashed into her within seconds. I hadn't even started yet because I was laughing so hard. Then I noticed that there was about 3 Japanese people out on the restaurant balcony, overlooking the beginners run, pointing and laughing hysterically at us. It was so funny. I skied over to the girls, surprisingly quite gracefully, and gave them some pointers about stopping and etc. Luckily I remembered some things from when my Mom made Sam and I take ski lessons one trip. So the girls took off again and make it a little further before wiping out. We were having a blast laughing at each other. I was going nice and easy and hadn't taken one fall. I was pretty proud of myself. The beginner's run ended and Carissa took off down a bit steeper hill. She was going pretty fast. She crashed and Allison wiped out after her. I was still behind them testing out my skills. Then I heard Carissa say, "Guys I am scared; I am bleeding." I skied down to check out the situation and there was bright red blood covering the wonderful, white ground everywhere. When Carissa had fallen her ski had somehow ran over her hand and basically ripped her mitten, slicing open her thumb. When I looked at it there was basically a deep wound with a huge flap of skin hanging off. It didn't even look like a finger. I am not one for blood or anything gorey, so I had to look away. I couldn't believe she wasn't crying or screaming! I knew we needed help; this was past the band aid stage. There really wasn't anyone around us. Since we were not too far down the mountain Carissa and Allison started walking back up the mountain for help. I grabbed every one's skis and followed. In the middle of the catastrophe I also dropped my camera in the snow and it still doens't work. Carrying 3 sets of skis up a snow covered mountain in a near blizzard was one of the hardest physical activities of my life. It took me what felt like forever to get up to the top and I was exhausted. Finally I made it and asked some guy on a snow mobile where the first aid place was, hoping Carissa and Allison would be there. Before I got there Allison came out of the building and told me the first aid man said Carissa needed stitches and we would have to take the train halfway down the other side of the mountain to see the doctor. I went in the building and immediately thought it looked like a scene out from M.A.S.H or the military. It was a small, cold room with a cot to sit on and a tiny sink. The guy wrapping Carissa's thumb was smoking a cigarette and her basin of blood was still sitting there. I was really hoping the doctor would be better.


By this time it was really snowing and blowing. I saw my first snowplow for train tracks. The trip halfway down the other side took a while too. When we got to the town the doctor was in, we asked for directions. It was a little walk, especially in those silly ski boots. We had to laugh at what the locals must of thought of our swag as we walked around town. After a few wrong turns we finally found the doctor's office. Carissa must have been in shock because she still wasn't having much pain. The doctor's office was very clean and professional. I was relieved, especially when the doctor turned out to be a woman. Maybe I am just a feminist, but the man at the first aid building didn't impress me at all. We all went into the operation room and the doctor took off the wrapping to check it out. Blood was streaming out of the wound and the flap of skin was hanging on. I tried not to look as Allison and I were just trying to distract Carissa from looking at it too. The doctor explained that she would give the finger two shots to put it to sleep and then stitch the flap of skin back on. She told us she was worried because the flap was not getting blood circulation. As she started working, Allison said she felt sick. She was really white and didn't look good. The next thing I knew she was on the ground because she fainted from the blood! I really didn't know how much more I could take in one day. The nurse got her up and took her out of the room. I stayed in the room and talked to Carissa as the doctor cleaned up the wound and put the thumb to sleep. I really tried hard not to watch, but was impressed with how well I was handling it! It was easy to gossip for a half hour while the doctor stitched down the flap of skin. She did very careful, delicate work. The nurse came in to tell me that my other friend was okay. Ha ha I had to laugh. Before long the thumb was stitched and wrapped and we got some pain mediacation. Health care in Switzerland isn't free like it is in the UK. 350 Swiss francs later, we finally got out of there all bandaged up. Hopefully Carissa's parents' insurance in the US will cover some of the bill. Afterwards we got some lunch and headed back up to the top of the mountain. We were just going to look around and take some pictures. It was still snowing like crazy! Carissa couldn't ski anymore and Allison didn't have the desire after the events of the day. Since I paid 165 francs and only got to ski for 10 minutes I really wanted to try again. I still had a 45 minutes before the lifts closed so I decided to go down the slope by myself. After all I hadn't fallen once yet that day and it was a challenge to see if I could continue my streak. I made it past the accident site and couldn't even see blood anymore; there was a lot of fresh snow on the ground. I was still doing really well. However, the slope kept getting steeper. I tried to go slow and simply take in the scenery. It was so wonderful. Before long I hit a slick spot and wiped out. It was fun, but took me a while to remember how to get up. The mountain wasn't as busy as earlier and only a few people were whizzing past me. The wind was blowing really hard so I just stood off to the side for a bit. I managed to make it down the rest of the slope without falling! I was surprised how long the slopes were. It probably took me a half hour to get down the whole slope. I don't think my fingers have ever been so cold in my life. I had gloves on, but they were pretty wet from earlier in the day. When I got to the bottom it took me a minute to decide which lift I wanted to take; there were 3 going different directions up the mountains. I was glad I got to use my lift ticket at least once for the day. I remembered how to get on the lift and was looking forward to the scenic ride. One problem, I am scared quite scared of heights. It really bothered me that there was not a bar in front of my body to hold me on the lift as I was soaring over the Alps alone. I just tried to hold tight on to my poles and not look down. I thought I might vomit for a minute, but I pulled it together to enjoy some of the view. It took over 5 minutes to get back to the top. I was preparing myself for my dismount from the lift as I had problems with that when I went skiing before. I was all ready to use my poles to push off and glide right out of the lift. However, I flew the coop too soon and ended up falling backwards right on my butt. I immediately flattened my body and laid on my back so the next chair lift wouldn't hit me. They had to stop the entire lift because there I was just flopping around on the ground like a fish. Suddenly I felt two arms pick me up under my arm pits and set me up upright. Of course I apologized up and down and said thank you. It was quite embarrassing and ended my cockiness about only falling one time down the slope. I met up with Carissa and Allison and we headed back down the mountain. After returning our skis and taking a hot shower we went to eat at a pizzeria. It was delicious! The rest of the night we just relaxed and recapped our day.

On Saturday we took it easy and explored the town. There was a ton of little souvenir and chocolate shops. The Swiss sure can make chocolate. We sampled all sorts of chocolates, truffles, and goodies. It was wonderful. It was a beautiful day outside, about 50 degrees. We sat in a park for a while and watched some paragliders land their parachutes. After the crazy day before, that didn't look like such a bad option. Although the Swiss franc is comparable to the dollar, Switzerland is a lot more expensive then the States. We stopped in a McDonald's to use the bathroom and a Big Mac meal was 11 francs! That would be like 9 dollars. We couldn't believe it. We mostly just got sandwiches and crossiants from the local supermarket for food. At 5:00 we had to start our journey home again. The train ride in daylight was a great way to see more of Switzerland. This time through security I was selected to be searched. A lady asked me to come with her after I went through the detector. She asked me if I spoke English, German or French. Then I was lead into a small dressing room contraption and the lady closed the curtain. She asked me to take off my jacket and then my scarf. I was really afraid she was going to make me strip down nude because I had no idea what Switzerland's policies were. Luckily she didn't, but she gave me the full pat down. I don't know how she thought I could be hiding anything in my chest area, but she checked everywhere. Then she brought out the wand and scanned that over me. No beeps and I was free to go. My friends were outside wondering what the heck was going on. The rest of the trip was problem free besides a minor delay in our flight. It was nice to get back to familiar London. Although there were a few minor glitches in the trip; it was an awesome time with memories to last forever. Since my camera didn't work for most of the trip, I had to use some Swizerland pictures from Elliot's trip to show how amazing the scenery was. He had a wonerfully clear day!

Immersed in a new culture

So far this week has been very routine, but as always, interesting and exciting. On Monday I went to two Museums! I had extra time on my hands and still have a lot of Museums to visit on my list. I first went to the Sir John Soane Museum as part of an assignment for my British Experience class. Sir John Soane is a famous architect who was a finalist in the design for the Houses of Parliament, but didn't get chosen. He is most famous for designing the Bank of England here in London. His Museum, previously his home, is basically a collection of his antiques, artwork and designs from his whole life. This is the smallest Museum I have been to yet. It was situated in a nice neighbourhood among other houses and flats. There was a queue to get in due to the small size of the building. I only had to wait about 10 minutes though. There was an array of amazing pieces of work in this place. Everything from marble sculptures, antique furniture, to Soane's drawings and models for the Bank of England and the Houses of Parliament. He had created quite a variety of things in his day. There was even a large tomb made by Soane in the cellar room. It was intriguing to be able to tour the inside of a typical English house. Although the furnishings were all from Soane's time period, I found the layout of the home to be quite unique. There were a lot of little windows and doors everywhere, as well as some very impressive balconies that looked down from floor to floor. Overall I thought the Sir John Soane Museum was very eclectic. The next part of my assignment was to walk through Lincoln's Inn Law Courts. This is where all of London's barristers work and practice law. There are two types of lawyers in the United Kingdom, solicitors and lawyers. Solicitors are a basic type of lawyer that deals with the public, does research on the case, etc. If a case needs to go to court a Solicitor then gives the case to a Barrister to handle. Barristers work at a higher level in the court and their main role is to act as advocates in a legal hearing, which means they stand in court and plead the case on behalf of their clients in front of a judge. Barristers can always be distinguished from a solicitor because they have to wear a curly George Washington wig and a gown to court. Walking around in the Lincoln's Inn Law Courts I actually saw a few Barristers with the curly wig and priest like gown on. It was so crazy. I have no idea why they still carry on this tradition. I wanted to take a picture, but refrained myself. I also have no idea why all the Barristers practice in this same location, but I assume it is because the High Courts of Justice is right in the area. Lincoln's Inn Law Courts was a very nice place; there were business people buzzing around all over the place. I the park area I saw a John Deere lawn mower! I couldn't believe it! Pictures Below of lawn mower and High Courts of Justice.



After grabbing some lunch I took the Tube south to Tate Britain. I hadn't been to this area before and I was surprised by how quiet and less busy it was. Tate Britain is a collection of British art from the last 5 centuries. The name Tate Britain comes from Henry Tate, who originally opened the gallery in 1897 with 65 pieces of his own work. It is now the largest collection of British art in the world. I browsed around the gallery for a couple of hours. The majority of the paintings were oil on canvas work, which I am not particularly fond of because it often looks smudgy I think. However, the art was still impressive. There were a lot paintings of London in earlier times. I also enjoyed the painted portraits of the upper class long ago. Before cameras, the wealthy paid famous artists to paint their family portraits. The family was typically seated on a luxurious sofa, dressed to the nines. I thought it was so funny, but most of these family portraits had a little dog seated on someones lap or sitting with the rest of the family like an actual member. Apparently some things don't change over time or social classes! After I was done at the Museum I explored the area for a while before returning home. Pictures Below of Tate Britain.

Tuesday was another internship day. My supervisor, Karina, was late again. It didn't mind today since it was nice outside. After a while she arrived and we chatted all about her skiing holiday. She spent a week in Switzerland, so I was able to ask her all sorts of questions about the weather, transportation, and exchange rates for my upcoming trip. Even though she stayed at a resort all week she was quite helpful. She told me the Swiss are very organized and good at planning everything.I am not quite for sure what this mean, but I shall find out! The rest of the morning was spent working on the April newsletter for the organization. I asked Karina if she had any updated pictures of the business and I got sent out to take some of my own. I got some great pictures of the garden blooming outside. Then I had to go to the chemist(what they call a pharmacist here) and use one of those automatic photograph machines to upload the pictures to a CD for my use. When I got back Karina took my to lunch. We went to a great little cafe that wasn't run by Turkish people this time! I decided to order a very popular British dish, a jacket potato. These are basically huge baked potatoes, stuffed with whatever yo want. Karina got some sort of weird meat in hers, but I just stuck with cheese and bacon. When it was delivered to the table I couldn't believe how huge the potato was. I have never seen a potato so large, not to mention the amounts of cheese and bacon spilling out. The bacon is better here because they use the big round slices of bacon with less fat instead of the strips of bacon used in the States. Actually my mom used to get this kind of cottage bacon at the meat locker in Grundy and it tastes very similar. My first experience trying a jacket potato was great. It was a delicious meal. It took me a while to eat though because the potato was so large and very hot. Again Karina snarfed her food and then drank her tea while I finished. The rest of the afternoon I continued to complete the newsletter. Karina was busy trying to track down an old man that volunteers at the Trust, but hadn't shown up for 2 weeks. He also wasn't answering his mobile phone(what they call cell phones). She was sure he was dead in his flat. She called the police to go check it out. They reported back that he wasn't home, but there was fresh milk in the fridge. Then she assumed he was in the hospital somewhere. He doesn't have any family and has been volunteering at the Trust for 10 years so apparently Karina felt obliged to find him. She called various hospitals and other centers looking for him. She didn't get much information because they have patient confidentiality here just like we do. It was kind of amusing listening to the whole process. Finally at the end of the day, George called Karina. He was just fine. He hadn't been answering his phone because he can't hear anyone on it he said and he hadn't come to volunteer for a while because he wasn't feeling well. He was a little mad she called the police I think because they must have rummaged around in his things. Even if I don't get a whole lot of work experience from this internship, it sure is a culture experience!

On Wednesday I had my advertising class in the morning. For lunch I decided to go to the grocery store and try out the shelf warm eggs because someone in the kitchen had made a very delicious looking egg sandwich. The eggs tasted the exact same and I even keep them on the shelf! This afternoon I walked around and area called Covent Garden. It is a very nice area with two quiet markets. A variety of things are sold here from jewelry and scarves to souvenirs and candles. The area also has some excellent small shops and boutiques. I can spend hours looking at things. I found the World's Largest Map and Travel Store. It was quite impressive. I have never seen so many maps. I checked out some books on Italy for Spring Break and bought a map of Venice and Rome. I am getting really excited for Spring Break now. I can't believe how fast time has gone. The rest of the night I packed, did laundry and got ready for Switzerland.

This morning, Thursday, I had my two British classes. Now I am all packed and have my boarding passes printed, ready to go to Switzerland!

Spring in Londontown

This week was full of new experiences in London. On Monday I caught up on a little sleep in the morning and then went to a museum. I was required to visit the Saatchi Gallery for my Advertising class. I am not quite for sure how this museum has to do with anything we have learned about advertising, but I went anyway. The Saatchi Galley is a Contemporary Art Gallery, presenting work by largely unseen young or international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. The best word I can think of to describe this place is WEIRD. I greatly disliked the majority of the pieces in the gallery. This type of Modern Art didn't impress me at all. I didn't even find it interesting to look through. Out of the whole gallery I can say there were only a few pieces I liked. Photographs were not allowed in this museum so you will just have to take my word for it. The neighborhood the gallery was located in was quite nice. I enjoyed browsing around the various boutiques and shops. I got a very good lunch at a wonderful sandwich shop around the area too. The rest of this day was devoted to writing an essay for my Contemporary Britain class. Yes, believe it or not, I have homework that isn't sight seeing or journaling!

This Tuesday I didn't have to attend my internship because my supervisor is on a holiday(that is what they say when they go on vacation here). It was nice to have an extra day to explore on my own! The weather was simply wonderful on this day, about 12 degrees Celsius(which is almost 55 degrees Fahrenheit). Converting temperature still throws me for a loop, but I know that when it is above 10 degrees Celsius it will be nice day. Kilometers instead of miles also took some time to get used to, but I am getting the hang of that too! Since the weather was so nice, I decided to walk to Kensington Palace. I had yet to see this royal home. Kensington Palace is where Princess Diana resided during her marriage to Prince Charles until her death. After Diana's death it is said that over a million bouquets of flowers were placed outside the palace by the public. I am not quite for sure who currently lives in the Palace; it is certainly large enough to house quite a few people, assuming they are royalty of course. The Palace is also associated with many other famous members of the royal family dating way back. To get to the Palace I walked about 2 miles through the parks, instead of taking the Tube. The parks around the Palace were stunning. Kensington Palace Gardens are known to be fabulous in the summertime. I was surprised at how many people were out in the parks during the middle of a work day; there were people everywhere enjoying the weather. Kensingotn Palace is a fabulous building. It is quite simple compared to the Queen's London residence at Buckingham Palace, but still very impressive. The Palace is surrounded by wonderful trees, bushes and flowers. I didn't go inside and take the tour for 12 pounds, instead I just explored the exterior of the building. Some pictures below.


On Wednesday I had my advertising class in the morning and then I ran a few errands around town. When I am buying a lot of groceries I take the Tube to the better, larger, less expensive grocery store. There is a nice grocery store about 2 blocks from my house, but not the largest selection and a little pricey. This afternoon I went for a run because it was another brilliant day outside. On my way back home I was running past Buckingham Palace when I noticed something quite unusual. The front gates of the Palace were open and cars were driving right inside. I have never seen anything like this before. I decided to hang around and check it out. I looked on top of the Palace and saw the special flag flying that symbolizes the Queen's presence at the Palace. There was an extensive amount of security around as well; I had a feeling this was a big deal. I then noticed that there were very well dressed people standing in line to get into the palace as well. I stayed and watched for a while, but still had no idea what was happening. The next morning I read in the newspaper that the Queen hosted a Tribute to British Fashion at the Palace. This explains the nicely dressed people and the procession of cars filing through the golden Palace gates. Apparently meeting the Queen is a big deal! A few of the students here in my program were talking the other day about how they secretly wish the Queen dies while we are here because then we would get to see a royal funeral and a coronation of the next King. I had to laugh when I overheard them talking about this. Witnessing all of that would be impressive, but I can only imagine the complete madness.

Thursday I had class in the morning, nothing too exciting happened today. The faculty liaison for the abroad program from Central College is visiting this week to evaluate the program. He came to check out our class this day. I had a course with him last semester so he asked me if he could walk home with me from class to make sure he went the right way. I really didn't mind, but it was a little awkward sitting next to a professor on the Tube when I am used to sitting in front of him in a classroom. Good thing I got an A in that class! This night I went out to eat with my good friend, Chelsea, also on the Volleyball team. We went to a nice grilled chicken restaurant called Nando's. The food was great and the very best thing was free refills on soda. I have not found a place that has refills on soda yet, so I usually just get water. However, tonight was a splurge night. Another exciting thing was the fact that this restaurant had ice! Ice-cold drinks are rare around here, so we were impressed! When we returned to Vandon House it was completely dark! Earlier in the day construction workers had been working on a remodeling project and apparently did something wrong because the electric company shut the power off due to a faulty wire or something. Our program director told us we could go out to the cinema for the night on the program and the power would hopefully be fixed when we returned. This was pretty exciting as I hadn't been to a movie since I have been here and the program would reimburse us! About 6 of us girls headed to the cinema. We ended up choosing to see The Bounty Hunter (I wrote previously about this movie premiere that I attended). The movie cost 8 pounds which is about 12 dollars so prices are not too terrible compared to a large city in the US. Definitely not as cheap as the good ole 99 cent Center Theatre in Grundy though! We were all surprised that before the movie even started we had to sit through 15 minutes of commercials and then 15 minutes of previews. Definitely a different experience. The movie was very funny and I really enjoyed it. We took the tube home to find out that the electricity wouldn't be on until the next day! Not really that big of deal since I was just going to bed.

On Friday I woke up early to go get tickets to the musical Hairspray with Chelsea. To get really good tickets the day of the show you need to be the first at the box office. We arrived at the theatre at 9:00 and had an hour to wait before the box office opened at 10:00. It was a little brisk this morning and if Chelsea hadn't insisted we get there so early, I wouldn't have stood outside for an hour. However we got some breakfast and time went pretty fast. Breakfast was on Vandon House again since the power was still out when we woke up. By the time the theatre doors finally opened we were the first in line of about 5 people. The great news is that we got front row seats to the show for 25 pounds. We were pretty excited and it was well worth the wait. The power didn't come back on in Vandon House until 2:00, but it was plenty of time for the water heater to kick in so I could take a warm shower and get ready for the show. Hairspray was fantastic. It was really funny and an overall cute production. I was really glad I went because the show leaves London on March 28th. I thought the actors were very good as the show required a great deal of singing and dancing combined. Front row seats were quite impressive, but not as good as I expected. We were really close to the band that plays right underneath the stage, so it was very loud. Also sometimes when the whole stage was used in an act it was hard to see everything that was taking place. I really liked how I could see every little detail though!

Saturday and Sunday were pretty relaxing days. I went to my usual 2 markets each day and got some fresh fruits and vegetables. I went to the flower market again, but I refrained from purchasing any flowers! I really just enjoy browsing through the stalls and taking in everything around me. It is quite the culture experience. On Saturday night I was able to watch the UNI game via the Internet. I couldn't believe they upset Kansas. How exciting! Other than that I had a nice restful, entertaining London weekend. I am ready for another busy week before I head off to Switzerland next weekend!

Just Call Me Tour Guide Barbie

The tour guide Barbie joke started when my girlfriends were here because I showed them all around London and my voice sounds like Barbie's apparently. Elliot came to visit London this past weekend, so I was a tour guide again! It was really nice to have someone to show around and do touristy things with. It seems like everyone in the program has family or friends here right now since it is Spring Break time in the States. We had a blast and saw the majority of London in 3 full days.

On Friday we started off the day by going to get theatre tickets. We choose Wicked! Even though I had already seen it, I wanted to go again because it was that good. Besides with our student IDs the tickets are only 25 pounds(about 38 dollars)and that is an incredible deal for this type of show. For lunch my program was sponsoring an Indian meal, as that type of food(curry)is extremely popular here. We had to go to an area called the East End for the meal. It was a very Indian neighborhood with many restaurants. I was a little scared for this experience, as I can be quite picky about foreign food. However, it was actually quite good. The bread was delicious. The sauces were very different and I didn't really care for them or the meat. Elliot enjoyed the meal, as I was sure he would. We did decide that we were glad we tried it, but Indian is not our favorite and we probably wouldn't go out to eat for that kind of food again. After the meal we went to Tower hill and walked around the Tower of London. We walked across Tower Bridge and then along the Thames River to Borough Market. Elliot seemed as impressed by the market as I was at first. We got some very nice fresh vegetables and fruit. Then we continued our journey along the River to the Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare's plays were preformed. The weather was overcast and chilly, but it only sprinkled on us a few times. We saw London Bridge and then walked across Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral. After taking some pictures of the Cathedral's extreme dome top and wooden doors, we did a little browsing at Camden Market. By the time we did all this we had to head back to Vandon House to get ready for Wicked. The show was amazing; we had even better seats than when I went previously with my friends. For not being much into theatre Elliot seemed very impressed with Wicked too!

Saturday was a wonderful day. It was a little brisk outside, but the sun was shinning! We started our day off by watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. We got excellent spots to watch the parade of guards walk in and out of the golden gates. The entire ceremony takes about a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Elliot thought this was really cool and got some excellent pictures. Even though Buckingham Palace is so close, I do not go watch the changing of the guards ceremony that often. So I really enjoyed being touristy and getting some more pictures too. Afterwards we went to snap a few pictures of the Horse Guards on our way to Trafalgar Square. Elliot wanted to go into the National Gallery because he is currently taking an Art class where they are learning about Renaissance paintings. Some of the paintings that his class has studied are on display in the Gallery. He seemed to really enjoy looking at these paintings. I hadn't been to this museum yet, so I liked looking around. All of the museums and galleries are so huge, it would take at least a day to look through the entire place. After a while we continued on the see Parliament and Big Ben. Of course these sights are very impressive and we spent time wondering around and taking pictures. We also went on the London Eye. The London Eye is basically a giant ferris wheel, except you are enclosed in small capsules as you go around the wheel. I was really excited to go on the Eye, as I had not been on it before. It is pretty pricey at 17 pounds, so it isn't something I would just do any old day by myself. We had to wait in a little bit of a queue (what they call line here), but it was definitely worth it. The views from the Eye were amazing! I could see all over the city. It was very impressive to see all the sights from atop the wheel. It was basically a bird's eye view of London. The whole journey around the wheel took about a half hour, but it went by so fast. I got some great pictures of the London skyline! Elliot thought this was great, and later said this was one of his favorite things in London. I can't wait to go again when my Mom and Aunt Karen come to visit! Next we walked around Parliament a little more and viewed Westminster Abbey. We returned home to make a very late lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches. Then we took a little break from walking before we went to Harrods, the huge, luxury department store. Elliot was impressed with the food halls and got an excellent gourmet sausage sandwich. Sausage is a very popular meat in Great Britain. Harrods is in an area called Knightsbridge, which we walked around and shopped in for a bit. Then we headed to a restaurant that my program director recommended. It was a bit of walk from Harrods through the neighborhood of Chelsea. I hadn't spent much time in this neighborhood, but we were incredibly impressed by how nice it was. It was dark so we could see inside some of the ground levels of the flats - impeccable interior design. Elliot was very pleased as we saw quite a few impressive cars on our walk too. Finally we made it to the restaurant, Gourmet Burger Kitchen. We both were really craving a good burger and my program director told me this was the best place in town. It didn't disappoint. Elliot and I agreed that it was one of the best burgers we have ever had, including Stateside. Maybe it was just the fact that we hadn't had one in so long, but still delicious. I was able to print a coupon off the Internet for the restaurant and the whole meal cost under 15 pounds. With full bellies (one of the first times I have felt really full after a meal out in London) we took the stroll home. It was such a beautiful night in the city. On the way home we walked along King's Road, where I spotted some very cute shops. I will definitely need to make a trip back to check this place out when everything is open. It is amazing how I discover new things in the city every day. We got home around 10:30 and just watched some TV. Elliot was amazed that I had a small TV in my room as he has hardly watched any TV since he has been here. Although I only get 4 channels, at least I can watch the news. Most of the TV shows shown here are American, only a season behind. Below pictures of Elliot and I with the guards and Pictures of the London Eye and our view of Parliament from the top.




Sunday was another busy day. It was about 50 degrees and the nicest day in London so far this year. We went to Hyde Park in the morning to explore and take in the views. This park reminds me a lot of Central Park in New York. There is a large lake in the middle of the park with a ton of birds all over. There were a lot of other people enjoying the day as well. One man randomly asked Elliot if he was Australian. Ha ha, it was quite comical. Hyde Park is a great place to people watch too. All of the people running and exercising impressed Elliot. He later said that this park was another one of his favorite things in London. Then we went to Portabello Road in Notting Hill. This road has a very good antiques, especially on the weekends. We really enjoyed browsing through the different shops. Elliot got a few rare English coins to add to his collection. Next we went to Oxford Street to look around. This is the most famous street in London for shopping. We mostly just popped in a few stores like Niketown, H & M, and some souvenir shops. I got a new Spring jacket, since my pea coat will be too warm pretty soon and Elliot got some new shoes. Soon it was time to head back to Vandon House. We had an early supper and then I brought Elliot to the train station. It was a super busy weekend, but one of the best weekends in London so far! Below pictures of Elliot and I at Hyde Park.

Busy City, Busy Week

This was a very productive and interesting week. I continue to see so many things in London that I have yet to see. There is so much city to explore here! On my Museum Monday I went to the Natural History Museum. I was extremely impressed with this Museum. It is absolutely massive and full of interesting stuff about the world. There were sections on the planets, natural disasters, minerals, dinosaurs, mammals, creepy crawlies, Earth in the future, and much more. I spent over 3 hours just browsing the displays. I thought the Earthquake simulation room was impressive. It was basically a room that was set up to resemble a grocery store. Once you got inside everything started to shake from the floor up, stuff fell off the walls, and the lights flickered as if there was a real Earthquake taking place. In the mineral exhibit the collection contained stones from all over the world. I saw every color and shape of any stone or diamond that one could think of. It was interesting to learn where all the stones actually are found. I saw a clear diamond stone that was over 150 karats. It was quite impressive. I also really enjoyed the dinosaur displays. I have never actually seen a dinosaur exhibit before. I couldn't believe how large the displays of these creatures were. All of the bones pieced together to show the outline of the creature was unlike anything I have ever seen before. The rooms just to hold the displays were huge. The only part of this Museum that I didn't care for was the creepy crawly section. Pictures of the Museum below and the Dinosaur exhibit.

On Tuesday I had my internship again. The morning was a little frustrating because I stood outside the building for 45 minutes waiting for my supervisor to get there to unlock the door. She said that the traffic was bloody ridiculous, but at that point I didn't care because I was freezing! Being punctual is not really a huge priority over here, which is a little annoying sometimes. The rest of the day I worked on compiling information from my interviews of the Turkish students, nothing else to exciting. My supervisor took me out for lunch to a nice little cafe. We got to talking and she asked me if I had to get right back into classes when I went home. I explained that I would have a 3 month summer break. She suggested I just stay in Europe for the summer and apply with a family to be an "au pair" (which is a live-in nanny who watches young children). She explained that I would get free accommodation and meals. I didn't want to tell her that taking care of young children for 3 months would be my kind of nightmare so I just told her nicely that I already have a job I would need to be getting home to. I also learned she isn't married but thinks that it would be nice if she ever found a bloke (the word for guy here) she could stand. I almost laughed, but managed to just nod my head. Wow, sometimes she is a little too much for me to handle!

Wednesday I have my advertising class. I have come to find that I really like advertising. Now that we have covered the basics of advertising, my class is getting really interesting. This week we looked at some famous ad campaigns. For instance, do you know why Santa Claus wears a red and white suit? Santa Claus was invented through a Christmas song about St. Nick, but the Coke company actually created an image of Santa Claus when they put out a Christmas ad. Of course, they made his outfit red and white because those are Coke's colors. I also learned how wedding rings came about. Do all you married people know why you wear a band on your left hand? The tradition of the wedding ring was started in Egypt and spread across Europe. However, it was not very popular until the famous jewelry company De Beers' ad campaign. They started selling engagement rings and advertising them with "A diamond lasts forever." They also advertised, "How can you make 3 months salary last forever." Of course it didn't take long for the trend to spread and a tradition to be born. We also learned how Miss Clariol's hair dye became so popualr with the famous slogan, "Does she or doesn't she, only her hairdresser knows." We also learned about the famous Marlboro cowboy ad, the P.T. Barnum circus ads, and the listerine ad campaign. It is amazing how advertisements can alter how we think and what we do. Wednesday afternoon I went to the famous toy store in London, Hamley's. This store is 7 floors full of toys for children. It was a circus in there. Imagine a Toys R' Us times 25. Hamley's had every toy imaginable, but it will cost you. A small teddy bear was 25 pounds. I just had to check this place out, but I was glad I could get out of there child and toy free!

On Thursday I have my British classes. They were very interesting this week. We learned all about the Royal Family. The history behind it all is quite impressive. We discussed what the Monarchy actually does and if it will last. A lot of the British people think the Royal Family is useless and a money drain. However, everyone here respects and admires the Queen. The Queen has a few important jobs. She oversees Parliament, officially swears in the Prime Minister, and she decides which wars the country gets involved in. Otherwise the rest of the time she is basically a diplomat for the country. We discussed how the country feels about the Royal Family and scandals that the family has overcome. It was interesting for me to learn about Princess Diana's death and the effects it had on the country. Princess Diana married Prince Charles (the Queen's son who is in line for the throne). Diana was thought very highly of by the British people. Then Charles and Diana got a divorce, Diana ended up with an 18 million pound settlement out of the deal. However, she was no longer a Princess (even though people still think of her as one). When she died the British people were very upset with the Royal Family for not showing more sympathy and holding a Royal Funeral ceremony. It was quite the ordeal because Diana was no longer part of the royal family, but she was the mother to the heirs of the throne. The Queen was not a huge fan of Diana's, which caused great dispute since the people loved her. The Queen took a lot of critism for not making a statement about Diana's death and not crying at the funeral. Charles and Diana's divorce is another reason why Prince Charles is not very popular with the people of Great Britain. We learned how the Queen has had to cut back a lot of the Royal Family's spending in the last 10 years. She no longer has a royal yacht, she now has to pay income taxes, all of her financial reports are now made public, and now Buckingham Palace is open for tours to make a profit (however, the Queen's corridors are not accessible on the tours). It will be interesting to see if the Royal Family does last. I can understand both sides of the argument; the Royal Family does waste a lot of the country's tax money, however it is a long lasting tradition that would be very difficult to just throw out the window. Another interesting thing that I learned is that the British pepole are not citizens of the United Kingdom; they are subjects of the Royal Family. It really doesn't make a lot of difference, but still an interesting topic. On Thursday night I went to another movie premiere. It was the premiere of The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. It was pretty impressive and I got to see both stars. Jennifer Aniston is one of my favorite actresses as I am a huge fan of the "Friends" TV show. This premiere was not quite as busy as some of the others, but still crowded with people. Pictures below of the Premiere and a picture of the Queen.

Scotland

Before I tell you all about my weekend in Scotland I must write about my week. This could be a long one, but I need to get caught up! Last Monday I went to the Museum of London. I have started a routine of Museum Monday's. The Museum of London basically tells the entire history of the city through artifacts, pictures, story boards, and city models. Visiting this museum was an assignment for my British Experience class. It was interesting to learn all about the city. I enjoyed gaining knowledge about the royal family. There were some very corrupt things that took place long ago when the Royal Family ruled as a sole monarchy. For example, a princess was killed because she could not bear children. It was also interesting to learn about the Great Fire of London in 1666, where over half the city burnt and the Great Plague. This museum was not as impressive as the British Museum, but I learned a lot. On the way home from the museum I was riding on the Tube when a girl maybe a little older than me sat down beside me. I didn't look right at her, but I noticed that she kept bringing a Kleenex up to her face as to wipe her nose or tears. She was sniffling as well. Again I didn't want to turn and look right at her because she was sitting right next to me and not many people make eye contact on the Tube. A little later a gentlemen sitting across from us handed her a piece of paper. It read, "Don't Cry. Everything will be alright. Do you need anything?" Of course sitting so close, I was able to read this and then I couldn't help to turn to look at her and she was crying. She managed to smile at him and say "I'm ok." I was so surprised by this gesture. People in London often get a bad reputation for being unfriendly, but this was a true, genuine act. It also made me feel bad that I didn't ask the girl if I could help at all. This also shows just how reserved the people are here. We were all sitting literally a couple feet from each other, but the man still wrote a note instead of just asking out loud.

On Tuesdays I have my internship. This day was an exciting day of work. Hoxton Trust offers English as a Second Language classes for women in the area. I think I explained before that the area I work in has a lot of Turkish immigrants. Well the problem is that many of the women come to London from Turkey with their husbands, but never learn to speak English. My supervisor, the director of the organization, wanted to preform these interviews to find out if the English classes were helpful. So I had written up about 20 questions to ask each woman about the class, the language, their future, etc. I interviewed 6 women from ages 17 to 54. One woman had been in London for 18 years, but could barely answer my questions. Some of the women were very good at English, while others still were at a beginner's level. My supervisor explained later that many of the women were here against their husbands will. Apparently the husbands don't want their wives to learn English; they only want them to cook and take care of the household. When I asked the women why they wanted to learn English almost all of the answers were because they wanted to get a job, be able to speak in the community and make friends. Imagine only being able to talk to your family and having no friends. The women also find that their children speak English because that is what language is used in the schools so they want to be able to speak to them in English as well. One woman told me that she can do so much more know that she knows English. She can understand the doctor at the hospital, go shopping in the supermarket, talk to her son's teacher and go to the job center to apply for a job. I really couldn't believe that people live so secluded. These women basically are slaves to their house and family. Even if they wanted out of their situation it would be nearly impossible because they can't speak the language of the country they live in. They have to rely on their husbands for everything, providing that the husbands speak English! One lady told me her husband speaks very little English too. The women were very friendly and were so happy to talk to me, even when they couldn't understand some things I said. They said that my accent was much easier to understand than British accents! These women had really big dreams and aspirations for the future also. The youngest girl wanted to be a doctor, one woman wanted to open a women and children center, many just wanted a job. The thing I found crazy was that many of these women were really well educated and had really great jobs in Turkey. One was a certified accountant in Turkey, while another was a teacher, and one was a certified nurse. However, when they come here and can't speak the language, none of that matters. I asked one woman why she moved to London. She couldn't tell me why. I asked her if it was because her husband got a job, but she just shook her head and said no we don't have jobs. It was sad to learn that people live like that, but the benefits are very good in the U.K so I am sure that is why they come here. Maybe it is better than living in Turkey. One woman told me all the stuff she has done since she learned English, such as, the cinema, the tube, talking to her children's teachers at school, and museums. One woman was so pleased to have learned English because now she can go to the doctor and doesn't need a translator to communicate. Another lady told me that her classmates were the only friends she has. I don't want you to get the impression that these women don't love their families. They are absolutely faithful to them; they just want to be able to communicate more. One woman told me that her eyes are for her son, her heart is for her daughter, and her body is for her husband. I was holding back some serious laughter and giggles! After the interviews I joined the women for some tea. They were thrilled! 3 of them ran up to me and offered me some Turkish bread. I really didn't want any, but I gave it a try. It was actually not too bad. Then a woman I had interviewed came up to me with a picture of her family. She was so proud of them. They were so happy when I told them that their English was very good. Most of them had plans to continue taking English classes. I found it interesting that they were all very good at reading and writing English, but not good at speaking it. This is because they read it all over on the place, but never get any practice or lessons on how to speak it. After the interviews my supervisor let me leave early because she had a meeting across town. I was glad to leave early as it was such a nice day out. It was the nicest weather since I have been here (10 degrees Celsius = about 50 degrees Fahrenheit). I took a stroll in the park when I got home. There were people spread all over the park enjoying the day. It was like something you would see in a painting. The neighborhood where I live feels like it is years away from Hoxton where the Turkish women live. I tried to think of something I could do for these ladies, or what could improve their situation. However, there just aren't a whole lot of options. It is similar to trying to help the homeless. It doesn't matter if I put my pennies in the lady's cup down the street everyday; she will still be there tomorrow.

So on Thursday Carissa, Allison and I left for Scotland. We decided to try and save time and money by taking an overnight coach (bus) which left at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday night and was due to arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland at 8 the next morning. We figured 8 hours on an overnight bus would be easy because we would just sleep the whole time. Wow were we wrong! For starters the bus was freezing. I am always cold, but this was ridiculous. The bus was also very uncomfortable. I was crammed into a little seat next to some guy that had serious body odor. I definitely wasn't going to lean my head on him to get some sleep! At 2:30 a.m. the bus stopped at a rest stop. We went in to use the restroom so we wouldn't have to use the toilets on the bus. When we got back to the bus the driver was gone, but he left the door wide open. He didn't return for another 30 minutes and by this time the bus was basically a refrigerator. Once we got back on the road I did fall asleep for most of the remainder of the journey. I woke up feeling pretty stiff and not very rested. However, seeing the Scotland country side and the outskirts of Edinburgh turned my crabby mood right around. I was really excited to explore the city.

When we got to the coach station we freshened up in the bathrooms, which cost us 20 pence. I wasn't looking that great, but then again who would after spending the night on a bus. Edinburgh, Scotland is an amazing little town. I absolutely loved it. They are not exaggerating when they say men playing bag pipes in kilts. It really happens! The city felt very old-fashioned. It seemed like every single building was made out of bricks. It was very chilly in Edinburgh, but no rain! We decided to take a city bus tour to learn more about the town and see what it had to offer. It was an excellent little tour and I also learned a lot of Scottish history. We saw some very impressive things, like the Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse (Queen's home in Edinburgh), Scottish Parliament, and the Royal Mile.

After the tour we went back to the Edinburgh Castle to get a closer look. The castle stands high on an extinct volcano with remarkable views of Edinburgh. I was amazed by how well everything was preserved in the castle. It felt like I was living hundreds of years ago. I couldn't believe how huge the castle was. The United States cannot compare with Europe when it come to historic sites. We are just too young of a country. If you want to see new, modern, and big then the US is the place. However, if you want history, detail, and extraordinary pieces of the past then Europe is the place to be. Pictures below of the Edinburgh Castle.

After viewing the castle we walked down the Royal Mile to see the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is the official residence in Scotland of her majesty the Queen. We were told on the bus tour that the Queen spends one week in Edinburgh every year. We did not go inside the palace, but let me just say this was a pretty impressive palace to only use one week out of the year. It definitely couldn't compare to Buckingham Palace, but still amazing. There was a very beautiful park around the palace as well. Pictures below of the Palace.

We also explored the Royal Mile. This is the stretch of road that leads from the Edinburgh Castle to the Queen's palace. It was just lined with specialty shops, businesses, and restaurants. We did a bit of souvenir shopping on the Royal Mile. There were hundreds of stores that sold plaid kilts and other Scottish garments. Cashmere is a very popular fabric in Scotland. There were a ton of cashmere scarf shops on this road too. Of course I couldn't resist; I got a 100% cashmere scarf for only 10 pounds. I was very pleased with myself and the best part about the scarf is that it was made right in Scotland. Now that is my kind of souvenir. For lunch we went to the Filling Station. My meal was very good, but I thought it was weird that my chicken Alfredo had bits of ham in it. We had some wonderful fudge for dessert at a local shop. The people of Scotland were very friendly. At one gift shop Carissa said “thank you, Sir” after paying for a postcard and the man replied, “Only my banker calls me sir, and that is because he takes all my money.” We all laughed of course. Prior to leaving London for Scotland, one of the French students in our program told us to check if the Scottish men wore anything under their kilts. We were pretty sure he was just messing with us, but we soon found out that this is just a big joke. Apparently nothing is worn under the kilts as we saw a lot of pictures, postcards and funny little sayings about going commando when wearing a kilt. We managed to get a picture with a Scot dressed in full Scottish attire, playing a bag pipe. Picture Below.

Overall I really enjoyed my trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. It was fun to be immersed in the Scottish culture. Luckily we took a train home and it was much nicer and faster than the coach, although it was more expensive. I checked out the chef section of the train on the way home. It was basically like a concession stand. The food was reasonably priced and my deli sandwich tasted good. I couldn't believe how much snow was on the ground as the train chugged through the country side of Scotland. There was probably a foot of snow, but it was very picturesque. However, I was glad to arrive back home in London, where it was a little bit warmer and no snow!

Friends in London!

Last weekend my friends, Maggie and Caitlin, who are studying abroad in Spain came to visit! I play Volleyball with Maggie and Caitlin and they are some of my best friends from college. They also brought along another girl, Stephanie, from Central College who wanted to visit London. I was really excited for them to come since I hadn't seen them since before winter break. We had so much fun. I don't know how to explain my friends to you; they are completely different from me. They are wild, loud, and messy, but I absolutely love them and we get along so well. Picture left to right: Stephanie, Me, Maggie, and Caitlin

On Thursday night the girls arrived. I met them at Liverpool tube station. It was great to see them. We didn't stop talking the whole way home! At first I was a little worried because we were being pretty loud on the tube and people were looking at us. It is so easy to spot an American accent here, even for me and I am American. My friends were just really excited to be speaking English since they have to speak Spanish all the time in Spain. They told me a whole bunch of stories about all their adventures. They were really excited to see some American things in London, such as, pizza, McDonald's, Dr. Pepper, snickers, and coffee shops. They also went crazy over the cold milk. Apparently Spaniards do not refrigerate milk. The girls said they leave it on the shelf and serve it warm and chunky. Wow, I thought unrefrigerated eggs were bad! In Spain, the students live with host families so my friends have to eat whatever their Senora makes them. On the way home we stopped at the store and got some cheap wine because the girls wanted to go out to a club and experience what London nightlife has to offer. It saves a lot of money to just buy your drinks at the store instead of the club. This also got me a little worried because I knew that I had to keep track of them all night since they knew nothing about the city. All 3 girls stayed in my room at Vandon House with me and my roommate. Talk about chaos. My roommate was probably slightly overwhelmed. Just imagine a room packed with girls trying to get ready to go out. I felt like a Mom trying to organize everything. Then the wine kicked in and I just let everything be messy and out of place (if you know how much of a neat freak I am you will be proud of me for this!) We decided to go out to a club called Tiger Tiger. It was within walking distance of my place so this way the girls didn't have to buy tube or bus tickets. We went out with other Central students from London so we had a big group. The night was really fun and we all ended up leaving around 2 a.m. This is when my friends decided they wanted McDonald's. After walking to McDonald's, only to find it was closed; I offered to make them grilled cheese sandwiches (I am getting really good at making these). The girls loved it and were so happy to have non-Spanish food. I was only able to get two mattresses into my room for them to sleep on because of fire hazards and safety regulations. So I figured they would all just slumber party on the floor. However, Maggie just decided to sleep with me in my twin bed. After our grilled cheese's it was about 3 in the morning and Maggie crawled into my bed fully clothed with out taking off any makeup or anything. You kind of have to know Maggie to picture this (she reminds me a lot of my sister sometimes). I always wash my face and brush my teeth before bed like it is my job, so I was a little shocked that went to bed without doing any of that. However, she is one of my best friends and that is just part of why I love her. My friends are good for me; they help me be less uptight!

The next morning we got up pretty early as we had some serious site seeing to do! At breakfast my friends mentioned that they really wanted to see a musical while they were in London. I asked them if they heard about Wicked because I have really wanted to see that and it is currently rated as London's top West End show. I had also heard that if you went to the box office the day of the show you could get discounted tickets. So after breakfast we went to the Apollo Theatre and with our student cards managed to get great seats by each other for only 25 pounds each. This is an incredible price as that is only about 40 dollars for tickets that would normally be close to 100 dollars. We were excited! Next I showed them all the sites that were within walking distance. We saw Buckingham Palace, Traflagar Square, the Guards House, Big Ben and Parliament, the London Eye, the Thames River, Westminster Abbey, and St. James Park. We ate at McDonald's for lunch, since everyone was still craving a greasy American burger. I hadn't ate at McDonald's yet, but had heard that it was better than in the States. I was surprised because I normally don't like McDonald's, but it actually tasted really good. I don't know if it is actually better than in the States or if I just hadn't had a burger in like a month. By the end of the afternoon we were wore out, but my friends were absolutely loving London. We got some groceries and made spaghetti for supper. Then we got all ready to go to the show. They thought it was great to get dressed up. The performance was amazing. I thought it was better than Phantom of the Opera in New York and better than the Lion King. The cast was fabulous. The lead actress who played Elphaba was the best singer I have ever heard. My friends were floored. At one point Maggie started crying she liked it so much (again you gotta know this girl, she's a hoot). We couldn't stop talking about it. As soon as we got home we looked up the actress on the Internet. If you are interested you should YouTube "Alexia Khadime". She is amazing! After that we had a pretty low key night where we just chatted and made grilled cheeses' again!
Below Picture of Horse Guard and the Wicked Theatre

On Saturday we got after the site seeing again. This time the girls bought all-day tube passes so we could go all over the city. We started off by going to Notting Hill and then we watched the changing of the Guards. Afterwards we went to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We walked all along the Thames River past Borough Market and Shakespeare's Globe. I showed them Millennium Bridge and London Bridge. We toured St. Paul's Cathedral and the British Museum. We also did a little shopping on Oxford Street. After all, we are girls and needed some retail therapy! We went to a pub for lunch so they could try the traditional fish and chips. Maggie asked the waiter to substitute fries for the chips. It was so funny because of course chips are just what they call fries here! Since I am not a huge fan of fish, I had the cottage pie. It was a really great dish. Then we went to King's Cross Station. This is the station that is famous because of the Harry Potter books. It is there that Harry Potter mysteriously pushes his cart through the wall and boards the Hogwarts Express train to wizard school (if you are not a Harry Potter fan, this wouldn't excite you). Caitlin is a huge Harry Potter fan, so it was a must see. They actually have a cart stuck in the wall at this station to reenact the scene in the book. I hadn't seen this before so I was glad I took them there. Picture below of me at the site. We also visited Abbey Road, which is famous for being the place where the Beatles recorded most of their songs. It is also the place where the famous Beatles picture/album cover was taken of them crossing the road. Picture below as well.

On Saturday night we made spaghetti again and went out to a bar called WalkAbout. We had a really good time. My friends were pretty tired from all the walking and also had to get up at 5:00 to catch their flight back to Spain, so we didn't stay out too late. London is definitely a walking city, especially if you want to see things. I walked my friends to the bus stop at 5 on Sunday morning. This was an eye opening experience as there were a lot of homeless people sleeping on the streets. Up until now I hadn't seen too many homeless people in London, especially in my area. It is really hard to look at people sleeping outside on the streets and not feel guilty for everything I have. It is definitely a lot easier to ignore the problems of the world in small town Iowa, but here they stare you in the face everyday. After I slept for a while I cleaned up my room and got everything back in order. My friends loved London and I had a fabulous time showing them all around. This weekend I am off to Scotland with Carissa and Allison. It is going to be a great time, but I will probably not be able to write again until Sunday or Monday!

Above Pictures of all of us and a Volleyball pose picture.