Completely Random (Part 2)

A sequel to my previous post titled Completely Random!

1. There are barely any public restrooms in London, and if you do find one you will likely have to pay to use it.
2. Multiple people have asked me if Minnesota is a country.  I'm not kidding. 
3. I have gotten really good at sleeping on coach buses.
4. The crosswalks are called humped zebra crossings.
5. I haven't seen Mountain Dew here yet which is very upsetting for me!
6. Backpacks + rush hour on the tube= Bad idea. 
7. Still trying to get used to walking on the opposite side of the street.
8. There are way too many spiders here.
9.  I miss having all of my clothes with me, but that just means I can shop more :)
10. I MISS ALL OF MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS SO MUCH!!

Oxford

Hi everyone!! Here's a quick recap of my week so far.  Monday was pretty uneventful.  I got to relax all day since almost everyone had started their community service placements and mine doesn't start until October 8th.  Tuesday was my 2 year anniversary with Patrick! It's crazy how fast 2 years can go by.  I'm so happy he is on this trip with me! :) We went out to dinner on Wednesday at an Italian restaurant called Prezzo and it was one of the best meals I have had so far while being here.  I got lasagna (my favorite!) and we shared chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert.  It was a wonderful evening!  On Thursday I had a Marketing test.  I'm crossing my fingers that it went well!  It can be really hard to concentrate on studying over here but I know that's the main reason I am in London.  Today we had a day trip to Oxford! We got to see some of the university, which is the oldest university in the English speaking world.  Classes first began in 1096!  We also got a tour of Christ Church Cathedral.  Some scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed here.  We actually got to walk up the same stairs that one of the very first scenes in Hogwarts was filmed at.  They also replicated the hall to make the set for the Great Hall shown in the movies when the Hogwarts students are eating.  It was very cool to see all of these things!!  After the tour we had almost four hours to eat lunch and do some shopping.  It was nice to have some free time to explore the city.  Tomorrow, Kari, Sam, and I are headed for the Portobello Market in London.  It's located in Notting Hill for anyone who has seen that movie!  On Sunday, Patrick, Kari, and I are going to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour.  We get a tour of some of the sets and other things used in the films.  I'm very excited for that!!  Other than those things, I'll just be catching up on sleep and homework in preparation for our Scotland trip next week!  I hope everything is going well back home!!

Happy birthday to my wonderful brother, Luke, today!! I can't believe you are 25!  Also, happy early birthday to my lovely cousin, Kelly! :)

Love and miss all of you!!

The outside of Christ Church Cathedral

Inside the great hall that they replicated for Harry Potter!

The actual steps used in the first Harry Potter movie!

Je t'aime :)

Bonjour! I just got back from a wonderful weekend in France with the entire LBS group (including our professors and their wives!)  There were some definite ups and downs of the trip and I will try to cover all of those as briefly as possible!  We had to get up bright and early Thursday morning for our train ride to Paris.  We took the Eurostar, which is a train that goes underwater through the English Channel to get from London to Paris.  I was a little concerned about this beforehand, but you couldn't even notice you were underwater so everything turned out just fine!  The ride took about 2 hours and then we were in France!  I felt a little bit like I was going to Hogwarts since our train left from King's Cross station which is the same station that the Hogwarts Express leaves from in the Harry Potter movies :) Once we arrived we got on a coach bus and a tour guide joined us for an afternoon tour around Paris.  She was very funny and knowledgeable and we got to drive by a lot of the famous sights in Paris.  We got to stop at the Eiffel Tower and take pictures for about twenty minutes.  We also drove by The Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and many more!  These tours are nice because we get to see so much in a short amount of time, but it is also frustrating because we weren't able to see these places for very long.  After the tour we went to our hotel and prepared for going with our entire group to the lock bridge and Eiffel Tower.  Patrick, Kari, and I still needed to get some euros and buy our train tickets.  We went to the nearest ATM with a few other people from our group and right when Kari tried to get money out the ATM broke down.  Since none of us speak any French and everyone we asked was rude and unhelpful, we walked back to our hotel and figured we could just use our credit cards to pay for the train tickets.  We walked to the station and one of the single most annoying things about being over here is that our credit cards are different than the ones they have in Europe.  Theirs have a chip in it so they don't have to swipe it or sign for anything.  This has given me trouble more than a few times already.  The worker at the information desk knew English, but didn't know what a bank or ATM was.  So that was fun.  We saw our big group gathered outside the train station so we explained what had happened to our guide from our program, Claire.  She is originally from France so she was able to ask a shop owner where the nearest bank was.  We then had to go by ourselves and meet the rest of our group later in the night.  I was honestly terrified.  It's much more comforting being with a group of 50 in a country you have never been to before.  We successfully got money out, bought our tickets, and got on the train.  Luckily, groups of 50 move slowly so we were able to catch up with them right away.  Such a relief!! We stopped by the lock bridge, which is a bridge that couples put padlocks carved with their names on it anywhere on the bridge and then throw the key into the river below.  Sadly, I didn't bring a lock but there is another bridge like this in Italy so Patrick and I might have to find that when we are there.  Our group walked along the river and split off into smaller groups to have dinner.  Patrick, Kari, Austin, Max, Kyle, and I went to an authentic French restaurant.  I had a Nutella crepe and it was the most delicious thing I have had since being here.  I'm glad our waiter knew English since none of us knew any French.  After dinner, we met our big group again to get back on the train to go to the Eiffel Tower.  It was so beautiful lit up at night.  Every hour or so, there are twinkling lights on the tower that go off and it was amazing! We were able to see it twice.  Unfortunately, my friend Sam got her camera stolen when we were at the tower.  The pickpockets in France were everywhere.  I hate feeling like I have to constantly hold onto my purse and be paranoid of everyone around me.  The next morning at breakfast, a girl in our group got her ENTIRE purse stolen.  She had everything in there (passport, money, iphone, credit cards).  Since we were out of the country she needed to get a replacement passport to get back into England.  It definitely made me realize to be aware at all times of what's going on around me.

On Friday we rode on the bus for 7 hours to Mont St Michel.  We spent so much time on that coach bus.  I figured at the end of the trip we had spent over 20 hours collectively on the bus.  Mont St Michel was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  It's a huge, old monastery that is built on an island.  We got to have an audio guide during the tour and look around the abbey.  It's amazing seeing all of these old buildings here.  After seeing Mont St Michel, we drove to our hotel in Saint Malo and prepared for our first group dinner.  We walked to a nearby restaurant that was right on the water and had the most amazing view.  The first course of our dinner was oysters.  I figured I should try one since I probably never would have the chance to again.  It was absolutely disgusting.  The texture is horrendous and it tasted like I swallowed too much saltwater.  I was ready for the next course.  We had duck and it was really good!! I was a little wary of it at first but I enjoyed it a lot.  Then, for my favorite course, dessert!  The creme brulee was fantastic.  It was nice to eat some authentic French food while we were there.  A table of about 8 or so people that were in the same room at the restaurant as us were from Minnesota!! What are the odds of that??  :)

Mont St Michel

Saturday was completely filled with going to different World War II sights in Normandy.  Our first stop of the day was to Pointe du Hoc.  It is located between the Utah and Omaha beaches and was a point of attack by the US during WWII.  It was cool to be inside the bunkers that are still standing there.  The next stop was Omaha Beach.  It was crazy to think how many people lost their lives in the exact place we were standing.  The most emotionally moving stop on the trip was to the Normandy American Cemetery that honors American soldiers that died in Europe during WWII.  I could not believe how many people were buried here.  The entire day was very eye-opening.  We went to our next hotel in Caen and had a few hours to relax before another group dinner.  This dinner was not as good.  The first dish was pork that you put on bread.  The second was ham and potatoes, and the dessert was an apple tart type of thing.  Most of us filled ourselves up with bread and the ham and potatoes.  I had so much bread on this trip, but it was definitely worth it since it's the best bread I have ever had.  Every morning at breakfast they had croissants and Nutella.  I'm not even going to think about how much Nutella I consumed over the weekend.  You're only in France once, right?

Omaha Beach

Sunday we got to sleep in a little longer and then went to the Caen Peace Memorial.  It was a huge exhibit of World War II pictures, videos, and other memorabilia from that time.  I couldn't believe how much stuff was in there.  It was a great way to cap off our weekend.  France was overall very fun, but probably not a place I would go back to.  I wouldn't have minded spending some more time in Paris, but London is still my favorite so far :)  Most of our group is starting their community service placements today, but I don't start mine until October 8th.  This means I have a completely free day until our night class at 5:30!! Sounds great to me :)

I miss all of you so much and I'm hoping everything is going well back in MN.  Love you guys!

I fell in love at the seaside

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't posted anything for a few days but I don't want to bore everyone with things about my classes.  They are going well so far.  I really like marketing, which is a good sign since that is my major :)  It seems a little crazy that I'm taking my first marketing class here and I'm a junior...but that's just how UST does it.  On Wednesday, we had a British and Life culture lecture.  It was interesting to learn about all the countries that make up the United Kingdom and how they are similar and different.  Then, we had a meeting about our trip to France next week!! We leave on Thursday morning and we are taking the Eurostar train, which goes partly underwater from London to Paris.  Scary!!  While we are in France we get to go to Paris, Mont St Michel, Saint Malo, Caen, and Normandy! It's going to be a full weekend but should be a lot of fun :) We get back to London Sunday evening.  After our France meeting we went to see the play Richard III at Shakespeare's Globe Theater.  We all had standing room tickets and the theater is open with no shelter over the people standing.  Of course since I am in London it began to rain during the show.  We all tried to endure it for a few minutes but it started to rain very hard so we left.  It was cool to see the show for the hour we were there! I thought it was interesting that they only use male actors even for female roles like they used to.

Yesterday we had a day trip planned with our group to the town of Brighton.  Brighton is south of London and is located on the English Channel.  Also in Brighton resides the Royal Pavilion, a former royal residence of King George IV.  We got to walk around inside and we each had an audio guide (a cell phone type of device) that explained what each room was used for.  After we walked through the Pavilion, we went down to the seaside and explored.  It was beautiful!! It was pretty cloudy but we still got some great pictures.  There was a pier and a lot of shops and restaurants lining the water.  It was a really cool place!!

Today, we got to see a professional soccer game!  We went to a Fulham vs West Bromwich Albion game.  The energy from the fans was insane!! We were at Fulham's home stadium so they had tons of chants and cheers for the team.  It was exciting to be a part of something that they take so seriously here.  Fulham ended up winning 3-0!  The game was a lot of fun and so cool to experience. 

I'm soooo excited to have nothing planned for tomorrow.  That is a very rare occurance here!! I plan on catching up on sleep and doing some homework.  Sounds like a pretty typical Sunday for me!  I'm a little bummed I'm missing the biggest rivalry football game at my school (Tommie Johnnie) today.  I hope everyone had a ton of fun at the game and I'm following the scores closely on Twitter! GO TOMMIES!! :)

The Royal Pavilion in Brighton

Sam, Kari, and I at Brighton beach!

Completely Random

So this blog post is just going to be a collection of things I have noticed over here.  I apologize for how random and out of order this will be.

1. The pink lemonade here is awful.  It's carbonated and is cranberry flavored.  Let's just say I was very surprised when I took my first sip of this last night.  Good thing I bought a 2 liter bottle.
2. I eat so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (this isn't that abnormal for me but wanted to include it).
3. The next door neighbors have chickens.  I don't like the neighbors.
4. Everyone is always in such a rush on the tube, but they take their time anywhere else (restaurants and stores).
5. People don't say "bloody hell" that often.
6. If you like ice in your drinks, don't expect to get any while you are here.  Room temp is the norm.
7. Water fountains are almost completely non-existant.
8. The mayo tastes like mustard.  Found that one out the hard way.
9. I've had to run to catch a bus more times than I would like to, and I always feel like an idiot.
10. Most people are pretty helpful when we ask for directions, except for the time we asked 4 different people how to get to the same place and they all gave us different directions. 
11. Krave cereal=amazing. There's Nutella inside of it. 
12. Cars don't really care if you are in the crosswalk or not and bikers are even worse. 
13. People here have thought a few of us with blonde hair are from Germany. 
14. They have more coins in their currency than we do and less bills.  Huge pain.  Yes, that's me holding up the line because I'm an American trying to figure out the difference between a 10 pence coin and a 20 pence coin. 
15. We have four different locks on our front door.  Kari and I had quite the struggle this morning trying to figure out why our door wouldn't open from the inside. 

The Start of Classes

Hello! I had my first class last night.  It's called Britain and the European Union and it's an economics class.  We have a British professor that is very funny and laid back.  It should be a pretty interesting class.  It only meets once a week on Monday evenings, but the classes are about 4 hours long each time.  He gave us 2 15 minute breaks which helped the class move a lot faster.  Today, I had Art History at 9am.  Unlike most Art History courses, we get to spend every week in a different art gallery in London.  We got to go to the National Gallery today and view some paintings while our two British professors explained them in detail.  I'm pretty excited for this class!! I would much rather spend 4 hours in an art gallery than sitting in a classroom.  Then, I have a pretty long break until my next class, Business Law.  Our professor lives here but is American so she is easy to understand.  One drawback is that she is pretty intimidating.  I'm a beginner when it comes to law so a lot of the things we discussed went straight over my head.  Hopefully I'll learn a lot though.  It's nice having all of your classes with pretty much the same people.  Tomorrow I just have marketing and it's not until noon! YES!! We have so much going on tomorrow though.  After marketing, I get a short break and then we have one of our four British Life and Culture lectures.  Then, we have a pre-departure meeting for our France trip next week which I cannot wait for!! After the meeting, we are venturing to Shakespeare's Globe Theater to watch the play Richard the III.  Such a long day ahead!  Tonight, Patrick, Joe, Kari, Kayla, Sam, Elizabeth, Christina, Hilary, and I went to The Gate which is the pub we went to a few days ago by our house.  They have 2 for 1 pizzas on Tuesdays and it was such a good deal!! The workers at the pub are all extremely nice and already know who we are after only being there twice.  They even had the song Call Me Maybe on their jukebox, so we definitely had to play that :) There was a World Cup qualifying soccer match on TV while we were at the pub.  England was playing so of course the whole pub had their eyes glued to the screens.  It's so interesting to watch people get so into the games here!  On a completely different note, it's getting easier for me to get used to taking public transportation everywhere and allowing myself enough time to get places.  We can't just jump in a car like we can back home!  I spend at least an hour and a half every day on buses and the tube.  I read one of London's free newspapers on the tube tonight and I felt like a true Londoner!  I'm definitely going to appreciate being able to drive places so much more when I get home.  Well not a whole lot sounds better right now than 11 hours of sleep, so I'm off to bed!  Love and miss you all!

Scavenger hunts and SHOPPING!

I had a very busy weekend! Saturday we were split up into groups of 5 or 6 and were given a specific category of places in London to find on our own and take pictures of various things within that location.  My group was given parks, and we got to see Regent's park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and Green Park.  This was one of the most tiring days of my entire life.  We walked for about 5 hours straight.  WE DO SO MUCH WALKING HERE. It's such good exercise but when you aren't used to walking for that long every single day, it makes your feet and legs pretty sore.  Also, our group really got lucky (this is sarcasm) as every picture we had to take was on the opposite end of the park from where the main entrance was.  One park took us almost an hour to get from one end to the other.  I had a really fun group though so it made the whole day go a lot faster.  It also helped us get more familiar with the tube system here, which has surprisingly gone really well so far. 

Yesterday, Kari, Kayla, Sam and I decided to do some shopping! We first hit up the Camden markets, which is in the town where Amy Winehouse lived.  It is also the place where the punk rock style originated! We saw some very unique shops and people there.  They have hundreds and hundreds of small stores and booths where you can buy pretty much anything you could think of.  None of us were feeling adventurous enough to get anything at the market, but we all wanted to go back soon and look around some more!  Then, we met up with 3 other girls from our trip and took an overground train to where the Olympic stadium is.  We were hoping we could get close enough to walk around and take some pictures, but since the closing ceremonies for the Paralympics was going on that evening, we were only able to get some pictures from a department store window.  Still pretty cool!  After a few pictures we ventured our way to one of the most amazing stores I have ever been to, Primark.  It's huge and they have really cute clothes for super cheap.  If you think Forever 21 is overwhelming, multiply that by about 50 and you have Primark.  I didn't find any clothes I really wanted/needed, but I got a scarf and a bracelet.  To be honest I was way too tired to try on any clothes, so I'll have to go back soon!  We had ice cream for dinner and then took the overground train and the tube back home.  We met up with Patrick, Joe, Hilary, Christina, and Elizabeth at a pizza and pub place that is really close to our houses.  It was a great way to relax after an exhausting day of shopping.  I have my first class today and am not mentally prepared for it whatsoever.  It's been nice to have time to wander around the city, but I'm also extremely excited to finally get into a daily routine!  This week, we are going to a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theater on Wednesday, another day trip to Brighton on Friday, and a soccer (football) match on Saturday.  Busy week ahead but I'm excited for everything :)  Talk to you soon!



Kari, Elizabeth, Christina, Hilary, myself, Patrick, Kayla, and Joe at The Gate!





The best picture I could get of the Olympic Stadium!



Fish Massage/Pedicure at Camden Market.  Weird!!

The London Eye and Hampton Court

Hola! Sorry I have been lacking a little on blog posts, they keep us so busy during the day and I'm usually too tired at night to write anything.  This post will describe what I did on Thursday and Friday! Thursday was a very long and tiring day.  A few of us decided we wanted to explore some of the things we saw on our bus tour.  Patrick, Joe, Kari, Max, Kyle, and myself all went together and spent the whole day walking around. Such a fun group to be with for a whole day! :) We walked over the London bridge and walked along the Thames river.  There is a festival of the world going on there right now, so street performers and food stands are everywhere! It's really entertaining to just sit and people watch.  We got some pictures of the whole group by Big Ben and walked around that area for a while.  We had dinner at a pretty nice pub.  Their beef tastes pretty different here and I realized I wouldn't be eating much of that while I am here.  After dinner we walked to where the London Eye is and waited in line for tickets.  A nice man in line in front of us gave us a 2 for 1 coupon so that helped a lot!! After we got our tickets we waited until it got dark and then got in line to go on the eye.  It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen!! All of London was lit up and looked so pretty from that high up.  Kari and I are both scared of heights, but it wasn't too terrifying.  The entire ride took about 30 minutes.  That has been one of the highlights of my trip so far. 

Yesterday, almost everyone in our group opted to go on the day trip to Hampton Court.  There are 4 day trips offered throughout the semester and we are required to go on 3 of the 4.  We had a coach bus and a tour guide.  Hampton Court is a royal palace that was eventually passed on to King Henry the VIII.  It had some of the most beautiful ceilings, paintings, and architecture I have ever seen!! Pictures cannot do it justice.

Here is a picture of Anna and me in front of the palace!

The tour guide took us through all of the kitchens and some of the rooms in the palace.  We also got to see the gardens and go through the maze.  The whole place was so beautiful! I'm really glad I got to see it and learn some more about the history of London.  They even had a royal tennis court there!! So of course Anna and I took this picture!

Thursday and Friday were filled with a lot of walking and seeing some important historical places in London! I am already getting used to being here and I really love it a lot.  Every day is a new adventure and nothing is ever boring.  I can't wait for the next 3 months!!

175 Stairs

Hello! So today was very exciting as I got to take my very first tube ride! This morning, my homestay mom had to leave early for work so she dropped me off at another homestay nearby that 2 girls from my trip, Kayla and Sam, live at.  Their homestay mom walked us to where we can catch the bus to get to the tube station closest to our houses.  It was very helpful to have someone show us where to go so we can take the tube to school.  The school gave us oyster cards which allow us to travel in London by tube or bus for free.  Kayla, Sam, and I went into the tube station and found which way we were supposed to go to get to our school.  It was a little crowded and we had to stand for most of the way.  It took about 20 minutes to get from the stop by our house to the one by our school.  Once we got off the tube, we had two options.  Take the elevator or the stairs.  There were so many people waiting for elevators and we figured there wouldn't be that many stairs to take so we chose to walk.  WORST DECISION EVER.  We realized why Americans are so overweight and Europeans are so thin.  It was 175 stairs.  We were all breathing super hard after that and decided to never do that again.  We found our way to our school after getting turned around a few times.  Then, we had orientation for about 3 hours.  After that we were free to go get some lunch before a coach bus tour of London.  The tour was amazing!  It lasted about 3 hours and we had a wonderful British tour guide named Nigel.  Some of the places we got to see include: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, and tons of other really cool stuff in the heart of London.  After the tour ended at about 5pm, Patrick, Joe (Patrick's roommate), Kari (my roommate), and me went to get some groceries! Then we went back on the tube back to our houses.  After Kari got unpacked we went to the church pub in Muswell Hill.  It's a really cool pub that looks like a church (go figure) and about 25 or so of us met up there.  So much fun! It's such an adventure trying to find your way back home on the buses but it's getting easier as we do it more often.  Tomorrow we have meetings about our volunteer work placements and then a few of us are going to explore London some more.  That's all for now! :)

First Day

Well yesterday was definitely one of the longest days of my entire life.  I apologize in advance for how long this post is going to be, but so much happened and I want to fill you all in!
So I left my house about 5:45 pm on the 3rd to go to the airport.  My parents, my brother, and his wife all came to the airport with me to say goodbye. Patrick and I got all checked in and our bags weighed (mine was 50 pounds on the dot after I gave Patrick one of my sweatshirts to put in his suitcase).  We went through security and then had to wait almost 2 hours to start boarding our plane.  Once we started to board the plane it actually hit me that this is happening.  I'm spending the next 3.5 months of my life in a different country.  So exciting!! The plane was pretty big but had super uncomfortable seats.  I tried sleeping but I would wake up every 45 minutes or so.  The flight was supposed to take a little longer than 9 hours but ended up only being about 7.5 because of the wind direction.  BONUS!  Ok sorry for boring you with flight info but it had to be done. On to the exciting things, I promise!

Once we landed at Heathrow, it took us a while to get off the plane and make our way to immigration. Then, we found our bags and made our way to the area where some of our program directors were going to pick us up.  Then we had to wait, and wait, and wait, until everyone in our group got to the same place so we could go outside to where a coach bus would bring us to our school.  Once we got outside we waited some more.  SO. MUCH. WAITING. We were all so exhausted and wanted to get to our school as quickly as possible.  Finally the buses showed up and we had a 45 minute bus ride to our student center.  I took a few pictures on the way and will post them soon. Once we got to our school, they gave us some food to eat and some orientation packet info.  We were then allowed to roam the area around our school.  A lot of us decided to get a phone so we can communicate with each other throughout the semester.  It ended up being very cheap and we got a good deal.  On the way back from getting our phones, Patrick, Joe, and I did what any first-time visitor to London should do.  We immediately went to a pub!  The beer tastes amazing here.  After that, Patrick and Joe wanted to try a different pub.  I tagged along and they each tried a different beer than they ordered at the other pub.  After the pub experience, we walked back to our school where they had taxis waiting for us to bring us to our homestays.  My roommate Kari didn't arrive until today so I got to chat with the taxi driver for the 30 minute drive home.  He was really great and explained some of the areas that we drove through.  We finally made it to my house at 325 Alexandra Park Road :)

So I am living with a homestay mom, Janet, and her 15 year old daughter, Jennifer.  She has another daughter but she has her own place nearby.  They are awesome!! Both of them are super nice and helpful.  Kari and I each get our own room which is also nice.  The first night it was just Janet, Jennifer, and me so we had some dinner and watched British television!! It's weird hearing everything in a British accent but i'm already starting to get used to it.  My room has some pretty cool views and it's about the same size as my room at home.  One different thing about British homes: their washing machines are in the kitchen! I also couldn't find the lightswitch in the bathroom for a good 5 minutes, and then realized it was on the outside of the bathroom by the door. 

That was pretty much everything noteworthy that happened yesterday.  I'm going to write another blog soon about today's adventures! Miss you all :)

Tomorrow....wait, what?!

Wow.  I cannot believe it is almost finally here.  I have been waiting for this day since February.  It seemed so far away then and now it's finally starting to feel real.  My plane takes off tomorrow night from Minneapolis at 9:45pm and lands in London at 12:05pm London time the next day.  Thank goodness for direct flights!  The time difference is 6 hours ahead and that will definitely take a little time to get used to.  From the airport, we will take a shuttle to where we will be taking our classes.  From there, it's up to us to figure out how to get to our homestays.  At least everyone speaks English, so hopefully we won't get too lost.  We will probably end up taking the tube from our school.  I'm sure that whole situation will make for an amazing story.  I'll keep you posted.

Packing my suitcase has gone a lot better than expected.  I have almost everything in there at this point and it's still under the weight restriction of 50 pounds.  I'm also bringing my tennis racquet since another girl from my tennis team, Anna, will be on the trip as well! 

Saying goodbye to my high school and college friends was pretty tough, but I know how excited they all are for me and it's so easy to stay in touch through Skype and Facebook.  I'll miss you guys!!

Well, the next time I will be writing on this blog I'll be in London!  That is so crazy to think about.  I can't wait :)