This has gotta be the good life :): A Dream Come True

Hello everyone! This weekend was the first we've had so far where absolutely nothing was planned for us. That shows how busy we are! :) I managed to keep myself very busy though. I'll give an update of what I did each day.

Starting with Thursday night, they had karaoke at one of the bars located in our school. About 15 or so of us showed up to hang out and relax after a long week of classes. There were a ton of people there! Around 6 of us (all girls of course) and one of our program directors got up on stage and sang the classic American favorite, Don't Stop Believing by Journey in front of the crowd. It was so much fun!! The whole bar was singing along. It's always nice to do something fun like that after a long week.

On Friday, Kari and I decided to go shopping. We started at Piccadilly Circus and went to a sporting goods store called Lillywhites. It has 6 floors! I could not believe how much was in there. Then, we went to a gigantic souvenir store called Cool Britannica. I also was in shock at how much they had in the store. Everything was fairly inexpensive as well, so of course I picked up a few things :) After these 2 stores, we continued walking and found ourselves at M&M's world! They had 4 floors of everything M&M related. (Mom, you would have been in there for hours!) We then found our way to Chinatown and had some excellent Chinese food for lunch. It's nice to find good, inexpensive food over here since it's pretty difficult to do. After lunch, we made our way to Oxford Street! This is a very famous fashion area in London. We shopped at H&M for a bit and then went into some stores that we had no chance of buying anything in, like Burberry and Michael Kors. The atmosphere in these stores was so much different, and I couldn't believe how many people were buying things there!! Must be nice to afford that :)

The title of this blog is referring to what I did yesterday. Anna, Taylor, and I went to Wimbledon for a tour and to look around the museum. As a tennis player since the age of 4, I was in awe the entire duration of our time there. I could not believe I was in the same place that my favorite professional tennis players have played at. Seeing Centre Court was an unforgettable experience, and I hope I can go back someday when there is some actual tennis being played :) We learned that to get tickets, you either have to queue (stand in line) SUPER early and hope you are lucky enough to get a seat, or, your name is put into a lottery system and you have no choice on what day or match you will get to see. I'll definitely be putting my name in the lottery in a few years :) Another highlight of the tour was being in the interview room that the players go in after a match. I definitely soaked up the moment of sitting in the same chair (yes, the SAME chair) that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have sat in while giving interviews. The museum was amazing as well. We got to see and learn about how Wimbledon got started and how much different tennis was in the early 1900's than it is now! We all had a great time, and Anna and I spent way too much money at the gift shop afterwards :)

This upcoming week is the week before our fall break. Unfortunately, that means I have two tests :( I will be spending most of today studying and relaxing in preparation for the busy week ahead. On Tuesday, I will be seeing the play Phantom of the Opera! I love the movie and all musicals in general so I'm very excited for this :) Patrick and I leave for Italy very early Friday morning! We are spending 2 nights in Venice and 3 nights in Rome. When we come back, Patrick's mom and aunt will be here and we will get to spend the rest of our fall break with them and Patrick's brother! Can't wait to see some familiar faces! As usual, here are some pictures of my weekend. Cheers!