Weekend with Beth!

Beth came to visit last weekend! She and two of her sorority sisters (Emily and Samantha) came to London for five days and we had so much fun! It was great to take her to all of the touristy places in London. Some I had not even been to yet. We saw Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Piccadilly Circus, The Victoria and Albert Museum, went shopping at markets, and rode the London Eye! At night we hung out at pubs, which was really fun, and went to some dance clubs in Soho and Leicester Square. Below is a picture of Beth and I in front of Westminster Abbey. Then is a picture of Lindsay, Emily, Beth, Me, and Samantha on top of a monument at Trafalgar Square. The third is of Beth, Emily, and I inside the London Eye.



The London Eye was amazing! We went on a day that was super clear and sunny so we could see the entire city. I even picked out the street that I live on when we were at the top! My second favorite place we went was the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is a massive museum of art and design filled with thousands of artifacts from all over the world! They had interesting fashion, textile, silver, stained glass, and sculptor rooms, but the best was the jewelry display that had thousands of pieces of antique jewelry.

I love Cathedrals and St. Paul's was breathtaking inside! We even went up into the huge rotunda and looked down at London from the top. Above is a picture of Beth at the top of the Cathedral freaking out because she's afraid of heights, haha. After our visit, we stayed for an Evensong mass where an amazing men's choir sang almost the entire time.

It was so much fun seeing Beth and her friends! It made me miss home a little, but I am still loving London! I cannot believe that I am coming home in 2 weeks. My time here has gone so fast!

Milano!!

Hey everyone! Sorry I have been so bad about updating lately....

Two weekends ago Jen, Celena, and I visited Milan. It was such a nice trip! Everything went really smoothly so we had plenty of time to just explore the city and hang out. We ate pizza, pasta, and gelato and drank Italian wine. Our small hotel was really cute, and we even had a little balcony off of our room.

The highlight of the trip was seeing the Duomo, which is a massive, gorgeous Cathedral in the center of Milan. It is definitely my favorite thing I have seen so far! Its exterior is covered in statues of Saints and other amazing little details. It was also cool because we got to go to the top of it and walk around the roof looking down on the city.




Also in Milan we visited the Castello Sforzesco, which is a huge mid evil castle with a beautiful fountain in front of it. Below is a picture of Celens, Me, and Jen at the fountain. What was most exciting about it was the museum inside that housed a fresco ceiling by Leonardo Di Vinci and Michael Angelo's last unfinished sculptor.



Milan is also one of the fashion capitals of the world, so of course we had to go shopping. We went to a couple of cute little markets that sold fresh foods and discount clothing and jewelry. We also walked up and down the streets in the fashion district and admired designer labels like Dolce and Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, and Prada. Another site we saw was the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is a glass covered galleria with shops and cafes.



Milan was just so much fun! It was great to have some time to just relax and site-see in a beautiful city. It was definitely the best trip so far.

Barcelona, Baby!

This weekend I went to Barcelona and it was fantastic!

All of the girls in my flat, plus some more of our friends, flew to Barcelona, Spain for the weekend. We had a great time and got to see some amazing sites! The best was all of the architecture by Antoni Guadi. We went to a place called Gaudi Park which he originally designed to be a housing development, but never finished because he lost funding. Now, they have turned it into a park that anyone can visit for free. It was the oddest place I have ever seen...



And for everyone who was also at one time addicted to America's Next Top Model, remember the season where Caridee won? The creepy season finale runway show that they did in the wedding dresses took place here! Haha.



We also visited La Sagrada Familia which is a massive cathedral that he designed that is still being built. It's now been in construction for over 100 years!

Nightlife is also big in Barcelona, so we went out to a couple bars and dance clubs on Friday and Saturday night, which was a lot of fun! Barcelona was also my first European Hostel experience. It wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, but it was cheap, safe, and right on the beach! Here's a pic of Faith, Me, Zoe, Jennifer, Ashley, and Abbie on the beach just outside of where we stayed.

I'm excited for next weekend because Jen, Celena, and I are going to Milan! Yay for cheap European transportation! I can't wait to go shopping in Italy!

Snow Day!

Snow day in London!!! It's hilarious! We got about six inches of snow overnight and all of London is freaking out, haha. The buses are stopped, the underground is delayed, and stores are closed. I had one class this morning, but after that all classes at AIU were canceled. I took a ton of pictures on my walk home from school so I thought I would post some of them. The first one is of our flat on Gower St. all frosty and the second is of me in the wind and the snow. The rest are just of random things and people I saw on the streets on my way home.

Today It Snowed In London!

This weekend was a pretty mellow. It stared off by me agreeing to work on Friday at etv. The new channel launched this weekend, so they needed a lot of help on Friday getting ready for it. Then after work, in pure English tradition, I went to the pub with a few girls from etv. It was fun to hang out with some Londoners and to hear all about what they thought of American culture compared to British culture. I think we all might go out again soon! When I got home after the pub Ashley, Alyssa, Lindsay, and I decided to go to a dance club in Camden. It was a lot of fun because it was "pump it up" night, which meant that they played a bunch of cheesy 80's and 90's music, haha.

Saturday morning was amazing because I finally got to sleep in for the first time in weeks! Once I did wake up I went shopping with Ashley and Lindsay on Brick Lane, which has a lot of cool vintage shops. I bought a cute brown leather skirt.

February 1st is the Chinese new year, so today we went to Chinatown and saw a parade, dancers, and ate Chinese food. It was really cold out, but fun! Then today it snowed in London! It didn't start until this evening, but we already have at least 4 inches of snow on the ground, which is really rare for London. We're hoping it's enough to get a snow day tomorrow, but I don't think we have much of a chance.

Here is a link to some cool pics of London covered in snow!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2009/feb/02/pictures-of-snow-in-england?picture=342642312

Brussels, Rugby, and Modern Art

Hello All!

Things are going well in London! Work and school are keeping me busy, but I'm still finding time to have plenty of fun on the weekends.

On Friday I added another stamp to my passport by going on a day trip to Brussels, Belgium. I didn't think it was going to be all that great, but it turned out to be really fun day! We ate Belgium chocolate, Belgium waffles, and sampled Belgium beers. There were about three chocolate shops on every corner. We went to one called Chocopolis and it was delicious! Especially the hot chocolate! The waffles, as you can see, were all covered in whipped cream or ice cream and more chocolate! Another thing Belgium is known for is its beers. Every town in the country has its own brewery and some pubs have a choice between over 300 kinds of beers. There were all kinds of flavors like strawberry and peach, and every flavor is served in a specific kind of glass that is supposed to enhance the taste. I tried a fruity-flavored one that didn't even taste like beer at all. One thing we did that didn't have to do with food was visit the Brussels Art Museum. Tony, our AIU tour guide, walked us around and taught us about the history of art in Northern Europe, which was really interesting. Another thing we saw was an interesting 15th century fountain that is famous to Brussels. The fountain, called "manneken-pis", contains a sculpture of a little naked boy... I'll let you figure out where the water is coming from... haha. The most beautiful part of Brussels, however, is a huge square called the Grand Place. It's surrounded by all of these large, intricately detailed buildings that really were outstanding to see.

On Saturday I was introduced to Rugby. We went to a match in Twickenham and saw the Harlequins play the Scarlets from Wales. It took almost the entire match, but I think I understand how the game works now. It's a lot different from American football. After the game, since the home team won, we went to a bar in the stadium where they had a band playing. Lindsay, one of my roommates, was set on getting a picture with one of the players, which we eventually got after a good deal of begging, haha. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday was a little more low key. I went to Tate Modern, which is the huge modern art museum in London. Some of the exhibits were cool, but I honestly don't always get modern art. It was worth it though to see the photography exhibits. After that I walked around by the river and took pictures of the city for my photography class. Then, I went to the Design Museum where they had some cool exhibits on modern pottery design, graphic design, and fashion.

Another exciting thing to mention is that I just bought a plane ticket to Barcelona for mid-February! I cannot wait to see Spain!

Wicked, Stonehenge, Leeds, and More!

What a fun weekend!

It started Thursday night when I went to see the show Wicked. It was really cool, and the woman who played Elphaba was fantastic. I still have some of the songs stuck in my head. I would definitely love to see it in New York sometime.

On Friday I went on a bus trip with some other AIU students to Stonehenge and the town of Salisbury. Stonehenge was interesting, but it was raining and windy when we were there so we only stared at the rocks for about 25 minutes and then left. It was cool to hear about the mystery of the stones and the theories that people have come up with for why they are there. After Stonehenge we went to a town called Salisbury and got lunch in a pub. We also got to see the tallest mid evil Cathedral in the world. It was built in 1092 and had a gorgeous Gothic style of architecture. There were all kinds of tombs inside of Bishops and even Knights. It also held one of the 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta. I think this Cathedral is my favorite place I have been so far. Unfortunately, my camera was not working that day, so I just took some pics of it from my friend's facebook.

Saturday was another bus trip with AIU! We went to Leeds Castle and Rochester. Leeds was just what anyone would picture a Hollywood-like castle to be. It had a mote, drawbridge, and flags flying from the top. It was built in 1119 and housed many royal women such as King Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. In this picture are four of my roommates (from the left) Faith, Ashley, Lindsay, Alyssa, and Me all in front of the castle. Also on the castle grounds was a maze, which we got lost in for a long time, but eventually made our way out, haha. After Leeds we went to the town of Rochester where Charles Dickens grew up. There was also another castle that we did not go in and another cathedral that was also very gorgeous. We ate fish and chips at a small pub there as well. When we got home that night we were all pretty exhausted, but we went out to a pub around the corner anyway. It was fun to sit around, listen to music, and talk for a while. When the pub closed and we left it was pouring down raining, so we all got pretty wet, haha.

On Sunday Jen, Hannah, and I got up early and went to church at Westminster Cathedral. At the service was an amazing boy's choir who sang all of the songs in Latin. The entire service was very ethereal. After that Ashely, Lindsay, and I went to Trafalgar Square, which is a beautiful area of the city where the National Museum is. There we walked around, and Lindsay and I used our film cameras to take some pictures for our photography class's. After that, we went home and then some of us decided to go to a movie theater across town where the new movie "Revolutionary Road" was premiering in London. Our plan was to see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet walk down the red carpet into the theater, haha, but by the time we got there (2 hours before Leo) it was already too packed with fans. We ended up getting Ben and Jerry's ice cream instead, which was way more fun anyway. It was the perfect end to busy, but awesome weekend!

Fun Weekend

My first full weekend in London was a blast! On Friday night we all went out to Camden which is a really cool part of the city where there's a lot of night life. We went to a dance club called The Underworld which was so much fun because they kept playing hilarious 80's and 90's music like "Tainted Love" and "Jump Around". We danced for hours! On Saturday a few of us went back and walked around the Camden market, which was filled with local artists, antiques, and vintage clothing. Another thing about Camden is that it is the center of the punk and medal scenes in London. There were a bunch of crazy people and punk stores that were decorated with huge sculptures on the store fronts. After that we went to a sushi restaurant called Hi Sushi and it was delicious!

On Sunday we went to Brick Lane, which has a really cool Sunday market with lots of vintage clothing shops and artists. There were also tons of food vendors from all over the world. I had Moroccan food, which was really good and a Brazilian dessert that was like a custard with passion fruit. Everyone ate something different so we got to try all kinds of things. I bought a mod graphic t-shit for only £5.

Classes started again on Monday and they've been ok so far. Monday night Ashley, Abbey, and I went to Soho and saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire which was SO GOOD! It was seriously the best movie I have seen in a really long time. It totally lived up to all of the hype it's been getting.

My internship at ZigZag productions has been fun, but I had an interview this morning with a company called etv who runs eight TV channels in the UK and produces TV and web programming as well. In a few weeks they are launching a new channel out of one of their London studios so they are looking for help in pre-production and then in the studio once production begins. It sounds like I'm going to get a lot more hands on experience in studio and in the office. The interview went really well and I start there on Tuesday. I cannot wait!

So much to tell!

So much has happened since my last post! I finally have Internet now so it will be easier for me to update this thing.

On Tuesday some of us didn't have class so we went down to the river and walked passed some of the London landmarks. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abey, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. It was really cold! By the time we got to Buckingham Palace we were freezing so we didn't stay long. Plus, not many guards were there so we'll have to go back later and see them.

Yesterday I started classes at AIU and they seem really tough. I'm taking a film class called "World Cinema" and a photography class called "The Art of Photography". They'll both be fun, but a lot of work! I also have a class with my internship adviser once a week. I am definitely going to be busy this quarter. After class I went with a group from school on a pub crawl of historic London pubs. The cultural adviser, Tony, from AIU took a group of us on the tour and it was really interesting. We went to 4 pubs. One from the 1800's, 1700, 1600's, and 1500's. They were all really gorgeous! Dad, you would have liked all the stories he had to tell about them and the other city landmarks we passed along the way. Beth, we walked down the street where they filmed the fight between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth in Bridget Jones's Diary, haha. I tried to take a picture of it, but my camera battery has been acting weird lately. I'm going to call Canon tomorrow to see what I can do about it because it's getting really annoying.

We also passed St. Paul's Cathedral and it was absolutely breathtaking!! It's definitely the most beautiful building I've seen so far.

Today was my first day at my internship and I loved it! I'm working at a production company called ZigZag productions that does TV work around London. They do production work for a lot of big shows in Britain so I'm pretty excited about it. My job is just as a runner, but today they had me looking through old footage and pulling out clips of celebrity outtakes for a new celebrity gossip website that they are developing. Tonight my goal is to research British celebrities since I realized today that I don't know who they are, haha.

So everything is going great so far. All of my roommates are still getting along well and we've been having lots of fun together. I can't wait to start visiting some museums this weekend!

Cheers! haha