The last two weeks have been PACKED with fieldtrips. We've been to Stonehenge (overrated), Salisbury (beautiful cathedral where the Magna Carta is kept), Bath (site of ancient Roman baths), Liverpool (the Beatles) and Manchester (center of the British industrial revolution). All this traveling has been offset by the celebrations of Halloween and Guy Fawkes day. I'll just do a few quick highlights of each place to give you a general idea. Stonehenge Honestly, I was not that impressed. Yeah, it's intriguing to wonder about how they got into that formation and all, considering they [View Full Entry]

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This past week was our Fall Break, and I spent it galavanting through Greece. My travel buddy and I arrived in Athens early Saturday evening and hopped on the metro. After switching lines and then taking a bus, we met our CS host at a bus stop near his house. We dropped off our stuff and then went out for drinks in the main square to get to know each other. We didn't stay out long because we had been traveling all day and wanted to get an early start in the morning for sight-seeing, but we did stay up long [View Full Entry]

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We continue to become increasingly educated on the intricacies of British Life and Culture. On Monday we watched a film called Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. It was made in the 60s and, according to our professor, captures the feel of the English working class during postwar Britain... which was kinda ironic to me because it felt like it was straight out of a Tennessee Williams script. For the Art History class, we went back to the National Gallery. That's right- there's so much cool stuff in this museum, we went to it twice. This time, we saw painting that were [View Full Entry]

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I got back from my weekend trip to Paris this afternoon. My head is still spinning and it feels like it was all a dream- I can't believe I actually went to France. My old French teachers would have been so proud- those five years of learning the language finally came in handy! We left right after class on Thursday and took the tube to King's Cross, where we then caught a train to Hitchin. Hitchin is a beautiful little town in the hills near Luton, which is where the airport was. Our dear friend Peter, whom we met through our [View Full Entry]

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And nobody in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was, is ever gonna bring me down! On Monday in our British Life & Culture class, we brought in the goodies we bought at the markets on our shopping adventures. We were educated about the joys of black pudding (look it up- try not to vomit), Jaffa Cakes (essentially Milano cookies), pasties (not the same thing as pastries- it's more like a Hot Pocket), and HP Sauce, among other things. We then were given a large sheet of paper, one per group, and instructed to write down some information [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday was our second day trip. We met around noon under the Clock Tower then headed over to Westminster Abbey. It's a beautiful place, and a shame that you're not allowed to take pictures inside most of it. There are tons of famous people buried there, monarchs and writers and cultural icons. One of my favorite areas was the Poets Corner; I was standing with one foot on the memorial of Charles Dickens and the other on the stone for Rudyard Kipling, facing a statue of Shakespeare. I could have stood there all day just taking it in. There was also [View Full Entry]

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This weekend was pretty chill for me. Some of the people in our group travelled, but I have yet to leave for a weekend getaway. However, plans are in motion for a trip to France or Italy, and Germany will definitely happen within the next month. The other day I went down to Camden market with four other people from the group - it's so cool! Tons of funky little shops with cute clothes and jewelry and music, even fresh fruit vendors and Chinese food everywhere! I didn't end up buying anything (yet), but it was fun to look around. After [View Full Entry]

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On Monday we met up with one of our professors on the Tower Bridge and walked along the Thames, crossing back and forth a few times stopping at various points of interest, and ending by the Clock Tower. Even in the rain, this is one of the most breath-taking cities I have ever seen. There is just so much to do and see, and the history is unbelievable. On our walk we learned a lot about the British government, from famous monarchs to how Parliament works. Everyone had been assigned a person to research, and along the way we would stop [View Full Entry]

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Last night was birthday dance party night! We got all dressed up and danced the night away at a place called ZOO Club. It was insane! There were two floors, with multiple rooms on each floor, and each room was playing a different type of music. The top floor was pretty crowded but downstairs had more room to dance. It's incredible how many people you meet here; London is an incredibly diverse town. We met guys from Iraq last night, and a few Irish and German people. We even ran into a girl from Washington DC! We were all dragging a [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we got our first homework assignments! We were each assigned a historical figure in British politics to research over the weekend. On Monday we are going on a walk along the River Thames as a sort of class field-trip. We will be going from the Tower Bridge back to Westminster. During the walk we will take turns explaining a mini-biography of our assigned people. I am researching Queen Mary I, what she is known for, significant moments in her reign, and her impact on London, England, and the rest of the UK. We have also been assigned a football (soccer) [View Full Entry]

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