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Cambridge
there was a tower that you could go to in cambridge and you could see all of the city...so beautiful Heyyyyyyy ya'll!
On Friday night we decided to go with a large group to karaoke about 15 min from Kensington. It was a group of about 20 people. We made our way to the karaoke bar by the tube but had to take at "night bus" on the way back. I will explain why later. Aimee, my roommate, sang Spice Girls Wannabe with our friend Sarah. I was the official picture taker because I am not much of a singer. There is group of guys here from Minnesota that we have become really good friends with and they really let loose and sang Livin' La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin. It was one of the funniest things I have seen. There were some local people at the bar as well and they appeared to be having a fabulous time. They were dancing machines. The lady who actually does the karaoke was hilarious as well. She was an older woman with a cut off shirt that showed her stomach completely and she would sing in the background and play the air guitar. She actually flashed one of the cameras! Then the time came to head back home. Karoke ended at 12
The Market
from the tower...the market they have in cambridge and it just so happens that the last tube ride is at 12 as well. So we left at about 1155 and ran to the station to attempt to get on the tube. Well, we didnt make it in time and had to take the night bus. The night bus is called the N10 or the N9 because they only run at night after the other buses shut down. (I told you in my last blog that everything shuts down in this city at either 11 or 12..haha). But riding the bus was fun and it gets you there the same way. Friday was a pretty relaxing but fun day.
Well, I finally got outside the city of London and ventured to the countryside of Cambridge, a small city about an hour and half from the Kensington/London area. It was a day trip that I took with the program and we drove on a bus out to Cambridge to see the city. It was the first time that I had seen the countryside in England and it was beautiful. We had a tour guide lady that was giving us information as we were traveling and she said that college
punting
punting boat used to be free, but they have recently started charging about £3,000 at some colleges, which is a lot cheaper than what we pay in the states. She did say that the cost of living in the Cambridge area is about £7000 a year! Thats $14,000! I thought that was crazy. Anyway, when we got to Cambridge, she gave us a short tour of the city, including some of the colleges that are there like Queens' and King's Colleges. We actually got a chance to see a chapel that was built by Henry VI that actually took 100 years to make! It was really beautiful. Henry VI and his wife were known as the Red and White Rose and together they created some other kind of rose (I forgot what she said) and there was a rose all over the Chapel, as well as throughout the college to represent the two of them. After touring the city, we were able to go and check out the rest of the city for ourselves for several hours. Aimee, Sarah (a friend of ours here), and I all went to the top of this tower where you could see all of Cambridge. It
me punting
me trying to punt... was really amazing to see. The stairs to the tower were really small and it was quite a hike to the top of the tower, but worth the workout. We checked out the market they have every week, had some ice cream, and listened to a Beatles cover band sing on the street. The most exciting thing that we did in Cambridge was something known as Punting. You may think that you know what it is, but you are probably wrong. Have you ever seen the movies with the Italian men on a boat pushing people along the river with a long stick? That's what punting is here, except its a different type of boat; it's an actual punting boat. There are two ways to tour the river; you can either have someone give you guide, or you can do "self-hire" where you doing the "punting" for yourself. Aimee, Sarah, and I decided to do it for ourselves to see what it would be like. We have taken so many tours and had so much information thrown at us, so it was a nice change of pace to just relax and try and do it ourselves. You may think that
Aimee
aimee is being fierce in this pic while punting..we were under a bridge this was an easy task, but it was difficult. the boat is very long and hard to manuver around other boats. The pole is heavy and long (10 pounds and 16 feet) and hard to pull out of the river quickly. There were some drunk girls on the river (or they appeared to be) causing boats to bump into eachother. It was almost like river bumper wars. Not to worry, it wasnt painful for someone to run into you. We did our best, but didnt get far up the river because we only had the boat for an hour. It was an interesting adventure I must say. So all in all, the Cambridge trip was very exciting. We did manage to take some pictures in the flowers in the park...senior picture style.
Aimee and I bought tickets to fly to Dublin, Ireland. A group of our friends were going to go this upcoming weekend so we decided that we would check it out and see how the flights looked. When we were getting around to booking the tickets, the prices has gone up £20 and we were not okay with that. So, we were looking for other flights and
the airline that we were looking at was actually selling tickets for free! All you had to do was pay the taxes on the tickets. It was part of some special offer or something. So we actually ended up getting tickets for another weekend for $40 which is a really good deal. There are some girls going that same weekend so we are going to try and stay in some hostels and meet some Irish people! We are really excited about this trip.
This weekend is a three-day weekend like it will be for you guys in the states. Its a National Bank holiday here or something like that. On Monday we are going to something called "Cheese Rolling". Apparently, people roll giant cheese balls off the side of a cliff and then jump off the cliff into the water or something like that! It's a pretty big deal here I think actually so I'll let you know how that goes. We also are doing Greyhound racing which is like the Kentucky Derby but with Greyhounds. You can bet on them and stuff. Maybe I'll get one of those giant hats like they have the Derby and where it
while I watch. haha.
Well, until next time I suppose. Cheers!
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Kristi
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HOLLER
You are so cute with your blog, I am impressed! I tried to read it all, but instead just looked at the pictures. Everything look so awesome and fun. I am glad ya'll are having a good time! Love you and miss you!