The Month of March

---

Well.. I haven't had spare time to write a lot like I thought I would when I came over here. It is hard to remember all of what I have done..which is sort of the point of this thing but oh well! I have been all over the place by now. I have seen major sites in London been to all the different districts and just got home from Excursion week where I went to Scotland and Ireland. I haven't yet been to the tourist attractions such as the Tower of London and the London Eye, but I am planning on buying a package deal soon. As far as my classes, they have been going really well and I have been getting a lot of homework lately.. We have been to many field trips such as Greenwhich where we visited the observatory and saw where time "begins". It is a very cute town and I had some of the best mexican food there ive had in a long time. To get there we took a beautiful boat ride on the Thames River and went under the London Bridge. I have also been to BBC and took a tour of their center which was cool we saw a tv show being taped in one of there studios. Pretty cool stuff. We have also been to The Imperial War Museum which was really interesting and free! Hard to find free things around here.. I have seen many plays including, Moliere, Shakespeare, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Chicago, 11 and 12, Jerusalem, etc.. they have all been good except for Shakespeare.. that was boring! But Chicago we saw on our own and that was by far the best! Me and my roommate Julia are plotting are attack on how to best stalk Ian Mckellen(aka Gandalf of LOTR) which is coming up this wednesday.. I am aiming for a picture and an autograph! I am beyond excited to see him up close! So all in all I have been doing a lot for classes in and outside the house. I am really getting a feel for the culture now.. I have almost perfected my accent and I am learning all kinds of slang words! For example: Sherbert = taxi cab, Dog n' Bone = Cell, Geaz = dude/guy, Kebab = shiskabob, etc... too funny! And apparently we have ruined the English language but I like to think that we improved it.. that doesn't go down too well with the british! hah! I have also frequented the camden market where we bargain down the latest clothes and shoes and I've become a pro on the tube/bus system. Pretty proud of myself actually. I feel like I am really living here and I would love to actually live here one day. Besides the weather I am discovering how much I really enjoy this city.
Excursion week was an amazing week. We started off going to Scotland where Karen picked us up from the airport and brought us home to stay with her and her 2 children for the week. She was very very nice and fed us yummy home cooked meals! Her little boy Fraser is too cute with his red hair and little scottish accent! By far my favorite accent now! We also were introduced to her friends son who took us out and showed us around the town and he was very nice, we had a blast together! We got up at 10 am to go to St. Giles cathedral and took communion there, which was different to say the least. The pastor was a lot more like John Knox.. very intense! We also discovered that John Knox is kind of a jerk.. didn't like women too much. His house was full of dense info but we made the best of it by dressing up in the costumes they had and taking videos/pictures. Hard researching work.. We also went to the Scottish whiskey experience which was actually really fun and informative. I found out that I hate whiskey especially at noon! Gross! We saw the castle from the outside but decided not to go in, it was pretty enough from the outside and gave us an amazing view of the city. The most epic day in Scotland was the one where we randomly decided to go on the longest day tour in the UK and went all the way up to inverness. It was sooo beautiful we got to ride on the lochness on a boat, see urquhart castle, saw inverness and many other cities, sterling castle and the highland mountains. Amazing views up there and i got some great pics! Our tour guide had a great glasgow accent and was really funny so he made the trip that much better. "Over here lass is a cheeky wee town!" After Scotland we headed to Dublin and never made it out to the country so we may try and go back for a weekend if money permits it.. But Dublin was fun we of course went to the guinness factory, grafton street, temple bar, authentic pubs, and just generally walked around enjoying the city. It was a really cool city but I think I like London better for now. I really want to see Irelands countryside. The trip went very well and it was a bit stressful coming back and I was really happy to be home. We did our presentation and now we have to write a paper for the week along with the other 1000 papers I have to do. Then we are done with excursion week.
Since I have been back I have been staying in a lot to do hw but I am getting out when I can. It is getting warm here finally staying in the 50's with occassional sunshine which for us is very exciting. I am getting ready to plan my Spain trip for Spring Break. I absolutely cannot wait until I go! I am already practicing my salsa I think I am going to take some cheap lessons even thought they don't really salsa there! Ill be on skype so skype me sometime peoples!

---