London Part 2

Even though the hostel was in a shady neighborhood, the bathrooms were kind of dirty, and there were some creepy-looking people staying there, it really was not too bad. The beds were fairly comfortable, and we were given free breakfast (even though it was only toast and cereal; at least it was better than nothing). The day started off cloudy and drizzly, so even though the London Eye reopened that day, we decided it wouldn't be worth it to go on it because it would be too hazy to see anything. Instead, we started off the day by checking out of the hostel and going to watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. In the winter, the changing of the guards ceremony takes place every other day at precisely 11:30am. They say to arrive there at least a half hour early to get a good spot, so we planned to leave the hostel by 10am. However, by the time everyone got ready and packed up, it was almost 10:30. Then, when we got to the train station, the station that we needed to go on was closed for construction (they are doing lots of construction in preparation for the 2012 Olympics). Therefore, we had to take a bus instead, which took so much longer because they had to make several stops. Long story short, we got to Buckingham Palace right when the ceremony was starting. There were tons of people, so we spent the first half of the ceremony trying to find a spot where we could see at least a little bit of what was going on. We kept shoving our way up closer and closer to the gate, and finally, for about the last 10 minutes, we got right up to the front of the gate, so i was able to see really well and get great pictures! The soldiers ere not wearing the typical red uniforms that you see in the pictures, though. Instead, they were wearing their winter gear: grey overcoats. The changing of the guards ceremony was probably my favorite part of the entire trip, but I just wish we would have gotten there earlier so I could have enjoyed watching the entire thing, instead of spending half of the time scrambling to get up to the front of the gate. Anyway, after the changing of the guards ceremony, we broke up into groups. Some people went inside Westminster Abbey, while the rest of us went shopping for a little while. My friend Jill and I went to all of the tourist places looking for souvenirs. Before it got dark, we went to go see St. Paul's Cathedral. It was absolutely gorgeous! We walked around the outside taking lots of pictures, and we even saw a wedding party. Imagine how incredible that would be to get married in a huge cathedral like that! We went inside, but realized that the cathedral closed in a half hour, and we did not feel like spending 13 pounds to tour the inside when we would feel rushed to see it all. So, instead, we met up with the rest of our group and made our way to Fleet Street, Trafalgar Square (where I climbed on top of a lion statue's back), the National Gallery that had Van Goh and Monet paintings, and Baker Street. We finished the night off with a delicious, cheap meal of Pizza Hut, and then we made our way back to the bus to head home to Canterbury. It was a jam-packed, exhausting two days in London, but we saw a lot. I absolutely love London because it is such a beautiful, scenic city! Eve though we did see a lot in the time we spent there for two days, there is still so much that I want to see and do there. For example, I'd like to go inside of Westminster and St. Paul's Cathedral, ride the London Eye, shop at Harrod's, walk through Hyde Park, see a musical, etc. My Grandpa Clark is coming to visit me during the first weekend in March, so he is going to take me to see some of the things that I did not get to see yet. He is also planning out a whole schedule of places in England in general that he'd like to show me. I cannot wait for him to come visit! I was sad that we had to leave London so soon, but I will definitely be making two, if not three, trips back to the city while I'm here in England!

London Part 1

My first weekend excursion was a trip to London. Me and six friends planned out two days worth of site-seeing and adventures throughout the city of London. It is impossible to do and see everything in London because there's just so much to do! However, we did a pretty good job of hitting some of the main attractions that London has to offer. In order to get the most out of our trip to London, we took an early coach bus (which only cost 8.50 pound each way) that got us to the city by 10:30am. Once in the city, we got tube passes for the day. Our first stop was to see Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station. It was so much fun taking goofy tourist pictures pretending like we were running through the wall on our way to Hogwarts. This was one of the highlights of the entire trip! After having way too much fun taking picture, we hopped back on the tube and headed to our hostel to check in. The hostel was called No. 8 hostel, and it only cost 9 pounds a night. However, it was located in a kind of shady neighborhood area, which made me a little bit nervous. It was a sunny day, so we checked in, dropped of our stuff, and set out to see London! During the daylight hours, we walked in a park where we saw strange-looking ducks and swans that tried to eat my fingers haha. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Big Ben, Parliament, and we saw the London Eye, but we could not go up in it because it was closed for maintenance. It was the perfect day for pictures. The sun was out and the was not a cloud in the sky! However, it was very cold, so once we saw all of the big sites and the sun started setting, we found a restaurant called Las Iguanas to eat at. This was our splurge meal of the trip. We all got cocktails and/or wine with our meals to celebrate our first night in London. My cocktail was called Key West Cooler, and it was delicious, along with my quesadillas and chicken with chips meal. I think all of our stomachs were satisfied after that meal. Our night was not over after dinner, though. Since the British Museum is free, and it was open until 8:30pm, we decided to go there next. The British Museum had several ancient artifacts from Egypt, Rome, and many other places. The Egyptian collection was my favorite though because I love learning about mummies and hieroglyphics. The museum also contained the Rosetta Stone, which was used to help decode the meaning of hieroglyphics. We stayed until the museum was closed, and then we walked around downtown for a bit. Two of our British friends, Jack and Ben, met up with us at night. We were originally planning on going out with them at night, but after the long day of walking outside in the cold and waking up early, we were all too exhausted to go out. Instead, we took the tube back to the hostel, played a few games of Jenga, and then went to sleep so that we would be refreshed and energized for our second day in London.

Classes

In case you didn't know, Canterbury does things differently when it comes to signing up for classes. I was not allowed to register for any classes until I got here. We wrote down a list of the classes we would like to take at Canterbury, but it was not guaranteed that they would offer the course, so we had to have several background options. All study abroad students are required to take Modern Britain and either Brit Lit or British History (I chose Brit Lit). For my other two classes, I needed to take an OC-H course and then I was hoping to take a science to finish up my science endorsement or a course titled Critical Issues in Education, which is for my major of elementary education. However, when I went to choose classes on Monday, I was told that the education course was not being offered and the science course conflicted with my Brit Lit class. I did get into the OC-H class that I wanted called Unity an Diversity: The American Dream, though, but since they have kind of unorganised system here, I did not have anything that I could take for credit for my last class. So, I just decided to take a US cinema class where we watch movies and talk about them. Today, I went to the US cinema and American Dream classes, and I'm so glad I decided to take them. In the cinema class, we watched ET the entire class session and we were just given a paper with questions that we will discuss next week during seminar. I looked at the syllabus and there is only on paper that we have to do for the course and we can write about any film/film aspect that we want to! It's the perfect class for me because I love watching movies, and that's basically all we do in this class! :) Then, the American Dream class seems like it will be easy because it's all about the Constitution and diversity in America; things we've learned in 8th grade! I am one of three American students in the class, so it's interesting to hear what British students think about our government system.
Anyway, I'm liking classes so far. They aren't too stressful yet, and it's really nice because I only have classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so I have 5 day weekends every week!! WOOHOO!! Classes here only meet once a week for two hours each! So even though it was kind of a stressful process to pick classes, I really can't complain about my amazing class schedule. Now I have more time for traveling and enjoying my time over here in the UK instead of feeling bogged down with tons of work. I'm loving it! <3

Canterbury and the Cathedral

My first week in Canterbury was full of orientations, choosing classes, and starting classes. I only had to go to my Modern Britain and British Literature classes which both meet for two hours each on Wednesdays. The rest of the week, I was class-free. So, I had plenty of time to settle in and have fun meeting new people and enjoying the exciting nightlife that Canterbury has to offer. :) I went to a few pubs called the Jolly Sailor and the Penny, as well as a club called Chemistry.
I've had the chance to walk around and get to know the city and campus as well. Last Friday, January 14, we had our first guided tour of the city of Canterbury and the Canterbury Cathedral. It wasn't the best weather for a walking tour because it was very cold and rainy that day, but enduring the weather was worth it. My favorite part of the tour and the city is the Cathedral. It's gorgeous! And the best part is that I get to see it everyday as I walk around the city or head to campus. I love seeing all of the old houses and buildings that are here in England because you can't see anything quite like them in America. I'm enjoying taking in every sight, every moment, and every experience as much as possible!

I made It!!!

I departed the O'Hare airport yesterday at 4:45pm. It was a beautiful, sunny day for traveling! Even though I was at the airport and on the plane to London, it still hadn't sunk in that I am going to England to stay for 3 months! I have never been able to sleep on planes (or anything that moves , for that matter), so I decided to try taking Tylenol PM to help break that barrier and help me sleep. It made me drowsy, but I still did not get any sleep on the flight. :/ Instead, I spent my time watching two movies that the airline provided: The Social Network and Life As We Know It. The airline also provided two meals...most people get grossed out by airplane food, but I am the exact opposite! I rarely ever fly on planes that give yo meals, so when I do, I get really excited about the food! For dinner, they served a choice of chicken and rice or cheese tortellini (I chose the chicken and rice) which came with a salad, dinner roll and butter, crackers and cheese, and a chocolate caramel brownie! Our second meal, breakfast, consisted of a warm croissant with butter and jam, and raspberry yogurt. I took pictures of the food before I ate it, because I'm a nerd like that, and I ate every last bit of each meal! :)

Anyway, we arrived in the London Heathrow airport at 6:30am London time, which is 12:30 Chicago time (since England is 6 hours ahead). Once at the airport, my group and I found a women who was holding up a sign that said Canterbury Christ Church University, and she led us to our bus that drove us 2 hours to our flats. The flats were not as nice as I expected, but with a little rearranging and special touches, I made it feel more like home. As soon as I got in England, I opened up the envelope hat my roommate Tia gave me before I left. I was right! Inside the envelope were letters from all of my best friends from Manny 17 telling me how much they will miss me and wishing me good luck on my semester abroad. They brought a tear to my eye :'( Thank you Manny 17! I'll miss you...Love you all! <3 Before I unpacked and rearranged, though, my study abroad group and I went to grab a bite to eat at a local eatery called Run of the Mill. I got a cheeseburger and fries, and I'll have to admit that it was not the best thing I've tasted, but it was food and I was hungry. After eating, we all went to the supermarket right by our flats called ASDA (it's a lot like a Walmart in America). There, I picked up some necessities like toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, hangers, bread, and peanut butter. When we got back to our flats, we met a few of our flatmates. I already knew that i was living with Deema from ISU, but our other four roommates turned out to be British girls. They seem really nice, and they welcomed us by helping us unpack and adjust to the flat, and one of our flatmates, Ellie, even cooked a delicious pasta dish with veggies and cheese sauce! I'm really looking forward to this semester in England; it's finally starting to hit me that I'm actually here! It's about 9:00pm English time (3:00pm Chicago time) and I'm ready for bed. I haven't slept in 36 hours, so I need my sleep; especially since I've got a long day of orientations and tours tomorrow. Cheers!