We conquered Ireland in thirty three hours!

Today we started out in Ireland but now I am back sleeping in my dorm room in London. Ireland was sooo awesome! I think I may like it a little bit better than London. We spent the day in Malahide which is a coastal town close to Dublin. The first thing we did was walk around the park that surrounded Malahide castle. It was so nice to get out the city and to a small town. We walked past a cricket game being played and I still have no clue how the game works. We couldn't get into the castle because it is under construction. But we did get to hike a little and while we were hiking it started to pour the rain. So I had to walk around Ireland with a British flag umbrella. Actually as we were walking two old men said we all need to have matching umbrellas because the ones we had were not Irish enough. They were funny and laughed at us for comeing to their little town as tourist haha after the park we had lunch. Also while walking through the park we saw lots of dogs and we got to pet most of them and talk a few minutes to their owners. We have decided that the people in Ireland are so much nicer than people in London. We weren't sure what we wanted so we just wondered around town until we decided on something. The town was just like I pictured an small town in Ireland to be like. It was so awesome! Then after lunch we went to the beach dispite the rain clouds. The beach was soo beautiful! It is hard to discribe in words how it was but it was so different than any beach in America. After the beach it was time to head back to the airport. It was so nice today to be able to just wonder around and stop when you felt like it compared to living in the big city of London. I have decided that I will never live in a big city haha. That's it for tonight I am exhausted from the awesome trip this weekend.

The Luck of the Irish

Today we flew to Dublin! Although it was a very early start, we ha to leave at 6:00 for the airport with a little over four hours of sleep, it has been an awesome day! We have pretty miched tried to conquer the city in one day since tomorrow will be spent in the country and then flying back to London. Despite the time crunch we got a lot in today. The first thing we did was go to the Guiness brewery which was really cool and something you have to do while in Dublin. Then from there we went to a castle and trinity college and just wondered through the streets. But at Trinty College there was a graduation so we got to see everyone all dressed up. I have decided Ireland is better than London in someways, first off the accents are sooo much cooler! I just love listening to them! And secondly the map is so much user friendly! It is a lot more easier to navigate. And also I like that there is a lot less people here than in London. The people here are so much nicer too! While on the bus we made some new friends and they were nice and helped us figure out what bus to take. For dinner today we went to an Irish pub and there were two guys in the bar playing Irish music it was so awesome! Right now we are back at the hostel and going to be soon because we have to get up early so we can make it to Malahide coast and be back in time for our 7:40pm flight. Cheers!

It's Friday!! Well for me anyways!

Today is my Friday! It was the last class for the week! We went to the Museum of London in the Docklands, we were given a section of the museum and had to analyze it. My partner and I were given the Blitz section. It was a cool section they just didn't put it together very well. We actually finished way early since our section was so small, we just chilled in the cafe with these really comfortable chairs and amazing blueberry muffins! After class I came back to the apartment and attempted to work on my paper but that didn't go so well, I ended up doing other things. It was super hot here today compared to normal it was almost eighty degrees out! Tonight we are going to Ellen's and Melissa's to hang and then get in earlier than normal since we have to leave for the airport at like 5:30am tomorrow for Dublin! I am so stoked for that. I might not get to blog tomorrow because I don't know of we will have wifi at the hostel. But if I can't you will hear all about Dublin Saturday night when we get back!

Who said you couldn't be two places at once?!

Today we had class in Greenwhich, just not the one in Ohio haha actually the one here is pronounced "Gren-which" It was really cool though it is where the time is based off of for the whole world, because the Prime Meridian is there. I actually stood on both sides at the same time so it was like I was in two places at one time! We also got to see the Olympic venue there, it is for some sort of jumping not sure what kind though it had a funny name. While we were there I also got to try on a knights helmet and glove it was really heavy! It was also like seventy five degrees here today which is hot compared to the fifty and sixty degree weather we have been having. So i can only imagine how its going to feel once i get home! After class i took a little nap because I was extremely tired because we had to leave almost an hour and a half earlier than normal because Greenwhich is so far out. Then I worked on my paper for the class a little. I'm doing it on the Harry Potter museum, it is going to be a super easy paper and also kind of fun! That's about all, we ate dinner tonight at home but we we had pasta yet again haha just because it is really easy to cook. The stove in pur kitchen is a gas stove so me and sarah have been having problems lighting it with the dinky little lighter we have. We have been using a piece of paper and just dropping it over the place where you light it in the oven haha. Anyways today was the midway point for our time here in London and I can't believe how fast it has gone! I miss home some but I am definitely not ready to leave so soon, so it's a good thing we have two more weeks after London touring France and Italy! That's all for today, hope all is well at home!

On the London Eye way up in the sky!

Today was a good day! Well I guess they all have been good. I had class but most importantly I rewashed my clothes and I remembered to put soap in the machine! There is nothing better than having flash clothes, which gives you more of a variety to choose from. After class and washing clothes we went to the London Eye. We had planned to meet in waterloo tube station, but the problem is it's a pretty big station and we forgot to say where to meet. No worries though all the groups thought alike and met at in front of Boots like we have been doing for the ISA sponsored programs. It was the normal six to go on the London Eye. It was soo awesome! You could see the whole city from up there! When were done it was only like six o'clock so we decided to have a movie night in Ellen and Melissa's apartment. Their apartment is Super nice and awesome! Except the main cord for the DVD player was missing so we had to use a laptop. It was funny we had this huge tv but we were stuck watching a movie on this tiny screen. But it was a lot of fun like always. That's all for today! Good might!

Where's Ellen?

Today was probably one of the least exciting days I've been here because we actually ha to sit in a class room. It was a big change from being out and about the city everyday. After class Sarah, Sarah, Jennae, Ellen, Melissa, and I all went shopping for family and us. I got a mind the gap tshirt for myself then the rest of the things I bought was for everyone back home. Every time the six of us are together we have a lot of fun! We normally play the where's Ellen game because she always just disappears. We said we were going to make a book called where's Ellen just like where's Waldo except it would just be set in London haha. After shopping we went to five dollar burger night at "Bar" it was a good time! Then after dinner me and Sarah took our laundry to Jennae and Sarah's since it is way cheaper there, but I had a fail moment and forgot to put laundry soap in so my clothes just got washed in cold water. So now I have to get up early and go rewash them :( I feel like I am conforming to the fast past of city life because I got impatient when I had to wait five minutes for the tube because we normally only have to wait like one minute. I can't believe how fast this trip is going! We were talking today how next week is our last week here and it feels like we just got here! But we still have lots of fun things planned! Like Dublin! We just printed our tickets for the plane I am soo excited! Ok I'm hitting the hay! Night everyone love and miss you!

The London Bridge is falling down!

Last night was a lot of fun! We went to this bar right up the road from where I am living, it was set back in the eighties and nineties which was pretty cool. Me and the group of girls I was with actually got the dance floor started which makes us pretty awesome! Going out gave us a chance to meet locals and that was a lot of fun! There were these two guys that hung out with us off and on for most of the night it was funny because we asked them to do their best American accent and they did a thirteen year old girl. It was just an awesome night to top off an awesome day! Today we got to sleep in! That was good because you don't get much sleep here because we are always doing some thing. We went to the Tate Modern Art Museum which was really cool even if I didn't understand some of the prices in the there. We decided to get lunch at the little stand right out side the museum but it started to down pour so we had to run for cover! All day it would be sunny then start pouring the rain all of a sudden without any warning. So we got really good at whipping our umbrellas out on an split second. After that we went to the Tower of London it was really cool. We got to see the Crown Jewels! It was so sparkly in the room! They said that each side of the vault doors weigh 2000 pounds! After the museum we came home and ate a dinner of pasta like we do every night because it's cheap and easy haha. Then we just kind of relaxed around the room to get ready for another exciting week of classes. That's it for now, hope all is well state side!

I spy the Queen!!

This is going to be a quick blog today because I am getting ready to head out for a night out. But it was an exciting day today! We went to Windsor Castle which is the Queens summer home and we saw the royal guards I actually got my picture with them. And almost got ran over by them! But the best thing is we got to see the Queen! And Kate! And we think William! They were heading out to the Ascot Derby. But it was so cool she even waved to us! That's all I'm heading out now!

Mind the cliffs please! It's a tid bit windy!

Today we didn't have class so we had an ISA day trip to Dorset which is on the coast line. It was a two hour train ride to Dorset. But it was pretty fun we finished up planning our Dublin trip with the other Sarah and Jennae and we also tried out our British accents with the phrase "mind the gap" which you here all the time on the tube and the trains. Once we got to the train station we boarded coach coach buses and four of us were in the back four seats squished when we realized there was only six people on a sixteen person bus. So needless to say we moved! The first stop was Corfe Castle, which is in ruins because it was destroyed during Normandy and the Blitz. But it was still very cool to see! At the foot of the hill was a mid-evil village and we ate lunch here, the village was awesome to walk through but all the doors were shorter than me! From there we went to the Jurassic Coastline which was awesome!!! We were up on this really high cliff and the shore was below it was just awesome! It was very windy, windier than Ohio so you had to be very careful around the edge. We saw Dorfle Door which was awesome to, it is the picture I hope will post to the blog after I'm done writing. (I have been having a hard time getting the pictures to post, so we will see) We walked down these really narrow steps to the beach which was pebbles instead of sand. And me and Jennae were trying to touch the water without getting our shoes wet when a big wave came in and as we were running away we both fell, it was funny haha. Then when it was time to head back me Sarah and Sarah decided to be one of the few to hike a mile and a half over this really steep hill. It was crazy because I wasn't even wearing tennis shoes just Sperry's which aren't made for hiking, I didn't think we were ever going to stop heading up. But the hike was worth it! The view was spectacular from the top! But the walk down was almost worse because it was gravel, I may or may not have almost fell several times. After that we headed home and relaxed because the hiking wears you out! That's it for now because it's time for me to hit the hay!

"We can only be heros for one day"

Ok so today was kind of a quiet day which was alright by me because we have been going a hundred miles an hour since we got here. Today my class took another walking tour around the city. We started out at Postman's Park which had this really neat memorial for heroes who died saving someone. It was interesting to see how young they were, most fell between the ages of eight and twenty. It is amazing how selfless people can be! There was some wall art that I wouldn't have notice if my professor wouldn't have pointed it out, it was done in chalk and has been there since the eighties it says: "We can only be herod for a day." I think that it fits the memorial so well and it is amazing that the chalk it is written in has stayed around this long. It was probably my favorite thing of the day and we were only there for ten minutes tops. After that we went to St Bartholomew's Church which has been standing for over nine hundre years! The building was so beautiful! At one time it was a monaserty. Although I think they have commercialized it way to much; you had to pay to get in and then pay more to take pictures, they also had a gift shop and a cafe which sold beer. Actually in the cafe I bought a coke and they served it to me in a wine glass which I thought was kind of funny. But I still don't think it is right to commercialize the church like that and I dont even attend church regularly, I think that it takes away from the meaning behind it. They have done the same thing with St Paul's cathedral, which was the next stop on our tour. I didn't go in though because me and Sarah will do that later. After class I went and got lunch at subway ( which is easy to find now because I have discovered there is wifi in the city and I can google map everything now! So much easier!) but when they didn't have the cheese I wanted the guy just assumed i would want American haha he must have picked up on my accent. Right after lunch it started to pour the rain an as soon as I found a shop I could get an umbrella at on the way home it stopped rain the second I bought it haha just my luck. This afternoon me and Sarah went to the museum of London which I have already been to but Sarah wanted to go so we went it was cool to get to show Sarah around I felt like I really knew what I was doing! On our way home we stopped at a book store up the street from us and it was a store that the owner had created all the books in there some by hand, it was more like art. It was so cool! Sarah didnt really like it but I could have spent hours in there. Then by seven we were home and had eaten dinner and I was able to just relax and unwind. And it is looking like I will get in bed before one in the morning! In the words of Porky the Pig: That's all folks!

"Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home"

So today was very exciting! First off my class went on a walking tour of The City of London, which the actually city is only about on square mile because it only consist of the financial part of London. I travelled to class with few people who also live the same place I do, we accidently took the wrong exit so we had to walk the rest of the way. We had to meet our class at 10am at the the Duke of Wellingto, it wa good thing we left early because we couldn't find it but when we asked a local he laughed and pointed us around the corner...we just hadn't walked far enough. It seems to be we think we are always lost but normally we just haven't travelled far enough. The tour started at the royal buissness exchange and continued to a church where they did have stained glass windows because the catholic churches had them and they wanted clarity from the Catholics. But probably by far the coolest part of the tour was the center off the City of London it was where the St Lawerance church is and where the Roman Amiptheater use to be. Cool story about the church is that St Lawerence was told to bring the wealth of the city to these evil guys but instead he brout the poor so they roasted him to try and find the wealth. At one point he said he thought he was done on that side and they should flip the grill he was on over so he would cook evenly. So the wind direction tool at the top of the steeple is a not an arrow but a grill rack with an arrow. Then after the church we went to the Guild Gallery which was awesome because on the basement they had uncovered the walls of the Roman Ampitheater and ultou actually saw where they stood thousands of years ago! It was sooo cool! After class me and Sarah headed to the Harry Potter Studio Tour! We had to take a train about twenty minutes out to Watford Junction but it was cool though because it was like we were off to Hogwarts! At the tour we saw a lot of the costumes that the cast actually wore! We saw the great hall, Hagrid's hit, the Griffindor common room, Dumbldore's office, the Weasley house, so much more! The coolest was Diagon Ally! It looked so real it was unreal. Felt like I was actually there! I loved being able to see all of the props and sets! I'm so glad we went it was worth every penny! That's about all I did today. I feel like I am settling and have gotten over the culture shock of everything, the people says everyone goes through it, but I'm so excited to be here and it's still hard to believe I am here! That's it for now! Cheers! It felt like people said 'cheers' to me a lot today haha

Class without a classroom

Today was the first day of real class if that's what you want to call the class i'm taking, it's more of a three week guided tour around London. Which is awesome! Today was also the first day I had to navigate the tube system (aka the subway) by myself, I did surprisely well I didnt get lost nor did I end up at the wrong tube station. I also had to navigate to the British museum to by my self and I made it just fine. The reason I had to navigate alone was because my class no longer meets at the campus like everyone else we meet at the museums. Today was the British Museum, it is a huge building and so pretty. My professor took us on a guided tour, we saw so many things: the Greek statues of gods and a few of their buildings, the Easter Island Statue, Mummies, and very early London artifacts. One thing that sticks out is we looked at a journal from 2000 years ago when the Romans were in London and at war, but instead of talking about the battles and such he talked about how the army had ran out of beer. I just found that funny he more worried about that then dying haha. After 'class' we booked our trip to Dublin for the second weekend we are here! We are going with these two other girls we have been hanging out with and it also turns out that they are going to Paris afterwards so we are going hangout there too. In the later afternoon we went to the National Portrait Museum in Trafalgar Square, it was pretty cool but it was huge building with A LOT of rooms but me and Sarah conquered it! After that we just sat in Trafalgar Square and watched it was cool to see all the different people. That's it for now!

The Sandwich Guessing Game

First off sorry for the horrible grammar in my last post; it was really late and it is hard to proof read on my iPhone. Now to the good stuff, today was rather uneventful we had orientation for the University of Westminster. It consisted of a Information session, lunch, and a introductory class. The lunch was a little strange we had finger sandwiches; except it was like playing the guessing game with your food because they weren't labeled and all looked funny. I had a strange wrap with I what I think was sausage it was actually pretty good! But then I had what looked like a plain ham sandwich that lit my mouth on fire! After the unusual lunch we had class it was awesome to learn that half the class was actually from Ohio! It's a small world after all! The class seems like it is going to be pretty ease we only spend two days in the class room the rest of the time we are visiting museums! And also an A+ is a 70 percent out of 100 percent! We have to write a paper on something modern and describe how we would present it in a museum. After that we came back to the room and I accidentally took a nap for an hour then it was dinner time. We went to this pub called Bar. We were hoping for traditional English food, but it ended up being a Belgium bar...so no traditional English food lol. I need up with a really good different type of burger and I thought I would try the beer called Leifmens which is fruit and actually really good. Our whole table got the same kind. While we were at the bar the Euro 2012 soccer match was on so it was cool to see the locals so in to it. That's it for now hope all is well at home and I miss you guys!

Oxford Circus, Double Decker Buses, 2000 Year Old Walls, Pubs, and so much more!

Just so you all know jet lag sucks! I went to bed last night at 8:30pm but woke up at midnight and didn't go back to sleep until 2am...stupid time zones! But despite that the jet lag has finally wore off and I think I am back on a decent sleep schedule, well I guess if still being up at 1am is decent haha. Today we rode the tube for the first time it was interestingn; I didn't think I was ever going to be able to understand how to read and figure out how to get places. No worries though by the end of the day I think I have it figure out! The first thing we did today was have an ISA orientation and then took a double decker bus tour of London. In between the orientation and the tour we had an hour to explore Oxford Circus, which is like the main shopping area, it is almost like Times Square but with cooler old buildings. While walking around I fell like I should be in a movie or something, it is just awesome! We aren't suppose to look touristy but I feel like if I don't take a picture of everything no one will believe all the awesome things I saw! On the double decker bus tour we got to see the Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, the London Bridge, A 2000 year old wall built by Romans. A major exciting thing we got to see was the Olympic Park! It was so cool! They actually build the venues and villages in the ghetto part of London so that way it will stimulate the broken economy. I never knew that but that is so cool that do that I'm sure it helps out so much! After ther tour we got to explore some more in Oxford Circus, we went to the m&m world shop that was pretty sweet! Then we wonder around and stumbled onto a very popular market, it was kind of like a farmers market in the states but not. I was so amazed by all the different people and cultures and activities there. It seemed like every corner we turned there was a free show whether it be music a mime or a juggler. I actually bought this really cool hand made leather journal there. It was one of my first times dealing with the British Pound it is so weird to do but I am getting the hang of it. After exploring we went to a pun were the program bought us free drinks. It was awesome to be legal and able to go up to the bar and order. Only thing I that we only had the choice of beer, hard cider, or wine I'm not a fan of any but I got white house wine it wasnt my thing I think I will just stick with fruity drinks haha. On the way home tonight we went through King's Cross Station and I got my picture taken at Platform 9 3/4! To bad Hogwarts isn't real! That's it for now, stayed tune for more adventures!

Houston we have landed!

We made it!! After a very long day and a half of traveling we are in London and it is awesome! My first time on the airplane went pretty good. We were up in the air 380000 feet and were going 550 miles per hour it was crazy! When were flying over london to land we saw the London Eye and other landmarks. Once we got to london me and Sarah trekked what seemed like two miles around the London heathrow airport. But once we met up with the group we got on a bus to go to our flats. It was strange thing driving on the opposite side of the road. Despite our horrible jet lag (let me tell you it SUCKS!) Sarah and I showered (the shower is like a foot wide and the shower curtain attacks you!) then we went exploring and we may or may not have gotten a little turned around trying to get back to our dorm haha. Well that's it for now because I'm going to sleep!

Today's the big day!!! I leave for London in about sixteen hours!! I know, I know I should probably be sleeping but I am WAY to excited! While in London I am going to be taking a three week course called London's History through its Museums, once that is over Sarah (A friend from ONU that I'll be travelling with) and I are jetting off to Paris, Tuscany, Milan, and Rome.While I am in London and traipsing around France and Italy I will try to keep everyone updated here at home. That's it for now, but stayed tuned for my adventure of a lifetime!!