Flowers

Today, after a little bit of confusion, I found the Colombia Market.  It is a large market full of flowers, bulbs and seeds.  It smelled so good! I ended up buying a cheap vase and some pink daisies which really brightened up our hotel style room.  It was super fun and I think that I'm going to have to make my way back to this market a few more times.
Yesterday, I was writing about our group tour and I completely forgot to mention the funniest part.  We were walking down this alley way and learning about bear bating, which is super gross by the way, when all of the sudden we look up and see a man standing in a window with only his underwear on making his bed.  We all started cracking up and then he finally noticed us, chuckled and then went about his business.  It definitely made the tour a little more interesting.  Anyways, thats about it.  Classes start tomorrow so maybe this semester will start to seem a little more like school and a little less like a giant vacation.  Cheers!

More Adventures

Today was full of even more new sights and sounds of London.  The group headed off on another tour with our tour guide named Shaughan.  He is definitely the best tour guide ever!  We started off by taking a double decker bus to St. Paul's Cathedral.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  I've been to the St. Paul's in Minneapolis but this building was even more breath taking.  I think that I am going to have to make it back there for a tour of the inside and maybe even a mass.  Next we headed across the Millennium Bridge, which I learned was featured in the 5th Harry Potter movie.  From there we saw Shakespeare Globe Theatre and wandered along the River Thames.  We saw a lot of really cool looking Pubs and an art museum that I would like to go back to as well.  We also walked through the Borough Market.  There was tons of fruits, veggies and sweets to buy.  Some day I'm going to have to find my way back and then maybe I can make a nice dinner for everyone.  There were so many people in this market though that it was almost a little scary.  After the tour, the fun part of the day started.

A couple of us girls decided that we wanted to find H&M to find some fun new clothes for London.  Since a couple of the tube lines were closed today we decided to hope on a double decker bus.  We took the first bus to Oxford Circe (Piccadilly Market area) but that bus ended up being on the end of it's route and we ended up at the terminating point of the bus, about 45 minutes away.  We then hopped right back on the bus and ended up finding H&M.  We then caught another bus after some shopping to head back to Vandon House.  This ended up being a not so great idea.  There was a demonstration going on in the middle of town about tuition hikes for students in the UK.  It took us about 30 minutes to get back but it was still worth it.  We were able to see a couple different sides of London from the bus and I'm starting to learn how the bus system works over here.  Instead of heading out for my first Saturday night here I think I'm going to stay in and lay low.  I think the jet lag is still getting the better of me and I'm hoping that after a good night's sleep I'll be prepared for a fun new week in London!

Scavenger Hunt

Today we had a scavenger hunt throughout all of London and I am officially exhausted.  We had to get a picture with a police officer, take photos in the red phone booths, visit Trafalgar Square and even buy toys from a huge toy shop and go to a market.  I saw so much in one day and am really starting to feel like I am fitting in.  I even got asked for directions by 2 families today!  I could only really help one of them and the other women only spoke French so I couldn't really understand anything she was saying.  Cheers from London!

Another Great Day!

Wow...everyday London just keeps getting better.  Today, I found my internship again (all by myself) and had my first meeting with my supervisor.  I think I'm really going to love it there.  After my meeting came the shopping!  We found a great store called Primark.  They have a ton of clothes, hand bags and shoes for super cheap.  It would be so easy to spend an entire day inside so I'll have to try and control myself.  After shopping I had my first pasty.  A pasty is a pastry shell filled with pretty much anything you can think of.  My first pasty was filled with potato, mushroom and chicken and it was delicious!  After pasty's came Wicked!  It was absolutely amazing!  The show flew by and I kept wishing that it would never end.  After seeing one show, I think I'm going to have to start hitting up a few more.
I also decided today that I am becoming a real Londoner.  I'm becoming more and more confident on the tube and can pretty much get anywhere I need to go.  I'm also getting much better at crossing the street and now I only get honked at on rare occasions.  Adjusting to the traffic coming at you from the other directions is taking a lot of getting used to.  I'm also getting better at fighting through the crowds.  In America, I really cherished my personal space, but when I'm getting on a tube filled with people, I've had to learn to be a little uncomfortable.  I think I have also found my weakness in London...Maltesers.  They are a honey comb dipped in chocolate and they are so good!  I'm definitely going to have to bring a stash of them home in a few months because I don't think I can part with them just yet.  Cheers!

Australia Day

So today I learned that Australia Day (January 26th) is the day the the Australians first landed in Australia.  On this day every year, all the Australians in London celebrate.  Tonight a group of us went out to a pub called Waxy O'Connors.  It was a blast.  There was loud and fun music, tons of fun people and I got a pretty awesome Australian hat!  I met a couple of guys, Nigel and Julian who gave me all sorts of good advice on living in London.  They told me about places I should visit, restaurants I should go to and different places around Europe that would be fun for me to travel to.  They also helped me to realize how lucky I am to be living here for these few months.  Cheers!

Day 3!

Another day and more adventures!  Today, a group of us went out wandering around London and stumbled upon Buckingham Palace!  We saw a group of guards gathering across the road and decided to stay and see what they were up to.  Turns out they were preparing for the changing of the guards.  We watched as they marched down the street and into the gates and then listened as the band played some great songs, including an Aretha Franklin song and Elton John Medley-complete with Crocodile Rock!).  I was also able to find my internship today.  It takes about an hour by tube to get there, so I plan on taking plenty of reading for my commute.  Today is Australia Day so I think we are planning to head out and celebrate tonight.  It should be fun! Cheers!

Finally Here!

I finally made it and today marks day 2 in London!  It feels so crazy to actually be in London.  I was able to get a flight out the next day and arrived in London at 7:30 the next morning.  I was immediately thrown into the mix when I had to get on the tube (the underground) at rush hour on a Monday morning.  I'm sure our group looked a little ridiculous with all of our luggage wandering around London, but we found our new home for the next few months pretty easy.  After that we went to orientation and then headed out on a walking tour of London.  We saw the London Eye, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge (London Bridge), Big Ben and more things that I'm sure I'm forgetting.  It was so much fun!  So far there have only been a few things that I think are really going to take some getting used to.  First, the cars coming at you from the opposite direction, which makes crossing the street quite an ordeal for now, and second, all of the doors that look like they should pull open actually push open.  Theres been a few embarrassing moments with glass doors but I think I'm starting to figure it out.  Today, Emily (another girl from Central on our trip) and I decided to go out exploring.  We found Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben and we managed not to get too lost.  Hope all is well with everyone reading this!

A Rough Start

Hello everyone!  This is my first attempt at a blog so you all are going to have to bear with me.  The semester in London got off to a bit of a rough start today.  I arrived at the airport this morning all ready to go and then our flight was delayed by an hour...then 2 hours...then 3 hours and then it was cancelled.  Even though today was a little shaky, I'm excited for tomorrow when we are scheduled to fly out again.  Heres hoping!

A little mad at the airport