[Day 98] U S A

Yay I'm in America!!!

I just landed in Charlotte, NC an hour and a half ago and I'm waiting for my flight to Pittsburgh at 6:15pm. I'm going to the Steelers game tonight with Caitlin :)

M

[Day 97] The end is near

I didn't really do anything today. I lounged around and hung out until two when I went to the library to print my boarding pass. Then I hung out some more, packed, went to Budgens with Erin. Then Erin and I made dinner for the two of us, Vijay and Vivek.

Hannah left this morning. It's only the four of us and Anna left.

Last night me Erin, Vijay, and Vivek went to Shoreditch to meet Anna after going to dinner at Brick Lane. We went to this awesome hipster club called "Mother." It looked like an old dining room with a fire place and paintings and flowery wall paper. There was such an ecclectic mix of people there...a hardcore Jewish man, business men, drunk people, old ladies, and a ton of people break dancing.

I have to go do the dishes and finish packing but I'll post more when I can. Tomorrow morning my cab is coming to pick me up at 6 am and my flight is at 11:30. I'll arrive in Charlotte at 3:30pm and leave for Pittsburgh at 6pm.

M

[Day 96] Vaca

I feel like this is an alternate reality...a very strange vacation. It's kind of weird because I feel like I know what my life would be like if I were in America right now, but I'm not, I'm here. I love it.

Today Erin and I slept in pretty late. I woke up at noon and couldn't fall asleep after that, so I got together some of my stuff and then I decided to make mac and cheese for myself and Erin around 2. I had to go get butter and milk and right before I made it, Hannah called and told us that she, Vijay and Vivek were done at Tower of London and so we were going to meet them at Camden. Erin and I decided to make ramen really quickly instead, so we did that and then Erin checked her flight for tomorrow. It was the last thing that either of us expected, but her flight was canceled! We both couldn't believe it because it hadn't snowed in hours and it really wasn't that cold anymore.

Erin and I waited on the phone at least an hour trying to contact someone from British Airways. She finally got to talk to someone and eventually the only flight she could get on is a flight to DC on Thursday and then she had to buy her own connecting flight to Boston. So we're both flying out Thursday night and we'll be home for Christmas Eve!

Eventually after we figured out Erin's flight, we met the other three at Hyde Park. We were going to go ice skating but I didn't realize that they were special prices for the holidays and so we decided not to go because they were cold and it was expensive. Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland was really cool though, it was the biggest fair that I've been to in London yet. There were rides, food, games, and all kinds of things to buy.

Erin talked us all into going on rides. I can't remember what the one that I went on was called, but I went on it twice, once with Erin and once with Vijay and Vivek. It was kind of like the Swing Shot at Kennywood, except sideways. It was fun :) We walked around for a while longer before we left because it was cold.

We went to Whitechapel and went into the White Hart for a drink and to warm up. We watched a football game and played cards for a while before leaving.

We took the tube to Aldgate East and went to Brick Lane for dinner. It was so good! We stopped at the first restaurant on the street and Vijay talked them into 8 pounds per person with four courses and two rounds of drinks. I got chicken vindaloo, it was yummy. For some reason every time I ask for spicy they always raise their eyes and make sure I want spicy, as if I can't handle it. This place was spicy but not too spicy. I got vegetable pilau rice also, which actually wasn't awful considering I don't like rice.

We took a bus home and went to Flat 4 to hang out for a while before going to sleep. I'm having so much fun and even though I can't wait to get home, I don't want to leave.

M

[Day 95] Heart of Life

"I know it won't all go the way it should but I know the heart of life is good."

-John Mayer

Yesterday Vijay put his iTunes on my computer because I needed music, and now I have 4000 songs. "Heart of Life" by John Mayer was the first one to come on, I like that song. It describes this past week; mostly everyone's flights were canceled but we were all together at least and we all got to spend some extra time in London.

I'm personally having a good time. Yesterday all I did was go to Wetherspoon's and ate delicious lasagna and profiteroles. After dinner Erin and I helped Kate pack and then went to flat 4 with Anna to say bye to Sammie. Sammie's flight was scheduled to leave at 8am this morning so she was taking a cab at 3am. We got to her flat around 1:30 and all the lights were out in the hallways so me, Sammie, Anna, Erin, Kate, Vijay and Hannah played hide n go seek in the stairway. We walked Sammie out to her cab at 3 and then Erin, Kate and I sat on Kate's bed for an hour talking.

This morning Erin and I walked Kate to her cab at 8 and she went to the airport. I've talked to Sammie today and her flight was delayed at least 3 hours. I'm not sure about Kate, she should be on her plane right now. Today Erin and I are going to meet Vijay, Vivek and Hannah in central and go to the Imperial War Museum and then go ice skating. I'm supposed to figure out where we're going ice skating...there's the Natural History Museum, Hyde Park, Tower of London and the London Eye.

The most unfortunate part of this situation is my suitcases. They're all packed to the limit full of stuff and I kind of need clothes for the next three days. I also need my camera cord to upload pictures so I can find one to send in for my "Snowed in" article. Here is one picture that Sammie took of me on Westminster Bridge that I'm going to send to The X website.

Yesterday at Wetherspoon's the bartender started randomly talking to me when I was ordering dessert. She must have been really bored because she had me like awkwardly away from the rest of the group for 20 minutes. She started asking me about accents and where all of us are from and then she started explaining English accents and how everyone is very protective and proud of their accent because it says where you're from. She also asked about Christmas in America and said that England doesn't make as much of a big deal out of it as we seem to (decorating houses and such) because England is supposed to be "multicultural" and they don't want to offend anyone or be "racist." She said this is especially true in the East End because there are so many Muslims. She told me that during the World Cup this summer some people complained about the English flag being flown everywhere. (I'm not sure if I believe that, but who knows.) She said everyone here has to be really careful of what they do and say so that they're not "racist." She seemed angry about it since it was England in the first place they  should be allowed to fly the English flag and Christmas should be respected.

I find this all very interesting, maybe that's why I listened to her for so long, because all of that stuff she told me relates to my Villanova class. Basically what I learned in class is because of the UN Convention of 1951 Relating to the Status of Refugees, Britain has an international obligation to accept refugees. Beginning in the 1960's with the hippy peace loving age and everything, "multiculturalism" was the mindset of the government and the people, meaning that you could come to England as an immigrant or refugee and basically continue your life as if you were in your native country. After July 7, 2005 when the there were tube bombings, Britain changed its policy to "integration," meaning when you're here you should be integrated into British society (i.e. accept British values, learn English, etc). According to that bartender, integration hasn't hit yet, at least wherever she's been. I mean, I don't really see how it's hit the East End...but he was one of those professors that you couldn't argue with. He thought he knew so much that whatever you said was wrong, so there was no point in arguing with him. We were having a discussion about the makeup of the population of England and such and I tried to explain to him how Mile End is and he wasn't accepting it for some reason. It's not like I've lived here for three months or anything...of course he knows more.

Anyway the point is it was such a strange coincidence to have just written a paper about that and then randomly talk to a bartender about basically the same topic.

Now I need to write my article, wake up Erin and find clothes for today.

M

[Day 94] Still Here!

Remember that time I was supposed to leave London on Dec 19 at 12pm? I'm still here!

Yesterday I said what I thought would be my final goodbyes to everyone. Erin and Hannah had left for the airport around 10am and I packed for a lot of the day. Kate and I ate two whole boxes of Toy Story mac and cheese for lunch. Around 4, Peter, Sammie and I took the bus to UCL and Sammie and I returned our books to the Senate House Library. It was snowing for a lot of the day and everything looked sooo pretty so I took a lot of pictures. There was a movie being shot in the Senate House Library and I stood there and watched until Sammie dragged me out. We took the tube back and found out that Hannah and Erin's flights had been canceled due to snow. We were all really confused because it had stopped snowing around 2 and there really wasn't even that much snow, maybe three inches. Anyway they had to come the whole way back and reschedule their flights. Erin is leaving on Tuesday and Hannah is leaving Wednesday.

We all wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner, but we waited for Erin and Hannah to get back and me, Kate, Erin, Sammie, Kirit, Vijay and Vivek went to Golden Fryer for dinner. Ew and I tried filalfel, it was gross. After that we went back to Flat 4 for a while and hung out. Around 1:30 I checked the status of my flight out of Heathrow, just as an after thought, and there it was: canceled. 

I called my mom and then called the airline to reschedule. Originally the only flight they could get me on was a 12pm one out of Heathrow on Christmas Eve! I wouldn't have gotten home until 8pm and that would have ruined Christmas Eve for sure. I scheduled that flight and called my mom back. Luckily she find another one for Thursday afternoon out of Gatwick airport. 

I haven't done much today. Sammie's flight to India was canceled too and I hung out in Flat 4 and hung out in my flat. Basically the only people left here are Americans who were stranded. In a little while me, Kate, Vijay, Sammie, Vivek and Hannah are going to Wetherspoon's for dinner.

M

[Day 92] One more goodbye

Today I went to South Bank with Sammie. We got there around 1:30pm and went to the Christmas Market. I got a polish kebab on a baguette and mulled wine. We both wanted to try mulled wine in France but didn't and the stuff we got today was gross. It was kind of cold outside, but the last time we were there it was much colder. We took a lot of pictures and like four or five of me with my Terrible Towel so I can send it in to The X website. After we walked around for a while, we walked across Westminster Bridge and saw Big Ben, went into a coffee shop and waited for Erin and Kate. When they arrived we walked around Parliament Square and then went to Piccadilly. We went souvenir shopping and then split up again. Sammie and I went to Harrod's to look around.

I went to Harrod's a few weeks ago, but this time I walked around a lot more. We found the evening gown section, which I loved. We also hung out in the pet section and the furniture section. After Harrod's, we met Anna, Kate, and Erin at Nando's and got dinner there. I'm going to miss Nando's so much, it's so delicious! Luckily there is a Nando's in DC so when we have our reunion we'll get to go.

After dinner I went to Flat 4 and had a pretty insane pregame as everyone's last night out in London. We made Irish Car Bombs and basically destroyed the kitchen because there were fireworks left over from Guy Fawkes so there were poppers all over the floor and someone broke a glass. Basically, it was insane. We initially were going to go to the Griff Inn, but we decided to go to central.  So me, Kirit, Sammie, Vijay, Talhah, Hannah and Vivek went to Bar Rumba.

M

[Day 91] :(

Only two and a half days left :(

It's so sad that I'm leaving soon! I had a great day today though. I hung out and relaxed for most of the day and then Talhah and Sammie convinced me to go bowling with the two of them, Vijay and Vivek that night. 

I usually hate bowling, but I actually had fun. It's still to do things that I did in high school, like bowling, and being able to drink at the same time. This is the first time I've gone bowling in a long time that I didn't trip over the line and go onto the slippy part and fall. The second game I actually did pretty well too, I almost beat Talhah!

 After bowling, we went to Chinatown to get Chinese food. Of course I didn't get any, I just had chips. Afterward we all went home!

This is so sad :( i don't want to leave!

M

[Day 90] Abbey Road

Today Kate, Erin and I went to Abbey Road to the crosswalk that's on the cover of the Beatles album! We took the central line and jubilee line St. John's Wood and walked down the street to the crosswalk. It was so cool! It was just  regular zebra crosswalk, but when you crossed the street the cars actually stopped for you to walk. That never happens in London, ever. I guess those drivers expect it on Abbey Road though. They beeped at us a few times though because we were walking slowly across it to take pictures. We walked to Abbey Road Studies to take pictures of the studio that they recorded the majority of their albums at. There is a wall in front of the studio that has loads of graffiti on it. There is a lot of Beatles lyrics and love notes to John Lennon. Some of the things were pretty cool, I'll have to post some pictures. Apparently the town has to repaint the wall every three months because there's so much graffiti. Also they had to remove the Abbey Road street sign on the corner and put it on the wall of a building because it's stolen so often.

I took a picture with my terrible towel in front of a different Abbey Road street sign so I can send it into The X website, "where has the towel Ben?"

This morning I finished and turned in my history paper! Yesterday I had a class and a meeting with one of my seminar tutors, Helen. She's working on her master's and is my Lit in Time seminar leader, I like her a lot. I went to Poetry seminar where we read some poems out loud, I read Elizabeth Bishop's "Sestina" and then the seminar leader, Sam, ended class early so that we could all go to the pub together. Second day in a row that the teacher took us to the pub. This time I didn't go though because I needed to come home so Kate and I could write our papers.

Later in the night I went to Fielden to hang out and went into central with Talhah, Vijay, and Vivek. We ended up at this club called Penthouse, you had to take the lift to the top floor and you could see a lot of London skyline out of the window, including Big Ben and the London Eye. Someday I went a penthouse in NYC. That would be the life. Just an apartment in NYC would be nice actually...I'm thinking on 2nd or 3rd somewhere in the 60's? Haha no but I don't know. I just want to live there.


Anywayyy I just ate dinner at Mucci's, they had free food for study abroad students. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tonight, but I'm done with my work for my time here!

Going to Abbey Road today reminded me of the question that always comes up in my mind when considering the Beatles, would 'Hey Jude' have been as big of a hit if the name wasn't Jude? What if it was called 'Hey Mauve' or 'Hey Sue' or 'Hey Deb'? Any ideas?

M

[Day 88] So British

Today I turned in my paper for my Nova class. Finally.

That was one of the most painful papers I've ever written. This morning I woke up around 10 to finish it; it was all done but about 550 words too long and none of the citations were done. I worked on it, went to my history seminar, went to the library to finish cutting it down. The question was just so open ended and the professor wanted us to include everything and anything possible, it was rough. Citing it took at least 45 minutes because I had around 12 sources. I finally printed it, got some chips and hot sauce for dinner and went to class.


My history seminar at 2 was pretty cool. The class was on the antebellum north and south, but we mostly just did some class bonding and talked about what was going on in our lives. It was a nice change of pace. I like my seminar tutor a lot. He's American, from Washington. I'm sure it'll be weird for the kids in that seminar that are here next semester and some of the associate students are gone, they'll get new ones though.

The tube took forever, so I was about five minutes late to class. Good thing though because the professor picked a random person to read their paper to the class. I'm so happy it wasn't me. I have a hard enough time making myself proofread my own papers (I did it at least three times for this paper though), let alone discuss it after it's written and turned in. For the next hour or so we basically went around the room saying things about her paper and our papers and the professor told us things that we'd forgotten to include, making us all feel even worse of course.


About an hour and a half into class when we were done analyzing her paper, he told us he was going to take us to the pub for a drink. So British.

So we all got up and walked a few blocks to Gloucester Rd into a pub that was playing the Man U-Arsenal game, so it was naturally very crowded, and got a drink. Eusa paid for it (the Nova program) so it was cool. After the pub expedition the professor was talking to some of us and he told me that the employees of Salusbury World that worked with us were fond of me and happy to have me there. :)


Now I have one more paper to finish, my history paper. I might do a little tonight and the rest tomorrow.

Me and Erin at our Christmas flat party

Peter as Santa Claus

M

[Day 87] Classic

Kate and I have spent the entire day listening to Canon in D and writing papers. She has it much worse than I do, she has four papers due tomorrow. I have one due tomorrow, one due Wednesday and two due January 10. It would probably be a good idea for me to write the two due in January now before I go home, but I think I would rather sit inside writing a paper in Pittsburgh or Philly than do that in London.

Also, US Airways changed my flight on Sunday so now I have a three hour layover in Philly before I leave for Pittsburgh. Maybe I can write a paper then.

Canon in D!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOA-2hl1Vbc

I haven't really done much in the past two days. Yesterday I worked on my paper for a while and then I went to Golden Fryer one last time with Kate and Sammie for dinner. Unfortunately my chicken roll was disappointing and didn't live up to normal Golden Fryer standards. After dinner Kate and I procrastinated for a while, got stuck outside for a fire drill and then I decided to go to Tower Bridge with Vijay instead of doing my work. I really wanted to walk across it yet and mostly everyone else already has. We took the bus there, got off at St. Paul's which was way too far, and had to walk across Millennium Bridge and along Southwark until we got to the bridge. It was pretty cool walking all the way along the water from Millennium Bridge past London Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and Sir Francis Drake's replica ship and to Tower Bridge. It was all lit up and there were Christmas trees everywhere, it was cool. We walked past Tower of London and waited for the bus home but three buses passed us by so we walked part of the way home before catching a bus.

I've been sitting on Kate's bed for the past four hours trying to do this paper. It's painful. It's too much information and not organized enough. I can't wait until it's done. I have about 800 words left and then have to proofread it. Kate and I are going to make brownies and watch the Grinch later tonight! It'll be so much fun. Also I think I'm nocturnal, so I'll be up all night :)

M

[Day 86] Home for the Holidays

It's 4:03pm and it's already dark outside! This part of the world confuses me sometimes, but I still love it. Since we'll all be going home pretty soon, we've done a lot of reminiscing and talking about the US versus England. It'll be really great to go home, but I like it here a lot. I think everyone else is basically done with London and wants to leave now, but I don't want to. I would love to go home for Christmas break and then come back here for next semester. I think I could have gone to university here and then moved back to the States. I would never want to live here permanently though, I'm not a fan of the government. I'm not really into how things work here in terms of laws and society. That's why I don't think I could live here, but I would love to stay here for a longer period of time.

We've also been talking about what the first things we're going to eat and do when we get back to the States. I've decided the first thing I want to eat at a "restaurant" is broccoli and cheddar soup in a bread bowl from Panera. The first thing I want to eat that's real food is my mom's spaghetti. I'm also looking forward to 24 hour Sheetz, CoGo's and McDonald's because they don't have any of that here.

I'm looking forward to being able to drive again, even though I don't really enjoy driving that much (I'd rather have Caitlin drive me). I take public transportation in the States, but not for every time I go somewhere. The tube and buses are great but it's getting annoying having to rely on them when so often they're late or not working or you're worried about getting elbowed in the face by some tall businessman on his way home from work.

I'm happy that I'm coming home at Christmas. Everyone is so happy at Christmastime and my house always has that special feeling at Christmas. I haven't decided if it's because my dad is always playing Christmas music or if it's because of the plug in candles that my mom puts in the windows, but I know when I have my own house or flat I'm going to do both of those things at Christmas. It'll be really nice to see my family.

Anyway enough with that. I haven't gotten a chance to talk about the rest of the week that I didn't finish. 

On Wednesday as I said I went to the British Museum with Sammie. After that I went to the library with Vijay and wrote about 1700 of 3000 words of my British asylum seeking paper. On Thursday I had Representing London and got a paper back. I got a 66 on that paper, which I think was pretty good. Later that day I looked up my grade for my Poetry paper and I got a 68 on that one. I'm so close to getting a first! I really want to get one. A 70 is a first, or the equivalent of an A, and supposedly they very very rarely give firsts. My Poetry seminar leader said that he only got two firsts in his three years as an undergrad. I still have two English papers left to turn in and one history paper, so I have a chance. I mean, at the beginning Poetry was definitely my worst and most painful class so if I can get a 68 in that...

Thursday night my flat had a Christmas flat party. First me, Anna, Kate, Sammie, Erin and Peter went to the New Globe for the woo woo challenge. A woo woo is a pitcher full of mostly juice and pop, and a little bit of vodka. We split up into teams and raced to see who could finish first. Peter and Erin won, Sammie and Anna came in second and Kate and I lost. It was really fun except we were all freezing afterward.

We came back to my flat and played Civil War for a while before Vijay, Talhah and Hannah came over. I'll have to put up pictures, but everyone dressed up in Christmas theme! It was great.

On Friday I went to Greenwich with Kate, Sammie, and Erin. They had an awesome Halloween Market but this Christmas one didn't live up to our expectations. We got food at the Phillies restaurant and bought a few things at the market before going home.  After we all napped, the four of us went to On Anon in central with Talhah and Vijay. It was probably our last night out in central, but we'll see. It was pretty fun, they had good music, but there were a lot of strange people there. We took the 25 home and went to bed pretty late, therefore woke up in the middle of the day today.

I'm going to finish my Nova paper, I have 2000 words right now. Looks like I'll be up late tonight!

M

[Day 85] Museums

I have some catching up to do! On Sunday Kate and I woke up and went to Camden around 11:30 to buy some last minute souvenirs and say bye to Camden. It's one of my favorite places around London. I love all of the people there and the fact that it has so many different things, both food and shopping. I had a delicious chocolate and caramel churro for lunch. We stopped in almost every store on Camden High St and bought souvenirs, we even got our Big Ben clocks. We each had like 5 bags full of stuff and then remembered that we had to carry it all to the museums that we were planning on going to.

The Camden tube station was closed so we walked to Morning Crescent and took it to South Kensington, where we went to the Natural History Museum. The NHM is two blocks away from where I have my Nova class but I'm always too busy on Mondays to go before class. There was an adorable ice skating rink outside and everything was lit up.

The inside of the building was just as gorgeous as the outside. When we went in, we went straight to the mammals and dinosaurs. It was a great idea because they had an awesome dinosaur exhibit with lots of bones and a big huge t rex replica at the end that made noise and everything.

After the dinosaur exhibit we went to the mammals. There was so much stuff, that museum must have been huge. We saw all kinds of animals (including a giraffe!) and sea creatures. After that we left that museum and went next door to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Kate and I thought that museum was going to be awesome and going to be about royalty, but it wasn't. It was so weird, we still have no idea what the point of it was. There were different rooms based on countries and each room just had piles of statues inside. It looked like a garage that someone just put all their extra statues in. I'm not really certain. We played in the gift shop for a while, which was way more interesting that the museum, and took the tube home.

On Monday I had history and my Nova class, Tuesday I went to Nando's for lunch yayyy and I had Poetry and Lit in Time. On Tuesday I tried to go to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel to see the Elephant Man because Erin said that he was there. We ended up leaving late and I couldn't go because I had to go to class but they walked all the way there and all that was there was his hat.

On Wednesday I was supposed to volunteer but they told me not to come in. I slept for most of the day and then Sammie and I went to the British Museum. The British Museum was so cool. We saw the Rosetta Stone and part of the Parthenon from Greece. There is so much stuff in that Museum you spend a long time in theer but we were only there for about two hours. The Asian stuff in there was pretty cool too. It was mostly artifacts and sculptures.

On Thursday I went to class and then took a nap, then we had a Christmas flat party! I'll write more about that tomorrow :) Right now I'm getting ready to go into central.

M

[Day 83] Finals

I need to finish writing about Paris, but I don't have time for that. I have a total of four papers left this semester, two of which are due before I go home. I'm in the library now trying to write a paper about the effectiveness of the UK's asylum seeking process, but it's not going to so well. I'm going to try to work on it and hopefully update about Paris tomorrow.

M

[Day 82] Paris, day two

Paris day two! The second day in Paris, Saturday, was so much fun. We woke up around 7:30 am to get showers and get ready to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower!

At 9:30 we waited in line and were the on the first elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was so cool because it was soooo high up! The only bad part of the whole thing was how freezing cold it was. We went up to the second floor and then even farther to the waaaay top. Once you stepped outside on the top you basically got blown over. I had to run around the whole thing though, just because.

When I came back inside after that I was bitter cold, but I think it was worth it. The whole Eiffel Tower only took us an hour when it usually takes 2-3 hours. We walked down the street to a cute little bakery to warm up and have croussants and hot chocolate. While we were inside it started snowing! That made all four of us much happier because for some reason snow just makes the cold worth it. We decided to walk to the Christmas market that we'd seen the day before, but we got sidetracked playing in the snow on a bridge. It was so much fun.

 

Erin and I playing in the snow

Me, Kate, Erin and Sammie

We walked for about a half hour before we got to the Christmas market, which was near the Ferris Wheel and obelisk. They had all kinds of food and souvenirs so we spent a while there.  Next we went to Rue St. Honor, which was a shopping street, so Erin could buy a Longchamp bag. I stopped in a bakery to get lunch and had the best sandwich/bread ever. It was soooo delicious. It was a baguette with cheese and salami; one of the best sandwiches I've ever had.

We continued down the street and walked past the Lourve again to go to the Musee de Orsay. This time the Lourve and everything was covered in snow so it was even cooler than the day before.

 near Honor Rue St.

We just stopped in the Musee de Orsay so that Kate could buy her mom a gift and then we went to Notre Dame. The trek to Notre Dame was long and cold, especially because it started raining, but it was definitely worth it. Besides playing in the snow on the bridge, Notre Dame was my favorite thing in Paris. I absolutely loved it.

I feel like I've seen a lot of churches and they've started to look the same, even though they're all beautiful. Notre Dame was something else though, I was kind of obsessed with it. It also made it even better that it looked exactly like the movie 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.' They had Christmas decorations everywhere and there were tons of people all over the places, including gypsies. We went inside and spent a while looking around but didn't get a chance to climb up it. It's okay though because I still loved being there.

After Notre Dame we found a taxi stop and we got a taxi to our hotel to get our bags and then went to the train station. Our train ride back was much better than the one to Paris. It was nice to be back in London because it wasn't as cold as it was in Paris. Unfortunately though my room was a bit of a mess because while I was gone, Talhah, Hannah, Vijay and Anna decided to redo my room for me. They wallpapered every surface of my room with newspaper and filled it with about two feet of newspaper. It was pretty hilarious and a good prank for me, but I couldn't sleep in my room so I moved my mattress into Kate's room and I'm sleeping in her room for a few days!

 

M

[Day 81] Paris, day one

Hopefully I can finish and publish my whole post about Paris now!

I left off when we got to our hotel, Hotel Elysees, we could see the Eiffel Tower down the street. We went inside and unpacked all fell asleep right away. I shared a bed with Kate; our room was really nice. Friday morning we woke up around 8:30 am and showered, and left to explore the city for the day. On the way to find a money exchange place, we stopped and got breakfast at a cute little bakery. I got pain al chocolat, which was so delicious. We continued down Avenue Kebler until we got to Palais de Challiot, which is right across the river from the Eiffel Tower. We stopped there for about 45 minutes and took a ton of pictures! The lighting was really weird because the sun wasn't quite up yet and it was really foggy out. After that we walked down Avenue de President Wilson in our quest to find a money exchange.

We were told that there was one on Champs-Elysees and so that was the direction we went in. We walked down some random street that had extremely nice stores, including Prada, Jimmy Choo, Dolce and Gabana, Coach, Ralph Lauren, and even a Harry Winston. I never of Harry Winston before and they explained to me that this store is what they meant in 'Legally Blonde' when they referred to the ring. While we were walking to  Champs-Elysees I decided that I really liked Paris so far and that it really reminded me of Washington DC. It wasn't as crowded as London, which is always a plus. We stopped at a Barclays to get money and then walked up the street toward Arc de Triomphe. There were so many stores and lots of yummy-looking food. We stopped in Sephora for a while and then I saw the Disney store. I told everyone about my last Disney encounter during junior year of high school when I waited in line to see Minnie Mouse in Epcot and then when I was the next person in line, she went inside. I cried. Caitlin had no idea what to do. True story.

We walked to the Arc de Triomphe and took a billion more pictures, including one where we attempted to look like we were holding up the Arc. Of course that didn't work out, especially because it's in the middle of a round a bout and there were a lot of cars driving around. Paris seemed to have more cars than any other city I've been in so far. We walked through an underground tunnel and came up underneath the Arc itself. The Arc is a monument to soldiers who fought in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars and there is an eternal flame for the tomb of the unknown soldier underneath it. 

After we were done exploring the Arc, we took the metro to Versailles. It took about a half hour or so and when we got to Versailles we stopped and had crepes for lunch. I had a delicious chocolate and banana crepe - these European countries really love chocolate. After lunch we went to the Palace and hobbled up the cobblestones, which were weirdly shaped and covered in ice. The gates of the Palace were in gold trim, as was the roof and a lot of the doors. It was majestic looking, but a little tacky. We went inside and walked through a lot of rooms looking at paintings, room set ups and at the gardens out the window. All of the rooms were different colors and the staircases were large and winding. There was a Japanese pop art exhibit on the first floor, which looked totally out of place, but we took random pictures of it anyway. I liked this Palace a lot it was prettier than Buckingham Palace, but Buckingham Palace is cooler because the Queen actually lives there.

We got to the Hall of Mirrors, which is basically the whole reason that we went to the Palace, threw our coats on the floor and took tons of crazy pictures. 

After we were done with that it was about 3pm so we had to leave and go to the Lourve. I was starving so I stopped at McDonalds (of course) and got a crispy ranch snack wrap. I was so excited that they had snack wraps, I accidentally said 'hola' to the girl taking my order.


We got back to Paris and walked past the ferris wheel and obelisk and through Jarden des Tuileries to the Lourve. All of the ponds were frozen and there was frost on all of the hedges. Sammie's friend Sashi had met up with us and we all took pictures in front of the triangle thing above the Lourve before going inside. I was happy we went there because you see that triangle thing all over the place in movies. The Lourve was so gigantic, you could definitely spend hours there. None of us are really museum people, so we headed straight for the Mona Lisa. The painting wasn't as big as I expected it to be but it was so cool that we got to see it in person - her eyes actually do follow you around the room. After the Mona Lisa we explored a little more, saw an Egyptian gallery and a Middle Easter gallery before leaving.

We took a cab to Moulin Rouge, which is actually still in operation. I guess that area is the red light district, but it was still really cool because everything was lit up  and there were a lot of restaurants. We were absolutely freezing at that point and very hungry, so we walked down the street and got dinner at a corner restaurant. They served us delicious bread and we shared a bottle of house white wine. We all got an entree and dessert, I had lasagna and creme bruele. The creme bruele was so sweet that I couldn't finish it. It was such a good dinner, I love French food.

After that Sammie, Kate, Erin and I were going to go to Sacre Coeure but after a sketchy run in with some guys in the metro, and then remembering what happened in Madrid, we decided we should just go home. It was 10:30pm and probably not the best idea for four American girls to be going somewhere we didn't know alone at night. Poor Erin gets the worst of these trips, she's gotten assaulted in some way or another in Italy, Madrid and Paris.


You have to take  a cab from a taxi station in Paris, they don't just stop anywhere on the street, so we had to go find a taxi station. Our taxi driver was really nice and stopped at Pont d'Iena for us so that we could get out and take pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night. When we got back to our hotel we stood outside and watched the Eiffel Tower light show. We went inside and basically all immediately fell asleep. It was a good day, but very tiring.

Now I have to go do some errands and write an article.


M

[Day 80] je t'aime Paris

This weekend I went to Paris with Kate, Erin and Sammie. I absolutely loved it! What makes it even better is that I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did; I probably wouldn't have even gone to Paris if the three of them weren't going.

We booked our Eurostar train tickets way back in October and at the time it seemed like Paris would never come. I can't believe how fast the semester is gone; I'll be going home two weeks from today. I miss home and everyone there, but I really do love living here and exploring London. I'll be happy to be home but I'm not necessarily looking forward to it.

On Thursday after classes we took a cab to St. Pancras station to catch our Eurostar train. Our train was supposed to leave around 7:15 and then it got delayed because of the snow. The train was comfortable and I think we all slept for a while until we got to Ashford station where we were supposed to have a short stop and ended up being stuck there for three hours. Our train ride was only supposed to take three hours total! Once we finally started moving again, we were going at a snail's pace and it took us forever to get through the Chunnel. We stopped in north France for a while and continued onto Paris. We arrived at Paris Nord around 3:30am, so much later than we were supposed to. We took a cab to our hotel that Erin's mom was nice enough to help us get. As we walked into our hotel we looked down the street and saw the Eiffel Tower! It was fantastic.

I just wrote about the whole trip, and then my computer froze so this is all that I have now. I have to work on a paper so I'll have to finish Paris tomorrow!

M

[Day 77] Snowball fights

After volunteering all day, I was very very tired. Of course I didn't want to play in the snow. Vijay and Talhah didn't seem to care about that however, because around 11pm they came to Pooley and Vijay picked me up and carried me out into the snow and Talhah pelted me with snowballs. I had no shoes or coat on, and my hair was wet. After they stole my keys Kate tried to help me get back inside but they just attacked her too. Eventually I got back in and they attacked our windows with snowballs for a half hour before leaving.

A huge snowball fight developed in front of France House around 12:30 and I convinced Kate to go outside with me. I can never pass up a big snowball fight. It was comparable to the big one we had during Snovafest in the spring at school, but not as epic. There was only about three inches of snow last night but it was snowing pretty hard and packing really well. Kate, Sammie, Kirit, Talhah, Vijay and me played in the snow/had a snowball fight with all of the other people outside for about an hour an a half. Kate and Talhah made a snowman that was destroyed and then thrown at Kate by random boys. I tried to make a snow angel but was attacked. I wish I had snow boots!

Today I went to my English class then packed for Paris and took a nap. I'm currently trying to figure out if my train is canceled to Paris or not because of the snow. I guess I'll find out! I'll be back Saturday night!

M

[Day 76] Volunteering

Oh how I love freezing temperatures! Today was freezing cold, no surprise. Last night Sammie and I made dinner together, we made ravioli in her flat. After that I hung out in their flat for a while and ended up going to bed kind of late, which was no good because I volunteered all day today. 

I woke up at 8 to proofread my Lit paper that was due today and then around 9 I left to go to Willesden Junction to this secondary school called Capital City Academy. Willesden Junction is basically in zone three on the tube map and totally the opposite side of the city from Mile End, so it took me an hour and 10 minutes to get there. When I got off the tube I walked the wrong way down the street at first and had to ask for directions. 20 minutes later I finally found the school. Capital City is a public school but it's funded by businesses instead of the government, so it has a lot more money than normal public schools do. (This business funding schools project was supposedly started by Tony Blair.) Anyway when I got there I felt like I was at Sewickley Academy or something, it was a really nice school. Nadine told me that it has a very small white British population, it's mostly black British kids and refugees from Afghanistan and Somalia. The school had a big gate and like four soccer fields and the building was really new looking. The security guard was really nice and let me in. I went to the reception desk to look for Nadine, the woman I was supposed to help and they told me that she didn't come to work today and couldn't get a hold of me to tell me. 

So I left and got back on the tube to go to Queen's Park (Salusbury World) where I normally volunteer. Nadine was there and we talked for a while. She lives in south London and had to take the overground to get to Capital City, which wasn't working because there's so much snow in south London. I stayed from 10:30 til 5 doing different things. I helped Nadine for a while with stuff she needed done for Capital City, like making a poster for a mentoring program for asylum seekers and refugees. At 3 the after school club started and I helped kids with their art projects.

There are some things that I don't like about this service-learning class and volunteering, including how unorganized the program is and the fact that they don't know what to do with all of the volunteers, but now that I'm consistently going I'm really enjoying it. The employees of the refugee center really benefit from our help, at least the chores and things that we do to help them. It's really fun playing with the kids, but I like when I help Nadine organize her stuff or decorate the bulletin board for Irena. It feels like I'm actually accomplishing something.

It took me a while to get home on the tube, but I'm here and cozy in my bed. I'm going to watch Gossip Girl and do homework. I'm going to PARIS tomorrow!

M