One Month Anniversary

Well the time has come, London and I have officially celebrated our one month anniversary today. That is right ladies and gentlemen I have been living in London for a WHOLE month! Don't worry I'm just as shocked as you are. Somehow it feels like so much longer. Anyways, the two of us have had our ups and our...ups. (Truth is there can't be any downs!) It's safe to say I have fallen in love with this city. There is so many things to do and see sometimes it's difficult to know where to begin. This place is vibrant and full of life. It's a place where you grow up and truly learn who you are as a person. You can be anyone you want to be and no one cares. There is no judgement and you'll end up finding the place best suited for you. The only thing I know for sure is that breaking up is going to be a killer!

Recap:

-Friday: 3 words. Harry. Potter. Studios. That's it. I'm not sure how to even begin to describe it because it was so amazing. These movies that I had literally grown up with are right in front of me. All of their clothing, wands, brooms, housing, etc. it was right there. I was in a daze. It was very overwhelming and almost emotional. Not only was it the end to the Potter era but it signified the end of my childhood. Almost brought a tear to my eye! In fact, I'm sure my sister will cry when she goes.

Saturday:
- We found out that the Victoria's Secret on Bond Street was displaying some of the costumes worn by the models in the fashion show. They even had the million dollar bra! It was beautiful.
- Later that day we ventured in to Notting Hill. It was adorable. They had such cute little multi-colored flats and an outdoor market. We'll definitely be going back there once the weather gets warmer to find the best souvenirs.

Sunday:
-My family came and got me from my dorm and brought me back to their house for the night. It was nice to relax and finally have a good home cooked meal. PB&J's and frozen pizzas can get old very quickly. Caron made fajitas! She knows me so well. I have to say they were quite delicious! Sian and I watched a movie and also caught up on last week's Glee! You're welcome for getting you addicted by the way. Overall it was a great weekend.

To be honest my day had started off a little rough. I woke up in the middle of the night not feeling well at all. Runny nose, watery eyes, constant sneezing, and weird hot flashes. It wasn't a good start. Luckily my morning class was cancelled so it gave me a chance to sleep in and relax. Too bad I had to go to my night class though. The day was bound to look up. (After all it was my anniversary!) During my class I received an email letting me know I had been offered an internship this summer with ADPi! I had interviewed with them last week and had been anxiously waiting to hear back from them. I was beyond thrilled to get the email and am definitely looking forward to the chance to live at Executive Office this summer. It's an amazing opportunity. What a perfect ending to the day.

So here's to you London and the amazing four months to come! Cheers!

Winter Wonderland

Every time I think this place could not get any better something happens that proves me wrong. London & snow. Need I say more? Beyond picturesque.

Yesterday Allyse, Melanie, Emma, and I went to Covent Garden. It's an outdoor market place that has the cutest shops. Downside was it was freezing but we couldn't let that stop us. Later I met up with my cousin Sian and we went to dinner and a movie. Luckily Sian knows my slight (extreme) obsession with Mexican food so we went and found one. It wasn't bad actually! I got my normal meal.. fajitas. Obviously not as good as the ones back home but it'll do. Weird part though: they brought us popcorn to snack on.. What? Last time I checked that wasn't a "typical" Mexican dish. This city has its strange moments. For a movie we chose Gangster Squad. To be honest I had no idea what it was about but we both love Ryan Gosling so of course we didn't care. It turned out to be a pretty good movie though.

Tonight we went to a service at Westminster Abbey. It's hard for me to put into words that experience. I was in love. For one the church is breathtaking. Some of the most intricate and beautiful architecture I've ever seen. After I stopped gawking at all of the walls and ceilings I began to think of all of the history that has occurred in this very building. The coronations, the funerals, Will & Kate's wedding! Issac Newton, Winston Chruchill, Charles Darwin, kings, and queens. All of these people I had grown up learning about and here they are. Buried below the very ground I'm walking on. Unbelievable. Once I moved on from that, and I'm not embarrassed to admit it, I began to replay the royal wedding in my head. I'm walking down the same isle Kate walked down. Prince-less. But still. I was also sitting in the seats VERY close to where the queen sat during the wedding. I was trying not to scream from excitement. The actual service was beautiful and relaxing. It brought me back down from my royal/nerdy high to the reason the church is here. To praise God. And man did I have a lot to thank him for!

Afterwards we walked around taking an unhealthy amount of pictures of London scenery in the snow. It was totally worth it though.

STUDYING Abroad

This week featured the actual "studying" part of study abroad. It was my first week of classes as an official Westminster Student and let me tell you it's a lot different than back home.

For starters I'm not too crazy about having to schedule in an extra hour just for transportation. It only really takes me about 20 minutes to get to and from school on the tube but I'm just paranoid there could be a delayed train or something and then I'd be late. Can't take any chances. Have to add in the fact that this week I also had no idea where my classes were. On Monday I probably wandered around for a good 15 minutes trying to find my classroom. All of the staircases would only lead up to certain parts of the second floor, not the whole thing. It took me a lot of trial and error to find the right one.

Differences:
- British people call the first floor the ground floor, that means the second floor is really the first floor. Definitely confuses a girl!
- Each class is called a module and each module has a lecture and a seminar. The lecture is the entire class and the seminar is your class broken up into smaller groups. Together it makes class about three painful hours. Needless to say I begin to lose focus and become fidgety when hour two rolls around.
- Most classes only have about two to three assignments. It consists of a presentation and a final exam or final paper. So a presentation can be about 40% of your grade and the final about 60%. It's nice to not have a lot of things to during the semester but adds a lot of stress when exam time rolls around.

I have noticed that I go to a pretty big foreign exchange school as well. Most kids are from places in America or other parts of Europe. I have literally met more kids from everywhere else in Europe besides England. What a downer.

Thursday night had to be the highlight of the week. My cousin Katie took my friends and I out to this place called Madison's. It was on the top floor and had the most beautiful view of St. Paul's and the London skyline. We were literally mesmerized. #Thursdates have begun.

Today we wandered around the Natural History Museum looking at all of the dinosaurs, mammals, and ocean life. We walked around outside for a little while and ran into Harrod's! It was perfect. We were able to see all of the things we had missed on our last visit. We missed a lot!! Lauren, Mom, Kathy, and Megan we are so going there when you come to visit!! You'll become just as obsessed as I am. Today was also the first real snowfall in London. While I thought it was beautiful and was used to it having grown up in Oklahoma you could tell most Londoners hated/freaked out a little. A little snow never hurt anyone!

View from my room :) 

Mind the Gap

My care-free touristy week has come to an end. Tomorrow is the first day of class! I'm feeling like a Freshman all over again. I have these nervous butterflies at the pit of my stomach while my mind runs rapid with different scenarios of how tomorrow is going to go. It's easy to say I'm stressing myself out more than I need to.

My current thoughts:

- What if I can't find my classroom building? 

- How early do students get to classes here?

- What if I don't make any friends and then I won't have anyone to do my group projects with?

- Why on earth do I only have like 2 assignments in each class and some are 60% of my grade?! 

- How am I going to be able to pay attention when my classes are 3 and a half hours long?

As you can tell I'm kind of freaking out. All I know is that I made this life changing decision to come to this country all by myself and study abroad. I should have been freaking out the whole way here yet I was weirdly calm. Somehow I just knew everything would work out like it was supposed to. And it has. I have had the greatest time so far and I know I can handle school. (Just have to keep telling myself this!) 

Aside from my stressful babbling I have had an incredible time hitting up more of London's historical destinations this weekend. Yesterday ISA took us on our first excursion to Stratford Upon Avon and Warwick Castle and then today we went to the Tower of London. 

Stratford Upon Avon:

- This is the town where Shakespeare was born and raised and then eventually buried in. We got to go inside the actual house he was born in and lived in for most of his youth. We walked by the house his daughter lived in, the school he went to as a boy, the location where his house was that he died in, and finally the church where he is buried. 

-The church was breath-taking. It's like you could feel how much history had occurred there right when you walked in. You don't find places like that back in the states. The back of the church was where Shakespeare and his family were buried. His grave is 20 feet deep and has a creepy sign posted on top of it. It basically said that whoever moves his bones will be cursed. I pictured Stratford as this old timey town but it was actually pretty modern. We had McDonald's for lunch. Mostly because we were on a time crunch. This is definitely a place I would like to go back to and explore some more. 

Warwick Castle:

- I have a small obsessions with castles. Mainly because I find their history fascinating and also could have something to do with the fact that I wish I was royal. We climbed to the top of the towers which is quite challenging. 530 steps to the top. You were definitely feeling the burn, but it was so worth it. The view was amazing! 

-We wandered around the castle grounds for a little while. Madame Tussauds had purchased part of the castle and set up the inside to replicate what it would look like back in its prime. It was very entertaining! I met the Queen. 

-On the castle ground was a Rose Garden that Princess Diana had reopened. Obviously there weren't any roses there right now but you could imagine how beautiful it would look in the summertime. 

Tower of London:

- This was one of the sites I was most looking forward to visiting. Unfortunately it was freezing this weekend. It made being outside for too long miserable and we were out there for a good hour and a half while our tour guide led us around. It was rough but we did the best we could! The tour guide had some interesting stories about what has happened in the tower throughout the years.

      - The Ravens. I found this story to be very weird. There are 8 ravens that live on the grounds and legend has it that when they leave the tower for good the monarchy will fall and the tower will be destroyed. So the Ravens are taken very good care of. They have a heated living space, get served rolls dipped in blood (ew), and have a designated caretaker. Seems silly. 

     - The Yeoman, also known as Beefeaters, actually live inside the Tower. They're retired military soldiers and it's considered quite an honor to be one. 

     - Being royal back then would have been terrifying. Everyone was constantly trying to steal the throne and would stop at nothing to get it. Even killing their own family members! One uncle resorted to killing his 12 year old nephew. 

    - My favorite part was the crown jewels. They're absolutely beautiful! We saw all of the stuff Queen Elizabeth used during her coronation. One of the jewels was 530 carats. Ridiculous. 

Obsessed with this picture. It proves England does have sun and it's just really pretty. 

Wish me luck on my first day of school tomorrow! Cheers! 

   

Settling In

The past few days have begun to slow down as we get used to our new British life.

Wednesday:
  - First trip to Primark. I'm going to venture to say this store is life-changing. Imagine something like Target but bigger, better, and CHEAPER. I bought a purse for two pounds. I'm not sure if I'll ever beat that purchase on this trip. I also purchased shoes, a sweater, a vest, a scarf, and a dress! Mission accomplished.
- Later, I put my bargain shopping skills to work at another store..the grocery store. Living on a budget is hard work. I purchased a lot of 2 for 1 deals. Frozen pizzas, cereal, PB&J's, and apples. Now I truly feel like I'm living the life of a broke college student.
- That evening our university hosted a boat party for us on the Thames River. The Tower Bridge at night is a sight to see. Absolutely beautiful!

Thursday:
- Relaxing day! I slept in, took my time getting ready, tidied up my room. After a busy past few days it was nice to slow down. The girls and I ventured to Leciester Square later that night. We wandered around and ate at Pizza Hut. Typical Americans.

Friday:
- Finally had my advisor appointment to work my schedule out! I had been stressing all week about this. The guy was really nice and tried to help me as best he could. I ended up getting into the London based class I wanted, but had to stick with my Tuesday night class. It ends at 9:30 which means I would have to travel back home.. 20 minutes away.. by myself. Makes me a tad nervous! We'll see how it goes!
- My favorite part of the day was Harrod's! It's one of the most intriguing and interesting stores I've ever been in. (In a good way!) You could literally spend an entire day or more shopping there. It's huge. We had tea and dinner up stairs. The scones were perfect. Melt in your mouth delicious. I might have had three.. We then saw Princess Diana's memorial. It included the last cup of wine she drank and her engagement ring. It was beautiful. After wandering around a little we ventured into the kids sections and became mesmerized by the Disney department. If I was a little kid it would have been my dream world. Heck, at the age of 21 I was still giddy!

Cinderella's slipper store. 

Anne Hathaway's costume from Les Mis!! 

Favorite part of this week: Skyping with all of my sisters. I had really missed them! Thanks to Taylor Stucki for walking her laptop around the house and letting me talk to everyone! Day maker.

Just Call Me a Tourist

After trying my hardest to look like a true Londoner it was officially obvious today I was not one. With my camera permanently attached to my hand, Allyse, Melanie, Emma, and I began our shameless tourist day. We hit all of the major spots - Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. At any given step one of us would pause and take a picture and it wasn't long after that the rest of us realized we should be taking a picture of that too. We can't help that London is just the prime place for perfect pictures. You could walk around the corner and suddenly spot Big Ben or part of the London eye. It's brilliant. (Like my London word?!) The architecture here is absolutely breathtaking. Every building is unique and beautiful and it makes you wish the buildings could talk so they could tell you their history.

When we began our day at Buckingham Palace we just so happened to have come at right time to catch the changing of the guards. Anything to do with Buckingham Palace just fascinates me. Mostly because I wish I was a royal. It was very interesting though to watch them march and see their guard band playing in front.

Walking around that much can make a girl quite hungry too! We ventured to our regular hangout Pret (this being only our second time there) to grab a sandwich and continue exploring. We had this whole walk and eat plan going on. Our reasoning? It costs extra to sit in! Silly London. We weren't feeling that. We're poor and would rather spend our money elsewhere. Well we soon realized people in this country don't really do that.. We decided to find a nice little bench and eat in the park instead. How precious, right?! We now know why no one really does that! We were surrounded, swarmed, bombarded, and invaded by birds and squirrels. (Not that dramatic but you get the picture. It was a lot.) More than I've ever seen! We definitely learned our lesson.

After being attacked by birds we continued on to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. That by far has to be one of the prettiest churches ever built. I was definitely imagining the whole royal wedding today and having my I-wish-I-was-Kate-moments. I mean who wouldn't?! It's literally a real-life fairy tale.

Looking for my prince!

Finally the night ended with a dorm room pub crawl. Interesting event to be hosted by our RA's. Definitely not something we would do back in the states! We originally thought we were going to local places around where we lived but instead we went into Leciester Square. It was a huge tourist destination and something that's not fun with a group that size. We wanted to meet some locals! Instead Melanie, Allyse, Emma, and I came back to our dorm and grabbed some chips (fries for you Americans) from this hole in the wall restaurant and just sat and ate them in our dorm. They hit the spot. Definitely a perfect ending to an adventurous day!

( - Kind tourist lady who took pictures for us at EVERY possible angle. Hey at least we had plenty of options!)

Memorable Quotes:
"Off the masonry please. British taxpayers pay for that and we haven't got any money left." - Buckingham Palace Guard

Awe-Struck

Two things I've learned here in London:
   - Between the hours of 8 to 9am the tube should be avoided at all costs, unless you enjoy your body being sandwiched between two strangers.
  - Don't wander into a pink store called Shh.. just because it looks pink because that's the color your cheeks will be turning.

It has been a busy past two days. It's been full of stress, adventure, excitement, and an overall awe-struck feeling of realizing you're in London. It feels like the strangest out of body experience. Like a dream that you don't wake up for until May. Whatever it is I don't want it to end!

Yesterday included ISA's orientation and then a double decker bus tour of the city. After a quick drive-by of basically all of London's touristy sites I am definitely ready to explore on my own pace. We did get a chance to stop and take pictures at Buckingham Palace and the Thames River. I'm already feeling quite blessed to have made some amazing ISA friends as well. This semester just keeps getting better and better. 

Later that night some girls and I ventured out to dinner. After only being here a week it was safe to say I was already missing my American food. So where did we go eat? The Red Dog. If you haven't been you need to come here and try it. It was hands down one of the best hamburgers I have ever eaten. Add in some fries and you can bet they'll be seeing me again. 

Today we had another orientation, this time for Westminster itself. Unlike ISA's which was lightweight, fun, and made you feel great about life, Westminster's was sure to stress you out. I guess I had mentally blocked out a key detail.. I had come here for school. Whoops. Anyways, we were given an orientation packet with our schedules and mine wasn't exactly what I wanted. Hopefully everything will work out and I can get it fixed at my advisor appointment this Friday. Fingers crossed. Then what better way to de-stess? Shopping of course! Don't worry parentals I didn't buy anything. (Not yet at least.) Oxford Street is definitely a place to do some major $$ damage. 3 floors of H&M, Top Shop, Primark, etc. It's like a girl's heaven. 

View from H&M. Did I mention I love the view from every store?!

It's off to bed for this duchess (I wish) now. Back up early to explore this brilliant city tomorrow! Cheers! 

New Beginnings

Cheers everyone! I am officially living the London life.

I have currently been in London for exactly ONE week today. Strange feeling. I arrived last Saturday and stayed with the Tragheim family for the week. They were more than hospitable and let me lounge around with them all week! We slept, went and looked at Christmas lights, walked around London, slept, ate, caught up with all the relatives, watched movies, and slept some more. What a perfect way to welcome me into my new life. 

A BONUS to this past week was that my family has now decided to come visit me! YAY! After realizing five months was a lot longer than it sounded my mom, Lauren, and Kathy are coming over Spring Break. I surprised Lauren over Skype and got to tell her the news. She cried. i cried. It was a beautiful site. 

I am currently lying in bed at my dorm. All of my new ISA friends arrived today. We walked around our dorm area, found the nearest tube station, and grocery stores. Let me tell you I am going to have quite the body after all of the walking I'll be doing. Forget the gym! Later on we went and grabbed some dinner. Interesting place. Not sure if we'll be going back. The food wasn't really anything special. Since most of the girls were tired, having just arrived today, we headed back to our dorms. This gave me plenty of time to unpack. I have now become an expect on tiny spaces. This closet is ridiculous. I think you can hang 6 shirts. Needless to say shelves and folding have become my new bests friends. 

I am feeling so blessed and grateful for this new adventure I'm about to embark on. Traveling the world has always been one of my greatest dreams and now it's finally coming true. Thank you Mom, Dad, Fefawn, and Grandma for giving me the chance of a life time. It's sure to be the best five months of my life. 

Here's to many more entries to come and can't wait to keep you all updated on my London life!