Goodbye Robyn and the month of December in England.

So tonight is my last night in the castle otherwise known as Founders, which I just realized Ive never posted a picture of. Perhaps, because I haven't taken a picture, so Ill use someone else's. Plus one of my own.



Emily's shot of Founder's from "the woods". You can technically see my room. Go up to the floor with the little pillars outside the windows. Move toward to right and its the room that sticks out a bit (not the rounded ones though).




My shot of the clock tower before a trip into London.


So anyway. I finally finished that essay.
Tuesday I went into London and saw the Phantom of the Opera. AMAZING
Last night we ordered curry and ate it as a big group and today Ive been quite lazy.
Tonight we are having a little going away party for Robyn since she won't becoming back for the next term.
Then tomorrow morning I'm catching the 8 am bus to Heathrow and hanging out in the airport before I hop on a plane back to all of you.

So my recap of the term.
It seemed to go by so slowly, but now that I look back, its seriously just a whirlwind.
I only managed to travel once-to Spain, therefore I had some laidback weekends here.
I was tested by the English school system, let's hope I win round 2.
Ive seen 5 shows.
Met lots of great people.
Seen lots of Londony things
Been called a chav
Had really crappy British food
Had really good, expensive meals.
Had really yummy pub food.

Overall, so far a success. Theres been times when I didnt know why on earth I was here. Especially when I got that first paper back. And there are times when I still think that. I mean I want to go to grad school right after this. And instead of making contacts in Berkeley who can write my letters of rec, I'm over here, where my psychology courses are taught by at least 3 different professors, and I'm putting my GPA on the line. . .not to mention my bank account. Ive always been a money saver- well I wasnt when I was little, but Ive learned. And for the first time, Im actually going to be broke. So I better make this worth it right?

Next term, I'm going to try to travel a whole lot more.

But. . .Ive learned a lot since Ive been here. And thats what this is all about right?

Man I sound incredibly cheesy.

I hope all of you that have finals do well. For those of you who have finished, well done.

I'll hopefully see you all soon.

Almost Done. . .

Still working on that last paer. . .well technically not the last, considering I'll have a paper to write over break. 4000-5000 words for my documentary class. I have a meeting with the instructor tomorrow to discuss it. But thus far I've written 1200 out of 2000 words for my essay on the Stanford Prison Experiment. Not happy with what I've written though. It seems as though I'm just going through the motions. All I want to do is pack and relax. I could wait to do the paper and just finish it over break, but I've already started so now I must finish. Tomorrow perhaps?

Tonight we are having a Secret Santa gift exchange on my floor, except not so secret because some of the girls worked out who everyone has. Kind of ruins the surprise don't ya think?

Tuesday I might go into London to see Phantom of the Opera. My budget is hurting a bit this month. But that's because of all the Christmas presents I am buying that I originally said I wouldn't buy. I'm going to be exactly like Santa with my suitcase. . .err. . .bag full of presents. I just hope I stay under the weight limit so I don't have to check my small duffel bag, which also means less to carry. Other thing that kinda bums me out is that I'm allowed one carry on. So I have to shove everything in my backpack that I would usually put in a handbag, because my backpack is the saviour of my electronics, not that my computer has been very kind to me lately.

Oh yea. . .this is a great way to procrastinate. . . when the internet is actually working. Of course I still don't have it in my room, which makes my paper so much fun. I need to reference websites so I have to do a bunch of copy+pasting. I miss the internet and its usefulness.

Hope the first week and a few days of December has treated you all very well. It's almost Christmas (as I am constantly reminded of by Millie: Queen of Christmas Spirit as well as Rianne's decorated room)

Im sorry Im so slow.

Greetings!!

I've been a little slow lately, my apologies.

Thanksgiving was slightly depressing. I did have apple pie to commemorate the day, but alas nothing like some good stuffing. *sigh* I want. . .

The term is coming to an end. I have my last real lecture in less than an hour. Next week, I have two seminars and a few review lectures. I have to finish up reading for my psychology classes this week/weekend and do my last psychology paper. That way, I'll only have one paper to do once I get home. Itll be 4000-5000 words though. Bummer.

Ive done some Christmas shopping and keep seeing ornaments and such that I really want to bring home, but I need to not break things! Plus I dont know how much room I'll have in my suitcase. So if there's anything any of you want, do let me know, and I'll try my hardest to get it.

Anyway so to cover the last few weeks, which have been pretty slow. . .

My swim meet for the 2nd was cancelled, but we had a friendly competition on Tuesday. Oh man. . . I hurt so bad. I should just retire, my body wants to. But it was fun. We played "water polo" after . . .actually it was more like animal ball. It was all in good fun.

Oh and last week, we made some signs for the radio station's free hug day. Sarah and I made a nice one, with a little too much pink for me, but overall class all the way. So on Tuesday afternoon I went around with a bunch of the people who help out at the radio station with a "hug me" sign on my sweatshirt and some hot chocolate in hand. Some people were a little frightened by us, but others were quite receptive.

Yesterday I did some Christmas shopping and then went to dinner and the movies with some of the girls. We saw the Golden Compass, which I enjoyed. And then we bought some cakes which were reduced to 99 pence each and sat in the hallway and showed each other everything we bought throughout the day.

Tomorrrow I have a Christmas dinner with the swim team and on Saturday I am volunteering with them at a hospital. I guess we are going to decorate it for the holidays.

After this hectic weekend, I will hopefully be done so I can focus on cleaning up my room and shopping a bit more.

Still trying to decide exactly how I'm going to get to the airport. . .bus is much cheaper but less convenient, plus I wonder if I can manage to get my bag into the storage area. We shall see.

Espana and Fake Thanksgiving

From the 7th to the 11th (Wednesday to Sunday) I went to Spain (Barcelona to be exact) with a few friends. We took a cab to the airport since it wasn't very easy to get to by way of public transportation and once we got to the airport, we grabbed some food and waited by our gate. We took Ryan air which is a really cheap airline, indicated by their obsessive use of the color yellow throughout their plane. . .ick!
Anyway we got to Spain safely, but all the ATMs were broken so we couldn't get euros, so we had to get all our money together for bus tickets into Barcelona. The bus ride took about an hour to an hour and a half or so and by the time we got to the bus station it was almost midnight. We ran to the subway (the metro) and luckily there was an American girl who could see we desperately needed a little help who told us where to go. We got to our hostel at about 1 or so and pretty much crashed.

Thursday we woke up and ate breakfast and immediately went outside. We were stayin right on the beach, so we walked on the beach for a bit enjoying the warmth and sunlight before we headed elsewhere. We went to see La Sagrada Familia.


Absolutely amazing! We went inside and took the lift up to the top which afforded us with spectacular views of the city.


After La Sagrada Familia, we went to see on of my favorite buildings Casa Mila!

We didn't go inside, but I think it is gorgeous and I think Gaudi is a genious. I almost bought a book about his works, but decided not to, because let's face it, I had already spent quite a bit of money just getting there.


We then headed to Casa Batllo, which was superb as well, especially because we got there right as the sun began to set, so they turned on the lights and it looked like it was made of gold or something.


After that we headed back to our hostel to wash up and get some dinner. We ate at a pretty nice restaurant near our hostel, and it wasn't too expensive. I had pasta, as usual, but also had my first bite of seafood. Ive always hated seafood, mostly because of the smell and the whole texture thing, but I decided I'd give it a try. We had garlic shrimp, and honestly it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. I much prefer my chicken. We hung out on the beach for a while that night and met some kids from Germany who everyone wanted me to talk to in German, but we all know I'm not very good.

Friday:

On Friday we decided to walk around Barcelona a bit. We walked down La Rambla looking for some Gaudi building, which I wasn't ever aware thata we were looking for. But in the morning we saw the market, which now I cant remember the name of, and that was pretty cool. There was so much for sale, lots of meats, fish, sweets, and such. I got a chocolate croissant that was to die for. Later in the day we hit the end of La Rambla and the Christopher Colombus statue, where I took a few minutes to be by myself looking at the water. My friend Tony, who had just arrived showed up at that point and we all went to grab lunch. Whats funny is that a lot of the kids from orientation were in Barcelona at the same time, which my group had not planned intentionally. But we really didn't see many of them except for Tony.

After lunch we decided to go to Montjuic. We took a tram form the metro to the base of the hill and then got in a lift type things which took us all the way up to the fortress. Once again, amazing views.
The fortress was pretty cool with lots of greenery where a moat must have been.






(p.s. sorry for the poor organization of photos)

We spent the rest of the afternoon there, and by there I mean at the fortress and in places around it like a pretty garden we found. We decided to walk back to our hostel even though it was kind of far. Once we go back we were pretty exhausted. We once again went to get some dinner, pasta again, what can I say I like my different kinds of pasta! And then went out in search of something to do. We found one bar/pub, which was an Irish bar and just relaxed and talked for a bit. Mostly about what to do the next day. . . which brings us to:

Saturday:

We went to the Picasso Museum, which was really cool and actually not that expensive. Thank the lord for student prices, but on the way we got side-tracked by a chocolate shop, so we all bought a few things to enjoy later. . .I avoided buying chocolate, so I just bought some chocolate related goodies. However the owner let us sample some stuff because this one man was buying a ton and so the owner would cut off a piece for him to try and would give us the rest.

Once we got to the Picasso Museum we had a little trouble. The woman at the door kept telling me I had food in my bag and that I needed to check it. I kept saying " I dont have food. I can't eat what I have in my bag". Alas we just piled our stuff into one bag that had food in it and checked the bag.

The museum was really cool. Picasso went through so many stages in his work and it was definitely an experience to see all those stages and his progression.

After we went to eat at La Rosa Negra, recommended by my friend Helen. It was delicious Mexican food.

Yummy burrito.

We then decided to go to Parc Guell. It was a long journey up that hill. . . the escalators were a life saver at times, but Parc Guell was intensely amazing. I love mosaics. We wandered about in the hills for awhile since there were a few other things there before we headed back down.

We decided to have a nice dinner that night since it was our last night. We went to a really kind of exclusive place. We got a table and I had an amazing salad. It had chicken and pine nuts and pineapple, which I usually don't like, but it was really satisfying. We then got some Gelato which I had never had before surprisingly enough.

Okay I'll post this much now and continue later as I have to go to swim practice. So be on the look out for a continuation which will most likely just occur at the bottom of the present entry.

Okay back from swimming and now its time to finish up my Barcelona trip and move onto other things.

Sunday:
Sunday was a lazy day. We sat out on the beach for a while and then attempted to go shopping, forgetting that most of the shops would be closed. I kept seeing cool things that I wanted but told myself that I must resist the urge. We ended up by the Cathedral and saw the orchestra play and people dancing. I thought about joining in and then decided against it. I'm not much of a dancer and didnt want to disturb their flow. . .



Apparently God loves them and has therefore chosen to shine his rays of light upon them.

We then went to a plaza filled with pigeons. I have no idea what the Spaniards call it, if they call it anything. But we hung out there for a bit, watching a mime speak (yea she wasnt very good) and kids chasing pigeons, including one boy who was trying to kick them. . .there's always that one kid. . .
We then headed back to the beach. I was craving tapas but we didnt end up getting any before we left. But we did get gelato one last time.

And wait, I can't end my Spain adventures without at least one picture of the beach. . .


*sigh* How I miss you so. . .

As the sun set we headed to the bus station to catch our flight. I was exhausted and fell asleep on the bus, but sadly was unable to fall asleep on the plane. We got back to London shortly after 11 p.m. and the same driver picked us up and took us home, he was very nice to us. unfortunately the weather was not. Way colder than Spain and has been drastically colder than before we left since we got back. . .it's like Mr. Weather guy is punishing us. . . Anyway back on track, so I got back to my room, washed my face, unpacked some of my stuff and slept. Class on Monday, which happens to be my full day was not fun, but I made it through.
However, I did not attend the party I was supposed to for the radio station or go to swimming. Oh well!

So Wednesday, this past Wednesday, I went to London for the day, to see Wicked for my friend Cassandra's birthday. It was amazing and we had pretty much some of the best seats in the theatre and only paid 25 pounds instead of 60. I loved Wicked and I highly recommend it. I wish it played in SF. . .
After that we hopped on the tube and grabbed some dinner in Covent Garden and headed to see the Lion King, which we saw for free! Yes free! I enjoyed Lion King as well, just not as much as Wicked. I think I would have enjoyed Lion King much more had I been on the ground floor and not on the balcony since it is very interactive. So once again I got home late, ate some cheap noodles because dinner was very small and slept. . . Oh sleep how I love thee.

Friday I went into London again because my friend Scott from Berkeley who is studying in Paris was visiting. Sarah came along to meet up with some of her friends and we just did touristy things which was fun. I went to the National Gallery again, which is one of my favorite places in London and walked along Southbank with all of the street statue people. I got back to Egham with a little time to spare before Cassandra's birthday dinner which happened to be at the same restaurant as where we ate with our director. I ordered a burger because I was craving meat, but it came without a bun!! Umm. . .do I look like I'm on Atkins! I'd like some carbs with my burger. But it was actually quite good. We had a little chocolate cake to celebrate and then walked home. It was freezing. I looked it up once I was back and it was 1 degree celsius, but felt like -2, which is like 27 degrees. . brrr. . .

What's sad is that I really have no idea what the numbers mean in Celsius but I use them to compare the days. So therefore, I will probably have to try to not write in celsius on here. At least my phone has a convertor.

Okay I know this has been a very long blog, and thank you to those who have stuck with me, I promise your pain is almost over.

Last night aka Saturday:
We had a Thanksgiving dinner in London at the Bonnington Hotel. I brought Robyn and Cass along as my guests. I got to see my good friend Nicole which made me very happy. Our director bought each table a bottle of white and red wine and the eating commenced. We had turkey with gravy and cranberries, as well as roasted potatoes (we all missed our mashed potatoes) and funny looking stuffing. It was like a miniature ball that was served with the turkey and a sausage (okay. . .a sausage. . .seriously?!) so we all assumed it was meat, but no it was indeed stuffing. It wasnt bad but we had all been looking forward to stuffing.

Therefore. . .sidenote: mom please make stuffing with Christmas dinner. I crave the good stuff in my veins!

Back to the story at hand, we were also given carrots and brussel sprouts. It was a good meal overall. Beforehand we even went around our table and said what we were thankful for, but we all missed the family environment of Thanksgiving- the ability to ask for seconds, the ability to pass the food all around the table and take as little or as much as we wanted, etc, etc, etc.
For dessert we were served pumpkin pie, a little more runny than usual, with less crust as well, with a mango sauce. Okay I think I was the only one who avoided the mango sauce, but Im sorry I like my pumpkin pumpkin-y. Later we got coffee or tea.

It was a very satisfying meal, but was definitely British influenced.

After dinner, we danced for a bit and then headed home on the last train of the night, which was a very interesting ride in itself.

Sorry I dont have Thanksgiving photos. I have not put them on my computer yet.

The term is starting to wind down. I seriously feel like it just started. And I am avoiding writing more papers.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Eat lots of stuffing for me!!

End of October. . .

Let's hope my wish comes true!



So I completed my history paper! Yipee! And I wrote my psychology paper yesterday and I will edit before I leave for Spain on Wednesday.

I'll be in Spain, Barcelona to be exact, from Wednesday until Sunday/Monday morning (my plane lands @ midnight). I'm getting excited, partly because I have yet to travel and partly because I need a break from my living environment. Living with all girls is driving me crazy!

This upcoming week is reading week, which means no classes unless your department hates you, which is the case for history and media arts. I have a full day of classes tomorrow and my usual seminar on Tuesday, in which I have to give a presentation. . .the joy of it all. . .

Anyway, not much has been happening other than the occassional thing.

Last friday I went to see Stardust with a few of the girls. I really love going to the movies but its expensive. However, its one of the only things here that works out to be just a bit more than it would be in the U.S. so its not that sad to be paying in pounds. Also I finally broke down and got Starbucks before the movie. Best grande chai tea latte I've had in a long time, but I think that was mostly because I was craving it so badly and at 3 pounds a pop let's hope I don't crave it too often! But then again, San Francisco airport didnt have the Starbucks that I was depending on them to have and that is why I did not have my chai before I left. And yes I realize this is a lot about a drink, but I crave. . .

Anyway, the next day I told myself I would do work because Sunday I would be out all day. I did a little bit, but as the theme of ths blog goes: I needed out!.
So I went shopping with Sarah and Jennifer. I bought some black shorts and a necklace for my halloween costume.

Sunday Sarah and I went on a tour of Stonehenge, Glastonbury. We had to get up early but the time change gave me some extra sleep, although I was paranoid that the time change wasn't actually happening in October. (P.S. Why is the US a week later on that anyway? What has the world come to? I was only 7 hours ahead for a whole week and did not realize it! Ridiculous. . . )


It was raining when we got to Stonehenge, but lightened up even to not be completely miserable while viewing it. I grabbed some coffee and an audio tour(which we didnt even really use) and walked all the way around some really old rocks. . .okay some really cool rocks. I bought a few things and we got back on the bus and headed to Glastonbury to see the ruins of a church.















Glastonbury: Found out a few days later, thanks to the horrible tour guide, that supposed King Arthur's remains were there. . .if I remember correctly, man I have a horrible memory. Glastonbury is kind of a hippie town with lots of magic type shops and such. We walked around for a bit and grabbed some pasties (broccoli and cheese for me) and got back on the bus. . .yet again. . .and proceeded to Bath.



































Okay I must say this now: Bath is basically one giant movie set. It would be so easy to film something there because of the style of the buildings.



We went to see the Roman Baths which were amazing, and drank some of the water. . .very warm with a strange after taste, but hey I can say I drank it!




We went around the shops and into Bath Abbey, where we took a seat in the pews. It was weird because I felt the urge to pray, so I did, which made me feel so much better. Sometimes I have the urge to go back to church, but at the same time I would feel very awkward because I have forgotten almost everything from my past. I wrote a prayer for my grandmother and light candles for Angela and Kendall, who passed away almost 10 months ago. Overall it was really a spiritual experience.



The sun finally came out at the end of the day and afforded us a beautiful view: as we hopped on the bus for the long trip home. By the time we got back they were only serving dinner for another 15 minutes so we ran to eat and Sarah headed back to her place.

For Halloween, I decided to be a goddess since I had a swim club social down at one of the bars on campus. I was a goddess because I already has a brown dress, and gold earrings, so all I needed was a gold headband and a gold necklace (both of which I got for pretty cheap).




The social was lots of fun. It was nice to hang out with some new people and bond. I had another social, for the radio's music team the next night, but instead stayed in to read.

Okay so back to my frustration. . .as stated at the beginning. . .living with girls is hard.

I'm going crazy because I feel like every little thing gets blown out of proportion, which is really frustrating, because I only really have 2 groups of friends here: the girls I live with and the California people who live far away.

It has proven really difficult to meet people, because most of the 2nd years already have a group of friends, so the people I talk to/who will actually acknowledge my presence are other Americans who are all leaving at the end of term. Plus my lovely Robyn is leaving me so I will have someone new across the hall from me next term. . .Sadness. . .

I've put up some pictures, hope you enjoy!

Touristy Stuff and a Star-Sighting

I'll try my best to start where I left off.

On Saturday the 6th I headed to London with Sarah, Jennifer, and Curtis. We went to the Tate Modern, which I must say I loved and wish I could have spent more time there, and walked around for a bit. We had by accident, taken the long train to Waterloo so we were a bit late to get started.

We also went to Shakespeare's Globe but the Merchant of Venice was sold out and we didnt really want to do a matinee viewing because it would cut down on our time to do other things. So with heavy hearts we continued on our journey.

We were supposed to meet Sarah's friend from Riverside in Leicester Square, so we walked to a tube station but found out that some of the main lines were closed for repairs. Eek!!! At least we got some exercise as we made our way along the Thames and to a tube station that had a line in operation that went to Leicester Square. Once we arrived we decided to grab some food. We went to some burger place with a cheesy name like Burger Shack. Horrible service, but hey at least we didnt have to tip them! It took us way too long to eat because of their forgetfulness so after we decided to hit the discounted ticket booth. We got tickets for the Woman in Black for half price. After we decided to go shopping on Oxford Street. I continued my mission of finding a pair of rainboots or at the very least flat boots that wouldnt soak up the water and failed miserably. I found 2 light sweaters at H&M that were really cheap so I was content. We then went to get some coffee but the line was too long, so we just sat for a bit before heading to a pub. We went to Oniells and got a bit to eat before we headed to the theatre. The nachos were surprisingly good, not the same as real nachos, but not bad. (Sarah and I had been craving nachos for quite some time). We then headed to the theatre. I really enjoyed it. It basically had 2 actors in it, and was pretty barebones but I guess it went with the storyline. After the play we headed back to school. We caught the last train out of Waterloo and were on our merry way. I think we all slept well that night considering the amount of walking we did because of the Tube closures.

Sunday was primarily a study day and the rest of the week went accordingly.

Thursday I met with my director to go over classes and I guess someone told him about my room, so I told him it was a crackden and he thought that was hilarious. After class, we all went into town for a nice dinner. I had pumpkin soup and Moroccan style chicken with couscous. Delish! Then for desert I had a brownie with ice cream. The ice cream was good, the brownie not so much. It was more like cake so I was slightly disappointed. Overall the night was fun. We all were chatting. Andrew, my director, told us that the girls studying in London, who probably have never officially met a British person, were planning on going all out for our Thanksgiving dinner and asked us to show them up. . . Basically he said "But I know you girls can outdo them". So we told him we would. Which is nice because it gives us a reason to use the nice clothes we all brought along. After dinner, the majority of us went around town a bit more and then we headed back to their dorms. I once again just slept over there because its too far too walk late at night.

That night, I started feeling a tad sick. . .boooo . . .

On Friday, I was finally pressured into buying tickets for an event at the Student Union (even though I wasn't feeling 100%), The Hogwarts School Disco. I did my best to dress Harry Potterish but considering I have never once read the books and have only watched portions of the movies while babysitting, I was pretty clueless. And then add on the fact that I don't necessarily have a wide array of clothing to choose from for events such as these and you've got yourself one confused Margaret. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to finally be able to go out with the girls I live with considering every other time they go out I'm either catching up on work or with the Californians.

The following Sunday, aka this past Sunday, there was a free trip to London for international students. We went to the Tower of London and got to see the Crown Jewels. We then hopped on a boat and cruised down the Thames toward Greenwich. Once we got there we went to have lunch at Queen Mary University. As we were walking we saw that they were filming something. I made some crack about it being for the history channel since it was obviously meant to be a few hundred years ago. We got to the gates of the school and at first the crew was confused as to why we were there. But then we were let in and walked through part of the set to the dining hall.

Turns out they were filming a movie: The Duke and Dutchess of Devonshire and I guess some people saw Keira Knightley. . .my friend used my camera to snap a photo of her inside a carriage but honestly you really can't tell that it is her from the photo.


Once inside, I saw the dining hall sign with various typical foods listed and wasn't all that surprised, but when we actually walked in I was shocked. It was a beautiful dining room all set up for us with a set of dishes on the table and chandeliers hanging above some of the tables.

We were served chicken with green beans and seasoned potatoes as well as a really good dessert. It was a strawberry based cream in a pastry shell. After we drank coffee out of our extremely tiny cups. We were then on our way to the National Observatory to stand on the Prime Meridian. Once we got to the top of the hill, there was a beautiful view down the hill, over the Queens Building, through the courtyard of Queen Mary College of the Thames and the financial district of London.

We waited for a while to stand on the prime meridian but finally got a few pictures.

The bus ride back was quite long. Once back we grabbed dinner and crashed. I had basically no voice and had a hot cup of tea with honey and some hot chocolate because I had a presentation in the morning.

This week has been okay. I have a lot of reading and had some difficulty getting the books for the classes, but I'm handling it. I read today for a 2500 word history essay thats not due for another week, but since I'm going to Stonehenge and Bath next Sunday I need to get it done. I spent today reading for it and will hopefully be able to write it tomorrow. I've also booked a trip to Spain for early November and then found out two days after booking it that I have a paper due the day we get back. . .eek!. Oh well, I'lll figure it out. I have 5 essays this term. Starting on numero uno tomorrow and hoping to complete all 3 that are due before Christmas plus one that is due after Christmas.

I'll post pictures later since it won't let me do it now for some reason.

Rowing on the Thames!

Hi All,

So to pick up where I left off. . .

On Friday I went to Freshers Fayre and put my name on the list for the campus radio station, swimming, psych society, and the rowing club.

To join any of it, there is a fee. I decided to try things out before I committed my 10 pounds per, because lets face it, I'm not made of money.

So Saturday morning I got up, ate, and headed to the front of campus (aka the other side of the castle I live in). I met some of the other California girls there and off we went. The boat club took us out on the Thames in Staines. It was lots of fun. I was the first in my section of the boat so everyone had to be in pace with me which meant that the cox (probably spelled that wrong. . but I'm too lazy to think) kept telling me to stop and start. And the paddle kept turning in my hand, but overall pretty good morning. To join would have been 60 pounds and after several days of thinking about I decided not to since its Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. I want to be able to travel on the weekends.

We then went shopping yet again in Staines where I finally got dishes and such. (exciting, I know!)

Saturday night we went to a club in Windsor to celebrate someone's b-day and I got to meet some of the people who the rest of the Californians have been hanging out with. It was a lot of fun just to dance and hang out. Since my friend Sarah and the rest of the Californians live about a mile and a half from campus, I just slept on her floor and headed back on Sunday morning.

That evening I went with Emily, from Australia, to swim, but we were confused as to where we were supposed to meet and ended up getting lost trying to find the sports centre. We eventually just headed back and watched a movie with the rest of our floor.

Monday was my first day of class. I wasnt on the list for either of them. And I must admit I was/still am slightly intimidated by the 20 page reading list for history. Although I dont have to read everything on the list, I had trouble getting the 2 required readings. Currently Ive completed 125/400 pages. . .eek! Media Arts was good except that I felt out of my element. I made a comment about the biased nature of news broadcasts and then remembered the Brits have the BBC. . .oh well. We then watched an unpleasant documentary about alcoholism . . . yea. . .that's gonna stop a lot of us from touching alcohol for quite some time. That night I did laundry with Emily. By the way, laundry is so expensive and the machines are tiny!! We stayed while our clothes were drying and did our respective puzzles (Sudoku for me). We decided that Monday nights should be laundry nights and we should bring a bottle of wine down next time. But then shortly after changed our minds, mostly because Em was acting like a crazy woman. . .spinning around with her laundry bag attached to her back in the lift.

Tuesday I didnt have class but I also didnt do any work. We had a fire drill at 7 a.m. which really angered me. Luckily I was able to get a little more sleep since I didnt have anay plans til 10. I went into Egham (the town) to get some groceries and such with Emily. We just ran errands and such. We then finally went swimming. I paid the 10 pound membership fee. The workout wasnt hard but Emily and I are so out of shape that is was painful. The president of the club asked us why we werent in the fast lane with the boys and Emily casually stated that we didnt want to bruise their egos. I met another American but Im pretty sure he thought Em and I were crazy because we were cracking jokes and being chatterboxes the whole time. I made Emily take the stairs up and she collapsed when we finally got up to our floor. The stairs are quite a workout here. We then went to the volleyball social at one of the bars on campus but it was pretty much over by the time we got there. Oh yea and we had another fire alarm go off right as we were changing into acceptable clothes (aka not our sweatpants).

Wednesday morning I was falling asleep in my lecture and halfway through had to go talk to the Professor about being an exchange student. I then went back to my seat and started to fall asleep again. Great. . .now he knows who I am and the fact that I cant keep my eyes open. I was trying to, but I started seeing double. I mean its the 4th time I had been over this topic. After lunch, I hit the library and actually did some reading. Pretty much all I did the rest of the night (or tried to at least).

Today I tried to read but my articles were online and my computer was not cooperating. I read a little and then went to book a tour of Stonehenge, Glastonbury and Bath with Sarah. We then hung out for a bit before I went to class again. I asked her to quickly check the mail with me and i had a slip with my name on it. I got excited b/c I ordered computer parts and was getting tired of a laptop that wasnt mobile and kept crashing. As I was standing there the lady pulled out 3 boxes. I was shocked. I got my comp stuff, a package from home, and my books that I ordered. It was nice to get a package because the rest of the girls on my floor had been getting them and I must admit I was getting a tad jealous. The girls tried my candy corn. A few liked it but Millie thought it was disgusting. . .oh well. . . more for me! Lecture was pretty good. I didnt fall asleep this time!

Saturday I am going to London with Sarah and Jennifer. We are going to try to see the Merchant of Venice at the Globe. We also plan on doing other touristy things plus some shopping (I still need galoshes!).

Sarah and I have made our list of the places we would like to go and will begin working on it ASAP.

I'll try to keep you all updated.

As requested, my address is:

E413 Founders Hall
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX
United Kingdom













Just so you can see that my room is much better now. . .

I'm Alive!!

Hi there all,

So I can’t decide whether to start with the past few days or the first few minutes, which I must say were not so good! But I think it would be best to start with the past few days.

The flight over was long and quite boring as my friend Nicole and I were a few rows apart. At first there was no one next to me, and like I thought, right as I was about to lift the armrest to give myself more room, the flight attendant comes up to me and asks if the seat is free. Yea. . .unfair, I know!! After some time I started to converse with the woman and she was quite nice. She was originally from England and was going home to see her new niece. She had studied in Florida so she understood what I was feeling. It was pretty nice to talk to her considering how rude the flight attendants were. . . but we made up for that by creating nicknames for them and just looking at each other in disbelief whenever someone said anything stupid or rude. Oh yea and don’t even get me started on the food. . .yuck! But it was bearable with my MP3 player and a book of Sudoku that Sam gave me.

I had to get up a few times to stretch my legs and I would go visit Nicole. I tried to sleep but was unable to thanks to that darn time difference.

Finally we made it to London. We spent an hour in line waiting to get our passports stamped. When we finally reached the front we didn’t need any of the paperwork we had brought along as the woman was quite nice and just asked us a few questions. . . but I did think to myself. . . “Why did I bring all of these papers?!?!?!”. We then went to get our luggage which was all the way at the end of baggage claim and had actually already been taken off the carousel. Surprisingly enough we found it quite easily and headed toward customs, which we didn’t have to go through. I honestly felt as though I had done something wrong when we walked through the empty customs area and out into the airport’s departures/arrivals area. We then sat down and had some breakfast, although I really wanted dinner. We then headed out, hailed a cab and were off to the London School of Economics for orientation. Since our flight arrived early we had lots of time to waste. We walked around the area and sat in some of the parks and just appreciated the buildings around us in the Bloomsbury area. After checking-in (Nicole and I grabbed each other as roomies) we tried to take a quick nap but failed miserably as the cabin of the plane had been dimmed so people could sleep, which only messed with our biological clocks more. At about 330 or so, if my memory serves me correctly, we met with all the other UC students studying at other universities. There were 4 schools total, with 9 students headed to my school. Everyone got along nicely, of course you had the usual drama, yet milder, that you have when you throw together a lot of people, mostly girls with about 5 boys.

We went to Primrose Hill that night for a view of the city and dinner at a local pub. It was gorgeous and quite pleasant. We played a game that had to do with British pop culture and I failed miserably, but so did most people. After dinner and drinks most of us were exhausted so we headed back to our rooms. My room was not very clean (apparently no one else noticed) so Nicole and I covered our pillows and used our towels as blankets. We fell asleep around 10 only to wake again at 3 and not be able to fall back asleep until much later.

On Thursday morning we got ready and headed to our study centre. We went in the wrong direction at first thanks to the one guy who wanted to act like he knew everything, but eventually found our way. Let me just say now that the building was gorgeous and it makes realize what the UCs do with our money . . . no tuition fees only educational expenses which go to put giant flat screens on the walls of the study centre. Ridiculous. . . . Anyway so we went over a few important things and then met with some people from our universities. They were both quite nice.

After, we headed to our tour of the Houses of Parliament were we ran into the 2 people from Royal Holloway again as they had been given 2 spare tickets. The tour guide was extremely nice and knowledgable, but I suppose that is pretty important in regards to keeping her job. Overall the tour took about an hour. People wanted to go to the Red Lion Pub but there were no seats and I was afraid of expense. Eventually we split up. Nicole, myself, and a UCI student, Jennifer, going to Royal Holloway decided to look for something else. We ended up at a different pub-type place and had a nice lunch. After lunch we took the Tube back to our rooms and freshened up before the hit the theatre (notice how I’m trying to spell words the British way. . .as much as I usually hate seeing it that way) to see Avenue Q. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it. My favorite characters were probably the Bad News Bears as they would keep telling another character to do bad things. . .kinda the whole angel/devil dilemma.

That night I was finally able to call home but not for very long as I had to use the calling card on my cell and there wasn’t much credit on the cell. We walked for a bit trying to find a place to go but eventually just ended up heading back to Bloomsbury and walking around for a bit before going to our rooms to sleep.

Friday morning we all met to collect our tickets for a bus tour and a boat ride down the Thames River. We started off in a group of 9. We started at Trafalgar Square which was awesome. We then hit the National Gallery. It was AMAZING. I was able to see a few pieces that I always admired in my art history class senior year of high school, including Van Eyck’s piece that appears in the Desperate Housewives beginning. I forgot the exact title but it is “’Some Guy’ and his Wife”. Absolutely beautiful and amazing just actually looking at the original and being able to see all the details we had discussed in class. Another I saw that I have always liked was Constable’s “The Haywain”. I also saw Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”. The texture was intense and very realistic actually. Jennifer and I talked about going back to London and spending more time there as we originally only had a half hour. I was planning on buying some postcards from the gift shop but, a) they didn’t have the Van Eyck one and b) I figured I would be back.

We then hopped on the bus and took it to Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, only to realize there were no speakers which bummed out my friend Curtis who goes to UCR and is here at Royal Holloway. So we decided to walk through Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace. Crazy beautiful there. We took some pictures and assisted a group from Sweden (I think) in a stunt. . .basically 5 people had to figure out how to touch the ground with only 2 feet and 2 hands. They pulled it off and it was actually pretty funny. We then went in search of food and didn’t find much until we stumbled across yet another pub, which was out of my price range, so I didn’t eat. I got out the fruit snacks Sam had given me for sustenance.

We finally found a bus stop and took it all the way to the Tower of London where we hopped on the Thames River cruise. We were down to 6 people by this point, 5 girls and a guy. The captain of the boat kept teasing us because we were the only ones laughing at his jokes. Therefore he knew we’d just keep laughing. We hopped off right by the London Eye, grabbed some hot chocolate/coffee and then split up yet again. Some of the girls wanted to go on the London Eye but it was expensive so 3 of us headed back to the London School of Economics to clean up or grab a coat before dinner at Inn the Park at St James Park.

It was a really nice restaurant, so I felt a bit underdressed but the food was good. They kept pouring more and more wine just so they could charge us for it. In the end, quite a few of our glasses remained quite full as we stopped while we were ahead. I have no idea what we had for dessert but it was amazing! Believe it or not. . . it was too sweet for me so I limited myself to only half of it. Then a few of us went to a pub by Trafalgar Square and just enjoyed each other’s company before heading back for our last night.

Saturday morning was hectic since we had trouble getting a cab company. Finally my friend Sarah hailed a cab and she, Curtis, and myself hopped in. We took it to Waterloo Station where we caught a train to Reading. We barely got our stuff off in time at Egham Station. As the doors were closing, missing a few bags, Sarah and I threw our arms out to prevent the doors from closing so Curtis could grab the last two bags. Immediately we saw stairs and were quite worried but luckily did not have to take them. We then began to wait for the shuttle to get us but had no idea when it was coming, so when someone suggested sharing a cab we said sure. Bad idea.

A) he made the ride more expensive

B) he only paid 3 pounds while we paid 5 each

C) I had to have my overweight duffel on top of me and it pressed on my rib cage

(p.s. I later saw that kid at a bar on campus and scowled : ))

And here begins the sad part of my trip thus far.

I walk into my room on Saturday and my jaw drops. I have not really been homesick since Ive been here so I haven’t ever been super upset, but this disgrace made me cry. My room was in shambles. There were patched up holes in the walls that had not been painted over so I had these huge deep brown spots/lines on my walls which were supposed to be cream. My armoire didn’t close, my dresser smelled horrible, one of my windows was broken so it could not be opened, paint was peeling off the walls etc etc etc.

After waiting for a pay phone I finally called home and told my mom all about it. I just could not believe that they would give out a room in such condition. About an hour later, Sarah came to get me. She told me about her room, but agreed that mine was pretty bad. We went into town which cheered me up until I fell over. I was looking ahead at a shop and didn’t see the groove in the middle of the sidewalk for drainage, and down I went. I didn’t think much of it. Yea it really hurt but I figured it would feel better so Sarah and I continued our shopping, which involved getting a lot of toiletries and stuff. It hurt the rest of the night as I got to know some of the girls on my floor and went to dinner. It wasn’t until Sunday that Emily, from Australia, helped me take care of it. She of course told me I should have done it sooner but all the girls were quite concerned. We ran a cold bath over it and wrapped it up. I kept it elevated for awhile and then went to get some free ice cream around 330 or so. Later I was sitting in the hall and told the girls I was just going to go put up my leg. About 630, right as they were leaving for a BBQ, I lifted my pant leg and exposed my ankle which looked absolutely disgusting. Millie, who lives down the hall, took off the wrapping which relieved some of the pain. My ankle looked like it had a tennis ball attached to it. Millie ran to get ice but had trouble finding it and when she went to the reception desk they told her I could stick it out or go to the hospital, both of which I did not want to do. She finally found ice at the bar downstairs and one of the asst. wardens came up to take a look. It was a long night, but after a lot of ice time the swelling had gone way down.

Monday morning I went to the Health Centre and got a sleeve for my ankle and a list of exercises and then went about my errands. This whole week has been a lot of random meetings and stuff.

Wednesday Sarah, Jennifer, Curtis and I went into Staines to get some basics. And my room was painted. So I’d have to say it was a good day. I still have plenty of stuff I need, but will go to Egham on Friday.

I stayed up late Wednesday night to finally unpack and decorate my room and now it feels much homier.

So I know this was long. Kudos to those who made it through.

I dont have internet really but I'll try my hardest!!