Procrastination?

There is a beautiful symmetry to how this blog is working.  My first post was about me procrastinating my packing by starting my trip blog a week and half early.  Now here I am...4ish months later and I am now procrastinating writing my final papers.  Yes, although I'm sure it is vitally important to my education to write 2000 words on why Christians can still do yoga without becoming Hindus...it is not nearly as fun as writing to you lot about the end of my adventures.

A sense of melancholy has fallen over Richmond University recently.  A lot of that I'm sure has to do with the amount of papers like said paper I mentioned above that we are all dealing with.  It also had a lot to do with the impending finals that are approaching.  But mostly it has to do with the fact that after 4 months of new friendships, traveling adventures, and living in the most exciting city on the planet, we are all returning to reality very very soon.  There seems to be mixed reactions amongst the group on this matter.

Some people could not be happier to leave.  It was initially planned for us to finish finals during the 1st week of May but because we must be able to adequately and appropriately celebrate the royal wedding, all of the finals were pushed up a week leaving a whole week to have fun and do crazy things.  However, these people who are beyond stoked to leave are actually pushing their flights up to leave earlier.  Now, personally I would consider this a waste of money when you could have one more week of fun before flying home.  But as a personal victim of homesickness when I moved away from home for the first time, I understand the need to get home ASAP and so I hope those people get back to the US safely and swiftly.

Some people are going to have to be dragged to Heathrow kicking and screaming.  A lot of people are talking about missing their flights intentionally just to stay longer and some are even already talking about trying to find a job here after graduation next year.  That's a bit of a ways into the future but I hope these people can adapt back into US life easily and find there back to the UK quickly.

I would put myself somewhere in the middle.  Although I am a bit further from my trip home than most of my fellow students, I am going to be leaving London on May 2nd, which will be a very bittersweet day.  I am beyond excited about my trip to Paris, Italy, and Spain, or at least I will be once the headache of planning it subsides.  But when the 23rd rolls around and I take my last tube ride from Gloucester Road on the Piccadilly line all the way the Heathrow Airport, I'm pretty sure I will be at peace knowing that I had the adventure of a lifetime.  I am excited to get home and to spend my summer in LA and very excited to be reunited with my ADPi Sisters in September as I start my Senior year.  But for now I'm just going to enjoy my last 2 weeks in London and my subsequent 3 weeks in Europe until I get to head back  to where I belong.

That is....if I ever survive my papers and finals!  Off to continue the work.

Spring Time!!!

Last week was absolutely amazing because we had a MASSIVE heat wave.  Honestly it felt like summer time with temps reaching 72 degrees at times.  Needless to say there was plenty of shorts wearing, park visiting, and a general happy mood around London.  How it is that some people still managed to wear coat and scarves I'm not sure but I would guess that the local Londoner must have problems accepting the sudden turn of weather and couldn't cope with the changes.  I, however, was well prepared with my tank tops and sun glasses to thoroughly enjoy the sunshine.

I went for a lot of walks in Hyde Park, which really is a whole new experience when the sun comes out.  There were so many people I felt like I was at some kind of music festival.  Groups of girls after school gossiping, families have picnics, people playing with their dogs, a few people catching a quick nap under a tree, it was a really cool thing to see.  I went and hung out by the Princess Diana memorial fountain which is a very fun place to hang out.  The fountain itself is really interesting because it's just a giant circle that runs water sort of down on each side from the uphill side.  I don't know if that makes any sense but hopefully the picture at the bottom will help.  It's only about a foot deep at it's deepest so kids can run around and splash in the water.  Then the middle has a nice grassy area to sit and relax in.  It was fun just to sit under a tree and kind of take in my surroundings watching all of the people living their lives.  It made me think that most of these people will still be here when I'm long gone from the city and it felt nice to be a Londoner in that moment.  I'll remember that afternoon for a while.

I also went on a walk around East London with my friend Maggie.  For those of you who may not know, there is a particularly famous street artist named Banksy who is from England.  He's not from London exactly but his work pops up in London a lot as well as in almost every other major city in the world.  He was recently in Los Angeles reeking havoc and causing controversy which he does so well.  His art is very iconic and recognizable and has actually become pretty valuable these days.  But the coolest thing about Banksy is that in all his years doing graffiti, he has remained anonymous.  Nobody knows who he really is and any interview he does has his voice changed and his face blacked out.  So needless to say, being a fan of his work, I was excited to go find some in London.  East London is the more earthy and artsy area of the city.  There is really beautiful street art almost everywhere you look and a lot of people think of it as ugly and run down.  But I really like the area.  It has tons of vintage shops, little cafes, and the people seem the real people.  It's not the spiffed up clean touristy London that everyone is so used to but you get the sense that people really live over there.  Unfortunately, the city is trying to clean it up a lot for the Olympics and a lot of the great graffiti is getting taken down or painted over.  But there still a lot left and it was fun walking around.  OH! And I did manage to find a Banksy.  Maggie and I located one of his most famous works with involves a man who has painted a flower on the side of the road.  We had a really good time taking pictures of it and with it.  For anybody interested in learning more about Banksy and tons of other street artists I would definitely recommend watching his movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop" which was nominated for best documentary at the Academy Awards this year.  It sadly did not win but the film is great none the less. So check it out!

So the heat wave was wonderful but the fun couldn't last forever.  Yesterday the clouds came back, the temperatures dropped, and we were all reminded of the cold and dreary London that we know so well.  Hopefully the weather picks up again but if not, that's ok because I should get plenty of sun on my post-semester travels.

I have finally nailed down a schedule for my after school trip....I think.  After spending a week in Paris with Mom and Dad I will move down to Bologna for a few days with Alex!  I can't wait to see this place that she has been living in all year.  Then I'm meeting up with my travel buddy Gemma and we are going though the south of France and then spending the majority of our time in Spain visiting Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Seville, and Grenada.  It should be a very fun trip and I hope I can grab some computer time while I'm there to update you all on how those travels are going.  Backpacking Europe 2011 should be a great time!

I'll leave you with some pictures of the London sunshine just to prove to you all that it does get warm in London....if only for a few days!

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

My Street.

Daisy chain next to the Peter Pan statue.

That face was made like pointillism with tiny individual spray paint dots.  Really cool

I thought this was really clever

BANKSY!!!

I'M BACK!

I owe a lot of people appoligies because it has been one month to the day since I last wrote.  I'm really sorry that it took me that long to write.  I have no real excuse except that I've been doing tons of fun things and tons of not fun school work.  But with that said, I am back now and will update you on the goings on of my last month.

I guess I must begin with spring break as that last post I made was about how I was leaving to go to the Canary Islands.  It was absolutely amazing getting out of the dreary London rain and into the fantastic Spanish sunshine.  We spent most of our first day traveling but when we arrived in Tenerife we found that our apartment was beautiful.  I admit I was a little bit skeptical and nervous because I had never booked a vacation rental direct from the owner before, but we were very happy with the place we stayed.  It was a very spacious appartment that slept 4 but since there was only 3 of us we had plenty of room.  The kitchen was fairly well stocked and although there wasn't an oven, there was a microwave, stove top, and toaster.  On our first night we settled in and immediately set out in search of some food.  Let me explain the area that we were staying in.  The resort was called Playa de Las Americas which is more a town than an actual resort.  The area has lots of hotels and apartment complexes to choose from.  There are also lots of little markets to buy food and a boardwalk were all of the major bars and restaurants are.  We found that we were only about a 5 minute walk down to the boardwalk and we walked into the first restaurant we found because we were starving.  We were greeted by the soulful singing voice of a man who looked like a combination of Allan Thick and Barry Manilow, intriguing I know.  The food was good and the atmosphere was nice, over all a good start to the trip.

The rest of the week transpired as such: wake up, go to the beach, come home, nap, buy food for dinner, nap, eat dinner, drink wine, watch television, sleep.  Wake up and repeat.  There were some days that we didn't go to the beach and opted to walk around the island instead due to the amount of wind that made the beach a little more like a sandblaster.  On Mardi Gras we ventured down to The Veronicas which is a complex on the boardwalk filled with bars and restaurants.  We successfully made friends with a club promoter named Steve who we ran into a few more times over the course of the week. "STEVE!" was our general way of greeting him....he liked us.  He was a nice guy and seemed very intrigued by the fact that we were Americans, because Americans never travel to the Canary Islands.  There really is no reason to go unless you are already in Europe because they are very similar to both Hawaii and the Caribbean.  We also made sure to take advantage of the amount of Mexican food that was suddenly at our disposal.  If you didn't know, London is very much void of all Mexican food so we found a few mexican places to satisfy our burrito/taco/fajita craving and I will say they did not disappoint.  We decided to visit The Veronicas one more time on Thursday to act as a nice closing to the week and had an even better night than we had on Mardi Gras.  It was an overall fantastic trip full of sun, sand, and siestas.  Hands down the best spring break of my life and we were all very sad to go.  But sadly the cold of London was always looming in the distance.  Although it took us a while to get there.  Unfourtionatly the bus service we had hired to take us to and from Gatwick Airport did not run over night and our landing time of 1 AM was not the best choice as it meant we had to wait at the airport until 4:30 for the next bus.  After a week getting burnt and mildly dehydrated, 3 hours in an airport takes its toll.  Sufice it to say we were all a bit delirious once that bus finally showed up.  My bed had never looked so good before and I slept for most of the next day.

The return from spring break was a rough one for a lot of us here at Richmond University because it also marked the beginning of midterms.  For me it was a huge paper that happened to be due the Monday after I got back.  Remember how I slept for the whole day after I got back?  Yeah...that was Sunday.  And was I the responsible student and remembered to get that paper done before leaving for a week of vacation?  Of course I was.....not.  I spent all of Monday morning writing frantically for a class that I actually despise which started at 3pm.  Like the champ that I am, I got the paper done and even got a B+.  What's that?  I just got to spend a week in paradise?  Yeah I'm not too torn up about not getting an A.  That's what Seattle is for.

The next exciting thing that happened was that I had some visitors.  Two of my sorority sisters Annie and Sophie had been spending their spring break in Ireland and decided to take a 2 day detour to come see me.  It was really nice to spend some quality time with some familiar faces and get the scoop on everything that was going on back home.  I also enjoyed getting to play tour guide for a few days and felt like a real local.  We were so lucky because the weather was absolutely beautiful and we spent most of our time walking the city instead of taking the tube.  We went to Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Square, Parliament Square, Westminster Abbey, all of the traditional touristy places that I still love going to because they remind me where I actually live.  I am so lucky to be spending these 4 months here and I am always reminded that I need to take advantage of everything I can and see as much as possible.  After two days of lots of walking the girls had to go back to Ireland to catch their flight home but it was a great weekend and got me very excited to see all of my sisters again when I get home!

The next and perhaps most important thing that has happened in the last month occurred just a few days ago on April 1st.  No I'm not talking about April Fools day.  And I'm not talking about Peter's birthday...Happy Birthday P!  I am talking about the McFly concert.  Let me provide a bit of background for any of you who may not know what the heck a McFly concert is and just why it is so important.  McFly is a British pop band who have been around for about 8 years.  They don't really have any US equivilant that I can compare them to but I hate calling them a boy band because they are a far cry from the Backstreet Boys.  They are a group of 4 guys, one drummer, one bass player, and 2 guitars.  They write their own songs and they play their own instruments.  Can you tell how defensive I get over the boy band label?  These are actual musicians we are talking about.  I will add a video to the end of this post just so you can get a taste of the amazingness.  For the past 7 years I have followed them religiously.  I have ever album, know every song....oh but did I mention they are a UK group who has never toured in the US ever?  So when I found out that they were going to be playing London on the 1st I had an absolute fit.  I stayed up until midnight to buy tickets (8am UK time) in November just to ensure that I got the best tickets.  And after months of waiting it was finally the day of the concert.  I somehow managed to get my friend Maggie to tag along and we waited 8 hours in line to ensure that we were right at the front.  When the show started I think my adreneline kicked in so hard that I went into what I am going to call a "joy blackout".  I only remember bits and pieces of the first 5 songs.  The 4th song they played happened to be my favorite song ever and, yes I cried for the whole thing.  It was the concert experience of a lifetime.  They played all the right songs.  I was third from the stage right in the middle.  They lived up to every expectation I had ever had.  It is now the 4th and I think I'm still coming down from concert high.  Life was perfect at that moment.

Coming up in the next month I've got some pretty chill plans.  I am currently in money saving mode MAJOR because I am going on a 2 week trip to Italy, France, and Spain after my semester is over.  I'm also looking forward to my parents coming to visit and for my Mom to cook me food!  I need me some mama home cooking.  The food in my dorm is horrific!  Can't wait!  I promise It will never go this long again without writing but I hope this post has sufficiently caught you up on my goings on over the past month.

Now I will leave you with the epicness that is McFly.  This song was one of their encore songs.  This is the live version because as I learned on Friday, their music is even better live if that was even possible.  ENJOY!

The Sun Will Come Out....

TOMORROW! Ok sorry for the corniness but I am SO excited because I am officially on Spring Break tomorrow!!! Surprisingly it was quite a sunny day in London today which was a welcomed treat.  I headed to Piccadilly Circus to purchase a book that I need to read over break for one of my classes.  I decided that because it was such a nice day I would take the bus home instead of the dark and gloomy tube.  I sat in the very front of the upper level of the bus and just enjoyed the sun hitting my face.  A sign of things to come? I think so!

To tomorrow I leave for the Canary Islands.  There are many things on the list of activites we are trying to accomplish.  The top of the list is of course the beach which we will frequent at least once a day.  We are also planning on riding camels!  Yes they have camels in the Canary Islands and I will ride one.  Pictures will follow I promise.  We are also going on a hike in the mountains..hurray for actually exercise.  There is also a really fun looking water park that we might check out.  I am so looking forward to just relaxing and spending time with my friends.  I may go broke in the process but I have the rest of my life to make money I guess!  Right Dad?  TeeHee!  Well I guess I can leave you with a few pictures of what my life will look like for the next week.  Hopefully the weather stays nice and tropical.  If I come home tan I will be very very happy!  See you all in a week!

A Foggy Day...

It is really dreary here in London today...and bonus...I'm going on a walking tour for my History class today at 1.  Hopefully I won't freeze but at least I have 2 more hours of warmth before I have to go out and face the elements. Eek!

Yesterday was a very exciting day because it was monologue day in acting class.  Having not done a monologue in about 3 years I was a little anxious but was also really excited to get back to performing.  I chose to do one from the film Blood Diamond, which was a bit of a challenge because that meant I had to live up to the standards of the amazing Jennifer Connoly who originally did it.  My professor asked me where my monologue was set and I said, "well....Africa".  Surprisingly he was replyed with "I can do Africa".  He opened the side door which I found out led out to a little patio area that had been highly neglected as far as maintenance goes but it sort of looked like Africa.  So I sat against this rusty pipe and apparent looked like I was in Africa.  I haven't seen the play back yet but my professor said I did a really good job.  So it's good to know that I still have some of my old acting chops.

On another completely unrelated note, I recently found heaven in the form of a Frozen Yogurt place nearby.  I have been going through intense withdrawals from my lack of FroYo and when my friend Maggie found this place, I was so excited.  Not only is it fairly close (about a 8 min walk) but it's really good FroYo.  They even give you souvenir spoons if you order this certain special, which I have of course begun to collect.  It's been just over a week since we went the first time and when we went last night the guy that works there was like "hey girls!"  This is either awesome because he is pretty cute or really sad because we have been there 4 times already.  Either way it's fantastic and I love it.  I will let you know when we get on a first name basis....then you know my obsession has gotten to an unhealthy level.

Well that's all I've got for now.  Hope you are all having a wonderful week and pushing through this Wednesday...the weekend will be here soon!

Oh yeah and..
3 days until the Oscars
9 days until Canary Islands!

I Saw A Movie!!

It has been so long since I have sat in a theater and watched a movie so last night was amazing when I went with some friends to see The Fighter.  It was so amazing you all should go see it.  Christian Bale is getting tons of Oscar buzz for his role and I can't say that it's not earned.  He is fantastic.  On that note, having seen 8 of the 10 Academy Award Best Picture nominees this year I just wanted to quickly say that they are pretty much all worth watching.  However, if you are only going to see a few I would definitely go with The King's Speech, 127 Hours, True Grit, and of course The Fighter.  Black Swan is worth a look too but in my opinion not as much as these.  Rumor has it that The King's Speech is going to take the prize, and that wouldn't upset me at all.

This is a short little blurb that has nothing to do with London, but you know this is all I would be talking about if I were home so I figured I had to get it out to you all in some way.  Go see these movies please.  They are amazing and have truly earned their nominations.  Support good work, they deserve it.

ROMA!!

So it seems like forever ago that I was sitting here telling you about my trip to Paris.  Just one, very long, week later I am here now to tell you about my adventures in Rome!  This past weekend I took a short but action packed vacation to Rome with four of my friends.  It was fully of sights, walking, excitement, and of course food. Here's how it all went down.

We got into Rome fairly late on Friday night.  It was about 8 when we landed and then obstacle number one of this adventure hit us: trying to get to our hostel.  So the plan was to take this bus to a metro stop and then the metro to another station where we would then walk to our hostel.  Little did we know we could have just taken a bus straight to the station and skipped the whole metro thing but hey...lessons learned.  So we waited 20 min in the cold for our first bus.  Once arriving at the metro stop, we and everyone else on that bus discovered that the metro stops running at 9.  Ok no worries we'll just get on another bus.  There were tons of busses and some guy with a very bad attitude tells us that we have to get on this one bus so we do.  It is jammed with people and our luggage isn't helping much so we stay near the front so we can know when to get off.  Obstacle number two then came: nothing is labeled in Italy.  Streets, bus stops, nothing.  It literally looks like people are just standing in the street hailing this bus like a taxi.  We asked the driver when to get off and he promptly ignored us many times.  Luckily some very nice man was telling this other girl where to get off and magically we were going to the same place.  This tactic worked many times for us on the busses.  So we finally got off after a very cramped and long bus ride to find that we now still don't know how to get from the station to our hostel.  Being 5 resourceful females, we notice that the station has a bookstore inside and we sneak in to peruse the Rome guidebooks for a map to use.  Once getting our bearings we set off in what we believed to be the right direction.  A few blocks later we stopped into a hotel for a confirmation that we were going in the right direction only to be told we were about 5 min past where we were supposed to be.  Turning back around we finally got to the right spot and found Franco our hostel manager.

Franco may be the nicest, coolest person ever.  He waited for almost 2 hours in the cold for us to arrive because we told him to expect us at 9.  Then we surprisingly had to walk for another 10 min and take a bus one stop to get to our actual hostel.  Still not sure why they don't just have us go to the hostel directly but it all worked out.  Our hostel, which is actually a bed and breakfast, turned out to be amazing.  The five of us got our own room which had a bathroom in it.  You usually have to pay when you get there but because it was late and we were hungry, Franco told us to just go eat and we would take care of the money later.  Win!  So we dropped our stuff and off we went in search of the amazing food we had been promised by our high expectation of Italy.

Let me tell you, this meal lived up to every expectation I ever had.  We found a small restaurant around the corner filled with very cute young Italian waiters.  We all ordered food and when they offered us the wine selections of white or red we all of course said red and when he asked large or small we all replied with a resounding large!  It had been a very long day after all.  They all wanted to know where we all lived in the states, why we were in Rome, and even invited us to go dancing the next night.  The owner bought us all roses from a vendor outside and we each got free italian ices after our meal.  It was probably the best way we could ever start our trip.  After all of the fun we had to leave before we fell asleep in our pasta so we went back to the hostel and crashed; ready for the fun tomorrow.

If you ever need to see the whole of Rome in one day....just come talk to me because I've done it.  Our morning started when Franco brought us our breakfast.  Yes to our room....it was great.  We had capuccinos, sweet rolls, some amazing fruit juice, and a whole loaf of bread which we at like 3 pieces of.  I had my first ever whole cup of coffee, which was not really great, but I figured I was in Italy and so it would be rude not to drink the capuccino.  Our sightseeing started at the Vatican Museum.  Because the Vatican was the furthest away from our hostel we took the metro there and decided to work our way back on foot.  The line to get into the museum was pretty long but one hour of standing outside enjoying some much missed sunshine is not too bad.  Tour guides patrol the line asking people to join their tour and skip the line.  We of course said no to all of them.  "No sir I will not pay 30 euros for your tour when I'm going to wait just one hour and pay 8 euros when I get in there."  Lucky for us, students get into a lot of places for discounted prices.  I will be sad the day I am no longer a student.  The museum was beautiful and the highlight of course was the Sistine Chapel.  We stood and marveled at it for a while and laughed as the guards attempted to keep people from taking pictures, which of course everyone does.  Well, I didn't but that's because I'm too much of a rule follower, but my friends did.  By that time we were all getting hungry and was ready for lunch.  Amazing meal number 2: check!  Margarita Pizza....it doesn't get any better.

Next we had to go see St. Peter's Basilica.  For me this was the highlight of the entire trip.  I don't know if it's because I'm Catholic or just because it is by far one of the most stunning structures in the world, but I could stay there all day.  The celings are amazing, the scupltures are gorgeous, and I just felt peaceful.  I touched the foot of the St. Peter statue.  I can't really remember why people do that, but I did it last time I was there too so I guess it's important.  We wandered, we gawked, and stood and just experienced the amazingness of it all, but we had a lot more to see so they dragged me out and we went on our way.

What do you do when it's a sunny day and you are in Rome?  You get gelato of course.  This we decided was the perfect point to get some gelato and it was everything I remembered and more.  Gosh I love Italy.  The next stop on our whirlwind tour was the Spanish Steps.  We sat, we people watched, we rested our feet, and then we were distracted by the amazing signs on the street just in front of us.  Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Bulgari.  Yes we had found the most expensive shopping street in the city and we just had to walk down it.  We all drooled over the amazing window displays and dreamed of a day when we could walk in without judgement and purchase that Hermes scarf and those Stewart Weitzman heals that we wanted so badly.  Someday...

Next it was time to make a wish and get some good luck from the Trevi Fountain.  I absolutely love the Trevi Fountain and was so happy to be going back to see it again.  All of us threw in our coins over our left shoulders and had a great time reenacting every film that you have ever seen that involves Rome.  That fountain is also one of the best places for people watching.  You can just sit and watch tourists and Italians.  Everyone loves the Trevi Fountain.  At this point I am feeling very content and happy with our day but there was one more stop on our tourist day.  Of course I'm talking about the Colosseum.  The imposing structure that is the Colosseum kind of just pops up out of nowhere.  We turned the corner and BAM there it was.  Because it was late, and we were tired we didn't actually go inside but we took tons of pictures and even made some friends with the gladiators that stand around to take pictures with you.  The charged us a bunch after it, but I guess it's all part of the experience.  We then decided that if we were going to be any fun at night we needed to get off our feet and rest.  So back to the hostel we went to relax.

My friend Kristen knows a girl studying in Rome right now, so we all got ready for a night out and when to meet her at her apartment.  We all went out for, once again, an amazing dinner.  I had the best caprese salad that I have very had in my entire life.  Only the Italians can make 3 ingredients taste so amazing.  Dinner was followed by a few local bars and one very steriotypical euro club.  Honestly I felt like I was in a movie.  Especially when I made friends with some guy named Giuseppe.  I know right...how Italian is that!  We all had such a great time and was sad to see our long day of Italy come to an end.

The next day we had to leave Rome.  It was very sad but we did have one last gelato on the way out because our hostel happened to be right across from the largest gelato factory in the city.  Or so they said.  One metro, one bus, one flight, one train, and one tube ride later we were back in Kensington.  We stopped at the local pub for some food because we were starving and I had lasagne of all things.  Actually this pub's lasagne is amazing and I thought it would be a good cap to the Italian weekend.  All and all I had an fantastic time and I cannot wait to go back.

I didn't get any complaints about the link not working last time so I would assume that this picture link does work.  Here is my album of pictures from the weekend.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076972&id=1005390138&l=852665e439

J'Arrive a Paris!

Ok I know you have been waiting for my Paris blog entry.  This really should have been written on Sunday night when I got home but sadly I have been feeling a little under the weather since returning to London.  So now as I lay sick in bed, I figured it would be the best time to fill you all in on my amazing weekend in the city of lights.  Let's just start off with a bang shall we:

Yes I took that picture....it is not a postcard....it is not from google.  That is the view from the very top of the Effel Tower.  But that is getting a little ahead of my self because my trip in Paris started at night.

When we arrived in Paris after taking the Eurostar from London, that's the Chunnel for those of you who are not familiar, we got settled into our hotel and then were immediately taken by our tour guides to the river for a boat cruise.  Let me tell you, you have not seen Paris until you have seen it by night.  We saw the Effel Tower all lit up and beautiful, the Notre Dame, and just about everything in between.  One of the coolest things that we saw was the Effel Tower when it sparkles.  Apparently this is a relatively new addition to this amazing structure but ever hour on the hour it sparkles for 5 minutes.  It was so beautiful. After the boat tour we were starving and looking for some food.  Luckily we found a cafe and I had some pretty good steak frites.  I promised myself I would only eat French food on this trip and that's what I did.  I also documented everything I ate just so you all could share in the happiness with me.  A nice glass of wine later and we were all tired and ready for bed.

The next day we were up bright and early for a bus tour around the city.  We saw so many things, some of which I should have written down because looking back through my pictures I don't really know what  all of them are.  Oops!  Well the highlights were the Opera House that inspired the Phantom of the Opera, The Notre Dame cathedral, the Champs Elysees, and of course the Effel Tower.  We were actually able to get off the bus at Notre Dame and spend about 30 minutes or so exploring the cathedral.  This apparently is against the rules because large coach busses are not supposed to stop right by the cathedral but our driver was cool and risked major fines for us to be able to jump off, explore, and then quickly jump back on again.  This was kind of a big deal considering their police officers walk around with huge machine guns.  Yeah they were scary.  Anyways....Notre Dame was beautiful.  Many of you will know that I have a soft spot for huge cathedrals so I was a very happy camper.  After a bit of wandering around and some time just sitting enjoying the atmosphere and thinking, I decided to light a candle in memory of my uncle Scott Johnson.  It was a very touching moment and definitely made the visit that much more special.

Our tour ended right at the Effel Tower and as we already had tickets we didn't have to wait in the huge lines!  Up to the second floor we went and then paid 5 more euros to go all the way to the top.  We were very lucky because the top floor has been closed recently because of maintenance.  The view from the top was absolutely jaw dropping.  Pictures do not do it justice and I am glad I got to see one of the most beautiful cities in the world from one of the most beautiful spots in the world.  Then we had to huff it all the way down from the second floor by the stairs because the elevators were not working properly.  Good thing we got up when we did otherwise we would have been very upset.

Having no other planned activities for the day my friends Ashley and Maggie and I set off on a walk down the Saine River to the Musee D'Orsay.  First, however, we had to stop for our daily hour of just sitting and being French.  We were told by our tour guide that for one hour of every day we had to just sit and watch the world go by.  Having also been told this by Michelle I figured we should listen.  So with baguette sandwiches in hand we sat on a bridge over the river and enjoyed an amazing lunch.  After that we wen into the museum which is right across the river from the Louvre and usually has an amazing collection.  However, they are currently undergoing construction and a lot of their best work is out traveling around the world on display.  But we did get to see Van Gogh's self portrait and this amazing ball room that they had reconstructed.  I have no idea where it is supposed to be from but it was bright and gold with mirrors....I could have stayed in that room all day.

We grabbed a little bubbly on our way back to the hotel where we met up with our friend Kristen who had been visiting some family friends who live in Paris.  The four of us had a little champagne and chocolate party just to celebrate being in Paris before we went out for dinner.  It was fun just chatting and relaxing after a lot of walking that day.  We went back to the area around the Notre Dame, called the Latin Quarter, for dinner.  As you walk down these really busy streets, people are yelling at you trying to get you to come into their restaurant.  We finally decided on one with this very cute old French man.  They sat us on the second floor right in the window overlooking the street.  It was so pretty.  The food was absolutely indescribable.  I had escargot, which I had tried before but never in France so I figured it was only appropriate.  Then I had the most amazing beef stew that I have ever eaten in my life.  I never say that things are better than my mom's and this was better.  I don't think she will be upset though as she loves French food more than I do.  And finally I finished with Chocolate Mousse.  Great food. Great friends. Great night.

Sunday morning came and that meant only one thing....LOUVRE!  Yes the time had come for us to venture into the vast abyss that is The Louvre to see beautiful works of art like the Mona Lisa and the Venus di Milo.  It really is one of the most amazing museums in the entire world and lives up to it's hype I will tell you that.  Aside from the Mona Lisa, which was actually bigger than I remember her being, the highlight was the Napoleon Apartments.  These are full replicas of rooms in Napoleon and Josephine's palace.  Ornate gold leaf everywhere, plush red velvet, and some of the biggest chandeliers I have ever seen.  They were so pretty.  But after a lot of walking, we needed to once again just sit.  So we had a great lunch at a cafe nearby.  I had quiche lorraine which was fantastic as expected.  Then we walked the entire length of the Champs Elysees.  This is the major shopping street in Paris that starts at the Louvre and ends at the Arc de Triomphe.  Every major store is here including the first Louis Vuitton store.  We of course went in and I had to leave quickly before I spent all of my travel money on this purse that I fell in love with.  It was a girl moment.

So, that is basically the end of my trip.  We just went back to the hotel and caught the bus back to the train.  It was a really fun trip and I learned a few things about myself and about Paris.

1) I actually know enough French to get myself around France.  The only problem is when I open with the French I can never understand the response because they talk so fast.  Oh well...I'm working on it.

2) Paris is much dirtier than London.  I would not have expected that but especially their Metro system.  I never realized how spotless the Tube is.

3) When in Paris you much have one crepe per day.  Of course I complied with this rule.

4)  You really do need to just sit for awhile.  The French know how to sit better than anybody I know.  They are just content to not do anything for a while and enjoy the city that they live in.  We should do that in America more.

Thanks for sticking through this incredibly long post.  I just wanted to make it as detailed as possible.  Instead of picking which pictures to add I will just include this link to my album.  I am told that you do not have to be on facebook for this link to work.  If anybody has a problem viewing them let me know.  Au Revoir!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076109&id=1005390138&l=5babbd0bd3 

Hello My Name is Macenzie Jacobs...

And no I did not spell Macenzie wrong, that's just how I choose to spell it.  Ok let me erase some of the very confused looks on your faces right now.  Last week in acting class we were given an assignment.  Go out and observe people.  We had to pick one person that we saw and create a life for them.  We had to give them a name, age, family, job, secret desires, guilty secrets, everything from what they most want to how they take their coffee.  My girl's was named Macenzie Jacobs.  She is from Phoenix, AZ but moved to East London where she is currently working at a very good PR firm.  The story goes on and on but the cool part is that we had to come to class as our characters.  After explaining to the class everything that was on our bio sheet that we had been assigned to fill out, we were then put into the hot seat as everyone got to ask us at least one question that we had not prepared for.  It was a very fun exercise and I think I managed to answer all of my questions while still remaining in character.  Perhaps I have found my alter-ego...my very own Sasha Fierce.  I think i'll just leave the cool names for Beyonce.

On another note......diet time major has arrived because I am going to this amazing place for spring break.

It is called Tenerife and it's part of the Canary Islands.  Just to save you the trip to Google, the Canary Islands are a group of islands just off the northwestern coast of Africa.  They are owned by Spain and so they us the euro (win) and is a very popular vacation spot for the UK and the rest of Europe.  I'm going with two other girls and we are beyond excited.  Oh did I mention that the entire trip: 6 nights and flights, are only costing us about $400 each.  Hello vacation packages.  Not to mention that we are going in the off season which will be amazing because it won't be super crowded but the average temp in March is still about 74.  Could not be more excited I will tell you when the tickets are officially purchased, just picking between a few hotels at this point.  Is it March yet?

Lastly I need to make sure I give two very big and very special shout outs today.  They are for my two groundhogs....My wonderful dad and Michelle.  Happy Birthday both of you!  Wish I could be there to celebrate but I promise to have a pint in your honor tonight!  Love you guys!

For the first time in London...

I did not spend a single pound today!! I know, it's amazing.  I woke up in time for breakfast today.   Yep that's number two so far.  I had a wonderful meal of cereal and some beans on toast.  For those of you who are not privy to the magic that is beans on toast.  Go get some Heinz beans.  Not baked beans or ranch beans, Heinz beans.  Then toast up some white bread and go to town.  It is so good I can't even tell you.  If you don't think so...well...I guess you just don't matter.  Then I made myself a peanut butter sandwich with the supplies that I recently purchased from the local market (Tesco).  I had a bag of chips during the break of my long class which I also purchased at Tesco a week or so ago.  And I have just now returned from dinner where I had pork roast and roasted potatoes.  Surpriseingly the pork roast was pretty good and not in need of salt because the gravy was actually quite flavorful.  However, if I do need salt ever again I have some because..

MY PARENTS SENT ME A PACKAGE!! I just got it today and in good old Mama Johnson fashion is  was fully of healthy snacks.  Win!  It also included a few film related LA Times articles which I thoroughly enjoyed however, the ultimate prize of this package was the In and Out salt packages and the Taco Bell sauce!  Of which I have included a wonderful picture which I think perfectly sums up my happiness at this finding.  I literally could have almost cried when I saw that salt.  Not becasue the food here is in desperate need but because it is so completely and honestly, California Salt!  Life is good.

Falling Into Old Habits.

I have been neglecting my blog.  Obviously that video message was my sad attempt at getting back onto all of your good sides, but I know that people who check daily, I'm talking to you Michelle, and you Amanda, have been sad that I went a week without posting.  So I promise to make a stronger effort to actually update you on things even if they are small and trivial.  No more laziness....I want you to enjoy London with me so here goes some more about this amazingly awesome city.

I took another walk through Hyde Park today.  Just so people are not confused how I can repeatedly walk through the same park over and over here is a map of the place so you can once again try to understand just how big it is.

I sort of wish this map was green, as one would assume a park map would be but....hey what are you gonna do?  I also wished it fit on the page....again we will just have to deal.  So I live just to the south west of this map down off Kensington Road.  The pictures I posted before were all from the Round Pond which you can see is right by Kensington Palace.  But today I made it all the way over to the Serpentine Gallery and yes.....you are reading that correctly, that little red dot just to the right of "Kensington Gardens" says Peter Pan!  I finally found the Peter Pan statue that was a gift from JM Barrie, the man who created Peter Pan and the whole world of Neverland.  Any of you who know me at all will know that it was once my greatest aspiration to be Wendy so I could live in Neverland with Peter Pan forever.  I have pictures with him at Disneyland, and even performed a version of the musical in high school.  Let's just say I love Peter Pan.  Of course I took my picture with it and it brought me great happiness (see pictures below)

I have developed an interesting sleep schedule since getting here.  I guess you could attest it to the fact that when you go out in London....you GO OUT in London.  Any night out doesn't really end until around 2 or 3 so bedtime is looking around 3:30 or 4.  Mom and Dad, sorry if this frightens you.  That would put wake up time around 12:30-1.  This of course creates a viscous cycle because this also means that you won't be going to bed very early.  As I write this at 11:15 it feels as if I'm just getting into the swing of the day.  OK that may be a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point.  Late to bed, late to rise I guess.  I'll have to work on breaking this pattern.

Schoolwork is finally starting to feel real.  Which is not making me very happy.  But I am very happy that I get to fill my hours of homework studying exciting things and not boring things.  And when I'm done with homework.....I remember that I still live in London....which tends to make everything better.  I'm giving my first presentation in class tomorrow.  Well I think it should be my only presentation I make this quarter but I decided to take one of the early weeks and get it over with.  I'm talking about the concept of the flâneur.  I had no idea what this was before I read about it so... short academic diversion.  The flâneur is a man of well means, who strolls through Paris, usually in its grand arcades, at a very slow and contemplative pace.  He is most at home in the crowd 1. because he enjoys studying others and 2. because others can notice he is a man of leisure and therefore very wealthy.  My travel writing class focuses a lot on the act of walking and how walking is the only way you can really know a city.  However not every city is set up for walking....hello Los Angeles.  So cities like New York, Paris, and yes, London are all very unique because they lend themselves to really be read like a text, and you can only really read them through walking.  And not just walking to get somewhere, but wandering without purpose.  It's pretty interesting but also a bit of dense reading.  I have some more that I need to do before my presentation tomorrow so I will be wrapping this up soon but I thought you might enjoy learning about the flâneur.  I hope you did.


I will end with some pictures.  A few from this Wednesday's field trip to the Museum of London and some from today in Hyde Park including of course the penultimate picture with Peter Pan!

Pretty church celling.

The rounded grey line that cuts through this square is the outline of the original Roman Gladiator arena.

Original wall around Roman Londinium

The definition of riding in style.

A Grey Heron.  Strange looking bird.

View over the Serpentine.

This is a really cool sculpture that reflects the sky.

Italian Fountains

Me with a swan!!

PETER PAN!  And I was wearing green...too perfect.

This just had to be done.

Surprise Video Message!

Hello! I don't really have anything to report on that is too exciting so I thought I would just leave you with this video message.  Enjoy.

Life Goes On

I'm sorry that it has been a few days since my last post.  I don't have any new pictures for you but I do have a few stories of daily life over here in  London.

1) I had the most difficult time picking out a laundry detergent.  I am lucky because my dorm offers free washing machines and dryers so I needed to get some soap.  I went to the market and was so confused by which type to buy.  Aside from the choice of powder or liquid (which is common in the states as well), I just had the hardest time figuring out which of them were for clothes and which were for dishes.  Because they all looked like Cascade dish soap to me.  Then when I settled on a specific brand (liquid incase you were wondering), I could not pick out the difference between the different types they offered.  I finally decided on some green bottle.  I have yet to use it but I will update you on that works out for my clothes.

2) I had a full day of British food today.  (Because you know I have to talk about the food...always)  This morning, or afternoon really but it was soon after I woke up, I had a traditional english breakfast.  This consisted of toast, beans, one sausage, a fried egg, a mushroom, a baked tomato, bacon, and french fries (chips).  It was so good and most definitely restored my faith in british food.  You do have to get used to the bacon being not crispy, it's a little more like ham than what we call bacon.  Actually the menu I was looking at offered crispy bacon as an "american treat".  Which I thought was pretty funny.  Also you will find pancakes and waffles on the dessert menu.  Then for dinner tonight, I went down to our local pub with my friend Ashley for my first traditional fish and chips with a lovely pint on the side.  It was so good to just sit in our little corner and talk with the football (aka futbol) on in the background.  Just a very chill and calm evening.

3) I found shopping heaven today.  We took the tube into Oxford Circus today.  You can review my earlier post referring to the unpredictable nature of tube to understand that we struggled with this today.  Weekends are a nightmare but, hey, you have to get around I guess.  Oxford Circus is known as a very busy shopping street in London.  On this street you will find the Gap, H&M, small boutiques, Marks and Spencer which is a huge store that sells just about everything, and then we came to Primark.  The closest thing I could compare Primark to is H&M but take that times about 1000.  There are just racks and racks of clothes all grouped by type (jackets, knit wear, shirts, pants...)  You grab huge shopping bags and just start grabbing things.  Of course everything is in uk sizes which make no sense so you just have to guess, but that's kind of ok because everything is super cheap.  They also have shoes, accessories, and even home goods.  Just to give you an idea just how cheap I am talking about, let me give you the rundown of what I got.  Sorry dad, I'm going to be refunding you for a lot of this.  I got a sweater, bracelet, necklace, flats, douvet, douvet cover, pillow case, laundry hamper, and a super cute overnight bag for weekend trips and the grand total was only about 50 pounds.  Such a win and a half.  Of course it was even more fun shlepping that all back on the incredibly busy tube.  I guess that's my workout for the day.

I guess that is all I have to report for the moment.  If you have any questions that you would like me to answer feel free to leave them as a comment! Bye!

Chilly Day In East London

Yesterday was my first field trip for my History of London.  We have field trips every Wednesday, which is nice for me because they are my only class that day.  This trip took us to east london which used to be a very poor area.  It's undergoing a sort of rejuvenation right now, mostly because they are trying to make the city look pretty for the 2012 Olympics, but no matter the reason it's nice that they are improving it because it's got a lot of historical importance.  Charles Dickens wrote about East London in a lot of his novels, the Mayflower set sail from the banks of the Thames in East London, and I learned that East London was the site of the first ever tunnel to go under a river.  They actually built a tunnel under the Thames back in the Victorian period and the same general technique is still used today to build all underground subway systems.  Of course they have gotten a lot more efficient because it took them 18 years to get under the Thames.  My guide Robert said that when people would walk through this tunnel, the would get so nervous that about half way through they would break out into a run.  So they put some shops down there to get people to slow down, and I guess they saying went "The braver you are, the more you shop".  Well there goes your history lesson for the week.

Not much to report really on what I've been up to.  Just classes and meeting more people.  I've found that British teachers tend to be insane but that again is in the best way possible.  My acting teacher is awesome and I think that class is going to be really good.  However I was highly embarrassed when everyone in the class was asked a question and my question was which of the two boys in the class I would rather date.  There was clearly an obvious answer as one was cute and british and the other was not as cute and not british, so I just smiled and said that I had to go with the accent.  I got a very cute wink in return and my face turned 10 shades of red.  Did I mention that the whole thing was getting filmed?  Yes this is a screen acting class after all so I will enjoy re-watching that lovely moment next class.

Ok that's all for now.  Here are some pictures from my East London adventure.

Downtown London

All that is left of the summer home of King Something the Somethingth

This is apparently the longest street in London.

Really pretty clock tower of a church.

Creepy chamber that used to lead to the underground tunnel.  Now you can hear the tube running underneath it.  The door to get in was also about 4 feet tall by 3 feet wide.  Bit of a squeeze.

A Sunny Day

If you can believe it the sun came out today in London!  Everyone was horrified by the burning ball of fire in the sky until they remembered that there was such a thing as sunshine and was immediately excited by the prospect of a little vitamin D.  Don't be fooled...the high was only 43F but I think I'll take it.

Keeping with the food theme that seems to be recurring throughout my entire blog....I woke up for breakfast today.  Yes this is in fact the first time I have been up in time to eat breakfast in my dorm as I am STILL adjusting to the time change.  (Or that may be an excuse for laziness...typical.)  And in more food news, I had a tostada today!!!  Word has gotten around campus that there is in fact mexican food in London.  Where you ask?  The Whole Foods food court of course.  Was it the best tostada ever?  Not really but it was a bit of home and I'm sure others around me were disturbed with the speed at which I ate this marvelous tostada.  Ole!

Classes continue to go well.  My world religion's teacher explained today that he is not very religious.  Which we all laughed about.  He is actually really cool though and I think I will like his class.  I am also happy to report that I have made it to all my classes this week so far.  Something that my UW friends will know I struggle with on the first day for some reason.  The UK has a very strict attendance policy that is set by the government so no worries mom and dad, I will be going to class and not spending my entire time in a pub.

Because it was sunny today I went into Kensington Gardens, which is a part of Hyde Park, and took some pictures.  The sun was just setting and it was so pretty.  So please enjoy some of my favorites.

Am I Surviving After One Week???

The answer is yes!  London has been nothing but amazing for the past week.  I have seen and learned so many things already and I just wanted to update you on a few things that happened this weekend.

I had a good meal!  I know it seems hard to believe but there are a few good places to eat in England.  I went to this Italian place called Da Mario which is just around the corner from my place.  This restaurant is famous because Princess Diana ate there all the time when she lived in Kensington Palace.  And with good reason.  The food was awesome, I had a pizza with mozzarella and italian salami and it was the first well seasoned thing I've eaten all week.  I was very happy.

I had my first night out in Picadilly.  For those of you who have never been to London, Picadilly Square is like the Time Square of London.  There are tons of buildings, shops, restaurants, clubs, pubs, and most of all people!  Picadilly on a Saturday night is just about the busiest place in the city.  The minute we stepped off the tube we were accosted by club promoters trying to get people off the street to come party at their places.  It was super overwhelming but also so exciting at the same time.  It was times like this that I am so happy the be from a big city and not from a small town because I probably would have passed out.  However, I had a mission and was not distracted by these extremely obnoxious club promoters.  We headed down Picadilly to an Irish pub called O'Niels.  Sadly we didn't make it in early enough to avoid cover charge but it was definitally worth it.  O'Neils has three levels with live music on the top and endless amounts of 90s classics on the first two floors.  It's not like the UK is 10 years behind us in music because they play the new stuff also, they just tend to celebrate the forgotten hits of yesteryear a little more frequently than we do in the States.  Every once in a while I was whisked back to those awkward days of peddle pushers and crop tops to the musically destructive times of middle school.  I ended up having a great night and even successfully navigated myself home on the night bus with some friends.  Yes Harry Potter fans, the late night busses are called the "Night Buses" but no, Stan Shunpike was no there and there are no beds on them.

On Sunday I decided to get out of my room and walk around Kensington.  My friend Kristen and I went and walked through Hyde Park after eating our sandwiches on a little bench.  It was all very quaint.  Hyde Park is kind of like Central Park.  It's the biggest park in London at 625 acres and I've decided to make it my mission to see it all while I'm here.  There are a bunch of ponds and lakes and pathways and such all over it.  Not to mention so many cute little british children running around and people walking their cute british dogs.   There are also tons of swans, geese, ducks, and other random birds that you can go and feed.  We got quite close to a few as you can see and they were all quite comfortable with people coming right up and taking pictures of them.  There are also TONS of statues all over the park, including one of Peter Pan which I have not found yet but will let you know when I do.


Then we went into the Natural History Museum.  Most of the museums in London are free to enter and I am lucky because I have 3 that are right down the street from where I am living.  The NHM is really quite large and I thought I would be disappointed after visiting the one in D.C.  But I was pleasantly surprised by how great this place was.  The exhibits were really interactive and visually really exciting.  In the earthquake exhibit, we walked into what looked like a Japanese supermarket.  We were both really confused until the entire room started shaking and swaying with all of the items on the shelves rattling around.  It was a simulation of a large Japanese earthquake (sorry I can't remember what year that was in).  I was actually quite shaken (pun intended) by the whole situation because it hit all too close to home coming from CA.  Kristen is from Mass and has never had to experience a large scale earthquake. I informed her that they were in fact not fun and that we should probably leave the earthquake section immediately.  Another highlight was the dinosaur exhibit, wish is actually a bit lack luster except for the large animatronic TRex that they have.  It moves and roars and was really pretty cool and worth the bit of a wait to see it.

In other news, I was jolted out of the fantasy world I had previously been living in back into reality when  I had my first classes today.  They both seemed very cool and exciting.  My History of London teacher is very eccentric but in the best way possible and I can already see his being my favorite class.  Travel writing is going to be a lot of work reading and writing about authors who specialize in descriptive travel writing.  However, my young british professor seems extremely passionate about the topic which usually serves to inspire me to do my best work.  More updates on that later in the semester.

At the end of this very long blog post I figured I would compile a list of things that I have learned from my first week abroad.  In case any of you feel like coming to visit me or visit London sometime in your life here are perhaps some things to be ready for and think about. Note: please don't think I'm a fatty because a lot of these have to do with food.  It just seems to be the most relevant cultural difference right now.

- There is no ice in the country.
For some reason they can find plenty to dilute your drink with but none when you actually need ice.  Water is generally room temp unless taken out of the fridge and if you sprain your ankle you are pretty much SOL.  (My ankle by the way is doing much better and healing well)

-American food is expensive.
Either learn to live without it or go bankrupt buying it.  You have to just adjust to the british brands because I kid you not, I saw a box of Fruit Loops that cost 8 pounds.  That's just over $12. YIKES!

-There are no trash cans in this city.
Bizarre I know.  Even in restaurants it is hard to find a place to throw your stuff away.  Helpful tip: they like to keep their parks clean so head there for some guaranteed bins.

-Bring salt.
They have not yet learned the wonderful art of seasoning food here in the UK.  Nowhere have I ever seen food that looks so good that just tastes like nothing.  Everything needs salt.

-Follow the signs in the tube.
That is unless it's the weekend, or if it's a holiday, or if they are doing construction, or for some reason that train is delayed, or if the driver is in a bad mood.  Basically the tube is unpredictable...good luck to you.

-Nightlife is all about closing times.
Everything closes at different times here so you have to plan your evenings very carefully or else you will be stuck on the street without anywhere to go.  The general rule of thumb is pubs close at 11, bars close at 1-2, and for those of you who are really hardcore: clubs close at 6am.  NOTE: on April 29th the pubs are allowed to stay open until 1 so that the country may properly celebrate the royal wedding.  What a happy day it will be.

That's enough for now.  I'm sure this semester will bring many more nuggets of information which I will no doubt share with you all.  For now I'm going to start my school reading or else in about 2 days I will already be weeks behind.  Oh and here are a few more random pictures.

Royal Albert Hall....remember? Spice World? Yeah I thought so.

Really cool entrance to the NHM.

Me and my boyfriend Charles Darwin.

No not a castle...the NHM.

Pretty trees in Hyde Park

Prince Albert Memorial...I finally show up in a picture!

Yes that is Bear Grylls....they love him here too!

Just because I want one.