Frozen Fog Expected...

So, 11 days ago when I said I only had 10 days left in London, I lied. I'm sure at this point all of you have heard from me at one point or another about the current horrifying conditions in London airports. Heathrow is a complete mess, and there is no hope as of right now to be fixing it anytime soon. I have gotten a total of 5 hours of sleep since Friday, and last night I spent 8 hours from midnight to 8:30 am on the phone and online trying to book another flight out of here before christmas after my first two were canceled, from Genna's house after I had to go back there at midnight because I found out my flight was canceled and BONUS: my residence hall had no internet for 2 days. I miraculously booked a direct flight to JFK for Wednesday morning - this was amazing because all flights available have layovers in other European cities that are snowed in. Heathrow estimates half a million people to be stranded in the airport through the holidays. I literally cannot believe there haven't been riots. I can tell you that I will be leading them on Wednesday if my third flight is canceled, and I will also be resigning myself to a nice lonely Christmas away from home.

The only somewhat entertaining part of this whole bit is watching the news and seeing the interviews with Americans who have been sleeping in Heathrow on standby for any flight out by Christmas. The Brits seem to be aggravated but not quite enraged about the whole situation. The Americans on the other hand, know that this would NEVER happen in America, and this is why I am so surprised the riots have not yet begun. There is more snow expected tonight, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. Though checking the weather is mostly pointless, because it changes every 23 seconds and they predict things like "frozen fog". What is frozen fog?? Is it like foggy out and then you walk into a block of frozen fog? Picturing this at least brought some humor to the situation.

If I can't get out Wednesday, I am hoping that I will at least be able to fly out Christmas day or the 26th.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that my flight Wednesday does not get canceled. I would really like to come home now.

Eeeeeek! SLAM! Lockeylockeylock

So, I have a mere 10 days left in London now. THANK.GOD. That's all I have to say. I won't bore you again with all the reasons why I want to come home, but I will just tell you that I have watched about 35 netflix movies since Monday, and leave it at that.

Anyway, life has been pretty normal, winding down on my 8 papers. I have handed in 4 now, and I am currently procrastinating from finishing up my 7th. My nursing applications are also due next week, which is stressing me out. But, on December 15th (only 6 days from now!!) all my papers and applications will be handed in!

So Monday was my 21st birthday. It was a really relaxing day, which I have to say was nice, although contrary to a typical American 21st birthday. I decided that I would rather wait to celebrate until I return to DC, and I don't have to pay 20 quid to get in somewhere. Emily and I went ot class that day, then came home and roasted a chicken for dinner. It was delish again! And I have to say, Genna I don't know if you read this but I am turning into a GREAT cook. hahahah beware to anyone living in the berks next semester! just kidding, I'm really getting good :)

Then on Tuesday, Emily took me to see a Christmas Carol for my present! It was without a doubt the FUNNIEST version of that play I have ever seen. It was some sort of arts school production in a pub. Yes, the theater was actually a pub. And the actors had no props or sound effects or anything. So, they made the sound effects and props themselves. When they opened a door they all said "Eeeeeek!" and then when they closed it, it was "SLAM!" "Lockeylockeylock" was the sound to lock a door, of course. Needless to say I was cracking up the whole time.

Since then we've been laying pretty low.. I've had a bad case of staring at my paper and not writing anything for hours on end. Hopefully in the next few days I will power through and just finish them up! On Saturday, Emily's friend is coming to visit, so that will distract us for a while. We are going out Saturday night as our final goodbye drinks to London. And Sunday we are going down to this adorable pub by the Tower Bridge to have  a Sunday Roast! So excited. And then we will truly be in the homestretch. Which is great because if I eat pretzels or cheese as a meal one more time I think I'm going to turn into one.

This country is the MOST annoying.

So, I am officially the worst blogger on the planet. Although I do believe no one is actually reading this (except for my mom when I call her and yell at her to haha) but just in case, I don't even have a valid excuse why I've neglected my blog so much for the last month... In the last two weeks I have been doing a whole lot of nothing so I couldn't tell you why. But I'll catch you up now I suppose.
So right after my last post (I believe) I went to Prague! It was super cold and rainy there the whole weekend but it was great to see Emma, and it was SO CHEAP THERE. it hurt me so much to come back to the pound. But it was nice while it lasted.
A week or so after I returned from Prague, Lynn came to visit! And I was sooooooo happy!! It was so nice to see family, I was starting to get really homesick and lonely. We had SUCH a fun time over the few days she was here - I took her to Primark (the best place ever, and I think her head almost flew off with excitement) and then we had some great walks around the city, some nice meals, and Sunday we did ALL the sightseeing. I have to say, I am impressed with all of us. Somehow we managed to see every single sight in the entire city in one day. And we had a Sunday roast!! It was so cute and englishy. Then Monday, we went to Liverpool which was amazing. The Beatles Story (big exhibit) was awesome, and then we got to see the pubs where the Beatles played, the John Lennon Statue and wall of fame, the Eleanor Rigby Statue and Penny Lane. We failed to realize that Abbey Road (after desperately searching for it) was in fact, in London. Oh well, at least I will get to see it before I leave! Then Tuesday I took Lynn and Diane to Camden market which was so fun. I was so glad they came, we had a great time - and I got to see more pictures of my baby Deanie! I can't wait to meet him when I get home :)

So after Lynn and Diane got on their plane back to America, (I begged them to put me in their suitcase) it was Thanksgiving. It was so weird to be away from home, but my roommate and I decided to make the best of our teeny tiny kitchen and roast a chicken. Her mom mailed her cranberry sauce and pumpkin to make pumpkin pie too! We failed to realize in the supermarket that you don't need to marinate a chicken, you just roast it, but our chicken ended up being DELISH! Despite the fact that we were missing mashed potatoes (my fav) we had a wonderful dinner and it was so cute.

Since Thanksgiving a week ago, I have started to go a little stir crazy. Once the holiday was over, it felt like we were really in the homestretch. The problem is, that we aren't really close enough to going home yet to be thinking about it every second and counting down the hours. Yet, I find myself doing this just about every moment of the day that I'm awake. Its not that I haven't enjoyed my time in London - I love the city, but I am getting fed up with school (a whole fiasco with my papers) and I am homesick for America, and I'm just done with my experience here for now. I am sick of the food here, it is WAY too cold outside, and I miss my wardrobe. Not to mention, my family, friends, boyfriend, my doggies! and my BED, my car. And a normal American grading system. And things are winding down now, and I just spend so many hours at home on my computer, bored to tears. And all I can do is stare at my calendar and try to make the days go faster with my eyes. Well, just 18 more days and I will be home for the holidays....

I don't even KNOW anyone in this place

Okay, so, the last week has been mostly uneventful. Last weekend was very cold and we were working on papers, so we mostly stayed in. On Saturday we did take a paper writing break to go visit Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster! It was strange that I had not been to visit yet.

We got a nice view of Parliament, and then walked down along the Thames. Across the way we could see the London Eye (which I have yet to go on, but will in a few weeks when Lynn comes to visit!!)

It was reallllly cold and windy, but it was a beautiful autumn day so we hung out for a bit in a park on the other side of Parliament. It is right on the Thames River so we had a beautiful view!

It was really beautiful. After our little walk, we headed home. The next day was Sunday, Halloween. Most of you probably know that I hate Halloween and I was very excited to be in a country where it is not so widely celebrated, and I could get away with ignoring it. Thank god. We did go to a pub that night, just to do something fun. And oh, was I mistaken. We saw quite the sights. I wish i could have taken pictures of everyone there and even more so the way they were dancing without being super creepy. Speaking of creepy, a few older men decided to join the crowd on this Halloween night. And by older, I mean I was actually getting hit on by my grandpa. Talk about a creepy Halloween.

Anyway, on Tuesday we met up with Genna (YAY we really missed her while she was gone because her and Miriam are actually 100% of our friends). We headed over to Trafalgar Square to go to the National Gallery of Art and the Portrait Gallery. Both were pretty fun. I had forgotten that there was a Van Gogh room at the National Gallery which I greatly enjoyed. I was a little disappointed at the Portrait Gallery because there were very few people I could recognize, probably mostly because they were very strange portraits that mostly didn't really look like people. But Trafalgar Square is a cool place, with some nice fountains and big lion statues. I can't wait until December when they put up the huge Christmas display there!!!!!

Oh by the way, London appreciates Christmas the way I do - they start the day after Halloween!!!! I'm staying here forever. There are already christmas lights all over the city!!! Its the best.
Anyway, I left out a really nice photo of the mountain we climbed in Scotland last time, so I'm going to add it here. There was a rainbow over it!!

I'm leaving tonight at 3 am for Prague!!! I will write more asap about my trip!!

Krackawheat - good for you, good for me

I am officially the worst blogger ever. I have failed for nearly the last month to update! I think its because the excitement died down for a bit, and then picked up a lot and I just fell off the earth. Anyway, here's the update:
So I started school! After the longest most complicated registration process on the entire planet, we got our classes and have now been in class for four weeks. Everything is pretty boring, for the most part, and I have concluded that the English are the weirdest most non-sensible graders in all the world. Next week is our last week of 2 hour classes, then we have a week off and then 1 hour classes haha.
That weekend we went to Notting Hill. It wasn't quite as quaint as the movie, and the little bookstore where Hugh Grant works is apparently not real. It was a cute little market though, and I somehow managed to restrain myself from buying anything. That week Elsha came, but I only got to see her once because she was so busy.

The next weekend we went to Edinburgh, Scotland!! It was really, really beautiful there, but colddddd. Every building there is gorgeous - every single one has that blackened gothic architecture- restaurants, stores, houses, etc.  We walked around the town the first day, and then went to a pub and got SAND BUCKETS! They served you drinks literally in a sand bucket with a straw. It was fantastic.

The next day, we went to see the Edinburgh Castle. It was pretty expensive to get in, and there was a huge line so we decided against it. It was beautiful though. It is up on a big hill and its that really beautiful Scottish stone.

That night we went back again to the pub for sand buckets. Then on Sunday, we hiked up a mountain to Arthur's Seat. From there we could see all of Edinburgh and it was absolutely breathtaking. It's a very small city, but it was still a wonderful view.

Later that day we took the train home. The week when we returned, Camille was visiting! And although we took no pictures, we did a lot of walking around, catching up and checking out the city. It was a great time! I was very happy to see her after our month long separation from backpacking.
This past weekend, Emily and I stayed in and wrote papers for school. We have 8 papers to write for the semester, so we figured we'd get started so we don't have to scramble at the end of the term. We also went to Primark, as my only pair of boots had lost their soles, and it was making it difficult to get around. I purchased a new skirt and a wonderful new pair of boots! It was a great success, as it always is at Primark.
Tomorrow I have to register for spring term classes at AU. I spent most of the week dealing with this disaster, but I think now things should go smoothly. This weekend we are taking it easy, and then on Saturday going to Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster. And next week I go see Emma in PRAGUE!!!!

Forecast? Rain. Heavy rain. Light rain. Scattered showers.

This last week has gone by so fast I have done so many things! I will try to give a brief overview of the past week.
Monday we went to the museum of natural history and the science museum. They. Were. Awesome. The museum of natural history had so many cool exhibits - I actually especially enjoyed the dinosaur one, which is slightly strange because i'm not usually a huge fan of dinosaurs but this was just so cool!

So we saw all the exhibits there - mammals, fish (ick), reptiles, etc. Then we made our way to the science museum. It was pretty cool, but my favorite exhibit was the last one. It was called the history of medicine, and it had all these rooms with wax people as doctors and patients showing how dentistry, surgery, childbirth, etc. has changed throughout the years. It was reallllllly cool and interesting! (Maybe just to me, but whatever)

Anyway, on Tuesday we went to register for classes. I will cut to the chase and tell you now, no, we still did not actually register that day. We had to go meet with our "affiliate tutor" to get approved for the classes we wanted to take. The really efficient system they had was.. oh, wait none. So all the studnets showed up at the same time and met with the tutor one by one by one. We waited over an hour and were the 4th and 5th people in line!! Anyway, then we went home and tried to register and of course it didn't work. We in fact are now less than 36 hours away from the start of class and still do not have any classes. Monday will be interesting.

Wednesday we went to see Genna!! She took us to her house which is huge and gorgeous and kicks our tiny excuse for an apartment's ass all the way to China. We hung out most of the day at her house, meeting her flatmates and just doing whatever we felt like it in a HUGE HOUSE. That night, we made our way through the pouring rain to a chinese restaurant that the guy at Carphone Warehouse had recommended to us. It was delicioussssss. I had been craving chinese food like no other since I got here and it hit the spot.

Thursday, Emily and I headed down to Leicester Square to buy some half price theatre tickets! After quite a bit of scouting and haggling, we purchased our tickets to Chicago for us and Genna for 19.50. Not too bad. We got all dressed up that night and went to the play! It was really fantastic! Afterwards, we went out for a casual drink (cause we can do that now). Overall it was a very fun night.

Friday we decided to take a very risky trip back to Primark. I can't remember if I wrote about Primark last time we went, but it is kind of like Walmart. But its TREMENDOUS. Like racks and people everywhere in every direction running around, trying things on, its just chaos. It kind of makes me want to sit in a corner and cry, but also makes me want to run around and buy everything. Its super cheap, so I wanted to head back, as I currently own 4 shirts, and laundry is just too much of a hassle every 4 days. So we figured out the bus system because the tube is too expensive (or so we thought) and we went to find the bus stop. This day it was raining (as usual) and the winds were about 16 mph. In the first 3 minutes outside I got literally dragged down the street by my umbrella. We looked for about 15 minutes and then gave up and decided to call it a day and go inside and just chill for the afternoon. I spent the day cuddled in bed watching Grey's :)

And finally today, we went to Camden Market. For those in DC, its kind of like Eastern Market, but 10,000 times bigger and better. Its absolutely huge. We spent 4 hours there and didn't even make a dent. I am extremely proud of myself that I only made 4 purchases. It is just filled with everything you could ever want - clothes, handmade jewelry, furniture, tapestries, shoes, trinkets, paintings, food- I'm serious it goes on and on. I literally shopped till I dropped today. It was really fun and I bought a cute little scottish looking skirt, a ring, a headband and some nice incense so our apartment can smell nice and homey. Tonight we had dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant with a new friend! (the italian food here hurts me in comparison to Italy, but dinner was very good)
Tomorrow, we are staying in because all public transportation workers are on strike. Apparently this happens a lot. Welcome to walking in the rain.

Apparently they don't believe in knocking in the UK

So for the past week (the entirety of the time I've had the pleasure of being in the UK) I've been sick. This has not stopped me however, from exploring the new city! In the past few days, after we settled the kitchen debacle, Emily and I have been to our first pub (yay!) the tower of london (and tower hill and tower bridge) and buckingham palace! On Friday night (despite the cold weather and rain) we did ourselves up and went out to our first pub. Now we planned to go to this pub - an ale and cider house - that was supposed to be close. I was quite excited about this because I couldn't wait to try some traditional english cider! Despite our hopes, we walked for nearly an hour until we found ourselves lost and gave up. We made our way back to school, and then found our fall back pub - the court. this is the go to place for students of UCL, and also offers great student discounts. Emily and I tried some english beer, english cider, and some english vodka cranberry (which kicks america's vodka cranberry's ass, by the way). Now this pub was really crowded, and had all walks of life. College kids to middle aged men dressed in suits. And it was totally normal. Everyone just sitting around tables drinking cider and beer and having a grand old time. We stayed for a few hours, met some new friends (yay!) and then made our way back home.

The next day we headed out for the Tower of London. It was 15 pounds to get a ticket in, but it was definitely a landmark of London worth seeing. We got a free tour by these men who live in the tower and guard it (but also give tours..) but they have to serve in the military for like 25 years and all this crazy stuff to qualify. That was fun, then we explored around. We saw the Crown Jewels (reallllllly amazing), some torture chambers and dungeons, some armor and swords and things like that. After a long, long day of touring around, we made our way to the Tower Bridge. Now, for those of you who are confused by the nursery rhyme, the huge landmark bridge in london is NOT the London Bridge. Nor is it falling down. The Tower Bridge is the huge bridge that was sooo exciting for me, because I love bridges. Its absolutely tremendous, probably the biggest one I've ever seen. There are offices IN THE BRIDGE! How cool is that?!

Anyway, we grabbed some food at a pub and tried some pimms (a lemonade fruity alcoholic drink that is just delightful) and then made our way to Tower Hill (where all... well, pretty much every person who lived in London got beheaded). It really was a bunch of nothing, as what's left of it is just a patch of grass. We walked past it like 8 times before we realized. Its in the middle of this huge navy memorial, which if you ask me is not the place for a guillotine site. But oh well.

We didn't make it out last night because we were exhausted, and had to wake up early this morning to get to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guards. We arrived there at 10:45 am, 45 minutes before the guards changed. I kid you not, there were THOUSANDS of people there. I don't understand. The changing of the guards happens every single even day of the month at Buckingham palace. And every single even day of the month there are thousands of people there!!! Its unbelievable. It was cool to see but rather uneventful as I am quite short and could not see the bulk of it. But the guard's band did play a nice Abba medley. After the changing of the guards was over, we waited in line for a long while to get tickets inside the palace. Now, I had never really thought much about the queen and her palace, but after seeing it I could definitely see myself living there. Or being the queen for that matter. Every single thing in that palace is gold - the staircases, the chandeliers, the walls, the chairs, its like endless gold. And there was this one display of some of the queen's actual gowns, which I wouldn't mind wearing myself from time to time.

After the palace, we headed over to a small tea shop that I remembered from when I was here a year ago. It was still there!! We went in, and tasted some of the BEST tea I've ever had. I bought a few packages of tea and as it started to rain, we got on the metro to Euston. Next, we went into this medical museum that is part of our school and was sponsoring a free skin exhibit. It was really cool (a little creepy) but had real human skin, some photography, some information on skin diseases and some really cool tattoos.
All in all it was a long but great day, and then we finally made it home and decided to just hang out for the night because we had been running around so much. Tomorrow we are going to the science museum, which I'm really excited about!