Everything's living up to expectations

This morning we all loaded on a bus and headed for Stonehenge, which is about a 2-hour drive from our flat. I was excited to see the landscape of the countryside, but not excited enough to stay awake on the drive. Stonehenge is one of those landmarks that I know is significant, yet I don't really know what to do besides look at it. It was cool and all. It's Stonehenge! But I think I was more excited about the cute sheep we saw in the field across the street. Aren't they cute? I was really glad I got to see Stonehenge, though.




Salisbury is the closest town to Stonehenge, so I was able to stay awake for that short trip. The landscape is hilly, and it was overcast today, so the greens and yellows were vibrant. If I'm pointing out colors, I think that means I'm in love. Also, Salisbury is such a beautiful town. It has a lot of little shops, and people of all ages are wandering through the streets. Once again, I love how the British take advantage of their parks. All types of people get out and enjoy them.

We also went to Salisbury Cathedral, which had some amazing views. (I hope everyone likes church photos.)

On my cultural experience: I feel like today is one of the first days I've really noticed annoyance with my being an American - not because I'm an American, but because I don't know how things run here. Even though we're technically speaking the same language, it often takes me a little bit of time to process what people are saying. And when it came to ordering lunch today, I didn't really understand how it was supposed to work. At least the food was great. Talk to you all later!

Westminster, London Eye, and Wicked!, oh my!

As you can see, it's been another long, yet awesome day. I got to have my first ride in a double-decker bus, and continued to pound on my poor, aching feet for another 15 hours. Well worth it, though. We got to see some of the major London landmarks: Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and I went to the musical, Wicked!, which was fantastic. I also got my photograph with a red phone booth and Big Ben in the background, just as Rick Steves suggested! (See below.) That was huge for me. Also, in some pictures, you might see a rubber duck, which is just acting as a mascot, courtesy of Kat. (Thanks, Kat!)


Westminster Abbey is obviously filled with so much history, but actually walking in and looking up at the ceiling and seeing all of the intricate details is the only way to capture the essence of the building in a way that photographs could never express.

The London Eye is the giant ferris wheel-looking object that has a whole bunch of pods that people can go into and get great views of the city. I thought I would get nervous about the heights, but it moved so slowly that it didn't really even feel like it was moving at all. Why does that take away the fear of heights? Not really sure, but it did.

As for Wicked!, if you don't like musicals, you're probably just not going to like it. Sorry. But if you do, check it out. But on the other hand, my roommate Alexis who did not go to the show saw Johnny Depp in Leicester Square on her way home. Yeah, I was pretty jealous.

I'm feeling much more confident about navigating my way through the city. I'm loving the tube, even though it's a bit on the pricey side. (Get an Oyster card! You get a better deal, and it works for buses, too!)

In closing, we were supposed to have our photographs focus on buildings, so you will see a lot of buildings along with some other photos. Here you go. Write more later!

I thought this was a great opportunity to make a Winston Churchill statue appear larger than life.

Thanks for the idea, Rick!

View of Parliament from the Eye. The school kids in the next pod dug it, too!

A better look at these cute kids, all in their uniforms, looking all proper and English.

Definitely not the best picture of this building, but I wanted to get the cucumber shaped building in sometime. Around here, they call it the gherkin.

Parliament ... from the back.

Love the window panes around here. If you think that's weird, I also love the lamp posts. I'm easy to please.

These were some buildings next to the Methodist Center that I thought looked cool. Thank God for air conditioning! Get excited, mom and dad. You've got a picture of a John Wesley statue coming your way!

So much to do, so little time, so sleep deprived!

Even though I've only been here for a couple of days, I'm already dreading the day I'm going to have to leave. :( I have had such a good time. (Sorry, by the way, for not blogging yesterday. I'm a bad person.) The other day, I did not make it to Hyde Park in time for the Kooks, but we were there in time for the Killers. A lot of people (including me) hung out outside of the concert area because you could still hear everything just fine without having to pay. We were not able to see as well as the people were able to last year, but it was really cool to people watch. People were climbing up trees so they could watch the performance, and other groups brought their own bottles of wine and had picnics. I think I might take their lead tonight when Bruce Springsteen plays.

Megan and me at Hyde Park

Yesterday was a very long day. First we learned some of the history of the Bloomsbury neighborhood, which is where we are staying, on a walking tour. Then we made our way over to Portobello Market, which would have been a lot more exciting if it were less hot, I were less sleep-deprived, and it were much less crowded. Also, if you plan to mosey on up to Notting Hill from there, I would recommend that you know where you're going. My feet hate me a lot more now, and Megan and I never actually made it to Notting Hill. (As I've never enjoyed the movie, I'm perfectly happy avoiding it -- as delightful as I hear it is.) Determined to hit at least one destination other than Portobello Market before taking the tube back home, we decided to go to Kensington Gardens. We didn't have much time, but we did make it over to see the edge of the park, and we saw the back of Kensington Palace, which I guess is one of the places where Diana stayed.

We then made our way back to the study center completely exhausted and just in time for the pub visit with our professor and other people in our program. It was hot, crowded, and we didn't think we would get seating for all of us. But after a few minutes of waiting, we were seated and had some good food and some good beer, which lifted my spirits and willingness to head out with some friends to a Michael Jackson party in Camden Town. When we made it to the venue, we found out the cover charge was £18.65 (more than $30), so we just looked for another place in the area to go out. We did, had a great time, and once again, I did not get enough sleep.

This morning, we had a bus tour of London (not double-decker, unfortunately), which was amazing! We got to see so much of the city. I absolutely loved it when we crossed the Thames and got to see the Tower of London, Big Ben, and the London Eye. We stopped at St. Paul's and at the Thames. We also went to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guard. Then we drove to Picadilly Circus and Hyde Park. There was so much to see, and I just thought it was amazing.

I have also been very fortunate with my flatmates (Yeah, I said flatmates.). I'm rooming with Megan, who also goes to UW, and we share a flat with Alexis, who is from Florida, and Michele, who is from Pennsylvania. We hang out, grab food, and run around together. They all crack me up, and I enjoy their company too much to actually get ample sleep. Everyone else I've met has been really nice, too.

Alexis, Michele, and Megan

I thought I would close this entry with some information about the food. So ... are you curious? Is it disgusting? Does it really count as food? I don't know if it's just the places I've been to, but I've been trying a lot of traditional foods, and mine have all been pretty good. The coffee is a bit of a different story, but their espresso drinks have all been pretty good, in my experience. So far I've had:

Jacket potatoes: These were about the U.S. equivalent of baked potatoes with melted mozzarella and fresh tomatoes, mmm... In case you were wondering, the Ginger Beer was also very good.



Bangers and mash: I thought it looked a little ridiculous, but it was pretty similar to a hot dog with more of a sausage taste. I thought it was pretty good as strange as it looks, but the mash was not as tasty as mashed potatoes.

Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding: Delicious. You also get two types of potatoes: roasted and fried. The Yorkshire pudding have a light doughy taste, somewhat similar to a pancake. The thing at the top of the photo that resembles a meatball actually tasted like stuffing. It was very good. (And Dad, if you want to know how I found my green beans, I just lifted up my roast beef, and there they were.)

I'm planning to go listen to Sprinsteen at Hyde Park tonight, so I will have to write more later. Cheers!

New in town

First of all, I must say thank you to a couple of my roommates from Madison for giving me a ride to my bus and for taking care of my car. (That's you, Chris and Bill!) It's easy to forget about all of the little things until right up before the trip, when I hit panic mode. But thanks, guys, for being heroes. I appreciate you.

I made the trip from Madison to London with my friend Megan, which helped ease my travel woes. The bus did not get a flat (hurrah!), turbulence did not kill us (shocking yet awesome), we made our connection in Dublin (seriously cool), and we didn't even have to wait in the crazy long, snaking-and-stretching-out-into-the-long-hallway-and-through-the-door customs line even though we thought we did and did so for at least 20 minutes (seriously even more cool). I highly recommend traveling into London through Ireland. Get the crazy checks over with in a much quicker fashion.

My Irish breakfast in Dublin :)

We took a very long cab ride from Gatwick to where we are staying in central London. Our cab driver shared some of the good places to go to in town. (Everyone seems to be up on their history here. Way to go, Brits!) I love that they drive on the other side of the road, but I'm still getting used to being a pedestrian in this city. I'm sure there are a thousand buses in this town that would just love to take my leg off. Green man means go. Red man means good luck, sucker!


I enjoyed (seriously) my first meal of fish and chips, and a bunch of us have taken to drinking Pimms, which is a delightful drink with fruit in it. Delicious. BUT I think I learned today that if you're drinking it outside, you should drink it fast because a random bird could ruin it along with your hair and clothes.

I've also done quite a bit of walking. Megan and I wandered around to Regent Park, and then we both went on a practical walking tour in the Bloomsbury neighborhood, which is where we're staying. One thing I love about London is how much everyone takes advantage of their parks. They are all so full of people. Tonight, Megan and I are going to take advantage of another park. The Kooks and The Killers are playing at Hyde Park, so I guess I'll talk to you all later! I'm off to go have fun!

Trafalgar Square

Making lists and checking them, oh, a LOT

The nights before I travel are always filled with hope, excitement for the unknown, frustration, and paranoia. The first two are pretty self-explanatory. The frustration comes from the numerous trips to Walmart, Target, and Walgreens for the various things I've forgotten. (OK, I swear I'm not going to any more stores before I go.) And the paranoia is directly related to just reaching my destination. What if the bus gets a flat tire? Am I going to make it to the airport on time? Is my luggage the right size and weight? My list of worries is actually much longer than that, but I just wanted to give you an idea of what goes through my head.
As for the actual packing? I'm getting close to being done. It's crazy how much stuff you think you can't live without, but I know I won't use everything that's crammed into my suitcases right now. So I'm just going to go through it one more time so I can (hopefully) weed out some unnecessary items. So, that's where I'm at. It's hot, and I'm tired, but I know sleep won't come easy. There's too much to be excited about to sleep. By this time tomorrow, I will be on a plane en route to Dublin, Ireland. And just a couple of hours later I will be arriving in London. :)

London's calling...

But I'm taking my time getting ready. Both suitcases are still empty, but I'm dedicating my entire Tuesday to packing for this trip. After months of anticipation, I can't believe I'm hopping on a plane in a couple of days! In just three short weeks I will have touched down in Ireland, and visited the U.K., Germany, and France. I will be spending the majority of the time in London and Paris, and at this point I'm still overly optimistic that I will get to know each of these cities like the back of my hand. (Yeah, right.) I'm looking forward to meeting the people in my group, catching up with some old friends, and making new friends along the way. And though I doubt I'll ever be mistaken for a local, I'm hoping Rick Steves will help prevent me from looking completely ridiculous.