Logistics of my adventures lately

Let's try to catch you up. Well first off. You have to take classes while you study abroad. The plus side is they're only a few days a week usually and you get longer weekends. It can be hard to focus on school while being abroad but I found that it helps me realize my routine, my pattern, and grounds me here. Sure I could go spend all my money and run around Europe but these classes offer so much insight and history to London that it gives me more (free!) ideas of things to do whilst my friends and I are here. I'm taking International Relations from an Italian professor that is so funny! He makes the funniest jokes and is pretty up on American culture. It seems like it may be one of my favorite classes haha. I'm also taking Popular Views of Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages and Beyond with Carolyn Anderson from UW and she is amazing! She is so funny and brilliant! She has the Anglo-Saxon version of Beowulf memorized. That's how crazy brilliant she is. There's also British Life and Culture which I haven't taken a class in yet. Contemporary European Art... now this is a class. I have a British Professor that takes us to Museums as field trips for a majority of the semester. I cannot wait to continue on and see more! There aren't much updates on classes considering I've only had a week in them but I'm really excited to see what I can/can't learn haha. Art History will be a challenge.

I went to the National Gallery with Taylor. It was gorgeous! The art is spectacular! We tried to analyze the meaning of all the paintings. "Everything has a meaning in art, everything" Dr. Bolton told us that day one. So we went and explored the museum on our own a little. Then we went to Trafalgar Square and took really cool dorky pictures! and you could see Big Ben from where we stood! Then had lunch at a "Pret A Manger" store that we eat at all the time. It's really affordable and has wifi. The next few days Taylor, Jamie and I mostly wandered around haha... Oxford Street shops... just sort of explored. Then we went to the University of London Union called the ULU (Yoo-loo). It was a complete bust except for cheap drinks and meeting up with friends. The DJ was terrible.

touristy things as well but it was still really cool! Then we went to Alexandra Palace that Taylor found out was built by Victoria for the duchess of york but it's burnt down twice and been rebuilt. It's now an expensive ice rink. It used to have the worlds largest organ in it's ballroom.

Disoriented

I'll admit that I've been slacking on the posts here. So here goes. Studying abroad is such an amazing experience so far. You have the chance to rely on yourself, in a large place you don't know, doing things you've never done. An idea is powerful, but reality is more powerful. Actually being in London has made my small idea a reality. I wanted to change and grow; to push my limits. I had done so many great things at UW and I loved all my friends, jobs and experiences but I started thinking "what was the next step?", "could I do it?" and I did. It was so great to have the help of all my friends, family and UW peeps to help me out and make it happen. Plan early though, things get expensive fast and sometimes it takes you off guard. I just booked a trip to Rome, Italy at the end of February. I cannot wait! Taylor and I decided that if we could only pick one place that Italy was it. I wanted to originally study in Italy but the program I wanted closed. London is so close to everywhere else that it didn't matter. I will have the chance to go and see all the places I wanted to see with one of my best friends. I honestly don't know what I would have done without Taylor on this trip. It's nice to just have a familiar face and someone equally as lost as you are. Don't get me wrong. I've been lost a lot on my own here already and I'm having to deal with this experience alone in many ways. But not completely. It's such a good adventure for people that you can easily get along with, that have a passion for what they're here to do, and see this as the opportunity of a lifetime. It's snowed almost 5 times since we've been here and it's going to snow tonight. It's funny how Londoner's freak out when they see it! The city literally slows to a halt because it's so uncommon here.

There's a lot more to update you on and I can do that tomorrow!!!! After... I go to Buckingham Palace :) haha See you soon!

The beginning of a new story

In March of 2012, I decided to take my last semester of college abroad. I found a program, did all the stressing and paperwork that my heart could bare, and now as of January 17th, 2013 I'm here... In London... surrounded by a foreign culture. It's been four days and I'm still adjusting to life here but I think I'm going to have a great semester here. I want to learn and explore so much more but I'm not going to lie. It's a little intimidating. There are so many different customs and traditions not to mention little things and phrases that I don't get. But I am excited to see where I go and what I do. The imfamous Taylor True and Jamie Gaab are here with me along with a bunch of great new friends that I'm meeting from three other institutions and from my home institution. This is where you'll be able to keep up with my detailed adventures about London and almost all that we do here. There will be pictures uploaded to Facebook and all that Jazz but this is the place you can come to see all my escapades. My love for you all is deep, passionate and very important... but I have things to do and can't send over 50+ messages to people when I know we all have busy lives. So here goes my first adventures into the unknown world of the UK and Europe. I hope you all have enjoyed this lovely info as I was writing in a tone that my head had made out to sound like a flight attendant(really, that's the tone I was hearing as I was typing). Follow me on this journey and I will see you all soon :) Ciao,