Fashion Weekend & Westminster Abbey Service

Good news! I figured out How to post pictures!

Even though i didn’t get out and travel this weekend, as many groups in my program chose to do, it was full of fun and exciting events! The main one being attending London Fashion Weekend! The week before was Fashion week where all the bigtime London designers and celebrities attended such as Kristin Stewert, The Olsen Twins, Sienna Miller, Janet Jackson & Pixie Lott. So we decided this was a good opportunity to do a little shopping so we wouldn’t look like fools :) Erica and I each found an outfit (I found a pretty good deal i might add!) that we thought should work!

The night started out with our voucher that got us into Buddha Bar, a very high class place we found out! I realized that the random red door we found a few weeks ago on Australia Day was actually this place! Crazy! Anyway we also got a free drink here, so in honor of our first experience with London Fashion Weekend, we each got a glass of champagne (when we left, we found out it would have cost us about $18.50!) After living the high life for a while, we decided to head over to Somerset house we received our show bags with little goodies in them. It was nothing that extraordinary but the bag was pretty cute! Then we got to walk around and look through the designers collections they had available for purchase. Almost everything was 50-75% off but most things, like a handbag, was 50-450 pounds! It was rediculous! But still very fun to look through! There were some jewelry places that had reasonable prices and very pretty necklaces and bracelets! The finale was what came next, my very first catwalk! We got to sit in on an actual catwalk for 4 collections that were shown the week before at at fashion week! It was so sweet! Think of Project Runway…then take that times 10! We even got to take pictures throughout the whole thing! Some of the clothing was a little…well crazy and out there! There were bright sorbet colored socks with floral prints, nerdy glasses with jumpers, very elegant evening gowns and even a collection that included gowns from the 70’s and handbags from the 1950’s! Very very awesome! We had a fantastic time!

Saturday was going to be a catch up day until Britta and Jackie decided today was a good day for Indian food. When they heard i had never really had Indian food before, they said they were going to change that. We went for a late lunch at Paradise. We had naan, bahjii, chicken and lamb curry, and another chicken and a lamb dish. It was seriously some of the best food i have ever had! We wandered back to Vandon taking roads i had never taken. We found a street with a few really neat restaurants we might have to check out sometime! The rest of the day was a do-whatever day. I decided to get my laundry done (much needed task to get done!:)) and then went to St. James’ Park and Green Park for a little while to get some fresh air. At night, we met some students studying in Belfast, Northern Ireland. One of the girls knew one of the girls in our program and came to visit and she came with about 9 others! I met people from the netherlands, germany, belgium, boston, oregon and of course some Iowa natives as well! They were really cool and we had a great time!

This morning, Liz and I decided to check out a church service at Westminster Abbey, where the queen goes to church :) The service was very traditional where we would read out of the program and sing hymns with not very many notes. But the message was surprisingly down to earth and very easy to follow. I was expecting a message full of big old words, but he used a few personal stories to deliver the message. He spoke really slow, but i assumed this was because of the echoing factor of the Abbey’s size. Makes sense to me anyway. There was also a time where we could greet each other. Again, i didn’t know what to expect but the president (like our pastor) went into the congregation and shook hands with us as well.  We were then given the opportunity to take communion also a little different than back home where we went up to the priest to receive bread and wine. I had in my head that it was going to be a very traditional, impersonal experience, but it was the opposite! We were greeted with smiles and left with handshakes and goodbyes from the clergy. It was pretty cool!

Spittafields, Wicked, football = lessons learned!

Sunday we went to check out yet another market. This time it was Spittafields. This one is my favorite one so far! It's not as compact and the fashion there is much more...things i would wear! Plus, a few vendors had a few good deals going on this sunday! But there was much more than just clothes, there were homemade handbags, made to order leather belts, gourmet cupcakes and other sweets!, smoothies, cards, lots of really cool jewelry and hats and so much more. Spittafields is also covered! so we didn't have to worry about getting rained on, just cold :)

We then made our way back to Vandon so we could make the 6:00 service at Hillsong. Another great experience! The pastor talked alot of the power of prayer. He said something that really stuck. He said somethng along the lines of, some people pray because that's their last resort, others pray because they have so much faith and trust that God will provide everything we need and will not abandon us! He said it in better way, but that's the jist of it. Always a great reminder!

Monday was an unexpectedly exciting day! I went down to breakfast and one of my friends Michelle, said they were going to get student priced best available tickets for Wicked! Apparantly if you go the day-of a show for wicked you can get tickets for super cheap. So i went along with them and we ended up getting front row center!! I had never seen it before but had heard repeatedly that it was a great show to see! And it sure was!! Everything from the singing, to the orchestra, to the costumes and sets, were absolutey breath-taking! It was a great monday!!

Tuesday was another full day! Kiley and I had our first normal, full day at Hoxton Trust. We were supposed to be interviewing the English as a 2nd languge ladies, but there was a little miscommunication between Karina and the teacher. So we didn't do much that morning. But after Lunch we went to work on the March newletter including current news and an interview that the last intern had done.

We had to leave around 5 so we could make it back to Vandon in order to catch the train to Charleton for our first official “football” (soccer) game. They were playing Brighton. We made a train stop and we could hear a group of probably 10 or more guys singing random songs. It kept getting louder and louder until the group boarded our train! Not something I was ready for. We were not expecting such boisterous fans when we boarded and no one said anything to each other. The group was a bunch of Brighton fans singing songs that always sing before a game and even throughout the game. They never made much sense but it was really loud and in unison and very funny! Lets just say English sports fans put US sports fans to shame. The game was very cold! but very fun!

The trip back on the other hand as not so pleasent. You see, our oyster cards cover zones 1 & 2 of London. If you want to travel outside of these zones, you have to “top up.” So as Beth told us, we put 3 pounds on our cards so we could make it to the game. Well on the overground trains, the card readers aren’t as visible and some people tend to forget to tap out. But the machine recognizes if you don’t tap out and charges you more because it thinks you haven’t paid for your whole journey and it get mad at you and won’t let you through. So, after we left the game, we got on the train, got off and walked through the gate where we thought we were supposed to go, and never tapped out. So when it came time to get on the tube, it wouldn’t let us through! So we walked back to the train station, and of course it was closed. So we pleaded our case with one of the workers and he let us try to tap out. It didn’t work and he said we had to put another 1.80 on our cards. So we walked all the way back to the tube, put the money on our cards and went through the gate. We come to realized the next underground won’t be there for 10 mins. We are getting very tired, cold and frustrated! The train finally comes and we make it back to st. James Park (our “home” tube station) and we begin to walk back to Vandon. Well, apparently, the alley we usually take was put under construction that afternoon so we had to walk all the way around! What a night! However, we finally made it up to our rooms and went to bed. Lesson learned today? Always tap out and never go through an open gate! We will laugh about this one day I am sure of it!

Today was my full class day. Nothing too exciting in either class. We are working on a presentation for my Events industry class where we were split up into group and each given an industry. Mine is non-profit/charity events and will be presenting on the impacts and ethical concerns that go along with this. If anyone has any idea what that means let me know  No, it will be fine just have to do a lot of research.


Tonight is my friend Alfonso’s birthday we are heading to one of the local pubs for free wings. Not exactly sure what or how that works out but we are going to find out! Hope all is well back home!!

Time for and update! Class, Intern, Windsor, Stonehendge & Bath!

So i'm a few days behind on blogging! Sorry! :) I'll try to catch ya'll up on the goings-on the past few days! Thursday was a class day. We had my Central classes in the morning. Well one of them because Mark was sick. Then I had my first seminar for my "Events Industry" class. I was super nervous because it was in another part of London Met and I was by myself. Anyway, i went like 2 1/2 hours early to find where my class was and i had to talk with the lecturer about getting the material i missed. Finding the room took quite a bit but eventually a really nice lady could tell i was lost and directed me in the right direction. Then i still had about 1 1/2 hours til seminar so i found a little cafe place in the student union place and read my book til it was time to go. In seminar, we were all split into groups because we have to do a group presentation in Week 6 or 7 or something. There was a music, arts, sports, charity and one other group i can't think of at the moment. I am the Charity Event group with 3 other girls, 2 of which were in seminar that day. They both live in London and I'm excited to get to know the more! At night Jackie, Erica and I decided we had waited long enough - it was time to go see Valentine's Day! It was a great girl's night out movie!

Friday- my first full day at my internship! 10-6:30! Kiley and I did alot of computer stuff. The major accomplishment was finishing our info leaflets on the Hoxton Trust. Then Karina took us out for lunch at one of the "greasy spoons." We would call them cafes. It was very reasonably priced and very tasty! Then we went back to work and worked up a bunch of interview quesions. Next week we are going to interview the current ESOL (English as 2nd language class that the Trust provides) ladies in hopes of finding out the impact the class has on them. It should be very interesting! I didn't get home til 7:30ish so the it was a pretty laid back night. Erica, Fonzy and myself decided on watching Leap Year cuz Erica and I had to be up early the next morning.

This morning we had a day tour on a bus to Windsor Castle, Stonehendge and Bath! We had to board the coach at 8 where we were then dropped off at another point where we waited in line for 1/2 hour until our coach arrived. We went to Windsor first which was about 1/2 hour drive out of London. It is one of the queen's favorite castle and was used as a fortress back in the day. Our crazy tour guide led us through the entrance and told us a whole lot of information about the castle. For example, back then there were a lot of superstitions like witches being able come through the mortar between the bricks. So when the castle was built, smaller stones were stuck into the mortar to keep the witches out. She also informed us that most moats did not have water in them, just earthen ditches because of the gravitational advantages or something like that. Only castles right next to a water source was filled up with water. Interesting huh?
The round tower, the highest point, had a flagpole at the top and when the Queen is onsite, the flag is put up and quess what? She was there! We obviously didn't get to see her but apparantly she likes to spend the weekends at Windsor. We then moved on to check out the State Apartments. There were chandeliers everywhere sparkling up the rooms! Definetly my favorite! Even over the gold that was everywhere! We saw a lot of famous drawings/ paintings of past kings, the King/Queens bedrooms, drawing rooms, and many other rooms that had huge paintings, lots of gold and other castle-like items. We got to walk through a room where "Queen Mary's doll house" was. It was a little over 23 feet tall and included replica items from Windsor Castle itself. It was created by a host of top artists and architechs during the 1920's and all items were created on a 1:12 ratio. It was really cool and very detailed! We finished our time at Windsor with a speed tour through the chapel where most of the late Kings and Queens were buried. If we had more time, we would have spend a lot more time here but we were already cutting the time close to make it back to the bus in time.

From Windsor we had about an hour drive to Stonehendge where our crazy tour guide talked the whole time about the history of Stonehendge and different theories about how and why it was created. I didn't really catch alot of it because i was looking out the window in serious awe of the countryside! I am in love - no doubt about it! There is an artillery training facility quite close to Stonehendge so there were signs on the side of the road that said "Tank crossing." We never saw any tanks cross the road, but it was cool to see them. We got about 45 mins to spend at Stonehendge. Most of this time was spent taking really sweet pictures (we thought so anyway! We got a few funny looks and even a few laughs. But then a lot of people joined in!) Check them out on facebook if you are interested! There were also random mounds scattered throughout the country. They are called boroughs, but our guide called them "green pimples" at one time we thats the name we picked. They are burial mounds where 6 people were buried in a borough during the Roman times.

After Stonehendge, we had another hour or so bus ride to Bath, again the guide filling us in on historical information and also random facts about the land, culture, even other useless stuff. We appreciated her knowledge, but her continuous talking was a little overbearing :S In order to get to bath, you have to pass through the most beautiful valley I've seen yet, Avon Valley I believe it was called. I could't get a picture because of all the trees, but it was gorgeous! Plus we had blue skies, so it made it even better! Then we arrived in Bath...(insert WOW here!) So awsome! One of the founders wanted to make it look like Rome, even though he had never been to Rome. So most of the building are built with the Georgian archetecture and look very similar! It was very cool! We made our way to the Roman Baths, where the English Romans bathed and believed it had healing power because of the hot springs throughout the whole year. It was not like I expected at all, but it was really sweet nonetheless! There were numerous baths including the Great Bath, East Baths and West Baths (i think one was for guys and one for ladies?) I was hoping to get into the Pump Room, where the water is pumped out (who would thought?!) and we could taste the water. But by the time we got out of there, it was closed because there was some event going on in there tonight. Bummer! We got some great pictures!

We left Bath at sunset and exited the city with a very beautiful view of a sunse behind the city skyline. We had a 3 hour bus ride back to London where our guide finally gave our brains a rest and enjoyed the silence. It was a long day, but very well worth the time and money! Maybe we will have to head back to Bath so we can spend more time exploring the actual city!

Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day!

Well I hate to rub it in, but today was a gorgeous day! Bright blue skies from sunrise to sunset! Walking to Green Park Station to catch the Tube to class was a perfect way to start the day! Class was, well class. Talking about distribution channels and the role of Travel Agents in today's internet-driven environment. Then in seminar we split into 2 teams and debated over whether Travel Agents are still needed or not. Jackie and I pretty much dominated our argument! Yes, that means I actually talked/argued in class! Big steps for Tiff! My lecture for The Events Industry got cancelled this afternoon so I decided it was too nice of day not to be outside. I changed and headed to the parks! I didnt even need a coat this afternoon, just a long sleeve shirt! I really hope this means spring is very close and will stay!

Endless rain, pancake day, and homemade refried beans?

Today was the first day where it rain all day...with zero breaks! Kinda puts a damper on the exploring you were going to do today! But deal with what ya got I guess right? Today is Pancake Tuesday here in London, from what i gather, it's the equivilent of Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gra back in the states. The day before Ash Wednesday. In celebration of this day, the MPs (Members of Parliament) where supposed to have a pancake race where they would flip pancakes in a fry pan as they ran. Sounds pretty entertaining doesn't it? I thought so to. So after breakfast a group of us walked over to the Parliament Green in the rain and found no such race! Disappointment! So we walked back. I guess the rain did have some upsides to it. I got mega caught up on my journals, internship project and laundry! Blessing in disguise i think that's called!

Yesterday Erica and I decided to go walk around. We walked pasted Buckingham Palace, through St. James Park (my fav park so far!), past the place where the Olympic sand volleyball will be, passed Prime Minister's house, around to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, London Eye, down to the River Thames and through another park place and somehow ended back at Vandon an hour and a half later! Each time we walk around we are putting more of the city together!

We also had our Vandon House Cooking Club meal together last night! Another success! Chicken and Beef Fajitas with homemade guacamole, rice, and our very own recipe of refried beans because we couldn't find any in the store! (this was truely an original recipe put together by our very own Britta!) We used baked beans, rinsed them, smashed them, through in some sour cream, salsa, salt, pepper,onion, cheese and whatever else we could think of. They turned out so good! The whole meal was yet again an art work! We topped it off with some creme things that took the place of Flan!

What a Sunday!

Today was quite an eventful day considering the time I got up (I got to sleep in a little today :D) My roommate and decided we should get a little homework accomplished today. We did the usual procratination for as long as we could and then finally decided to buckle down and get stuff done. Around 4:30 we decided we were going to check out Hillsong Church again (the time we tried before the pipes burst). About 10 mins later, the fire alarms sounded for about 30 seconds. We were sitting in the lounge and didn't think anything of it. We didn't smell smoke and we were on the first floor so we figured we were fine. About 5-10 mins later, our receptionist came in and said we needed to go outside cuz she didn't know why the alarms went off. So, being the concerned fire safe students we are, we went back up to our room on the 3rd floor to get our coats, change our shoes and grab our wallets (good thinking right?) Anyway, by the time we got down stairs the fire truck was waiting outside and the rest of our group was waiting patiently outside for the firemen to give the go ahead to go back in.

To past the time, we decided to check out a starbucks until we could go back inside. Another experience! We were getting in line when some lady came through the back door and cut in front of my friend. We look at each other with questioning looks and my friend makes a comment on the lines of "that happens to me alot, getting cut in front of" The lady whips around and goes off about how she was waiting in line but went to talk to someone outside or something. Then she proceeds to call us "ignorant Americans!" We stood there in awe not really knowing what to say until she ordered and went off on the worker! Obviously she was not having the best valentine's day! Looking back it was sort of comical but at the time we were a little shocked!

We then headed back to Vandon where we discovered the ground floor was dark - somehow a fuse blew out with the fire alarm event and the engineer was on his way to fix it. We left for Hillsong before it as fixed. Hillsong Church was awesome! It is in a theatre with strobe lights and a live band! Very contemporary! We had a great time and will be going back! The rest of the night was spent figuring out our internet (also knocked out with the fire alarms). you dont realize how much you rely on it until everytime you go to check your facebook, this webpage cannotbe displayed page comes up! Frustrating! But we eventually got it figured out so i could do some skyping! That's it for tonight!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday was another group excursion to Greenwich (pronounced Gren-itch; i don't think the British like w's) Anyway, we took a river boat/ ferry thing down the Thames so we got the opportunity to stay in the outside part of the boat to take pictures of the touristy sites. I really don't think I will have enough pictures of Big Bed, Tower Bridge or London Eye. It was pretty cold and chilly out there as well. I know I know, its not like MN or IA but it was windy and rainy, typical London i guess. But we arrived in Greenwich 45 min later and made our way through Royal Park of Greenwich (which used to be one of queens favorite homes and was used as Royal hunting grounds back when). Then we climbed a very large steep hill to reach the Royal Observatory where I mastered being in 2 places at once! (ya know from A Walk to Remember?!?!) Anyway, this is the home of the Primeridian. I stood with one foot on the Eastern Hemisphere and the other the the Western Hemishere. It started snowing while we were taking picures so i took out my trusty umbrella and finished the photo taking (i only wished i would have worn my rain boots!) We then made our way back down the very steep walkway and visited the National Maritime Museum. It had so many cool model ships and naval equipment used during the different wars and a few modern models of submarines. I also looked at some of the earliest compasses (and other things i don't know how to spell or pronounce that were used to navigate ships), swords and old/modern scuba equipment. It was very interesting!
After that we walked around the town for a while. It had the small town feel to it -very calm and quiet. They had a small market where vendors were selling a variety of different things from homemade chocolate, to hats and boots to paintings to jewelry made out of recyled jewelry! They were really sweet! Erica got a bracelet made out of an old fork! Then we made our way back to central London on the Tube, had a late lunch, worked on a few things in my room, skyped my brother for a while (:D) and watched Notting Hill with Erica and Jackie!

Saturday was my first Primark experience! Primark is a chain clothing store, sorta like Kohls, but it is a college students favorite place to shop because it is so cheap! It's a great place to "get Londonized" on a budget. So, a few girls decided it was time for me to have the experience! It's a good thing we got there decently on time though cuz when its gets close to noon, you can hardly move and the lines are super long! But i got a few really good buys including a pair of boring black flats i've been looking for since i got here (for 4 pounds!!)

We then went to Camden Town to visit the market. Saturdays are very busy here but you can a meal for cheap! A few of the girls found a discount Aldo shoe store and found some really good buys there as well!The day went a little longer than i expected it to but it was fun nonetheless. We got back, chilled for the rest of the afternoon and got ready for a night out in London.

Today is Valentine's Day, so Happy Valentine's Day everyone! No big plans here yet- hopefully catching up on my internship assignments and assigned journals and skyping. Other than that, that's what's been going on in my life the last few days! I hope everyone is doing well back in the states! I think about you all often! Have a happy Valentine's Day!

LMU, Avatar in 3-D and Ashton Kutcher!!!

Yesterday was the first day of my LMU classes. Tuesday night I found out one of the girls in my program, Jackie, was in the same one! I was pretty pumped. So we made our way over and found the room, no problem. It was a lot easier than it was  on Mon! As we sat down, we noticed another girl from our program sitting a few rows ahead of us! So there we sat, 3 blonde-hair, blue-eyed American girls. A few people asked us if we were sisters. So much for diversity:) The lecture went pretty well; all we had to do was sit there for an hour and a half and take notes. I found it pretty interesting thus far. Then we made our way down the stairs to our seminar. This is where we split up into smaller groups and discuss the material. It was more of a get to know you time for the first time and we talked about tourism trends in our home countries. (the class is called Tourism and Travel systems by the way). From there I went home quick for a bite to eat and then headed to the British Museum for my art class. We are studying the Ancient Greek and into Roman art ages so looked at a few vases from Athens, some sculptures and a lot of ruins from the Parthenon. It was interesting. However I received some great news from Jackie! The lecture time changed for the class “the events industry,” which was my first choice of classes to take at LMU but couldn’t because it interfered with my Central classes. So, hopefully I will be able to get into that class and find a seminar that fits into my schedule as well!

Wednesday night a few of us decided it was time to get out of Vandon and do something fun! Jackie and Benji had 2-4-1 movie tickets through their cell phone providers so we decided to watch Avatar in 3-D. We planned on seeing the 6:45 so we headed over to Leicester Square with enough time to get the tickets and seats, we thought. We got there and the line was way long! So some waited in line and me and Jackie went to find another theatre but we went the wrong way the first time so we walked all the way around the square! It was funny though! Anyway, we went back to join the group and waited another 20 mins. We already missed the first show so we said when we got to the box office we would wait for the 7:45 one. Another 20 mins or so later, Benji and Jackie saw on the sign that said tickets were told at all box office and inside the ben and jerry’s in the theatre! WHAT?!? So we waited out there for an unnecessary long time when we could have gotten right in! yep, that’s how it happened! Anyway, we got tickets for the 845 one and waited the hour and a half at the burger king across the street. The movie was so good, even for the 2nd time I loved it and it was way worth the wait!

Today we had our required courses at Birkbeck and went back to Vandon for lunch. Then I met up with Jackie at the VALENTINE’S DAY movie premier! We got there around 1:30 and waited…the premier didn’t start til 6. We joined a few of the other girls at the gate (they were there around noonish) and waited some more. We were freezing and about 4 we couldn’t feel our toes! All part of the experience though. It was all fine and dandy until 2 really annoying girls, probably freshmen in high school or something, come right up behind me and Jackie and start pushing us. I literally had to hold onto the gate in front of me from being pushed over! We were a lot frustrated and Jackie finally said something. And then every other girl around us said the same thing and they finally stopped and left! Good day! Anyway, we watched them roll out the red carpet and after 6 the stars started to arrive., Jessica Alba, director Garry Marshall, Hector Elizondo, Topher Grace, Emma Roberts and the one and only Ashton Kutcher!!! Most of them walked right in front of us, some got pictures with them or their autographs! It was a fun experience, but I can’t say I will be waiting that long again anytime soon! We just had to experience it once!

Finding a class at LMU is an experience in itself!

Well yesterday, Erica and I made a trip to LMU so she could figure out her schedule and i could figure out where my class was supposed to take place on Wednesday. Quite an experience! I am in the Tower Main building, right? I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest building on the entire north campus and it’s got “piazzas” or whatever they are called linking buildings together. We finally asked someone where to go and he said to take a right, right, through the corridor and take the lift and go down the hall. Sounds simple enough. Not so much! We finally found my room number on a paper taped to a door but it said that in order to get to the “TM” rooms we had to go around the other side of the building. I swear we went through the same café place 8 different times trying to find this room. We finally did find it. We then took the stairs down to the ground level to find the room where my seminar will take place. That was a little easier. We’ll see how finding the room goes tomorrow. Hopefully I won’t be late. The rest of the day we ran a few errands and walked around. Nothing to exciting.


Today was a catch up day for me. I was way behind on my journaling and had to start working on my internship projects because Karina, my supervisor, is out of the office for the next two Tuesdays so we have a few things to work on while she is gone. After being stuck in my room most of the day I decided it was time to get some fresh air. So I made my way to Green Park, about a 3 minute walk from Vandon, going right back Buckingham and walked around the park for a bit. It was a bit chilly, but it was so much better than being in my room!

Tonight, the Vandon House Cooking Club made another one of their specialties! Parmesan Chicken with garlic cheese bread. Oh so good! Then we finally finished booking our trip to Dublin! After trying 2 different cards, we figured out we entered something in wrong. Frustrating! But it’s all good now. We just need to find a hostel to stay in. I thought we should just rent a car and then we can just sleep in the car! Great idea right? Don’t worry mom I’m just kidding! But I did come up with that awesome idea! I have to finish reading a few chapters for my art class, so that’s it for today!

The Ultimate Liverpool Experience

So, as you know, we had the opportunity to get out of the city for a few days and travel to Liverpool for the weekend. Our coach (bus) left at 8:30 Friday morning - was not too excited about this time but ya know, I just had to get over it! Taking a double-decker bus out of the city was pretty cool in itself. I've mainly just been taking the tube everywhere so i never see some of the different shops and streets! Found a few new places where i want to visit and walk around! Anyway, we rode about 2 1/2 hours and then we stopped at our first British bus station. We were a little leary walking in because it looked a little shady. But when we got in the building it was not shady at all! It looked like a food court at a mall. There was places like Burger King, KFC, a sandwich shop, 2 convenience store like things and of course, toilets! We had about a 1/2 hour to get something to eat and board the bus again. After another hour we stopped at the sweetest town i've ever seen in my life - Chester! Its an town with a lot of aged buildings and other architecture. It has a wall around the city and is the most complete wall in Britian dating back to when the Romans habited here! Chester is also the home of the oldest racecourse in Britian! It was really something to see! Everything was so green and well kept! We also saw the 1000 year old cathedral and took a picture of he most photographed clock in the world! We only had 2 hours in Chester but i could have spent a few days or more there! I'll get pictures up on facebook as soon as i can!

We then headed on to liverpool. We arrived at our hostel, YHA, recieved our room assignments and then headed out to walk around and get a feel for the city. We were all mixed up as far as roommates went so we got to know people we hadn't really gotten to know yet! Liverpool used to be one of the most used ports for trading goods and also slaves so there are alot of different docks around the area. We went down to Albert Dock at the right time. The sun was setting over the Mersey river and it was simply beautiful! There were also a few statues of people we didn't know and some really cute resturants and pubs. We made our way into part of the city centre and stubbled across a really cool shopping mall! It was all outside but it was 3 different floors connected with escalators and stairs. I know it sounds dumb and unexciting but it really looked sweet!

I had to be back at 6:35 to leave for my groups "ghost tour." We met our tour guides at the Philharmonic Pub and they took us around a few of the "haunted" places in Liverpool and told us the legends behind the historic places. For example, there was a story of a man who was going to throw himself off the cathdral because he just lost the love of his life. But once we was ready to jump, it is said that an old crippled man tapped him on the should and started asking him questions about what happens if it doesn't work and he breaks all the bones in his body but doesn't kill himself. Thats what happened to the old man; the younger man got freaked out and ran back to his house and the story goes that the old man lingers in the city following the same place late a night. Yeah, it was kinda fun but i can't say i was too freaked out (of course i did jump and grab my friend when a guy jumped out behind the wall in the anglican cathedral graveyard).

After the tour we had the rest of the night to do whatever. We decided we wanted to check out the locals on Liverpool. We were told beforehand they were a lot differet than Londoners. Mark said they were typically more outgoing, louder and more difficult to understand :) We ended up at a place called the Flute and we did indeed meet a few locals! They were super nice, and indeed a little harder to understand what they were saying. I found myself saying, "what?" alot. But they let us tag along with them and they showed us a few places where other students hang out. They were really cool and we had a lot of fun!

Saturday we were all pretty pumped because we were served a hot breakfast complete with eggs, bacon (more like ham), toast, beans, & sausage! Dad, it wasn't quite a tremendous 12 at Perkins, but it felt pretty close to it at the time! it was way better than the continental breakfast we get everyday at Vandon. Anyway, so we started the day off right! Then we boarded the bus for a tour of Liverpool combined with a Beatles tour. We saw the city hall, the headquarters of the company who built the Titanic, a monument to Queen Victoria, the Cavern Club (where the Beatles started it all), the Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals, where Paul McCartney and John Lennon's childhood houses, Penny Lane and Strawberry Field (like the songs). It was a very cool bus tour, complete with a few beatles songs. I didn't know much about the Beatles so it was interesting to hear someone who actually lived in their hometown talk about his perspective.

We were finished with the tour a little after noon and we were free the rest of the day. We had to book it to our chosen spot. As i said before football (soccer) is HUGE here, even bigger if two teams from the same city are playing each other. This was the case. We were in Liverpool during the Liverpool v Everton game. It started at 12:45 so we sprinted across the city, back to the Flute, to catch a little football action with the locals. It was pretty intense; they take it really seriously and it was fun to experience! However, we decided if we wanted to catch a few of the other attractions in Liverpool, we better only stay until half. We then went in a cathedral and walked around for a while ending at the sweet mall where we had a little lunch.

By this time we were getting a little tired so we went to rest up back at the hostel until that night. It was my friend, Michelle's birthday on Saturday so we went with her and over half of our group. We took up a large portion of the building. Needless to say, she had a wonderful birthday! We took this chance to mingle with the locals again and chat it up with them; exchanging similarities and differences between America and Liverpool and also London and Liverpool.

We left Sunday morning after what could be our last hot breakfast of the semester. It was a pretty quiet ride home. Between the ride up and back i managed to finish one of my Karen Kingsbury books (thanks kim!:)) and take in the countryside before we made it back to London around 3:30. I know i said this alot but I love English country! It even made me just a tad homesick seeing the hills and the farms in the distance! We unpacked and most of us just crashed for a while. I slept a little while because i wanted to stay up to watch the Superbowl.

This was a whole new experience as well, the Superbowl i mean. It was underway around 11:30ish that night and i was excited because it was showing in our lounge so i didn't have to go out! But the superbowl is not near as exciting as it is back home. Mostly because....ready for this?!?!....there are NO commercials!! We were flabbergasted! But the more we thought about it, the more it kinda made sense. They don't have the things the commercials were selling over here. But they hardly even had any British commercials either. But then we thought, its after midnight on Sunday, there is hardly point. We were just taken back by this. Another thing we kind of chuckled at was the announcers. It wasn't the usual sportscasters, there was British accents! We thought it added a whole new atmosphere (or something) to the game. Anyway, it was an experience none the less. Interesting fact for ya, maybe some of you already know this but the 49ers will be playing the Brancos Oct 31 in LONDON this fall. Interesting huh? I thought so too! I made it through the 3rd quarter. Then my eyes decided they had enough and started to close. It didn't take long to get up to my room to sleep!

And so ends my weekend!

BES, CB & More Intership

We had our 2 compulsory classes today at Birkbeck College. The first one, British Experience Seminar (BES), taught by Mark (the director) was only 45 mins where we talk about our experience thus far and the different things we have encountered. Then from 10-12 we had Contempory Britain where we had a professor come in and lecture. This class is focused on what is going on in Britain right now and the impacts they have on the world as a whole. Today we went through the different topics and then looked through the numerous different newspapers here and discussed articles and the history behind them. It was pretty interesting and i noticed there are alot of similarities between issues we have back home and here. For example, we ran across an article on wind turbines and the pros and cons of their usage. We read another one talking about "going green." We even talked about an article similar to the whole Tiger Woods issue. The captian of england's football team had an affair and now its a controvery over whether or not he should lose his title. All very interesting to me!

I also met again with my internship supervisor. Kiley and I made it there again without getting lost! But we went over more information about Hoxton Trust, how they got started, where they are now, what they need to work on and where they want to be. Then we got specifics on what we will be expected to accomplish this semester. We will have to put 1 or 2 newsletters together, create leaflets with information about the trust to hand out, continue to update the database, conduct interveiws with past clients and others associated with the trust and possible putting together a little booklet with all the stories in them. I am very excited about my internship and feel that this is an awesome opportunity to use what i've learned at NW in a real life situation! This will, in the end, have an impact on The Hoxton Trust and even the Hoxton community. That is the point of the trust after all, to get the community involved to improve everyone's well-being.

Tomarrow morning we all leave for a weekend getaway to Liverpool! We will take part in a ghost walk friday night and a beatles tour sat morning. Then we have the rest of the day to do whatever we want! It should be a very fun and exciting weekend. I'm excited to get out of the city for a few days! not that i don't like the city but seeing a little of the countryside will be a little touch of home! I guess im just a country girl at heart, huh? Liverpool will be a completely different touch of England than London we are told. Ill know what the means when i return!

Museum of London & First day of Art

I went to my first museum this morning. We had to go to it to do one of our assignment for my British Experience Seminar. We went to the Museum of London; it goes through the history of London. There were a lot of really cool models and exhibits. They had an actual model of what a house was like in say the 13th century, had a model of St. john's Cathedral, what it looked like when they first bridged the Thames, etc. My favorite wing was the one on the Black Plague and the Great Fire. They had videos going showing how fast the plague spread through Europe and what it was like and also how quickly the fire spread and the different ways people reacted to it. Most just fled and took as much stuff as possible, others stayed behind to try to put the fire out. They ended up blowing up some houses to create a gap for the fire to stop catching flame. They also had a fireman hat and bucket that would have been like the ones used during the Great Fire. The museum must have been a great place to take elementary kids because there were like 5 or 6 different groups of school kids running around with their papers trying to find all the different exhibits. It was pretty cute!

Today was the first day of my Art in London class, the class i picked up because i only have one day internship instead of the intended 2. Our professor talked for 2 hours on the syllabus, and then gave us a handout and talked about a few pieces of art for the last 1/2 hour. It was not the typical first day of class back in the states! Just a little different! But it will get better because the rest of our classes will take place in museums and art galleries. So things are looking up! Tomarrow we have to be at Birkbeck College at 9:15 for our compulsary classes. We will be in full schedule within a week! This weekend is looking like a lot of fun! We are leaving the city and heading to Liverpool for the weekend where we will take part in the Beatles Tour! Sounds like a fun and exciting weekend!

Internship Arrival

Well today was the day of my internship interview! We were a little nervous about the journey because we weren't exactly sure where we were headed and we had a lot of tube changes along the way. However, we followed the well layed out map (provided by our wonderful assistant director Beth), and headed down Hoxton Street. Kiley and I were in agreement with out feelings as we headed down the street, feeling alittle overdressed for our environment. Not that it was a "ghetto" or anything but it was not what we were used to back at Vandon, let alone at home. We found the Hoxton Trust Building with no problem and 15 mins to spare. We waited in a little office and exchanged questioning looks. We were without a doubt feeling a little doubtful and on edge about the situation and were not picturing anything like it at all. We had no idea what we would be doing! Thoughts of cleaning and organizing were what we were afraid of. This did not seem like a very organization or professional firm. Then we talked about what we would do if we had to work past dark and had to walk home through that street! We were a little aprehensive to say the least. However, Karina, our supervisor arrived around 11 and started to discuss our expectations and her hopes of accomplishment this semester. As we discussed this my worries melted away. She knew exactly what she wanted us to do and she has high expectations for our participation!



I will be working with Hoxton Trust. It is an advising organization who trains people in areas of business, legal and horticulture. It is a place where people can train to get an edge before they enter the full-fledge job market. Many are women who are learning english and want to get out into the working world for the first time. A marketing analyist came to the organiI will be working with another girl from my program, Kiley, and we will be working organization close to a year ago and come up with a plan to help them improve their image. Before that they were focused their decisions around how it would impact the community. However, they have different divisions in the organization, each with its own goals and projects that Hoxton Trust as a whole had a cloudy image. What another girl from my program, Kiley and I will be doing is working on a database that will have all the information about their organization but can be broken down into relevant data for the clients for their specific needs. For example, all the legal stuff or all the english classes or the gardening/horticulture training. Another big project we will be working on is their newsletter. They sent one out before Christmas and Karina, our supervisor, wants to get for sure one if not two out before our time ends. Going off of the project we will be conducting interviews/market research of past clients to track the impact Hoxton's services has on individuals and businesses and then compiling those stories into information we can use in our newsletter to keep people informed on what they are all about.



As we left the meeting we were very excited about our internship and we talked about how we actually have projects we will be sort of in charge of! Karina even said she will be asking us for advice on how to do things better. I really feel like this is going to be an excellent opportunity and provide amazing experience upon graduation in the spring!

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to figure out my timetables for my LMU class next week and all the logging in that comes along with that.

We officially had the best meal yet tonight: pesto pasta with chicken made from scratch! So so good! Again Jackie and Britta (2 of the three that stayed from last semester) pulled us through, although we each had our job to do to make this a success! Not only am I learning about the British culture, but I'm getting cooking lessons as well!

Camden Market, About a Boy and Jude Law

I went to Camden Market today. It's a fashion market; it was in an area of town that had a lot of punk/rock/goth shops. It kinda looked like a hard part of town but it wasnt like i felt uncomfortable. Markets are good because usually you can haggle with the salespeople and they will lower the price. For example, i just glanced at a shirt that was kinda cute so they were right there asking if i wanted to try it on. I asked how much it was (15 pounds) and pulled a face, so they said to try it on (just a reminder we are in a market....no fitting rooms....little uncomfortable:)) so i put it on over my shirt and was not sold at all and said no thanks. They knocked it down 3 pounds so i looked at my friends to see what they thought, looked at it again and decided the shirt just wasnt my style. My friends moved on and i gave the shirt back and the lady came up to me and said "how about for 10 pounds? you are my first customer and i'm superstitious. if i loose the first customer, it is bad luck." i said the shirts just not my style, thanked her and went on my way. If only i really liked the shirt!:) And that was my first fashion market experience! I am def going back there. The trick is to get there early or it gets super busy. We did notice however, as we walked through other smaller markets around that the same stuff so we got to be careful!

Later this afternoon, i decided i was going to be really brave and venture out in the big city by myself. I started out wanting to find the international student house, but then i just decided to get off the tube and just walk around to see what i could find and then see if i could find my way back without looking at my map. I did pretty good if i do say so myself! Although i did look at A map, just not mine. It's kinda hard because there are maps absolutley everywhere so i couldn't help but look to make sure i was on the right train! Anyway, i didn't find anything too "touristy" that i recognized anyway. there was a really sweet church looking building that was under construction so i'm not quite sure what it was but i think they might be making into some sort of hotel or something. It looked pretty cool, and no i didn't bring my camera so i don't have a picture. Sorry! :) I was feeling so brave on the way back that i got off one stop early (on purpose) so i could walk through green park! It would have been a lot sweeter if it was like sunny instead of dusk but by doing thing I got to walk past Buckingham. I think that is one of my most favorite places so far!

We decided to watch the movie About a Boy with Hugh Grant. It was a very good movie and it was filmed in London so we actually knew some of the places they were talking about in the film! Pretty cool! The theatre class met for the first time today (i'm not in it unfortunatley) but they came back from their first play and Jude Law apparantly walked right in front of them. Who knew?! Apparantly he lives around that area. I thought it was pretty sweet and was a wee bit jealous. My time will come, maybe. That is all for now!