The Final Week!

And here marks the last week of my amazing study abroad experience. It's safe to say that deciding to go to London for study abroad is one of the best decisions that I have ever made!

Sunday:
We went to see the house/apartment that was filmed for the Parent Trap! Unfortunately it was under construction so we couldn't get as great of a picture as we would have liked, but it was still nice to go and see the area that was around it. It was actually a pretty wealthy neighborhood (not surprising, since Elizabeth James appeared to be quite wealthy herself). Afterwards, we made our way to Paddington Station because Lizzie wanted to see the statue of Paddington Bear! It was a really cute tribute to the children's book! We also spent a little bit of time in the Paddington Bear shop that was also in the station--of course everything was very expensive. Everything was very cute, but since I didn't exactly grow up reading the books, I was more interested in looking rather than buying anything!

Me with Paddington Bear!

The Parent Trap house (though not actually, the real one was across the street but had a huge construction site but it basically looks the same hahahaha)

Monday:

I can't really remember what we did on Monday, which probably means that we were just finishing up studying for our quiz that was the next day and finishing our final papers!

Tuesday:

On Tuesday we finally had AFTERNOON TEA after class! We were soooo excited for it, and it definitely exceeded our expectations. Not only did we have bottomless tea (yum!) but we also got finger sandwiches of the following: cucumber and cream cheese, smoked salmon, ham and tomato, and egg salad! We each probably ate like 4 full sandwiches (they were each half sandwiches), but they were so good! If we had known that we would get a lot more later on though, we probably wouldn't have eaten so many!

I <3 English Breakfast Tea

 Yum!!

Like I said, we didn't know we were getting even more food after the finger sandwiches, so we just kept eating them. Well...it turns out we were getting more. A lot more. After the finger sandwiches, we were brought VERY good lemonade--it wasn't even carbonated like lemonade normally is over here! On top of that, we also got biscuits with jam--raspberry and strawberry--on top of them and these four enormous pieces of cake that the four of us at my table just dug into each of the different kinds--chocolate, Victoria sponge, carrot, and coffee cakes. I think I liked the carrot cake the best!

Later in the day, I met up with Jessica and we walked around Oxford Circus!

Wednesday:

We were originally planning on seeing the Prime Meridian on Wednesday, but we decided against it because it weirdly costs money to see an invisible line hahaha, so instead, we went to Oxford Circus so that Lizzie and Katie could shop for fascinators for the Royal Ascot! I already had mine, so luckily I didn't have to worry about finding one but it was fun! I actually ended up buying some other things that day, like some really cute earrings, a shirt from H&M, and a floppy hat from the market!

Me on Carnaby Road with a sparkly British flag :)

Then, at night we had a group dinner at a restaurant called Tayyab's, which is Indian cuisine. The program was covering everything that we bought, so obviously we ordered a lot! I had gotten Kahari Chicken Keema, Garlic Naan, Rice, and Samosas! The restaurant was also BYOB so we all pretty much just brought whatever alcohol we still had left haha. It was delicious, although my chicken entree was pretty spicy. My favorite things were probably the rice and the samosas! It was even better because we weren't paying :)

Afterwards we decided that we should walk around a bit before we headed home. Ideally, we would have liked to see Big Ben lit up at night but the problem is that it doesn't get dark until like 10:30 PM! We walked by, but we unfortunately didn't want to stay too long so we went home shortly after that.

Panoramic view of Big Ben :)

Thursday:

Thursday all I pretty much did was go to our last class of the semester, pack up my stuff, and go to Mr. Quint's office to take my big suitcase! He agreed to hold onto my luggage until Conor and I come back to Paris, which was really nice of him. Packing was so stressful because I had to make sure I had all my things together for both traveling and to leave with him! It was also really hard to pack extra sparingly for traveling because I had already packed sparingly to come to London! 

After I took my stuff to Mr. Quint's office (which took me forever to find!), I came home to Camden and got a Turkish wrap from the market for the last time! When I finished my Turkish wrap, my roommate and her sister (who was visiting for the week) invited me to come get drinks with them at the pub next to our apartment building to watch the England/Uruguay game! Unfortunately England lost, but at least it was fun to watch the game :) We had to head home somewhat early though so that we could wake up for Ascot the following day!

Friday:

THE ROYAL ASCOT! Pretty much the event that we had been waiting for for the past 3 weeks! And it was so much fun--the four of us went plus Jessica and Katie M.'s sister :) It was a veryyyy hot and sunny day, and I had to purchase sunscreen for 6 pounds--which is ridiculous but I needed it or else I would be a lobster right now hahaha. Probably the best part was that we were all dressed nicely with our fascinators!

We were able to see the queen for the second time in two weeks! Although we weren't able to get a good view to take a picture of her, she was looking fabulous in her magenta outfit! 

We took turns to leave our picnic table to stand by the fence to watch the horse races! Jessica and I even did a survey to receive a 2 pound voucher, so we were able to bet on horses for free! Although we didn't win anything, it's still fun to say that we bet on a horse. It was such a fun way to end our trip to London!

Saturday:

Today was the day! The final day in London for my study abroad. My train to Paris wasn't until 7, so Lizzie, her sister, and I dropped off our larger luggage at the train station storage unit. We later went back through the Camden markets, then to Oxford Circus for some shopping, then to Pizza Hut for a late lunch, and then back to the train station. The train ride to Paris was pretty nerve wracking since I had to sit separately from Lizzie and her sister! Luckily, I was able to find them, but I still had to get on the metro by myself with my luggage, which was pretty scary because everyone was speaking French around me and I couldn't understand ANYTHING! I did make it to the exit that the Mahieus (the girls I am staying with while I am here) told me to go to and met up with Flore! When we made it to their house, Flore showed me around her house and gave me the key to their apartment. I am so excited to spend the next week here in Paris!

Me leaving Camden Town for the last time!

Winding Down :(

Sunday:

Because the weather was absolutely gorgeous (upper 70's-80's!), we decided to go to the London Zoo! We seriously could not have picked better weather to go to the zoo, and I was especially excited because the zoo was one thing that I really wanted to do while in London! My dad had told me how great the zoo was, so obviously I had to do it! It was also nice though because it didn't seem to be as touristy as some of the other things that we have been doing--there were a lot of British families there. A man who sold us ice cream even seemed surprised by our American accents haha

In my opinion, the zoo here was a lot nicer than the one in Detroit, even though it didn't seem quite as big. I really liked how it really emphasized the fact that it was a zoo that functioned as a conservatory.

Monday:
Katie M. and I decided to go ahead and pay the 15 pounds to go inside Westminster Abbey. It was definitely worth it compared to just going to the service--I never realized how ENORMOUS the abbey was on the inside! It was really cool to see the graves and memorials for famous people I actually knew--Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Chaucer, and so many more! Katie was geeking out because of the Poets Corner in one area of the Abbey. I was pretty amazed by all the detail that clearly went into constructing the different aspects of Westminster! Plus, it was cool to walk through the building where numerous coronations have taken place, in addition to the Royal Wedding! I am so happy that I decided to pay the money, because the small amount that we saw when we went in for free during a service does not even compare to the other areas that were blocked off.

I would post pictures, but we unfortunately were not allowed to (well, supposed to) take any pictures on the inside!

Tuesday:
After class, Katie M. (my roommate) and I went into Surrey to visit some of my dad's friends from college. Mrs. Quint showed us around a bunch of areas in the county--and in a car! It was so weird being in the passenger seat on the left side! One place we visited was her daughter's home, where we had a cup of tea! Afterwards, we headed to Shere to see a spot where a scene of The Holiday was filmed. It turns out that the church that is there was also a stop for the pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales!

After driving around the area for a while, we finally went to the Quints' home, which was a gorgeous countryside home! There was even a pool in the back and a very large patio and back yard. Mrs. Quint showed us around the house and it looked even bigger on the inside! It was nice to hear about the history of their home, since it was built in 1914 (most of the homes in that neighborhood have been torn down to make more modern homes). After our tour I finally met Mr. Quint, who was my dad's roommate back in college and good friend from his year he spent living in France. It was pretty humorous to hear about the funny things my dad did back when he was in college! Mr. Quint and I (and later on my dad) had a fun time talking about that.

Of course, we soon had dinner with champagne and wine, and it was so nice to have a home-cooked meal again! Mrs. Quint had prepared a very fresh, healthy, and delicious dinner--lettuce with tomatoes, mozzarella, and avocado, potato salad, coleslaw, chicken shish, and corn. The best came last though, when she gave us dessert! The dessert was mint chocolate chip icecream on top of an oreo cookie crumble bottom layer with chocolate on top. It was very delicious, but also very rich!

It was definitely nice to get out of the city to meet my dad's friends.

Scene from the Holiday!

The church from Canterbury Tales!

The back of the Quints' house

Our delicious meal!

Wednesday:
We had an excursion at a museum known as Rivington Place, but it was an extremely boring excursion, so I don't have a whole lot to say about it haha. After the excursion, we decided to try a restaurant called Pod, which we had never been to before. It pretty much was all just super healthy food! The food that I got was basically quinoa, chicken, lentils, and a bunch of other veggies mixed together. It was pretty good!

We came directly back home and I've pretty much just been trying to finish up final assignments for my classes...it's getting really annoying :(

Thursday:
After class, we didn't really do anything too exciting! Still lots of catch up to do :(

However, at night we went to a pub to watch the opening game of the World Cup in Soho Square! It was a pretty typical pub experience, but even better for one reason! I met up with a friend I haven't seen in FIVE years! Her name is Sian, and I know her from when I was a CIT at the camp I used to go to. She's from England, so that's why I haven't been able to see her since. It was so nice to see an old, familiar face! She commented on how grown-up I am now haha (weird to think that it has already been 5 years since I was 16!). We enjoyed a couple drinks and catching up with each other before we all headed home.

Friday:
We had an excursion today, but afterwards we went into Stratford (not upon-Avon) to see Westfield Mall and the Olympic Park! The mall wasn't anything special apart from being large and nice--a pretty typical mall if you ask me. But there was a Victoria's Secret, so it was kind of like being at home when we walked in there. We didn't spend too much time at the mall because our main goal was to go to the Park. We were also able to find a picnic basket that we could take to the Royal Ascot next Friday!

The Olympic Park was incredible! We walked around past the stadium, but no one can go inside it until I think 2016. Really the coolest thing was walking up to see the Olympic rings! We tried to climb up to sit inside the rings but it was pretty much impossible without having a tall muscular guy to lift us up into them. It would have been a sweet picture, but it wasn't worth possibly breaking a bone!

Overall, the park all around it was really nice and well-kept. The weather was also perfect to be walking through a park! There was a nice playground nearby too that we decided to try climbing on--it was all basically tree stumps built into a playground rather than the more modern looking structures.

Saturday:
Saturday was probably one of the best things that we have done here! We went to Trooping the Colour at 8 AM, which was outside of Buckingham Palace. This ceremony is a birthday celebration for the Queen, even though her birthday was in...April? There was a parade of the soldiers playing instruments and riding horses--very fancy! It was so much fun because, although we had to wait outside for a few hours in crappy weather, we were at the front of the barricade and were able to see the Royal Family ride past us in their carriages! Even my dad hasn't seen the Royal Family! We got pretty excited when Kate, Harry, and the Queen all rode past. We're sure that William did too, but we think that he was hidden and riding on a horse instead of in the carriage with one of the large hats as well. We were a little bummed to not see Little George, but that's okay!

Queen Lizzie!

Kate, Camilla, and Harry

After a few hours, the Royal Family rode back to the Palace, where we were able to follow and stand outside of the gates. After a bit of time, everyone in the family came out onto the balcony to wave while there was a fly over with multiple planes at different intervals overhead. My favorite part of the fly over was when there were jets that shot out colors of red, white, and blue!

I don't want to leave, and I only have less than a week left in London! :((((

Shenanigans

Tuesday:
After we had class in the morning, we pretty much lounged around our flat until we had a study abroad group dinner at a restaurant called Santore! It was Italian cuisine and it was some of the best food that I have had here. We got a set menu of a starter and a main course, and the portions were enormous! I had caprese (mozzarella and tomato), which I ate with the bread they gave us on the table. The starter sizes were actually so big that I probably could have been okay with just that as my meal! I also got pasta with salmon on top--mostly because it reminded me of a pasta that I had gotten in Paris when I went there with my parents for this past spring break. Everything was very delicious, but I couldn't finish everything! Luckily, the entire meal (other than my glass of wine) was covered by the program!

My Caprese

My pasta!

After we went to Santore, my friends and I headed to a nearby pub that we hadn't all gone to together before (I had actually gone there last week with Stephanie when she was here). We all only had one drink. We mostly just wanted to sit at a pub and have a drink and socialize because we really haven't done that too much here! Though that's probably a good thing because drinks are definitely not inexpensive here haha

I got a Pimms, an apparently very British drink!

Wednesday:
My friends and I decided to hit up Oxford Circus to do some shopping! I again didn't buy anything because everything is a little out of my price range here--plus I did already buy a fairly expensive item (my Zara vest), so I think that will be the extent of my splurging! We were mostly looking around for things to wear to the Royal Ascot, though I think I will probably stick with my mint green summer dress that I brought here--I might as well wear it some time! However, I do kind of want to get a big sun hat also or a fascinator to wear for the horse races. Hopefully we will find some fairly inexpensive items! We're also on the prowl for a "nice" picnic basket because that is what we are allowed to bring into the Royal Ascot--we're also allowed one bottle of sparkling wine or sparkling champagne per person.

After we shopped, we had to go watch a film for one of our classes, which was very boring. It was hard to follow because it was all in French, although there were subtitles. After the film, my friends and I went to the Eye (again, for me!) at night. Unfortunately though, because the sun doesn't set here until after 9, we didn't exactly get the nighttime view that we were hoping to see! Actually, there was a huge storm that started forming above us--I definitely got much better pictures when I went with Stephanie earlier. However, I gotta say, the picture of the storm coming over was amazing!

Thursday:
Thursday was a catchup day!

Friday:
On Friday we had an excursion that started in the early afternoon, where we went to a small cafe called Nana's Cafe. They had delicious tea! I've actually decided that I like the way the British do their tea better than in the US (with milk and sugar), and I am planning on buying some and bringing it home with me! Apparently it's a cafe that was started by this one woman who has recruited older women to socialize and help out with the cafe!

My tea :)

After our excursion, we got ready to go to the One Direction concert here in London! It was at Wembley Stadium, which apparently is the big soccer stadium here as well, so it was a pretty big deal for them! It was a really nice day, so it was perfect that the venue was partially outside (it had an open roof). We had so much fun despite the fact that we had awful seating (we were in the standing section). It was really hard to see anyone in the band, but luckily there were big screens so that we could see. It was mostly enjoyable because my friends and I were able to just listen to the songs and have fun together! Personally, my favorite part of the concert was when the guys were lifted up on the raising platform so we could finally see them! They only did that during one song though, so I wish the boys would have been like that for the whole show. Nonetheless it was so much fun!

Saturday:

We got up early to a very rainy day! We went to TKTS in Leicester Square (a ticket booth that has very good ticket prices) in order to purchase tickets for a show that we wanted to see in the next couple days. Unfortunately the line was very long and we didn't want to stand in the rain waiting, so we decided to come back a little bit later in the day. Instead we decided to go to the British Museum and walk around--I think my favorite exhibit was the Egyptian one with all of the mummies in it! We weren't able to see eeeeeverything because it's such a big museum, but I am sure I will cover more later, as Conor will probably want to visit it when we come back here! 

Afterwards we wanted to get a good lunch, so we decided to try some new cuisine during our time here! We went to a Thai noodle restaurant chain known as Wagamama, and I got Yaki Udon! It was actually very delicious, and I definitely wouldn't mind going back again! 

Of course after lunch we had to go back to TKTS to get tickets for our show, and we decided to see Mama Mia on Monday night, so I am really excited for that!

At night we all went on a pub crawl in Camden! It was so much fun, especially we were able to see a bunch of pubs that we had never been to before. We got a lot of nice deals by doing the pub crawl, like free drinks and discounts which definitely saved us a lot of money! However I gotta say that some of the free drinks were...let's say...lower than our standards haha. Also there were a lot of really creepy guys that were on the pub crawl, but there were also some very nice ones! It took a very big effort trying to avoid the creepy ones--one of them kept trying to dance with me by twirling me around and then he broke my shoe so let's just say I was REALLY unhappy with him after that hahaha

Nonetheless, it was still a pretty fun night!

Onward to Week 5!

Weekend with Stephanie!

This past weekend, Stephanie visited and stayed with me from Friday through yesterday (Monday) and we covered a lot of the tourist locations I've already done plus a few more!

Friday:
My three study abroad friends left for Paris early before I even woke up, so I spent the morning on my own doing homework that was due that weekend before Stephanie arrived! Because her flight was delayed (there was some weird lockdown at DTW), that opened up my morning a little more but I didn't do much other than a few errands and getting food in addition to watching a movie for class and writing a paper. I left to go pick up Stephanie from the tube station, at which I waited for over an hour and a half! Turns out she fell asleep on the tube! Also somehow she and I both missed each other when she came up the escalator so I again was waiting a little longer. Luckily, she was able to find wifi to tell Jessica she was there, who then called me to tell me that she was sitting in a nearby pub!

After finally getting a hold of Stephanie, Jessica also came to Camden to meet us. After that I showed Stephanie and Jessica around the Camden Market, where I bought some really nice postcards! Hopefully I have some time to write friends and family notes and send them out! We also enjoyed market food near the end.

Finally, Stephanie, Jessica, and I headed down to Central London to go to Jessica's flat, where we got ready to go out together. I don't know how Stephanie was able to handle going out after having jet lag, but she managed to pull through! After clubbing, I was able to fulfill Stephanie's dream of riding home on a double decker bus, despite how difficult they can be to navigate! Granted, we didn't have much of a choice because the tube stops running after midnight.

Saturday:

Stephanie and I began our day by walking down Oxford Circus, and without walking into any stores! Well, we did go into some souvenir stores, but not for too long! Afterwards we headed to Trafalgar Square and sat by the fountain, where Stephanie ate her breakfast. We definitely got really lucky with the weather this weekend because it never rained once while Stephanie was here! Although, she was pretty upset by that because she had purchased a brand new rain coat specifically for visiting London!

After walking through Trafalgar Square, we got a hold of Jessica and met up with her for most of the day!

We walked through Parliament Square with Jessica and took some great pictures in front of Big Ben. We then wandered down the side streets around Parliament Square, where we found one of the guards on horses. I think it was actually some sort of calvary museum, but we didn't end up going inside.

I look like I was photoshopped in this picture, but I wasn't I promise!

After going through Parliament Square with Jessica, we headed to Trafalgar Square again with her and got a little snack from a Pret a Manger--which is probably my favorite little snack place here! From Trafalgar Square we walked down the street that leads up to Buckingham Palace (the one with all the British flags that I walked by the other day as well). 

After sitting by the fountain by the Palace for a bit (since it was such a beautiful day), we finally decided to head out and look for a pub to eat dinner in. However, none of us were feeling very well (I had a headache and felt kind of nauseous), so we decided against eating right away. After, I decided that I should take Stephanie to see Harrod's, at which point Jessica decided that it was time for her to go home. Stephanie was amazed by all the stuff inside of Harrod's, and we even got into a really long conversation with a guy who works there (apparently their discount is 33%)! Also, when we went to the Toy Kingdom, there was some fake snow that a worker was demonstrating, who didn't understand the significance of us being from Michigan that would lead us to say that it felt nothing like snow haha. Unfortunately, the store closed at 8 so we weren't able to look around as much as we might have liked to. 

After running around all day, Stephanie and I needed to pick up some stuff that we had left at Jessica's flat the night before, and then we headed home. We didn't get home until 10:30 PM and we still hadn't eaten dinner! We scrambled to find a place that we could eat, but the only place that seemed to be open was a BBQ place right down the street from where I live. As we walked into the restaurant there was a guy that was sitting at a table just staring at us when we were being lead to our table, and he said hello to us in passing. Once we were sat at the end of the restaurant, we noticed that he was still staring at us, and he whispered something to our waiter while they were looking at us (it was kind of creepy actually). Our waiter came over and didn't say anything about what the guy had said, but asked us what drinks we wanted. After ordering tap water, the waiter left and as he passed the guy, told him something that made him laugh.

When the waiter came back, we decided to ask him if the guy had said something about us because we could clearly tell he was staring while talking to him, and that's when the waiter told us that the guy told him that he would pay for any drinks that we ordered. Needless to say, we decided to take advantage of it and got the drinks menu! It also turns out that the guy who bought us drinks was from Italy!

Me with my free cocktail!

Sunday:

Stephanie and I really did a lot on Sunday!

To start off our day, we went to the Tower of London to go see the Crown Jewels. On our way to do so however, we noticed that in the moat (which is all grass now), there was a weapon demonstration, so we went to go hear about the swords, bows, maces, and what not that were used in the past. Actually, the guy who was telling us about it was dressed up as Chaucer! 

Ready for battle!

In the same area, they were also about to do a demonstration of the giant catapult by using volunteers to pull the ropes to use it. And guess who volunteered! Stephanie and I jumped at the opportunity since you have to be older than 18 to do it and it was definitely a highlight of the day! Basically what we had to do was there were two teams of four (one all men and one all women) and we each had to hold one of the four ropes available and pull down by just sitting on the ground at the end of a countdown. As we would sit down, we would see the waterballoon that we were trying to fling slowly lifting until it was thrown quickly across the field! We did it twice!

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

After the catapult, we started walking through different areas of the Tower and learned a lot about the history of the kings, people, and animals associated with the Tower of London until we finally reached the Crown Jewels. It was a fairly long exhibit for the Jewels (and in fact tickets for the tower in general were pretty expensive) but it was totally worth it! There was also a really interesting video of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation! All the crowns, jewelry, and other items associated with the royal family were really gorgeous. There was even an ENORMOUS punch bowl that was completely gold--apparently a king ordered it to be made for him but it took so long to be made that he died before it was finished!

After leaving the Crown Jewels, we were pretty set on everything we did in the Tower (we were in there for at least a couple hours) and decided to head out--but not before getting a picture with one of the guards in the beaver hat! It was pretty funny though because there were some children who were shouting in front of him and it was very obvious he was trying to stifle a smile!

Stephanie and me in the Tower, in front of the Bridge!

After leaving the Tower of London, we obviously had to go to the Bridge next! Stephanie and I got some more pictures in front of the bridge by the water, and then we got ice cream to take with us across the bridge (it was about 75 degrees that day!). While walking on the other side of the bridge, we also happened to walk through a festival where we sat down for a bit to listen to the band that was playing. 

We decided shortly that it was time to get food, so we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant by the water! We also wanted to make it back in time for a service at Westminster Abbey, so we left from that area to get to the London Eye stop BY BOAT! It may not have been a boat tour, but it was still a lot of fun :) Once we got to Parliament Square, we went inside Westminster Abbey for the service which only lasted about a half hour. I think it was good to experience a service at Westminster Abbey, but I think I will need to purchase a ticket (despite how expensive it is) to see the rest of the Abbey!

After the service, Stephanie and I impulsively decided to ride on the London Eye! We were really surprised to see that it actually didn't take that long to get on the Eye--there was no wait AT ALL! As can be guessed, the sights were beautiful! Luckily, I will also be able to see what it looks like at night because I will be going with my study abroad friends at night time later on this trip!

Me on the Eye!

Monday (Yesterday)

Stephanie, Katie (1), Lizzie, and I started off the day by going to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, but unfortunately we didn't have the best view so we got bored pretty quickly. Maybe we'll be able to get a better view some other time! Afterwards we made our way down to Abbey Road solely for the purpose of imitating the Beatles picture!

My name signed on the Abbey Road wall

After going to Abbey Road, Stephanie and I went shopping down Oxford Circus! I didn't buy anything, but we spent a long time going through a LOT of the stores, and she bought a raincoat from Zara, a scarf from a street vendor, and some other miscellaneous stuff like souvenirs! We had to hurry home so that we could get dinner with Jessica at a pub before going to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre! Wicked, by the way, was an AMAZING show! It was definitely a good way to end the weekend with Stephanie :)

 I'd say a pretty successful weekend overall, wouldn't you?