A day at the Market

This morning Laurel, Wendy, Alexa and I went to Portabello Street Market. It was an easy tube ride to Notting Hill and then we just followed the crowd. And the crowd was huge. It was so crowded there, but there was also a lot of cool things...and good looking food. It was impossible to stay together as four so we ended up splitting into twos. Laurel and I stopped to buy a strawberry and nutella crepe (and Laurel had a banana in her purse so we put that in it too). That was delicious. We bought some dried fruit as well, but every time we passed something else we said "oh I want to get that next time". I'm not sure how many "next times" that will take. We both bough scarfs and then decided it was time to leave. The sun had just come out and it was getting hot, not to mention the crowd was just tiring. We got back around 1:30, just when all the other girls were leaving to go. A nice nap, some reading of Merry Wives of Windsor, and dinner- we were off to go see Don Juan in Love. It was...ok. The ending was kind of weird. And Don Juan had really nasty teeth. Also he kissed a random lady in the crowd! I still can't get over that. If it was me, I would have cried. After that we walked across the London Tower bridge and took pictures.
Tomorrow is Hillsong!

Busy day.

This morning after breakfast a bunch of us took the tube to King's Cross and took pictures with the little shopping cart at Platform 9 3/4. By the way to make it more accessible for tourists, we assume, it is actually between 8 and 9. Needless to say we couldn't find it at first. And it was apparent because some worker asked the five confused looking girls if we were looking for Harry Potter. When we said yes, he directed us to the right place ("take a left, then a left, then a left"). After we finished our mini photo shoot, gryffindor scarf and all and lent out the scarf to a Harry Potter loving stranger, who returned the favor by taking a group picture, we walked to the British Library. In the library they had archives that anyone can go see, which included the Magna Carta and, my favorite, Jane Austen writings and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. The book was open to the conclusion of Jane Eyre and I could make out some of the sentences. It was so cool to read and remember reading it in high school! Call me a nerd, but I was excited.
When we got back to the Abbey we were already tired, but had to leave in a half hour to go to the Imperial War Museum (which by the way Dad, if you are reading this, you would love it). Actually it just made me pretty sad. We went through this thing about the children in the war and were able to ask a lady that was a girl that was sent away three times during World War I. After walking through the WWI and II stuff, we went through the Holocaust part of it. It was a pretty big one and I ended up just feeling devastated and sick. We left after that because we didn't think we could handle going to the social injustice exhibit after that. When we got out of the museum, Laurel spoke the first words saying "ah group hug". And actually that was what I needed, corny or stupid as it may seem.
After dinner, because it is Friday night and wanted to go out but we were super tired and not up to going to Buckingham Palace and walking around with everyone else, a few us looked up a place to get some good FroYo. We found three places- Snog, Yog, and Fog. We went to Yog cause it was open the latest. We took the tube and figured out how to get there all by ourselves. We were pretty proud with only one or two mistakes (two if you count almost losing Courtney as she got on a tube and we didn't). All of them were like Pink Berry, if you have ever heard of that, with two flavors: Natural and Pomegranate. It was only 110 calories, skim milk, gluten free, 100% organic yummy goodness. We decided to have FroYo Friday and to try all three of the places and decide which is best.
Tomorrow we are going to Portobello Market and then in the evening Don Juan in Love! A full weekend ahead in London.

Welcome to Thebes

Tonight we got to go see a play called Welcome to Thebes at the Royal National Theatre. We "hoofed" it there, as Ronda would say. And by hoofed she meant practically jog. We looked all nice before we left and arrived all sweaty...and I wasn't the only one, I swear.
Full of feminism, politics, social justice, the play ended in emotional exhaustion. But it gave the audience so much to think about. It was about the impoverished country, Thebes, who just got out of a civil war and had an election and were asking the big, wealthy, democratic nation-Athens- for help. Sound familiar? It was a modern play with Greek names and twists. The women had won peace in Thebes and were in charge. It was actually a really sad play though because everything just kept going wrong and through the whole thing I just kept wanting something to work out. In the end, the first citizen of Athens (who as one commenter said, was a mix of Obama and Tony Blaire and was definitely correct in that statement) agreed to help Thebes and have another conference in Athens about their situation. But it ended with Tiresius (another Greek twist thrown in...he is a prophet of the gods in many Greek tragedies) speaking a warning that Athens would also have its end. I came out of the play emotional exhausted and just tired. But I did enjoy it. We bought a few books in the book store that we needed for class and then since everyone else had left- Jessica, Laurel, Wendy and I found our way back home on the tube.
Late night and tomorrow Laurel and I and whoever else are going to Kings crossing to take turns wearing her gryffindor scarf and taking a picture at Platform 9 & 3/4! Then in the afternoon we are off to the Imperial War Museum. But it's Friday so who knows what a Friday night in London will bring!

It's not just the yellow ones that don't stop.

If I'm going to get injured while in London, or die here, it's going to be because I got hit by a car. Apparently pedestrians do NOT have the right a way. And let me tell you: those cars don't stop. I have a minor heart attack every time I cross the street. But it makes it exciting right? And it definitely keeps me from even being tempted to j walk. You wait for that little green guy! Not to mention Carl told us a few horror stories, one of him seeing a guy get hit and a bunch of him close lining people to save them. Though he is pretty tall so if he tries to close line me I'm pretty sure it would go over my head...or hit me in the face. But that's better than getting hit by a car. I now practically run across every crosswalk.
I had nothing to do today and yet it was a pretty productive day if I do say so myself. Laurel, Adilene and I went shopping this morning after breakfast. We went up to high street (where most of the shops are in Kensington) Laurel and I bough a planner, which I will use. I will, I will, I will. (I tend to buy planners and never look and them..and then forget things). I bought a really cute journal from Oxfam (a fairtrade store that the proceeds go to help different things. Like my journal helps women in Bengal). I bought one because I forgot (like I tend to do..hence the planner) that we have to journal every day for our British experience class and Carl checks to make sure we do, so I don't really want to use my devotional journal for that. We then went to shop for a bag for me and comfy shoes for Laurel. I was in luck and found a nice bigger purse that I can take to my classes not at Lee Abbey and to museums and stuff. It would be a pain to always have to take my big back pack. Unfortunately we didn't find Laurel shoes, but did look in a TK Maxx (equivalent to TJ Maxx) and learned the difference in UK shoes sizes (they are three sizes smaller than ours. So I would be a 3 1/2 instead of a 6 1/2). Now that was all done by noon. So we went back home, got some homework and set out for Caffe Nero with some others in tow now too. Did some h dub, drank some coffee, got lunch at the convenient store across the street, and then came back for a nice nap (Laurel and I weren't feeling well). Unfortunately I still wasn't feeling well after dinner so I stayed behind as Kinsey and some others went to Central London, but Laurel gave me some antiacid so I feel alright now. I'm going to attempt to get organized by writing more things in my planner and then maybe do some reading. I may not have class yet, but I could definitely spend a day or so doing just homework.

First real day at the Abbey

Today my mom and Cindy left to go home. So since they were going to the airport and Kinsey was arriving I went with them to bring Kinsey back. I got there right before she bought a tube pass to leave with out me because I was running late. So Kinsey and I rode the tube back to Earl's Crossing (the closest tube station to Lee Abbey). Kinsey was a little late to her class, and one of her wheels on her big suit case broke about a block away from the Abbey, so she carried it. She went into class and I put her suitcases into storage. While most of the students were in the com class, those of us that weren't went to the Natural History museum (most of the museums here are free!). It was pretty crowded though so we only stayed for a bit. We then went to a grocery store bought some lunch and just hung out in the starbucks in there eating lunch and talking. We got back to Lee Abbey waited for a little and then got our keys to our room and started unpacking. We then had a meeting for our British Experience class and took a little tour around Kensington. Because I'm not in the Com class I have two weeks to get a jump start on homework (which is necessary) and to have fun experiencing the area. I'm really excited that it is actually starting, and a little nervous to about all the work I have to get done.
I got to skype with Erin and Megan tonight though and that was really great, but made me miss them.
Tomorrow Laurel and I are going to get a few thinks we need. And then maybe work on homework. We will see.

London

4 am came all too soon this morning. We got to the airport around 5:30, but it turns out the Air France stuff didn't open till six ish and they weren't in a hurry. Our flight took off at 7:10 and since London is an hour ahead we ended up at Lee Abbey by like 9. Unable to check in till three we stored our luggage and just hung out. We were tired and didn't really feel like doing much. I did some laundry saw some people from our group that have arrived yesterday. When we got into our room we reorganized bags and stuff. After dinner we took a walk. Lee Abbey is in the Kensington area and it's really nice. There is a park near by and also some good shopping (urban, american apparel etc.). Tomorrow I'll take the tube, drop off my mom at the airport/ get Kinsey. Class starts at four.

And so it begins.

Au revoir Paris

Today was our last day in Paris. We woke up really early and got to the Eiffel Tower by 8:45. We were the first in line for the stairs and we did the whole thing in a hour and a half! We climbed the stairs too..all 675 of them. You can't take stairs to the very top so we took the lift and then rode it all the way down after we were done. After that we headed to the Louvre. It is the first Sunday of the month so all the museums were free today, which is cool except that means that all the museums are freakin crowded today too. So we got to the Louvre relatively early (like an hour after it opened) and took the entrance from the metro as opposed to the pyramid entrance. We headed towards the Italian sculptures, up to the Italian paintings saw some Da Vinci's, including the Mona Lisa. Which I gotta say, isn't that impressive. I mean it's a good painting, but I liked some of his others better. But then again I'm no expert on paintings...at all. After that we saw the Venus di Milo, and a bunch of others that I don't remember the name of. When we decided we had seen all we needed to see (because it was crowded and we didn't really want to just hang out in there) we headed to a little cafe and had a salad..surprisingly paleo I know. Though bread came with it. It comes with everything. We then went to a Starbucks because mom and I were dragging and we needed one. Shopping in the Louvre shops came after that and then we headed to the L'Orangerie museum. I think that was my favorite because of the Monet collection they had. The Monet paintings were by themselves in two plain white round rooms and stretched across the walls. Monet's whole idea for his painting was to relax people. So that was really cool to see. We walked back to the hotel where I, pretty much instantly fell asleep and took a nap, only to wake up and go to dinner. We went to a place close to our hotel, again recommended by Rick Steve. He said in the book that it had young waiters, so Cindy said she thought of me when picking it. There was one pretty good looking one, and ours was really nice and spoke perfect English, which is always a plus. Dinner, again, was amazing. I'm thinking that this should have been just a food blog. Well ok the food at dinner was just ok, but the dessert. My mom and I both had the mi-cuit chocolat. We saw chocolate and were like, I think we want that. (We asked the waiter what it was too, just in case). It ended up being this round little chocolate cake with melted chocolate in the middle. It came with strawberry ice-cream, but we had seen coconut ice-cream on the menu and so we switched it out for coconut. Seriously, so good. Mom said she thinks it was her favorite dessert. I can't say I disagree. Now don't get me wrong, I used to think the chocolate from Germany was the best, and it still is amazing, but I think France takes the cake (no pun intended...ok intended).
Tomorrow may be the earliest morning yet. Our cab is coming at 5 am. So I got to make sure that I'm packed and showered with my clothes out so I can wake up at 4:30 and be ready in time. Au revoir Paris, I will for sure be seeing you again. Tomorrow London and Tuesday....school.