Day 5: Tower of London and Dinner at Wagamama with everyone

Tuesday was the day for the Tower of London. It was really packed with people when we got there, but there was no turning back for us. We were determined to get in and see everything we could. It is really a pretty place, not what you would normally think of when you hear the name Tower of London huh! But the castle was really nice.

So even though it was busy and there were about 50 other people trying to go on the walking tour with our Beefeater tour guide, we still tagged along. We found our way to the front of the tour by running around other people so we could hear everything he had to say. The only people that now live in the Tower of London are the beefeaters and doctors and thats about it. The king or queen used to live there, specifically there were lots of stories about King Henry the eighth who brought his many wives there for them to later be killed. Many of their bodies still lie in the church on premise along with many other ppl. There were lots of funny, sad and interesting stories we were told about the castle, but it is hard to remember them all.

It was very interesting that before we got in the long line to see the crown Jewels we saw the guards. These guards in the dark uniform marched out and got ready to relieve the guard in red. It was cool, unexpected and I caught a bit of it on video!

This was a view of some of the inside of the Tower of London. To the left is where the crown jewels are and straight ahead is where the gallery is and museum. We did not go to the museum, but we did of course see the crown jewels. You cannot take pictures inside but it was well worth seeing. There was so much gold and large diamonds and other precious stones that it looked almost fake and unreal. It was hard to take in seeing that much jewelry, crowns, platters and other cool things. My favorite part was getting to see the actual ceremonies they had videotaped and had on display because it allowed you to really understand the use of all the pieces and then see them in real life. So cool. The afternoon was not as eventful, we got some fish and chips after that and then relaxed until we had to go to dinner at Wagamama, a noodle bar, with all of the students. Dinner was REALLY good and they were pretty relaxed about what we got so we got a feast! then came back and relaxed with full bellies before class the next day :)

Day 4: Orientation, Fish and Chips, V&A Museum etc.

Monday started off a bit dreary outside. We all went to our orientation from about 10-12 this morning and got a feel of what the program is going to be like over here. We did not get to learn a lot about our classes, but the other information on housing and travel was helpful.

Because we were not expecting to have much of the day to ourselves we did not know exactly what to do after orientation. I went to get some Fish and Chips with one of the other girls. It was soo good. We got a larger one and decided to share, just enough for the both of us. As Fish and Chips goes, they seem to have really good tartar sauce here compared to the states. Actually both Ireland and London seem to really know how to do their tartar sauce, yum yum.

After that, because it was a rainy afternoon we decided to hit up one of the local museums. We went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is known as the V&A by locals and was founded by Prince Albert, Husband of Queen Victoria. It holds (as my great little red guide book says) "some of the greatest treasures from around the world including sculpture, ceramics, glass, metalwork, photography, architecture, fashion, jewelry, furniture and furnishings.

We went through the Medieval and renaissance sections, the english, british and fashion sections as well. There is so much to see and do there we only made it through the front half of the museum and we are planning on going back on another rainy day to see what the other half holds.

After that we came back to relax in the apartment for a bit and then Megan and I are probably going to go out for our nightly stroll!

Love and miss you, post pictures later

Day 3: Camden Market and Picadilly Circus

For a nice Sunday we went to the Camden Market which is gigantic. There is everything there from punk stores, piercing and tattoo parlors, girly shops, london shops and much much more. It can be really overwhelming when you have no idea what you are getting yourself into, but overall was a great experience. This is the sign from the market and just a little glimpse of some of the many shops there.

This is me overlooking a different part of the market. Down there is where we got our pina colodas! For lunch we got all different things. Some of the girls got crepes and I got pad thai with fried chicken, egg rolls and tempura type broccoli and carrots. It was really good and really filling for only 5 pounds. The other thing that I also bough today was the necklace I am wearing. this is a little watch that is enclosed and you can pop it open to see the time. It is really pretty and I like it a lot.

Yummm virgin pina coloda time (because I know everyone at work will try to convince my mom otherwise and that it has alcohol in it, well it didn't you can even see that it says virgin on the sign) After the market we went to Picadilly circus. This is just an area in London with lots of shops and theatres. It was pretty interesting there but we did not spend too much time.

On the way back to our flat we saw a girl walking with delicious looking fro-yo so we caught the name of the place on the cup and looked it up right when we got back. It is called Snog- which over here means kiss. I got the original froyo and chocolate mini heart chips, raspberries and mango. It was the best dinner ever ;)

Megan and I then decided to go on a walk through town and made it up to kensington gardens and Hyde park. There we saw the statue for king albert (i think) and walked all the way back to the apartment to relax for the rest of the night before orientation tomorrow. Goodnight and Love you all!

Day 2: Blue Badge guided tour of London!

So Saturday was day two of London and we got to go one a "Blue Badge" guided tour of London. This is me at Buckingham palace. Before this we got to ride the underground picadilly line to cockfosters and "minded the gap" as we got on and off the tube. So far I have found the tube really easy to navigate (especially after today the third day). Buckingham palace is really nice we got to see the changing of the guards which is the picture below!

At the changing of the guards the old guards going off duty marched with their band down to the palace and then wait for the new guards to march down from their barracks and then one by one they change. The air force was going off duty and the irish army and what i think was the scottish army went on duty. They apparently do not have as many of their own guards there because they are so highly trained, are off in afghanistan.

After buckingham we walked through st. james park and went near war museums to westminster, westminster abbey, big ben and finally to the bridge that takes you over to the london eye. We didn't go on it today but we are saving that for another time. We then went to go get lunch and Megan and I got burritos while others got pasta, smoothies, sandwiches and other things. But I do have to say for being deprived of good mexican that burrito tasted sooooo good.

The next half of our tour after lunch was in our own neighborhood of Kensington. We saw a lot of the area that in undiscovered by tourists. A lot of places where poets used to live and other famous ppl. And of course in such a posh part of London there has to be the coolest new things in town. So we came upon the fish pedicure. Here you put your feet in a tank and then the fish bite off the dead skin on your feet and therefore makes you have nice feet. It was pretty cool. We also saw a lot of small shops including some nice bakeries and places that had lots of pastries. yummm

Then we went to the Kensington Palace. It was a really good day but after all the walking we were so tired and came back to the flat to relax and talk to friends and family. Love and miss you guys!

Day one of London, England

So on the morning of the Friday the 23rd it was off to London for five out of seven of us who went to Dublin. We got up at 4:30 a.m. and left our apartment by 5:30 and were on the plane and off to London by 8:40 landing by 10 in the morning. Overall the flight was good but needless to say I passed out for practically the entire ride after getting maybe 3 hours of sleep the night before. Woops!

When we got to Gatwick we were greeted by James a resident assistance at our flat on Manson Place. He gave us some important details about our flat and then off we went on a walking tour of South Kensington, the area we will live and go to school in. South Kensington is one of the richest areas of London FYI so it is absolutely beautiful and we got really lucky. We walked by Imperial college which is the picture here. This is London's version of MIT as James said.

We then walked by a gorgeous music hall that is known for playing classical music. Apparently it can seat up to 2,000 people (maybe more i forget now) and every night you can que up to get in for about 5 pounds and have a whole evening of classical music. We are thinking about testing it out one evening!

This is just an example of some of the beautifully designed homes in South Kensington. They are all under law required to stay as they are right now. Some cannot even have the interiors changed to keep the history and decorations the same.

Some of the girls (from left to right) Ilana, Amy, Megan, and Rachel. And that is James in the background. This was us as we were walking around the neighborhood finding out how close we are to the other flats and our school at Foundation House.

Last Night in Dublin: Blarney Inn

Hey everyone, for our last night in Dublin we decided to go out to a nice local place called the Blarney Inn. This place has live music and dancing on some nights and we got really lucky. As we got in there were people playing music and traditional Irish Dancers. So Rachel and I decided to get up and dance with them when they asked for volunteers and it was a blast, they taught us all the steps to a dance so we could dance along. It was a really fun night! Here are some photos

Last Days in Dublin

So, to commemorate our last couple of days in Dublin we thought it would only be right to try the famous "Batter Burger" Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like, and apparently it does not usually come on a bun. For those of you that might not have been able to imagine this Batter Burger until you saw the picture I will describe it. This unnatural form of burger might kill you in one shot if you are not careful when consuming and knowing accurate body state of health. This burger is like any other burger until you dip it in batter and deep fry it. Yum, sounding like a heart attack yet, well I asked them to add cheese too it. It was pretty good, although I have to say I like regular burgers better, no batter needed for me.

For our second to last day of classes Genevieve took us out to get some ice cream as a treat for being so good during the long presentations and as a reward for answering all the questionairres she had for us. We went to a place called Murphy's. It is from Doolin and Kilkenny and pure Irish icecream. They have some pretty cool flavors like brown bread, baileys, burnt caramel and others among those. I got chocolate chocolate chip and honeycomb (which honeycomb anything is my new favorite)

This is just a picture that I had never gotten to take all along. It is Temple Bar in the Temple Bar district of Dublin. Temple bar district is full of.. BARS.. not very hard to guess. They are also known to have some other markets and stuff. But it is a very touristy area especially at night when in the night scene, but it still makes for a good time and this area is where we had met the scottish boys a while back.

This is the Four Courts of Dublin. It contains the high court and deals with other court related issues. This Four Courts got mostly destroyed in the Civil War in Dublin. Many of the records of families and surname history got lost because of this so it is even harder today to find heritage relating all the way back unless you are lucky.

And this last thing is a plaque that our teacher had told us about from one of the many famous ppl in Ireland Captain Sean Connolly.

Ok. Guess what is coming next. LONDON... I know you will all be sad that Dublin and all of Ireland is over but no worries because there will be more exciting things with London.
Love and miss you all