Last two weeks

Bonjour!
I know it’s been awhile since I’ve updated this thing so I’ll do my best to update you all on the last two weeks! I’ll warn you ahead of time that this is going to be a novel so my feelings won’t be hurt if you don’t read it all
... it’s mainly just to make Mich happy :D! But anyways...I am currently on the train riding back to London from Paris and I am entering my final week! Crazy how time flies!! I’ll start way back... two weeks ago wednesday ...

Early wednesday we woke up nice and early to catch the train to Edinburgh, Scotland!
Once in Edinburgh we were greeted by our very interesting Scottish tour guide (kilt and all) for a bus tour around the city. The Scottish valued education so most of their history/important people are centered around their doctors/scientists etc. and our tour guide thought it was appropriate to show us all of the places where all the ‘great’ men lived. I think he put most of us to sleep with his long biographies of people that we’ve never heard of but we got to see the city and he played us the bag pipes so we dealt with it. After the tour we were all starving so we took (a much longer walk than intended) to get some food. We ate at a fun place called Frankenstein. It was filled with lots of Frankenstein memorabilia and spooky trinkets -not to mention the food was awesome!! It was even right next to The Elephant Room (for you Harry Potter fans - this is the cafe where J.K. Rowlings wrote the first book) so that cool to see too. After lunch we had to go shopping because none of us were prepared for the freezing and rainy weather! After we all stocked up on sweatshirts/raincoats we pretty much just perused through the streets of Edinburgh. I loved Edinburgh! Kind of reminded me a little bit of Dublin (pretty gray) but the people were all so nice and welcoming! Later we bared the torrential down pour to find a pub and some food! We found a cute little place that served Magners (my favorite cider) and chicken fingers (oh how I’ve missed them)!! After dinner we were told to go to this place to try a fried mars bar. Of course I had to get mine with ice cream which made it all that more delicious! Definitely interesting, but definitely worth trying! After dessert we headed back to the Bed and Breakfast to shower and hit the sack for an early morning...

Thursday we went to the Open Championship at St. Andrews! We got there at about 7am so we were able to be the first ones there and catch all of the early tee-offs. Seeing John Daly and his outrageous outfit at 7:30 in the morning was definitely a great way to start off my Open experience. We kind of watched the early groups tee off for the first while and then once Tiger teed-off we followed him around for the first 9 holes. I basically got to see everyone I knew/recognized except for Phil :(. Sorry dad. Nonetheless it was an awesome experience! It only sprinkled on us, and no crazy weather like wednesday so that was a bonus too. St. Andrews was quite different than any other golf course I have ever been to (looooong fairways, shared greens, no trees) and I think that’s what it sets apart and makes it one of the most (if not the most) famous golf course in the world. I really enjoyed my time and would definitely do it again... maybe on Sunday! Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to bring our cameras into the event so I personally don’t have any pictures of the Open. However, my friend Alex stayed for the full four days and snuck his camera in the last day so I’ll steal some of his pictures to share.
Then thursday night I headed to Amsterdam to meet up with my friend Julie. I didn’t get in until late but Julie, my friends Ryan and Bryan, and I went out to some of the bars/clubs around town on our own little pub crawl. It was a lot of fun and a great way to start off the weekend!

Friday we woke up and headed to Barney’s. There are three of them all right next to each other - and was recommended to us - so we checked it out. I ran into a guy from LA that I met from the day before so we hung out with them and ate delicious pancakes and milkshakes! Not your typical pancakes but they were soo good (as was the rest of the food in Amsterdam)!! After Barney’s we headed to the river to take a river cruise of the city and some of it’s attractions. We saw NEMO (a blue science building shaped like Nemo), Anne Frank’s house, the Van Gogh museum (we didn’t have time to go in), and a few other things. After the river cruise we headed back to the hotel to get ready and go out. We headed to the I Amsterdam sign to take pictures along the river and then we headed to dinner. We ate this awesome mexican place where we made several friends. After dinner we decided to brave the red light district to see what it was all about. Interesting and an experience is all I have to say. Then just after we were about to leave the district we ran into our friends from the train/Barney’s who bought us beer at a bar and hung out with them for the rest of the night.

Saturday we woke up and headed to the Heineken factory for a tour. This was a better tour experience than the Guinness one - much more fun and interactive things to do, not to mention more beer - but nothing beats the Guinness view of Dublin. (I would say that both are a must do). After Guinness we got lunch at a cafe back by the I Amsterdam sign and then headed to the Van Gogh museum. It was pretty cool to see all of the paintings but wasn’t the biggest of museums so it didn’t take us long to go through it. We had a 7 o’clock flight so we had to head back to our hotel to get our luggage and catch the train to the airport. Side note: Everyone in Amsterdam gets around by bike - so if you’re ever in the area be sure to ride a bike - as we did not and had to walk everywhere which was nice, but took awhile. We got in to Stanstead airport and had quite the fiasco because Julie’s visa had expired and they weren’t going to let her back into the country. We got the problem solved though and she was let in - it just took awhile. Once I finally made it back to my flat I was exhausted - so I took a shower and hit the sack!

The next week I had the whole week in London! Woohoo! But this is where things get hazy and my days blur together. So I’ll try and remember everything and what days.
This was the first week where the whole ‘school’ part of studying abroad set in. I had a lot of school work to finish this week and we got our new professor - he’s great, but not as laid back as Brooke. Instead of our usual 9-10:30 mornings - they turned into 9-1 kind of days. Bah! I have learned a lot from him already though and he is a great guy!
Monday we had a lecture till about noon and then Mary and I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. So beautiful!! The inside is amazing and you can also climb a million tiny stairs to get to the top. A well deserved breath of fresh air at the top and an amazing view of London. We got lucky and went on a clear beautiful day so we could see everything. After St. Paul’s we tried to cross the river and got terribly lost but finally found a tube station to make it home. We got stuff to make dinner and then went to see Les Miserables (starring Nick Jonas hah)! It was amazing! Such a great story and great music!

Tuesday our regularly scheduled guest lecture had to reschedule so instead our class headed to the park. We all played soccer and practiced cricket until we started an actual game of cricket. It didn’t take long for us to realize what a boring game it is when you’re not playing around and participating. Not to mention the score can get into the 100s. We played from about 9 to 2 so we were exhausted!! The rest of the day was pretty relaxed and then a bunch of us headed to the Rocket for pitchers and to hang out. A super fun place kind of similar to the Red Door in Seattle.

Wednesday we went to Lord’s Cricket grounds. A pretty small, yet nice and sophisticated place where some of the world’s biggest cricket games take place. I was interesting to see - especially after learning the game. It showed us that cricket CAN be exciting and that people pretty much attend for the atmosphere and to chill out on a nice day. After the cricket grounds we went to Abbey Road to see the infamous road where the Beatles took their album cover. After we got back to the flat we had to work on a group project, but then we ventured out onto Oxford Street to try and make reservations for the Absolute Ice Bar! We all got dressed up and had a big pre-funk in our flat. The ice bar was a major success! There were about 30 of us who went and braved the ice in our parkas and gloves. It was an awesome experience and a lot of fun because it was basically just our group in the bar. After the ice bar we were all kind of lost and wouldn’t you know - we stumbled upon our favorite place O’Neill’s! A great cover band was playing so we basically just danced and hung out there the rest of the night.

Thursday we had a guest lecture from the British Olympic Association who was full of interesting information pertaining to UK sports. It was cool to hear what he had to say - even though it was through his thick Irish accent. The lecture lasted until about 1 so afterwards it was time for some more school work. Sigh. But then we all got ready and headed to Leicster square for the premiere of Knight and Day. We got to see Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz which was pretty cool - definitely never need to do a movie premiere ever again though. Way too crowded! After the premiere we went to an American Mexican food chain called Cantina Loredo. Absolutely wonderful! And definitely in need of a margarita and some tacos! I can’t really remember what we did after that... haha.

Friday was our day off! Finally! Sleeping in felt so nice! Slept in till all of 10 o’clock.. so pathetic haha. It was my friend Aly’s birthday so we did some shopping and walking around London. I had to work on a partner paper to get some stuff done before the Paris trip so I had to cut my time short. However we had a bunch of people come over to our flat for some cake and then we went to some pubs celebrate. We didn’t stay out too late because we had to shower, pack and wake up early for Paris on saturday!

We got to Paris around 11 in the morning and headed to our hotel to check in. After we got settled in we went and got some food and wine and headed to the Eiffel Tower. So amazing! (I was so excited to see it and went to take my first picture and my camera battery died! GARR! So I unfortunately don’t have many pictures of the first two days of Paris. :( But I will try and steal some from Dee to share.) We hung out around there for about an hour and then we had a planned boat cruise to see the city. After the cruise we wanted to go up in the tower but our professor recommended we go to the Arc de Triomphe instead. No lines and cheaper for the same view. After a longgg climb to the top, it was amazing! Such a beautiful city. We sat up there for awhile and basically just took it all in. After the Arc we went LOUIS VUTOON street and had a great dinner. After dinner we walked along the river and headed back to the Eiffel Tower. I got an amazingly delicious crepe -chocolate, bananas, ice cream and all - enjoyed it under the Eiffel Tower and life was good. We met up with my friends Steven and Mike, got some wine and champagne and waited till it got dark to watch the tower twinkle. Never seen anything like it - so beautiful! After our late night picnic we went to go and try and find some bars... got lost along the way but it was all good fun.

Sunday was the Tour de France. We had to get to the grounds around noon to secure our spot and some chairs. Since our professor is a veteran to the race we stoked out a spot where you could the riders going to and fro the loop.. so we saw them twice on their loop instead of just once. Here was kind of a waiting game... us girls tried to go find some shopping but everything and I mean, literally everything was closed down around the streets. The streets were crazy too because everyone had to transport through the subway tunnels to get from side of the street to the other. So we had to hop onto the metro and go a couple of stops away to find a grocery store to get some wine and food. We called our afternoon a ‘French-style tailgate.’ Wine, cheese, bread and chocolate while hanging out and waiting for the festivities to begin. Once the cyclists got to the city, it went by pretty quick. You really can’t single anyone out except for the guy in the yellow jersey because they come and go so fast. But it was an awesome experience and I just enjoyed being there! Sunday night we all went out to a nice dinner because it was paid for!! Woohoo! It was probably one of the best meals I’ve had here and I gorged myself full of wine, bread, salad, pasta, potatoes, steak, and sorbet. SO GOOD! This dinner was also a testimate to the slow paced nature of French dining. We were there for over 3 hours so it took up our entire night. We walked around a little bit after dinner and then headed in for the night.

Monday was our free day. We woke up nice and early to get a good start on our packed day. The first stop was the Lourve. I think it’s best to go in the morning because we were able to get some better pictures both before hand and in the museum because it wasn’t so crowded. The thing I was most impressed about with the Lourve was the actual building itself. It was so beautiful! So many intricate details that went into the architecture and murals throughout the museum. The sculptures were also impeccable as were some of the paintings. After the Lourve we headed to WHITE CHURCH, a cathedral on the top of the hill on the east side of Paris. An amazing view of the city and this is where all of the artists sit and paint and sketch which is cool to see. We then headed back down the hill where there were some happening markets to look through and to get food. After lunch we walked down the street to see Moulin Rouge - a must do for all of us girls. It was cool to see the infamous theatre but wish we could have seen it at night. After Moulin Rouge, we hopped on the metro to ‘try’ and find Notre Dame Cathedral. We got kind of lost but made it there eventually. Notre Dame was so big and beautiful! I loved it! After the cathedral we headed to DEPARTMENT STORE. It was filled with so many designers and great fashions... so crazy! haha. We walked around town a bit afterwards to find some miscellanous shops and get some dinner. After dinner we headed back to the Lourve to do some souvenier shopping and try and see it at night. The Lourve at night was a fail because we were too tired to wait another hour til it got dark out. So we went back to the hotel to put up our feet after a long day. We basically just hung out and it was Dee’s birthday at midnight so we got her some fruit tart and sung her happy birthday. (I even got my paper banged out like a good student so I could play Tuesday night/Wednesday back in London).

Tuesday we toured Rolland Garros in the morning. It was cool to see the differences between that and Wimbledon. Wimbledon is much newer and nicer but they both have the same classic feel to them. Rolland Garros was cool too because we saw the museum and got to go behind the scenes and see all of the player locker rooms, media rooms, and go on the courts! After the tour we went and grabbed lunch and went to the TRAIN MUSEUM. It used to be a train station so it was much bigger, brighter, and more open than the Lourve. Like the Lourve, the building itself was breathtaking. I absolutely loved the Impressionist part of the museum and got to see some more of Van Gogh’s paintings. After the museum we went to go find a bakery for some last bites of goodness before heading back to London!!

Overall I absolutely loved Paris! The city is just so beautiful! I don’t think I could ever get enough of the sparkling Eiffel Tower or the beautiful river and it’s architecture! I didn’t experience too much of the ‘rude’ people either which was an added bonus. Besides London, this would be the next on my list of places to go back one day. I didn’t get the chance to go to Versailles so it’s just one more reason to go back someday! :D

It’s Dee’s birthday today so once we get back to London we are going to go to the River and enjoy some Magners and cake and celebrate. Tomorrow we have a free day so I’m not sure what the plans for the day are. There are still some things I want to do and I have to finish my homework before I head to BARCELONA on Thursday!! Man oh Man! Such the jet setting life! :D Next week we have no class on Monday, presentations all day Tuesday, Fair well events on Wednesday, and then back to Seattle on Thursday! Goodness has time FLOWN bye!!! Can’t even believe how the days are winding down.. but I am SO excited to see everyone and get back to school!! :D

I’ll try and update this with pictures when I get the chance. I will also try and update about my Barcelona trip.. but if I don’t get the chance I can’t wait to see you all back in the U S of A!!!

Cheers from London!! :D

Here is some commentary for the pictures I previously posted...
This past week has been crazy busy! I’ll go back to the beginning of last week and try to remember everything that I’ve seen and done.
Monday we went to Stamford Bridge Stadium - home of the Chelsea Football team. The stadium was nothing compared to the Arsenal stadium that we toured the week before but it was still great to see the differences in tradition and fan experience between the two rival clubs. Monday night the whole group went out to O’Neill’s (one of my favorite spots) for a casual night of beer sipping and hanging out.
Tuesday and Wednesday we had class.. class is pretty chill - more of a conversational style and really relaxed which I enjoy. Tuesday we watched the Netherlands v. Uruguay game at Montagu Pykes then headed out to Sports Cafe where Mary and I got free pitchers from our Beer Pong victory. YAY!
Wednesday after class we went to Buckingham Palace to see the Royal Mews -home to the royal collection of historic coaches and carriages and where all of the Queens horses are - which I kind of enjoyed because you got to see all of the pretty horses (that the Queen specifically names). We also went to the Queen’s Gallery museum - a collection of memorabilia and gifts from Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. It was interesting seeing all of the luxurious family jewels and paintings but not my favorite place to spend an afternoon (sorry!). Wednesday night we went to a packed Montagu Pykes to watch the Spain v. Germany game.
Thursday we toured the London 2012 Olympic Venue - which was kind of disappointing. The town that the Games will be in is rated one of the worst cities in the UK - it is the home of all of the London sewage and a dump site for the city - and our tour guide thought it would be great for us to see all of this. I wasn’t impressed with the city but I’m sure most Olympic venues are this way - on the plus side - the London games will be the most green, transportation seems to be figured out, and a number of jobs were hired locally. The Olympic site itself was cool -- we got to see the main venue, aquatic center, the palindrome, the arena, and Olympic village (or at least the outsides of all of them). when all is said and down however I’m grateful for the experience and can’t wait to watch the games. Thursday night Mary, Steven and I got gelato and walked around the Covenant Gardens. There are a lot of street performers here which is fun to watch and is an overall fun place to hang out. After that we went to the Crown to meet up with some people for some delicious Wheat beer and hung out. It was a fairly early night for it would be a busy weekend!
Friday we were off to the races! We took the train about 45 minutes out of the city to Royal Ascot - a beautiful race track - and my first race track experience! We were all definitely under dressed. Everyone was dressed to the nine - Kentucky Derby style. Nonetheless we had a great time exploring, hanging out, and watching all of the pretty horses. From what I heard the Ascot scene is much different from the likes of the American tracks. Ascot was quite sophisticated and classy - where I heard most American tracks are quite the party! Our group even started our own betting pool amongst ourselves - we each threw in 2 euros to the pot and would bet on horses. We had a great time but were only able to watch a few races because we had to jet back to the city to catch our train to Wales! Getting to Wales was an adventure and a half - missing our train - getting random people to help us at 1 in the morning - finally convincing a bus driver to take us to the small coastal town we would be staying (no one knew where this place Perseli was) - we got in around 2 am and were exhausted so we hit the sack for an early morning!
Saturday we woke up and had a delicious breakfast - and then went on a 7 and a half mile hike along the coast. It was absolutely beautiful (not the nicest of days but still)- although most of the hike was spent stepping on snails and dogging sheep droppings - it was so pleasant and peaceful! We ended the hike on this secluded rocky beach where we all threw rocks and just took in the scenery. (This was no Northwest hike - more going up and down along the hilly coast - but needless to say it was nice to be enjoying the great outdoors and get some exercise!) After the hike we walked back to our -- not sure what to call it -- kind of a combination of a hostel/summer camp/party spot/place we were staying - to have a deliciousss lunch of homemade bread and hot soup! After lunch we headed out to the beach to take on the surf! This was only my second time surfing and many people’s first so we knew we were in for some entertainment. The water was 11 degrees celsius (about 47 degrees) so we were adorned with lovely wet suits and booties for the water. (Everyone was super impressed with my putting on we suit skills because all of the Florida kids had never even put one on before haha). We had a great time surfing and had fabulous instructors -but not the best of luck -- it was super windy and we were exhausted - but loved every minute of struggling to stand up. haha. After surfing we headed back to Perseli to take a much needed HOT shower and relax. Dinner was delicious - yet again - and had the best cheesecake I’ve ever had in my life! Seriously sooo good! After dinner we all order Taffy’s and Bailey’s and hot chocolate and hung out and played games. There were a bunch of sexy brits there for a stag party (aka bachelor party) so we had fun hanging out with them all night. Once it got dark we had a bonfire and taught all the Brits how to make what they called shhmores (which they loved), told ghost stories, and had a ball. It was a (fairly) early night for all of us exhausted kids so we hit the sack for another early morning.
Sunday was the highlight of the trip -- we went coasteering!!! It’s kind of hard to explain for those unfamiliar - but it’s basically a combination of swimming, rock climbing, and cliff jumping. We were adorned with wetsuits, life jackets, and helmets - (for the group prior to us on saturday nearly drowned -- yikes!!) Our trip was much more smooth and so much fun! The highlight was definitely at the end when we made our way to the blue lagoon and were able to jump off 30 foot ruins into the water! It was amazing!! For the adventurous type - coasteering is a must! The pictures might better explain what we were doing so take a look at those. After coasteering we went back to our place, squeezed in a shower, and ate another wonderful meal before we had to take off. It was a six hour trek back to London where immediately ran to the Rising Sun pub to catch the second half and overtime of the final World Cup game! I think London was probably just as crazy as any place to watch the game - there were Spanish people everywhere! After the game people were jumping in the fountains, honking their horns, and screaming in the street. It was wild! (Side note: I still have not found an appreciation for watching the game of soccer- the final game was so boring and I am so thrilled the pubs will no longer be full of crowded, smelly Europeans! :D) We were all starving so we ventured to China town to catch our much craved chinese food! After dinner we all came back to the flat and passed out from a very fun and exhausting weekend!
Monday and Tuesday are days of catching up on sleep, homework, and chores... Wednesday we had to Edinburgh to site see around the city - and then Thursday we go “the Open” - according to Brits - which I am really excited about! Then I am off to Amsterdam for the weekend to meet up with my friend Julie and take in all of the sites and festivities there... I’m sure I’ll have much to report on next week so until then...
Cheers from London! :D

More photos from the past week!

Some photos from the past week! I've been crazy busy so I'll try and blog some tonight to keep you posted on all of the weeks festivities! :D

London 2012 Olympic site

At the races!

We got to be right on the track!


Wearing our hats for the races

At the Crown with Steven and Mary

Going to watch Spain v. Germany game

The group touring the Mews and the Queen's Gallery

Being geeks and listening to a tour on audio

Preseli Weekend Photos

The group

Coasteering

Roomies

Mary and I about to take the experience the washing machine

About to take the plunge...

Jumping off 30 foot ruins into the blue lagoon...AWESOME!

hahaha... i like this one

Hanging out in the lagoon... the water was so clear and beautiful!

Found some jellyfish

On the way to our hike!

We did a 7 mile hike along the coast

View from our hike..

More from our hike


Just hanging in the trees hah

Campfire



Attempting to surf! hahahaa

All gross after surfing!
More photos to come!!

DEUTSCHLAND

This weekend we went to DEUTSCHLAND! My roommate Mary has a friend (Rachel) that plays softball in Munich (Munchen) so we were able to stay with her in her (very nice) flat! We left early (4am) Friday morning to catch our flight to Memmigan - where we then had to take a train into the city. (This would turn into a hilarious adventure as we got off at the wrong train station and tried to find Rachel who was waiting for us at the right station. We were at a burger king and Rachel was trying to find us at one of the two burger kings at the other train station. This was also our first experience with non-english speaking people. Trying to order a bbq chicken burger with no mayo and getting extra mayo and Mary trying to order a cheeseburger with pickles and cheese and getting everything but - so needless to say - it was an experience! hah) Once we finally realized we were at the wrong train station we hopped on a train and found Rachel.
Friday was a day of exploring the city and beer hopping! We took the U-Bahn to downtown where we visited Frauenkirsche Cathedral and Tower - we walked all the way up the tower/ took the elevator - to the top where we were treated to breathtaking views of Munich. We could even barely see the Alps it was such a nice day! From there we walked to Hofbräuhaus biergarten to enjoy my first liter mug of the radler (a mix of beer and 'sprite' - what they call lemonade). Here we met up with some Aussies who told us some stories and and asked questions about America and we practiced our accents. From here we walked to the English Gardens which is the biggest park in Europe (behind Hyde Park) where it was basically a big party of people laying out by the river. Once in the garden we walked to the biergarten at the Chinese Tower. Here we watched the Netherlands v. Brazil game and enjoyed another liter of beer (we also stole the mugs as a souvenir- local tip - they give you a token when you buy the beer - if you return the mugs with the token you get a euro back - so we stole some 'tourist's' mugs and returned them and kept our own. win win!). After the biergarten we walked to Rachel's favorite place - The Munich Cafe for some food and yes more beer. Then we hopped on the U-Bahn and headed towards Olympic Park (host of the 1972 Munich Olympics). This place was awesome and so pretty at sunset! We were exhausted so we headed back to Rachel's to navigate our route for Saturday and catch some much needed zzz!
Saturday Rachel had softball games so we were without our navigator but she mapped out our entire route- by U-Bahn and bus - to Dachau (the first concentration camp in Germany). This was an awfully chilling experience to be in a place of such cruelty, torture, and murder - and an experience I won't soon forget. We walked through the solitary confinement, torture cells, the barracks, and crematorium. There were also several churches and memorials built after Dachau was turned into a refugee camp post war. There was also a museum full of pictures, stories and great information. It was pretty emotional - but glad I did it. After Dachau we navigated to the 'Beverley Hills' of Munich to watch the Germany game. We watched the game at a field where screens were set up and we watched the game with a bunch of Germans and were treated to German food and beer! And Germany won 4-0! It was crazy to be a part of it - the Germans celebrated all day and night. The German flag was everywhere and everyone was honking and cheering all over the city. From here we went to this Festival on the Olympic grounds where there was music, food, crafts, clothes, beer and soccer. It was a great night and trip to Munich! It was fun being able to hang out with Germans because we got to ask a lot of questions, here stories, and get insider info -and I think this really enriched the trip. (Plus I don't think we would have seen half the sites because trying to navigate through Germany alone would have been awful). Sunday we had to catch an early train to get back to the airport and catch our flight - we had to celebrate the fourth in London! A whole bunch of us went to Hyde Park to listen to the Wireless concert - the likes of Lily Allen and Jay Z were performing. We had ourselves some food, beer (nothing will ever compare to the German beer), played games, and decked out American - all while listening to the concert.
This week there's a lot to do! Mary and I made a checklist of things to do, go and see - along with the schooling part of it. Today we are touring Stamford Bridge (Chelsea) stadium. Thursday we are touring the London Olympic site and Friday it's off to the races at Royal Ascot. Then we are off to Wales for some cliff jumping, surfing and hiking! I'll try and keep you updated of the events as best I can!
On a side note: We've been having quite the luck with weather! It's been so beautiful and hot here in London and apparently we brought it to Munich as they've been having kind of crappy weather. It was 31 degrees there (about 87) and was cold here in London so we lucked out!
Here are some pictures from this weekend...

View from Frauenkirsche (Cathedral of our Dear Lady) Tower

Frauenkirsche SO beautiful


A German guy gave us 8 of these haha - we were starvinggg

PROST


Olympic Park




Dachau

Celebrating the Fourth in Hyde Park

The last few days have been fun and busy! I'll give a brief rundown of the days events and tell you a little bit about the stuff that I did. School has begun and unlike some people who only have class two days a week, my program pretty much has stuff going on everyday. It's a lot of fun but I haven't had that much time to explore London too in depth.
Monday was Wimbledon. We had to get up super early to get in 'the queue' because the tickets are on a first come first serve basis. The first part of the morning was a bunch of waiting around but luckily since there was so many of us we could walk around while others held our spots. In line there was also a bunch of strategizing because its kind of a mad dash to get to the good courts. We decided to watch the Bryan brothers and got great seats! We even got their autograph afterwards! After watching that match we walked around, ate strawberries and cream, and just took the whole experience in. We also watched some lower level courts play and watched the games on the big screen. It was a long hot day! But so amazing! After Wimbledon we came home and showered and went to the musical Blood Brothers. The play was definitely a lot different then I thought it would be but the actors and music were amazing! After the musical it was a girl next doors 21st birthday party so we went to this club called the Zoo Bar. Afterwards we all hit up McDonalds around 3 am - which I was so pleasantly surprised to see that they have a different menu full of chicken sandwich goodness! That could be dangerous haha...
Tuesday we toured Emirates stadium - home to the Arsenal Football Club Team. We got to experience the club seating, the player entrance, player locker rooms, and go on the sidelines. After Arsenal we headed to Montagu Pykes to watch the Spain v. Portugal game and it was wild!! The bar was full of Spanish people going crazy with chants and songs. After the game we all headed to Sports Cafe for 1.50 drinks! My roommate Mary and I (along with some others) entered the beer pong tournament and we WON! haha. It was so much fun but class in the morning was a bit rough...
Wednesday we had class in the morning and then we all came back and took naps. This was kind of a lazy day to catch up on laundry, homework, and running errands.
Today we went to Populous - a major company that designs stadiums from everything to Wimbledon, London 2012, to Yankee stadium. We all got to sit in on this presentation discussing the venues and more about Wimbledon. After Populous we came back and made lunch and tried to organize our trips and finish up some homework. I also got a chance to go see Ju and catch up with her too!
My roommate Mary and I are off to Munich, Germany tomorrow! We have to be up at 3:30 (which is like 7:30 your guys' time) to catch a train to the airport. We are staying with Mary's friend who lives in the city and she has planned a bunch of fun things for us to do and see while we are there and is also letting us stay with her as well! I'll update Germany when I get back and hopefully have some great stories!
Here are a few pictures from this week.....

The Flat!