London and others

So let's see. It's been a while. Sorry, things are busier than I though they would be. I still love it here. It's sad to think about leaving, but I do miss home and people from home often.

So let's try to recap...

Well Thursday the 28th were initiations. These initiations were for Emily, Gabie, Tom, Pat, Dan, and I. They were given by our wonderful Brits; James, Alex, Henry, Fran, Katherine, and Seb.

Basically we had to do a lot of different tasks. If we failed, we were punished. Details on punishments are not needed. haha These were the rules....

The other rules were; "No phones", "Do what you're told, or punishments", "No going to the bathroom without permission", "Yes means no and no means yes", "You have to say CHEERS MATE every time you take a drink". We each had nicknames, vulgar nicknames, that we were called and had to call each other all night. hahaha

Pretty much the Brits had us running around. We had to pick a partner, mine was Pat, and we got taped to them. We then had to go to ASDA, which is like Walmart, and buy certain things. Pat and I had to get little chicken bites and garbage bags(black bin liners).

Then we had boat races. If you don't know what those are, I'm not explaining. Sorry :) Then we had to go to random doors and fill up a plastic cup with any kind of liquid. We came back, got blindfolded and had to drink one of those drinks we brought back. Then we had to go outside and scream a rendition of "Wonderwall" by Oasis.

Then we proceeded to do a race of sit--ups, push-ups, running, and jumping jacks. Next we had to change clothes with our partners.

( All of us :) Left to right-Row 1: Alex, Row 2: James, Fran, Me, Pat, Row 3: Dan, Gabie, Tom, Katherine, Row 4: Emily, Henry, Seb)

While in each other's clothes we got garbage bags taped to us and our faces drawn on in permanent marker. We had to go to a random house and sing jingle bells to them. They were not happy about that. haha The rest of the night was a blast and I guess we passed. We are officially British now! YAY!

The next day we went on a day trip to Dover. We got to see Dover Castle and the white cliffs and some secret war tunnels. Here are some highlight pictures from the day!

walking up to the Dover Castle

Inside the Castle, definitely weren't supposed to touch anything. Oops.

They had these creepy, yet cool, holographic people things that talked and told stories.

Both of these are from the roof of the Castle.

Me goofing off on top of the Castle

Those White Cliffs

Tom pondering

My favorite shot. You can see the stream of light in the distance coming down.

Then it just randomly started hailing for 15 minutes. Gotta love England weather!

Gabie, Emily, and I outside of the Castle.

Then over the weekend our friend Joey came to visit. Tom and I went to high school with Joey and Gabie and Tom hang out with Joey at ISU. Joey is currently studying in Granada, Spain and came to visit for the weekend. We had a blast. We tried to teach him as much English culture as we could. We took him around town and went into the Cathedral and showed him it. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and it was a successful weekend!!

Then we had another week of school. Fun part was on Wednesday. Our Modern Britain teacher and our Brit friends set up a social. We all went to the Canterbury Tales pub and did a Pub Quiz and had sandwiches and drinks. It was a blast. My team, the "Special Relationship", consisting of Emily, Gabie, Alex, Henry, James, and I got 4th out of at least 10 teams. We were awesome!!

Then on Friday, we headed to London. We had a school tour during the day. We went on a 2 hour walk from Trafalgar Square to St. Paul's Cathedral. Here's the pics:

Lion in Trafalgar Square. The artist modeled it off his cat, regular lions wouldn't sit like that, but cats do.

Also in Trafalgar.

Hey there Big Ben :)

The statue represents Britain and the US joining together.

Charles Dickens. No big deal.

The wig shop!

Part of a tower I thought was cool.

They call it the wedding cake building because it's tiered.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Alex, Gabie, and I outside of St. Pauls

Finally got sunny. St Paul's.

St. Paul's again.

I got to sit on those steps and have my lunch. The steps in Mary Poppins :) "Early each day to the steps of St. Paul's the little old bird women comes."

We went into the cathedral and got a tour. However, you weren't allowed to take pictures. I wish you were though. It was breathtaking. The ceiling and colors are so beautiful. There is artwork everywhere and it's huge! Once we finished the tour, we went to the Museum of London.

On the way we saw some ruins.

We finally got there. We walked around for about a half hour. It was pretty cool. Then we had free time. Alex, Gabie, Emily, and I went to Oxford St. and went shopping. Alex showed us around, it was great! Then we went back to the buses to get our belongings and say goodbye to Alex who was going back to Canterbury. Gabie, Emily, and I grabbed our bags and began our journey. We didn't really know how to use the underground, how expensive it was, and we were a little uncomfortable because it was already dark. We also didn't know which stop our hotel was by. So this left us with the option to walk. It took us about 2 hours. That was fun! haha We were a little exhausted from walking all day and then carrying our backpacks. Should have brought gym shoes. hahaha. Anyways, we made it all the way to our hotel, which was in Kensington. We got there and burst into laughter. The room we were in was a joke. We weren't expecting anything great since it was cheap. But it was hilarious. There were three beds all touching head to foot. The perpendicular wall was literally as long as our bodies.

the room

Now we're not picky girls. We didn't expect anything great. However this hotel was creepy and luckily before we went to bed we checked the lock. The door DID NOT LOCK. Also, whenever we left the building, we had to give them our keys. Creepy. It was just a bad vibe, the people were creepy. Three 20 year old girls in a place like that is how they make horror movies. haha Unfortunately, we felt unsafe and wanted to get out of there. It was already about 10 at night, so we got our stuff, told them we were leaving and went to the Best Western at the end of the street. I guess we were lucky because when we explained it to the men there, they looked at us and told us that hotel had a very bad reputation and we should be glad we're out of there. So we stayed in a nice hotel with a LOCK! The next morning we got up, checked out and went to the London Eye! Of course, we figured out the Underground, more like mastered it by the end of the trip. So we took the underground to the Eye!

Before going on the Eye, you go into a 4D movie experience. It was SO cool. It was all about London and was just so awesome. Whenever water splashed, real water hit you. There was a part with bubbles, and there were actual bubbles floating around. It was just so awesome. So then we got in line for the Eye. We had all our backpacks with us since we had to check out of the hotel, so the security took us aside. They asked us questions and made us show them the bags. We chatted with one of them and he told us how much he loved Chicago. He then let us go to the fast track lane and cut the line. It was awesome! So then we got on the Eye, and in the perfect spot!

After we went and saw some street performers and then walked over to Big Ben!

So British right here.

Then walked over to..

Then some Buckingham Palace

No guards....disappointing.

Statue in front of Buckingham

Outside Buckingham!

So the night of our awful hotel experience we all called our parents upset. Emily's dad, being the most amazing person in the world, travels a ridiculous amount for business. Because of this he was able to pull some strings and get us a free night at the Hilton in London. How great is he!! I've never been so grateful in my life. We were planning on going home then coming back to London because it was cheaper, but he helped so much!

So we got a room with TWO LOCKS! We hung out for a bit and put our stuff down. Then we went back out to see the city at night. We went to Harrods!

I had to be told what that was...I'm not a shopper if you couldn't tell. hahaha Then we went back to Big Ben.

The whole time all we could think of was Peter Pan! We're really cool and like Disney movies. haha Then I used my self-timer to take this shot.

I'm pretty proud of it! :)

We then went home and had a wonderful sleep. The next morning we got up and went to..

It's from Harry Potter if you don't get it! So COOL!

Then we made our way to Tower Bridge

I got to see my good friend Victoria from high school, who is studying in London this semester!!

It was so nice to see her for a little bit!! :)

Then we made our final stop to

The LION KING!! It was wonderful. I saw it when I was about 10 years old, but Emily and Gabie have never seen it. London has been running it for 10 years, and they should keep it. It was so fantastic!! Saw a show at West End, I can check that off my list!!!!!!! :)

Then we went to the coach station and took the two hour ride home. It was so nice to get back to Canterbury. The Jolly Sailor had everyone over for the Superbowl. We went for about 10 minutes. It was packed and really hot. We don't even like American Football anyways. hahah We left so we could sleep. It was a fantastic weekend, yet exhausting. Now I have a paper and a speech to do this week. Then on Friday our spring break starts. Gabie, Emily, and I are going to Amsterdam, then the 15th Monday is my 20th birthday!!!!!, then to Prague, then to Rome, and then to Athens. We come back the 22nd. I'm sure I'll update a lot right after that! Can't wait until then!! For now, It's 3:40 am. I should probably go to bed!