I don't think blogging could be my profession...

Hello again!
I know I am terrible at updating this. Half the time I find I have a hard time trying to think of things to write about and the other half I want to give myself more time to write about what I have experienced. Either way, I'm way past due for an entry and I have enough things to write about now, so it seems like a good time.

This past Tuesday (28th) I got back from a 5 night 6 day trip to London, England! What an experience that was! London was exactly what I thought it would be and more. It reminded me of home so much, but at the same time had a very different cultural vibe to it. It was amazing! Here is a recap of my trip:

Thursday: We (Amy, John, and I) leave Florence and take a train to Pisa. Our flight left at 10:10am, so we were up very early in order to give us enough travel time. This was my 2nd time on a plane and we flew through Ryan Air. (I recommend Ryan Air to any student traveling in Europe! It is cheap and not at all sketchy like I thought it would be!) We arrived in London and then had to do some major time on public transportation. We took a train from Stanstead into the city and then bought an Oyster Card and a 7 day tube pass (24 pounds) --> transportation in London is expensive, as is everything else! We took the tube to Kensington where our friend Justin from SNC is staying. His apartment is right across from Hyde Park (where Princess Diana lived) so the first thing we did was explore Hyde and St. James Park. This was the best thing for me! I was craving a bit of the Midwest Fall atmosphere. Between the trees, falling leaves, and crisp autumn weather, these parks really made me feel at home! They were gorgeous too! Then, before dinner, Amy, Justin, his roommate Tom, and I went to a wine tasting at Whole Foods. After Justin made us dinner and then took us around London to see the sights at night. We saw Westminster, Parliment, Big Ben, The London Eye, and much more. It was so beautiful! After all that, Amy and I happily climbed into our shared twin bed at Justin's place! (What can I say, we tried to travel cheap!)

Friday: Friday our friend Billy from SNC (and John's roommate in Rome) met us in London. Justin took us around London yet again. We saw all of the sights mentioned above in the day time, plus the Buckingham Palace, and the house of the horse guards! Then we went to see the London and Tower Bridge. We did some more exploring that day and then headed back to take a break. Before dinner, we headed down High St. Kensington to do some shopping. When we got back Justin had made us a wonderful dinner and then we headed out to a pub for a night out on the town! Fun times!

Saturday: Saturday we headed to Camden Market! This was by far the BEST experience I had in London! This market was full of everything you could think of! Food from all around the world, clothes from alll over and in every style imaginable, jewelry, bags, etc. It was giant! We found some very cool vintage stores in there which we spent a great deal of time at! :) We spent most of the day here and then traveled back to Kensington to get our things together. On Saturday for dinner we met up with Magda (a friend/coworker from SNC who is know going to grad school in London) and Michael (SNC studying in London), Michael (SNC studying in Valencia, Spain), and Katie (a friend of Michael's who gave us housing in London!) for dinner! We ate a small pub and had, you guessed it, fish and chips! :) Very fitting, I know! It was a great dinner and so nice to catch up with Magda and the others! After we went back to Justin's placed, said our goodbyes to his roommates, and took our stuff to our new home in New Cross. Once we got there we talked with Katie and the Michaels for awhile and then headed to bed.

Sunday: John left us today to get back to Rome for school. Amy, Billy, and I went into the city by ourselves on Sunday and saw Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and other London City things. Amy and I set out towards the Globe Theatre then and, although we did not go in to see it because it cost 11 pounds, we explored that part of London. Then the three of us met up and ate a very American dinner at Pizza Hut (What? We had to take the opportunity!).

Monday: Today Billy, Amy and I headed into the city to do some shopping, something that we hadn't really experienced yet and some of us wanted to see if there was anything cheap enough to get for Christmas presents! On the way, we spotted a cheap hair salon and decided to take the opportunity to get our hair cut! I know! Ridiculous! But a hair cut (even just a trim) in Florence/Rome costs about 45 euro! After, I met up with an old friend from high school, Rob, who is currently studying at Oxford University! (It's not a big deal that he hangs out with Emma Watson (Hermoine) on the weekends, right?) We all went to dinner at Wagamama, a very popular restaurant in London. Then we went and saw The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre!!!!!!!! It was fantastic! What a good night!

Tuesday: We had high hopes for the few things we wanted to smash in before we had to catch our flights and, unfortunately, only got to do 1 of the 3 things we wanted. We were hoping to explore the Tate Modern Art Museum (which is one of the things I regret not doing...), go to Kingscross where they have the cart stuck in the wall as a tribute to Harry Potter, and go to Abbey Road. We headed to Abbey Road first (obviously the most important!!) and had a great deal of trouble finding it! It seemed like everyone we asked for directions never gave us the same directions as the last person! Finally, we found it. We took some great shots of us crossing the crosswalk and then signed the walls waiting there. By that time, we knew that if we didn't start heading back we would be cutting it extremely close with our planes, so we got our things and traveled to Stanstead and got on our planes.

Our trip was overall very successful and taking into account how ridiculously expensive London is - very cheap! (Although we did sleep on a concrete floor for 3 nights which we made a bit more comfortable by folding our clothes to make some sort of bedspread to lay on and shared a twin bed the other 2!) At the end I was so happy to get back to Florence out of the cold and rainy weather and back into my warm and comfortable bed! For the rest of the break I will be resting, catching up on homework, and then playing host to some Londonites visiting Italy! :)

I am now officially less than 2 months away till I leave here. I don't know how it has gone by this fast and slow at the same time. Half of me wishes time would speed by even faster than it is so I can be back in DePere with my family and friends and the other half of me hopes this time crawls by. I can tell already that this experience will be one of the best I will ever have in my life. The things I have already learned from being away from home, on my own, in a different country with a different culture shocks me. So many things here will make me miss Italy so much when I finally have to leave - especially my roommates. Throughout my whole college experience, I have been blessed with some of the most amazing roommates ever! I have been given friends who go far and beyond what a friend typically is and make me so happy to have met them. These girls that I live with in Italy can only add to that list. I am so happy I chose to study abroad. As much as my homesickness gets the best of me and there are people I love so much back in DePere who I just want to be with, I do not regret coming.
Ciao for now!