Back in London! Visitors!

What an eventful week! I can't believe it has already come and gone...it really flew by. No time for classes.. Terri, Mom and Jessica come to London!!!! I had a blast playing tour guide and tourist...considering I held out on a lot of places until they came. One place being our first stop, which had to be the ever so famous Harrod's, as you can see in the background. What an insane store.. extremely easy to get lost in there. About 10 minutes of looking at clothing was more than enough. The food court was amazing..delicious gelato (which was the most I could afford) aside the $5,000 dessert platter.  No big deal.

Mom and Terri rented a little apartment in Notting Hill, which happens to be one of my personal favorite areas. You can see lots of interesting things there.. such as this..parked right outside their place. I'm all for the basket.

I guess they brought the good weather with them. Although, I must defend my city quickly and say that it does NOT rain like everyone said it would. Yes, it is gloomy every day but it hardly ever rains.. and if it does it's for like 30 seconds. Jussst so you know. However, this past week was pure sunshine with a temperature in the high 50's every day. Amaaaaazing. No complaints there. We really took advantage and walked everywhere including around St. James (above) and Green Park which are starting to bloom and are absolutely beautiful. The first day it was warm reminded me of Madison when it gets to be like 40 degrees after a long winter...everyone comes out of hibernation!

Jessica gets in, coming out of her Madison hibernation!

Classic phone booth pic.

Buckingham Palace

We also ventured to the National Gallery where we stopped by the Degas ballerinas and the Van Gogh Sunflowers painting, along with lots of their other works. Very cool.

Only  one week in London... so of courseee we had to hit Liverpool(do you know my family at all?!) It was such a cool little placed, fillllllled with Beatles history. We did the "Magical Mystery Tour" and were led by a tourguide who's cellphone background picture is a legit picture of him and Paul....as they are allegedly very good friends. (Sorry dad, I was going to try and steal the phone and get Paul's number but I got scared.) 

First stop: 
Along the tour we stopped by Ringo, John, and Paul's childhood homes. Then we stopped by the one and only:

Strawberry Fields. 
Next stop: the Cavern Club, where the Beatles made their first appearance there in 1961. Over the next two years they played there almost 300 times. It still functions as a rock club today.

very cool standing in a place with so much history..

                           

Back in London, we headed over to the tower of London, which is the castle-like thing above, where mom was really hoping to witness an execution (sorry, maybe next time?). Learned a lot about the torture that took place here...interesting.


We took everyone's advice and arrived at the changing of the guards an hour early to be able to see. There were hundreds of people there, and they do it every other day! Crazy, but very neat. More of a half-time band show then anything. The two guys below kept walking right up to the fence where we were standing, trying their hardest to keep a straight face aha. 
Over the course of the week, mom and terri decided they really wanted to take advantage of the reasonable show ticket prices. Sooo first we saw Spring Awakening which was truly unbelievable. The voices were incredible and the acting was amazing. Not going to lie.. I'm probably going to see it again before I leave! Next we saw Dirty Dancing...which...eh...if you feel like going to the play, you would be better off watching the movie. The acting was not so good.. but the dancing was very fun to watch. Last but certainly not least...Billy Elliot. Wow. Never in my life have I seen someone so talented..and at age 12. After 15 years of tapping.. I could neverrr match this kid. Not to mention his ballet skills. AND he could sing AND act. I'm pretty ssure my mouth was dropped in awe the entire show. Truly amazing. 

After lotss more sightseeing, tons of delicious meals, and getting a much-needed taste of home, all in all it was a really great week, and I am so happy they were able to come! So I guess now, it's time to head back to reality. Sort of...i'm leaving in about a week for my big two and a half week italy, spain, and france vacation!!! Before then..3 papers. 

xoxoxo

My new found love...

What an incredible weekend. Being someone who has never really seen mountains before.. I didn't really know what to expect. It was dark when we got in so really the snow-topped mountains look like a bunch of clouds. The second I stepped outside the next morning to find mountains surrounding me, I was in awe and could literally not stop smiling. Interlaken (Switzerland..) is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and is the cutest, quaintest...not to mention absolutely beautifulll little tourist town. Despite the small fact that every single thing is extremelllly expensive... I must say this is a trip I will never regret and for sure never forget. 

Unfortunately, I have never been skiing before, but I am very interested in learning. So I looked into taking lessons...which ended up being outrageous and out of the question. Luckily, we met up with a couple of my friends who are studying in Prague, and I went around with a couple of them who didn't ski as well to little towns in the Alps.

  

 

We took the train up a mountain and went to two different little towns. The two pictures above are from a little town called Wengen. I believe it's around 4,000 feet up the mountain...and is truly the definition of a winter wonderland. Being lugged around by sled instead of  stroller? What a life. There were people skiing down the streets to the local grocery store.. it was like nothing I've ever seen before. 

A view from the train on the ride back down from Wengen.

I was a little upset I couldn't go skiing, but the great thing about Interlaken is there are a bunch of alternatives. Two of my friends were going paragliding the next day which, having been parasailing in Mexico, is something I thought I could consider/do. In spite of my awful decision making skills I decided to go for it...and I am soooooo glad I did! I was strapped into a little backpack with a man behind me (who knew what he was doing) and literally ran off a mountain to find myself flying amongst the Swiss Alps. It was soooo beautiful and an amazing experience. 

The mountain we ran off of..

My feet! Gliding over Interlaken

Someone else gliding below me

The view 

Survivors picture...me with my friend Michael  back on the ground!

We had heard that the thing to do in Interlaken is "nightsledding" so of course we signed up. Of course when you think of sledding you think...down a steep hill.. climb back to the top a bunch of times.. call it a day. Not quite how they do it here. We took a train up the mountain to one town...where we sledded down a super intense path to another town. And when I say sled.. I mean you are zooming down a path where there are turns and  huge bumps where you just fly with the sled (or wipe out 10 feet in front of the sled in my case...) and if you dont stop yourself you can end up going like 20 mph. It was insaneeee...it can take 30 minutes to get down if you go slow and 10 if you go fast. I ended up extremely bruised and wiped out several times...but it was SO fun and really gave a new meaning to sledding...and a new appreciation for those people in the olympics who do those fast sled..like..things...

pre-sledding..

Dad, how would you like this for your next bike?? These people were zooming past us on these bike sleds..so crazy!

Aside from these adventurous activities.. I'd say I spent a good amount of my other time (and money) in chocolate shops...aka. my heaven. Swiss chocolate is just too good and these shops are everywhere. 

delicious.

Amazing trip.. I would loveee to go back one day in the summer. 

Last but not least..I have to add that right before Switzerland I saw Wicked for the 3rd time. Got there 45 minutes before the show..4th row seats..25 pounds. Loveeee the student discounts. It was so great..even with a english-accented Glinda.

Mom and Terri come in TWO days!!!!!!!!!!! and then Jessica comes!!!

 YAY, I CAN'T WAIT! :)

I'm transferring to Oxford..

                                        

St. Bride's Church, a baker was inspired by this church to make his wedding cakes tiered, which is why wedding cakes are as they are today!

Temple Hall-in the 1600s it was a popular spot for performances, and Shakespeare's 1st recorded performance of "Twelfth Night" was performed here.. It is unchanged since it was built in 1573.

It's  been awhile but things are going great!

As you can see from a couple pictures above..I've done a little more exploring around London with my class and some visitors, so that's been fun...it really is unbelievable how many things there are to do and see in this city! Saw Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" with my performing arts class.. Fun fact: 10 Things I hate about you (with Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles) is based off of this play..crazy I know.. and honestly I would have rather watched the movie then the play. Shakespeare's english in thick british accents is not easy to follow...and I honestly couldn't tell you what happened in the play..because I could hardly understand what they were saying (i guess it's worth mentioning that I was always the one in highschool with the "Shakespeare for Dummies" books.. just not my thing) oh well. So.. that was interesting..

anyway.

This past Saturday I ventured to the infamous Oxford.

on the list of Oxford Alumni:

2 British Kings

12 Monarchs of ten other states

25 British Prime Ministers

35 presidents and prime ministers of 19 other countries

34 dukes

25 princes and princesses 

188 barons and baronesses

291 members of Parliament

12 Lord Chancellors

9 Lord Chief Justices

10 US Senators

10 US Representatives

4 Associate Justices of the US Supreme Court

the list goes on...

First of all. Really?! this place is insane.. wow.  If you've seen Harry Potter...imagine the Hogwarts setting minus the wizards (although they actually might have wizards at Oxford I really wouldn't be surprised.) It was absolutely beautiful. And I can't even imagineee what it will look like once all the flowers bloom! Even to study abroad there the minumum GPA you could apply with was a 3.7...just a little intimidating. It is truly historical. Most of the college buildings date back to the 1400s. I don't know that the pictures do it justice but here are a few! Definitely worth visiting...it is really an amazing place.

 some of the living quarters...

went on a walk around a running path which surrounded beautiful gardens and streams and such.

Oh you know.. just a reading room...

The Divinity Hall, which I believe was the first lecture hall at Oxford.  It is absolutely beautiful, and was actually used as the infirmary in Harry Potter!

 along the long nature walk there was a massive deer park...

Needless to say, it was a beautifullll place.

And.. last but not least, to continue the Harry Potter themed post.. if you've seen the movies you would know that in order to get to Hogwarts you must go to the train station (taped at King's Cross.. one of the main stations) and go through the wall. So this is a plaque they put up there so people can take pictures, gotta love it.

I'm off to Switzerland this Thursday!!! I'll let you know if I survive skiing for the first time ever...or if I chicken out! Regardless, I will definitely be enjoying lots of Swiss chocolate!!!

Cheers!