I’m not doing so well at blogging often. Takes a lot of work to keep at, but whatever.

So! Let’s just start at Brighton. Which is where I went last Saturday. The train ride to Brighton was a lot of fun. I’ve never been on a train before, so needless to say the fact that my first train ride was through the beautiful English countryside is pretty awesome.

And let me just tell you, the English countryside is in fact gorgeous! I love London, but nothing beats all the green fields and hills and freaking castles and small towns. If I were to move to England, it would definitely be in the countryside.

Brighton itself was really cool. Definitely had that touristy element. Coop said it reminded him of Panama City Beach (a super touristy place back home) but I’ve never been so I can’t compare it. But it was super hilly and cold and the beach was really pretty. I saw this one family and the parents kept threatening to throw their kids in the ocean and they were so cute. We ate at an Italian place because the guy tried so hard to get us to come inside. We split a pizza and it was really good.

The train ride back home wasn’t nearly as awesome because it was so dark, but oh well.

Not much happened during the week because Coop worked mostly night shifts and I have classes during the day, but on Wednesday I went on a tour of the (fake but awesome) Shakespeare’s Globe and the Tower of London.

The guy who gave us our Globe tour was really funny and nice. He’s a director and an actor and he was just really charismatic so he wasn’t hard to pay attention to at all. He also told us where basic words came from, such as the ROLE of an actor, which comes from the rolled paper that has their lines on it. We also learned that back then, they only had about two hours to rehearse (compared to our 5 weeks or so) and that actors then weren’t given the whole script – they were given only a piece of paper with their lines and the last three words of the line before theirs. How crazy is that?

The Tower of London was just intense to be in. I stood right next to where all those Queens were beheaded. It sort of blew my mind. The crown jewels were pretty awesome too, but the torture section was overrated. I mean, yes, it was horrible to think about, but all the people in movies and what not who talk about it totally over exaggerate. There were only like three torture objects there.

On Saturday we went to Portobello Road Market, Kensington Gardens, and the Round Pond. The market was so crazy packed, but it was really cool to see all these people and a wide variety of antiques. I don’t know that I’d go back to that market, but I would like to go back to Portobello Road (gotta find Hugh Grant’s bookstore from Notting Hill).

The Round Pond was CRAZY. There were so many freaking birds I couldn’t believe it. And not a single one pooped on me, which totally rocked.

Anyway, that’s about it for the past week. I’m seeing a play on Tuesday, going to Oxford & the Cotswolds on Friday, and I might go to Windsor Palace on Saturday. We’ll see!

Here are some pictures! Clicking here will take you to the full set.

I’m still too tired to blog about it, but Brighton was lots of fun! Here are the pictures!

Click here to view the full album.

My apologies! Been a busy week, really, despite the little amount I actually did. Classes started Monday, which are super strange and much different from what I’m used to, do to the very, very small class size.

My first class on Monday is Screenwriting, which is taught by a super cool British guy who has written lots of plays and radio-stuff and tv stuff and etc. He’s a really interesting guy and I can tell I will like his class. The weird part is? I’m one of three students in that class. It blows my mind how small that class is.

I also have History of London on Mondays, which will be interesting because every other week we go on a 3 hour historical walk of London, which sounds awesome. The downside, of course, is the other weeks when we’ll be doing lectures. A three hour lecture might be too much for me, but we’ll see.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have a London Theatre class. The class itself will mostly be discussion about the plays we see nearly every Tuesday night, which I’m excited for. The professor is really enthusiastic and just a really quintessential old British lady which amuses me to no end.

Anyway, I didn’t do much the past couple of days. I ate at some cool restaurants. I’ve eaten Italian, French, and I even found a Mexican place, although it’s definitely not like the Mexican places back in the states – they serve duck quesadilla here.

I went to the British Museum yesterday and walked around for a little bit. I made my way through Egyptian, European, and a little bit of other stuff so I could take a peek at the Rosetta Stone. I’ll be heading back to the British Museum for sure. I know there’s so much I missed! I also need to hit up the Victoria & Albert museum soon (an assignment for theatre class) and I want to see the History Museum! Dinosaurs!

Tomorrow we’re going to head back out towards Picadilly Circus so Coop can find an arcade we missed last time, and then hit Regent’s Street so I can go to Burberry. I also want to walk along the Thames at night and take some pictures, and maybe even convince Coop to go on the Eye.

Saturday we’re hoping to take a train to Brighton. I’ll keep you guys updated!

Here are a couple of pictures from the British Museum as well as some food, and here’s a link to the full flickr set!

I walked so much today. It was craaazzyy. My feet totally hate me though, which is an unfortunate side effect.

I basically hit up all the typical London spots today, although I would like to revisit most of them for a longer time in the future.

We took a tube to Picadilly Circus and walked around there for a bit. It wasn’t as cool as all the pictures, cause one of the main buildings is completely hidden from view and under construction. We tried to go to Hyde’s Park, but got a bit lost, but that’s okay because we got breaky-fast at a cute cafe (which I don’t remember the name of). Once we corrected our path, Coop let me go into both the Picadilly Waterstones AND Hatchards! Freaking unbelievably awesome bookstores.

We walked past Green Park (?) and a bunch of cool places, but when we got to the corner of Hyde Park, we decided to go to Buckingham Palace. We happened to get there right as the guard changing thing happened, but it was so packed we couldn’t really see anything. I don’t know how often the guard changes, but I’d like to find out so I can go to a different one.

After Buckingham Palace, we walked through St. James’s Park. Coop got a “New York Style” hot dog because he’s never been to NYC and therefore he’s never had a hot dog in Central Park, and I made him get one because I figured it was the next closest thing. Of course, the hot dog was this weird sausage thing that was cold in the middle and the bun was more like a piece of bread that had been pressed on a grill. But still!

Then we walked through Trafalger Square. I didn’t get to see much of it, because we were headed to some bridge (I don’t remember the name) to cross the Thames. It was cool being on the bridge, because when you weren’t walking, you could feel it move under your feet. After that, we walked through Charing Cross Station and headed back to Trafalger Square where I got some awesome lion pictures. At this point, I wanted to cry my feet hurt so bad, but we tredged onward! Onward towards Leicester Square, where Coop was stopped twice by tourists asking for directions. I guess he looked British or something.

After a little bit of resting and strange British tv, we popped into the British museum. It was almost closing time, so all we really got to see was the Rosetta Stone and a huge table demonstrating the amount of pills/illnesses people go through a lifetime. I didn’t quite get it, but I’d like to check it out again.

As for tomorrow? I’m not sure. We’re planning on checking out the Natural History Museum and getting lunch. We have a mandatory flat meeting at 4:30, and after that, I don’t know what’s up.

Anyway, here are some pictures! You can click here to view them all.

Today was longggg. We sat in orientation/security meetings for most of the day (from like 10am until 3pm…) and that was very much not fun. Lots of “don’t drink, don’t do anything illegal, go to class” stuff. A couple of my roommates and I went to a Tesco to pick up some groceries, which was actually really fun. I hate buying groceries back home, but something about seeing all the foreign foods and strange brands makes it so much cooler.

There was a practical walking tour (as in, here’s the tube, here’s the grocery store, etc) at 4, but I was late and missed it. Which was fine really, because apparently the group got separated like 20 minutes into it and everybody just went off and did their own thing.

So, instead, I went with Coop (my boyfriend) and we both got UK cellphones. We walked around a the Bloomsbury district, went to a Waterstones, which was awesomeee. There are so many UK book covers I want to buy! But that’s just something I have to do towards the end. After that, we ate at a cool Italian place. The name sounded so cheesy, but it was actually really nice and pretty fancy and authentic, too. We split a pizza which rocked. Also – the whole no free refills thing? Sort of sucks. Like majorly. Guess I’ll have to learn to pace myself! Then we hit the grocery because he wanted to pick up some stuff. After that we hung out in his flat, which is so much nicer than mine (and there’s an extra bed which means they could have put me in there and they didn’t! gah!), but whatever.

I didn’t take any pictures tonight because it was pouring when we left – I still need to get an umbrella. But tomorrow we’re going to take the tube to Picadilly Circus and hang around there for a bit. There’s an arcade Coop wants to check out and apparently there’s a more awesome Waterstones there. After that, we’re gonna walk around Hyde Park for a bit.

I need to get a few things tomorrow. There’s a competition where if you keep a journal about your study abroad and make it pretty and creative, you could win a $300 Amazon giftcard. So I need to pick up a notebook, as well as some glue sticks and cheap markers. I am going to win this competition. Because I could buy SO many books with that $300. I also need to get notebooks for classes.

Anyway, that’s basically all for today!

I spent five hours in a car on the way to Atlanta, three hours sitting in the Atlanta airport, eight and a half hours sitting on the plane (I seriously believe people with babies should get their own section), three hours sitting at the airport in London, and then two hours on a coach to head to the study center in London.

After all that sitting, I have finally arrived. Where I’m doing some more sitting. I’ve been given my apartment assignment, I’ve tracked down my boyfriend, unpacked, met my roommates, and now I’m waiting for my orientation in 50 minutes. I am running on about an hour total of sleep in the past 24+ hours. Is what international travel is always like?

Anyway, on the coach (in which some girl got car sick and threw up), we passed some super awesome things that I never imagined I’d see in person. The typical things, such as Parliament and Big Ben, as well as the London Eye, and the British guard people with the hats, except they were on horsies.

Anyway, quick overview of the apartment. Mine is in the courtyard of the study center, which means it’s two stories. There’s three bedrooms, one downstairs, two upstairs. I’m in a room with two other girl. The rest of the people in the apartment? All guys. Should be interesting.

I shall take pictures & what not tomorrow. Right now I’m just trying to not fall asleep.

This time, a week from tomorrow, I will be waiting to board a Delta flight to London. This blog is the place where I will document what I do, what I see, what I eat, etc while I’m studying abroad in London for the next four-ish months.