Slideshow!

So, I've finally figured out how to put videos on here!

Here is a slideshow of pictures that I have taken in the first 3-4 weeks of the trip.

I haven't been able to post many on here, so here is a chance to take a more detailed look into my trip!

So much to catch up on...

I've been MIA lately regarding this blog...and I have a lot to catch up on!

The last time I blogged I mentioned the festival for St. George's Day we attended, and that was almost a week ago! This week has been filled with fun, including my birthday!

Tuesday we had class at the National Gallery in the morning which was an amazing experience.

The National Gallery, right next to Trafalgar Square.

It is an enormous gallery that is filled with classic paintings by artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, and Degas. We had to make sketches of a variety of paintings and then come up with ways to represent them in our own ways. My final project for this week I've chosen to use a painting with three ballerinas by Edgar Degas, and change it to make a collage of three hip hop dancers with graffiti in the background cut out of newspapers and magazines. I think the longer I'm here, the more artsy I've become :)

After class, I went off on my own to wander around the British Museum for a second time. When we were there for class, we only had a little bit of time, and I wanted to go back to wander through some more exhibits between classes. Luckily, our classroom building is right down the street, so it was easy to do. While I was there, I came across the Rosetta Stone. It was crazy to see it in person...I remember learning about it in school. Here are some other pictures I took from the Egyptian, Roman, and Greek exhibitions:

The Rosetta Stone!

Inside of the British Museum.

Wednesday, was my birthday! We didn't do much during the day, but at night we went and saw a show by the music group "Tango Siempre". It was a really impressive show, filled with tango music, dancers and a singer. They were amazing musicians, and I was so intrigued by the dancers. The female wore exceptionally high heels and sparkly dresses, and by the end of the show I was dreaming of becoming a tango dancer. She was just THAT good.

After the show, we attempted to find a pub to say "cheers" at for my birthday, but it was getting late. We ended up buying a big brownie cake from the grocery store, and eating it back at the apartment. It was the perfect end to my 20th birthday in London. Being in London was the only present I needed, and I don't know how my birthday will ever be topped!

All of the girls after the show on my birthday!

Today, we spent the day in class, but tomorrow everyone is thinking of heading to the Tower of London to take a tour. I already did this with my family, but we weren't able to see everything, so I'm planning on going back with the group. Then on Monday we will possibly be taking a trip to Stonehenge! Now that I'm caught up on days, I will hopefully be able to keep up from now on!

St. George's Day!

Today, although not as eventful as yesterday, was certainly filled with fun!

We headed back down toward Trafalgar Square to celebrate St. George's Day at the Rhythm of London music festival!

The Square was filled with people just like it had been when we were there for Holland's Queen's Day Celebration, but it was a much more mellow crowd this time. It was definitely filled with its share of characters though, and the performers were AMAZING.

First, we saw the Hounslow Wind Band which was a bunch of kids under around the age of 13 and 14 perform some swing tunes and they were very impressive. Then, it was our favorite part of the day, when three different performers that competed in the Busking Underground competition each took a turn onstage.

Busking is the type of performing that takes place in the underground stations here in London, for tips! First we saw Chris Read, who was not only an awesome singer, but also drop dead gorgeous. We were lucky enough to have him walk right behind us to meet up with friends, but we weren't brave enough to approach him! Oh well...

After Chris, two teenaged boys named Kieran and Patrick sang a couple of songs, and then the winner of the Busking Underground competition named Jamie West performed who was also good as well. After these guys performed, we saw the Royal Academy of Music and Players' Theatre perform different songs from musical theatre and it was really entertaining! The crowd got really into it, and even sang along.

Here is the link to Youtube, where I posted a compilation of some of the performances:

St. George's Festival!

To make the day complete, we were approached by a British man who started off his sentence with, "Well, you girls are obviously British..." before we cut him off with a, "Um, sorry, no!" He seemed surprised to find out we were from the States, and we squealed in excitement at being mistaken for real Brits. It was great, and we all had this awesome feeling of just belonging here.

Here are the some pictures from the day:

The view as we walked toward the stage.

The view behind us and the National Gallery.

The beautiful Chris Read...

And his beautiful smile!! haha

Shopping and Walking

Today was, yet again, an immensely enjoyable day in London town!

We started off with a trip to Primark. Also now known as "Clothes Heaven". I am not exaggerating. Picture an H&M, or really young version of Macy's, with well-made clothes and shockingly low prices. Add in crazed shoppers and lines to try on clothes winding throughout the two-story building, and you have Primark.

I bought a pair of jeans today for 8 pounds. That's equivalent to 12 US dollars. Not only did I get these amazingly low prices, but I bought everything without trying it all on. The lines were too long, and we were too short on time. What adds to my love of this store, is that when I got back to the flat, every single item I purchased, fit. That just doesn't happen.

Not only did I buy a pair of jeans, but I also walked away with two shirts, a dress, a big black belt, and a long silver necklace that all fit perfectly, for 37 pounds. This discovery of Primark has now become the highlight of possibly my entire week. I will definitely be going back.

After this exhilarating shopping experience, we headed to a souvenir shop next door, and I refrained from buying anything I really didn't need. We then headed down on a path that led us past the Marble Arch, around the edge of Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace, and ending on a street that was lined with British flags. It was the quintessential "day in London" and I loved every minute of it.

Here are some pictures from my day:

Me in front of the Marble Arch!

Beautiful Buckingham Palace with amazing flowers on the edge of Green Park.

Posing with the British Flags that lined the street away from Buckingham Palace.

At the end of our walk, right before we took the Tube back home.

Next up: St. George's Day celebration in Trafalgar Square on Saturday!

Horses, Hives, and Hyde Park!

(This was written on Wednesday, but due to video problems wasn't posted until Thursday)

Well, it's been a few days since I've updated, and there is A LOT to catch up on. Most of which has taken place today!

Tuesday we had art class at the British Museum. This is the oldest public museum in the world, and is very impressive. Due to time constraints we didn't make it through much of the exhibits, but we are definitely going to be heading back! I'll tell more about this museum after we explore it a bit more.

After classes on Tuesday, we went and bought some cd's that are only popular in England right now! So they count not only as new music, but also souvenirs! The cd prices over here are pretty reasonable, and we went a little crazy in the massive store!

Today, is where the real fun begins. Well, about half of it was fun. I'll start off with the bad...I was able to experience the British medical system today for my allergy shots that I am trying to keep up with while I'm away. This wasn't the bad part, in fact the overall experience was really easy and smooth. Unfortunately since it has been about a month since I've had a shot, my body wasn't so happy with getting injected today and I broke out in hives and gained a wheezing cough for about two hours after the appointment. Luckily, I had Benadryl on hand, and was able to get it under control relatively quickly. Now, while under a Benadryl-induced stupor, at least I know I'm not dying! There's nothing quite like panicking about breathing while in a foreign country. Hopefully this will be the first and last time it happens while I'm here!

Now, that was the bad. Don't worry, there was so much more good!

We woke up and headed toward Hyde Park around 10 am this morning to go and see the Queen's Birthday Salute! Every year there are cannons blown off in the park in honor of the queen and it is open to the public to view. We got there plenty early, and were able to get a pretty good spot in the open field right next to the ropes and the band!

After the band, came the horses! So many horses! They galloped at full speed toward the set up area pulling the cannons and ammunition. From there, everything was set up, and then came the rounds of firing that was absolutely unbelievable! Here's a link to a video I shot and put together on Youtube compiling all of the footage I got from the salute:

Queen's Birthday Salute

It was awesome, and I'm so glad we made it there! After that, we took a walk through Hyde Park and ran into some beautiful places, ending up with the famous Peter Pan statue! Here are some pictures of what we came across:

Beautiful walkway around the water.

Huge open grass area where Jenna and I decided to get some sun. A park worker came up to us demanding 1.50 and we decided it was more fun to LOOK at the chairs, not actually sit in them. At least we got a picture.

Myself and the famous Peter Pan statue!

Overall it was a really fun day, ignoring the allergic reaction and night filled with Benadryl! Tomorrow is full of classes, Friday has been set aside for shopping at discount shops to get some cute British clothing, and this weekend we may be heading for a day trip to Stonehenge! Nothing is set in stone though, so I will try to keep this blog updated as fast as I can throughout the weekend.

Best Day Yet

Yesterday was by far the most enjoyable day I have had in London thus far. Why? Because it was just so full of random bits of awesome.

It started normal enough, with a matinee performance of the Mark Morris Dance Group performing at the London Coliseum. The show was a mix of opera, orchestra, and dance. It was really enjoyable, and the dancers were absolutely phenomenal!

After the show, we decided to search the theatre district to find discount tickets for a play called "Private Lives" featuring Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City...alas, they were all sold out. We have to see another show in addition the shows the professors have lined up for us, and we're all at a loss of what to see. All of the big musicals are expensive, but we're leaning toward seeing "Thriller", a musical set to Michael Jackson songs.

After we were turned down at the half-price ticket booth, we set out to find the actual theater that the "Private Lives" is shown at. Along the way, we stumbled across this scene:

We had managed to walk right into the Queens Day festival of Holland!!!

Confused? Yep, we were too. Luckily, we talked to some vendors and found out that every year in Amsterdam there is a celebration of Holland's Queen's birthday, and then the next day they bring the celebration to London and party on Trafalgar Square!

Still confused? We were too. But we just decided to go with it, listen to some good music, and of course, buy an obnoxiously orange t-shirt that said...

CAN'T DUTCH THIS!

After we wandered around the festival for awhile, we decided to make the trek down toward Big Ben again to get some pictures in the daylight. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I'll be heading down there again! By this time, it was getting dark and we had to get back to the flat. After walking for awhile, we got on the tube and took one stop down before realizing that the line we needed was closed down. For the entire weekend.

This was our reaction...

Obviously, the sunglasses on the underground were necessary.

We then had to find a bus that would take us, and then had to walk from the closest stop to our flat...which was a mile away. What should have taken us about 45 minutes to get home took us almost 2 hours.

It was just so much fun though. As we walked through the city, we realized wearing the bright orange shirts was a symbol for being from Holland and we had quite a few people come up to us and ask us "Are you Dutch?" Giggling, we would say no, and it would become obvious we were American and they would smile and walk away shaking their heads. Add in the amount of posing with statues and skipping down the sidewalks, and it was obvious we were having the time of our lives.

It was carefree, it was unexpected, and it was a total and complete blast. I'm so glad I'm here, and I'm so glad I've met these girls.

Sick in London

Well, we've been through being in London, learning in London, and now we've come to "Sick in London".

In my previous post I mentioned how I was either suffering from a major allergy attack or the onset of a cold. Seems I was correct with the cold hypothesis. Yesterday my ears were so full I had trouble hearing people speak, and by this morning my nose was completely stuffed up.

The good news? I'm in London.

I find myself not caring as much about being sick as I do when I'm home. We have so much to do, and we're constantly so busy walking from location to location all around the city I don't have have much time to think about how sick I feel. At home I have a tendency to focus on feeling sick, which only makes me feel worse. When it's only a cold, there is no point on dwelling on the obvious. I'm stuffy, I'm tired, I'm irritable. Get over it, kid.

Maybe it's part of the growing-up process I can see starting. I've already been forced to be more mature than I ever have had to be before. I'm cooking for myself. (Sure, there was the incident where I put a pizza in the oven on a piece of styrofoam because I thought that wasn't included on the 'remove all packaging' part of the instructions. And the time where I burned myself on a hot pan because I forgot it was just in 300 degree heat. But those are just minor setbacks.) I'm cleaning for myself. Finding my way around a foreign city. And now I'm dealing with being sick by myself.

Thank goodness it's just a cold, or I would have been calling home and complaining to my mom in a much shorter amount of time. At least this time I waited. A day...but still that's pretty impressive for me!

Besides my sickness, today was a really fun day. We had discussion about the play we saw the night before, called "The Real Thing". I wasn't too fond of this show, mostly because it was heavy on elaborate dialogue, and was kind of hard to follow. After discussion this morning though, I definitely appreciated it more as I saw how deep Tom Stoppard intended it to be when he wrote it. I also left with my first paper from the show last week with the words "Excellently written paper -Lincoln" on the bottom . No grade. I think I love taking classes in London.

We ate lunch after theatre class at a cute pub called St. Brides Tavern. The owner was adorable and I'm sure she loved having 7 of us handing her cash at the end of our meal! After the delicious meal Kristen and I headed off to the Tate Modern again to finish up our art assignment. We spent a good amount of time wandering through the galleries, and it was nice to actually appreciate the art at our own speed.

Here are some pictures I took in the museum:

"Waterlilies" by Claude Monet. I was in complete shock and awe to see this in person!

My favorite: "Almanac" by Robert Rauschenberg

Second favorite. I just loved the color and the message.

"Girl in a Chemise" by Pablo Picasso. Can't really believe I saw this in person!

Hopefully this weekend I can rest up, get healthy, and get ready for another great week in London! I've been busy booking trips online, and May is going to be a big month of traveling. May 7-9th I am jetting off to Rome, and then the weekend after that I will be in Paris. It still sounds like a dream to me, and I have to mentally give myself a pinch to constantly remind myself that this is my life.

More on my trips in coming posts!