This is the life.

As the program end is approaching (next week!) I am starting to reflect on what I've done here in the UK. And panic. Seriously panic. I've never been so happy in a different country and my family loves to travel, so it's not like I don't have experience in new places. I'm really dreading the day I have to leave, and I might just cry. It's been such a wonderful experience and I feel like I haven't gotten to know the people or the area well enough!

Today I had my first "afternoon tea" and let me say, it was fabulous. I had some tea with lemon and brown sugar and some cute little sandwiches and a REAL ENGLISH SCONE. I've never had a real scone before and let me say, it was delectable. I'm definitely doing that again. I also got the chance to talk to the program directors Charlie and Andy. Charlie is my British Documentary Filmmaker and is Scottish, but unlike the other Scots I met, I can actually understand him. It was good fun and I might want to sneak into the one on Thursday. Hmm. I also discovered this clothing store here named Primark and I'm going to be honest, I've gone a bit crazy. The prices are insanely low and the clothing is ridiculously cute. What more can a girl ask for? So I've bought some dresses, a pair of shoes, and best of all A LEATHER JACKET. I've been wanting one for forever!!

Tonight was port and cheese night and we had some of the best cheese from the area! There was one similar to Brie cheese but it was very salty and my favorite was the single Gloucester. So delicious! There were 80 pounds worth of cheese and we ate most of it. The port on the other hand, is a different story. I've never had port and was under the impression that it was similar to wine. It isn't. It's 20% alcohol and very strong. Basically, most of the American students ended up downing it, which hurt our program assistant's feelings (as it would, being a traditional English man).

This Thursday I am going to go experience a "real English breakfast". I'm absolutely excited. I haven't had a real hot breakfast since that ONE time at a hostel and it wasn't very good but I was still so happy to have a hot breakfast so I forgave them. Also, it was a beautiful hostel. Only, there was a sign outside our balcony that said: WARNING. BALCONY IS STRUCTURALLY UNSTABLE. PLEASE DO NOT STAND ON IT. Or something along those lines. Who makes a structurally unstable balcony?!??

Tomorrow is our second to last formal dinner. Afterward we are going to a foam party at the same club just a few blocks down. We will see what happens. There tends to be some European creepos, just the same as any other club (minus the European part).

My group and I are in the midst of our documentary for class, which is about the cultural differences of the Japanese students and American students abroad, with the program assistants in the middle. It's been quite a bit of work and taken up some time, but I'm very excited for the end result!

I will post up London pictures and stories tomorrow if I have the time! I am very excited to share the weekend with you but for now I will just leave you with some pictures.

These pictures are from the various colleges around Cambridge University taken on last Friday. I've never really explored any of them and just stuck with Cambridge but they really are worth seeing. Especially King's College Chapel. It literally took my breath away when I walked in. The stained glass windows and the ceiling detail is immaculate. Hope you like it!

Typical Day.

Yesterday the program and I headed out to London for a fun little day trip. Let me just say, London is not one of those "day trip" places. Not. At. All. So I'm heading back out there for the weekend with a few friends and I am very excited! We plan on doing a lot of "touristy" things, go figure and it is a very packed weekend. There is so much to do in London but so little time. The city is absolutely gigantic and it's necessary to take the tube, bus, or simply walk. There are so many museums and places to see, thank goodness I'm staying an extra five days in London after the program is over!

So we went to The British Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral (the outside), Tate Modern, and saw The Merry Wives of Windsor at The Globe Theatre. And that's literally just touching the tip of the iceberg. Wanna know how? Here's a list of common things to do and see:

Tate Modern
Tate Britain
Natural History Museum
The Globe Theatre
Natural Science Museum
Madame Tuss
Tower of London --> Crown Jewels
Tower Bridge
Bankside Gallery
Millenium Footbridge (as seen in Harry Potter)
St. Paul's Cathedral
Buckingham Palace & the changing of the guards
King's Cross Platform 9 and 3/4
Houses of Parliament
Beatles' Abbey Road
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Parliament Swuare
Leicester Square
Trafalgar Square
St. James Park
Hyde Park
National Potrait Gallery
National Gallery
Soho & Chinatown
Museum of London
Princess Diana Memorial Walk
London Eye
Kensington Gardens
Hamptom Court Palace
Victoria & Albert Museum
Piccadilly Circus

Those are just the big names, there are still so many more things to do! Like the Jack Ripper night tour or the Sherlock Holmes museum. It's absolutely insane. Especially because it's holiday at the moment so there are so many tourists everywhere. I think by the end of this weekend I'll be exhausted. Actually, I know I will be. But hey, it's worth it!

I'll be back in a couple of days!

Tourist Confusion.

Because I didn't do anything interesting today (thanks to me being a sickie and also midterms. Boo.) I will indulge you all in a little funny story that happened this past weekend in Bath.

At around eight o'clock pm the girls and I were waiting for the tour to start after a delicious dinner at a Latin American restaurant, don't judge. They were all sitting down but I was standing up when a guy approaches me and says quite loudly, KONICHIWA. Of course, I was a bit offended because

a. Not all Asian tourists are Japanese.        and
b. I'm not Japanese.

So the first thing I say to this fellow is, You know we're not Japanese right? We're American. Of course then he is shocked by the realization that an Asian person could be anything BUT Japanese. He seriously said Konichiwa to us approximately three times. Even after we insisted we were American and NOT Japanese. Not that there is anything wrong with Japanese, but when someone tells you something three times, the point should start to sink in. Anyways, we recognized him earlier from a group of rowdy men outside a bar who were awkwardly wrestling each other in the middle of the street and pretending to shoot each other with imaginary guns. Not very mature. Oh did I mention he was drunk? He said that he was from Bristol and that the reason he couldn't tell us apart was because he "didn't get out very often".

Also, I forgot to mention that out of the six of us there, three of the  girls were Caucasian. What a smart man.

Maybe I should give him a little more credit. But then again......maybe not. When one of the "Asian girls" told him we were Chinese he then said, OH MT. FUJI?! To which I replied, "That's STILL in Japan."

They say that Americans have terrible geography, but it seems to me that the Brits might not be that great themselves...

Overall, it was quite the hilarious experience. It's not everyday that a drunk Brit from Bristol throws his arm around you and yells KONICHIWA. Pretty much made my Bath experience. Thank you England!

Bath & Stonehenge.

This weekend the program took a trip to the city of Bath and also to Stonehenge. Bath was a beautiful city which is known for the Roman Baths and its gorgeous buildings. One of the famous (and very expensive) buildings is the Royal Crescent, which was absolutely lovely. There was also the famous Bath Abbey and a ton of shops and little museums such as the Fashion Museum and the Jane Austen Centre. We only were there for about a day but I wish we could have stayed longer. I'm finding that that seems to be the reoccurring theme lately. England is such a wonderful place, I only wish I had more time!

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Yesterday I spent approximately half a day in the city of Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Since we arrived late, many of the shops were about to close and there wasn't as much that we could do, but one place that I did get to see was the house in which Shakespeare was born in and grew up. The town itself was quite lovely and had a certain wonderful feel about it. The weather was also quite odd and it began to pour randomly which caused us to seek shelter in a restaurant called The Food of Love. We also did a lot of touristy souvenir shopping because a lot of us happened to be Shakespeare fans.

That night, we saw a performance of Shakespeares' The Winter Tale by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at the Courtyard Theatre. It was a brilliant performance, however long it was, and though I didn't understand a lot of it, the theatrics and many elements of the show were quite nice. After the show, it was a two hour bus ride back to Pembroke so we didn't get back until one in the morning. And then I had class at nine this morning. Oh did I mention I just got sick? Perfect. So typical!

Anyways, tomorrow we are leaving for a two day trip to Stonehedge and Bath, which should be quite interesting. I will try to come back with a lot of beautiful pictures to show!

A Treasure In Cambridge.

Though I didn't do all that much yesterday, I did manage to visit the Fitzwilliam Museum which is literally right down the street from Pembroke College. It's a beautiful building on the outside but even lovelier on the inside. Sadly, there was no photography allowed inside so I can only post pictures of what I saw outside. Woe is me.

The museum had artifacts from ancient Egypt, Rome, The Far East, and much more. There was also this beautiful red room with portraits of all the famous past leaders and nobles. One of which was the Archbishop of Charles the I, who was beheaded after being given up to Parliament. There was also some other paintings by Monet, Sisley, and one by Degas. Since it is free, I definitely recommend taking a trip to the Fitzwilliam Museum.

I also did a little bit of walking around afterwards which was interesting because I realized I haven't quite seen much of Cambridge. I'll have to find the time to explore the area! Oh and today I am off with the program to go to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespheare!

Back to Reality.

No big adventures today. Had my two classes today and they were interesting as always but I was not feeling so well after a long five days in Scotland. Our PA Luke took a group of students to the Panton Arms which is a well known pub but being the good student that I am, I decided to stay in my room and read. What I great student I am. Did I mention that I have a huge stack of reading? And that midterms are in a week? Didn't I JUST get here?!

Anyways, to tide you over, here are some more brilliant Scotland pictures. Just looking at them makes me miss Scotland...oh and not having to read pages and pages....

Tomorrow is a trip to the Museum with our PA Calum and Thursday is a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon so there will be more pictures and stories to post then!