By the sea

It's been, yet again, a busy few weeks. I went on a homestay as part of the Arcadia study abroad program. Candace and Sky and I went on an adventurous train ride down to the southern coast - Fareham to be exact. My host family was very sweet. It was a great feeling to be in a home... to be able to watch TV, to sit up and read, to have a bedroom, and to ride around in the car and just see what it is like to live in England. Plus the family had a puppy! A little black and white king charles spaniel named Buddy :-) Reminded me of our black and whites back home.

On Saturday, Sky's host mom took us to Portsmouth for a little sight seeing and shopping. Despite it being a frigid day in January, the little shore town was bustling. I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer. We went up Spinnaker Tower for some great views of the bay. Then we hit up the outlet shops for pretty much the rest of the day. In the evening, Candace and I went to a local pub called The Vanguard that is actually built out of a church. Pretty funny to go inside a church and find a pub! On Sunday we went back into Fareham for a bit, but then had to catch an early afternoon train back to Egham.

The next weekend I went back to London to check out Camden Market. It was AMAZING. Like a mix of St. Mark's and Chinatown and a flea market. But a couple miles long. Seeing this completely new side of London made me fall in love with the city even more. I went back with some friends later that night to go to a pub/club which was playing soundtrack music all night. Pretty fun. On Sunday I went to the National Gallery and browsed the paintings for a while.

More recently, I've just been hanging out on campus. Guys and Dolls is going really well. I'm starting to get so attached to the cast. But it's mid February, so class work is also piling up. So hectic!

On the bright side, I turned 21 this week! I wasn't in the States to celebrate and test out my completely legal license, but it was still a lot of fun. The cast organized a trip to a restaurant/bar called "Que Pasa" for some salsa dancing as part of our preparation for the Havana scenes. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday. I tried a Sex on the Beach, a Pina Colada, a Margarita, and a "Monkey's Nuts". Needless to say, it was an awesome night.

Now it's another long week... but I'm happy because I really feel like I'm a part of this school now.

Until next time!

And here are some random pictures from the past few weeks:

From Pick Sure and Place

Glass floor in Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

My room in my homestay

From Pick Sure and Place

Pretty Egham sunset :-)

From Pick Sure and Place

Camden Market, London

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

For the brosephs

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

In a pub in London

From Pick Sure and Place

China town

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Trafalger Square

From Pick Sure and Place

View from doors of the National Gallery

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Must I always take pictures of desserts? Yes.

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

And you thought the food in London was bad

From Pick Sure and Place

Royal Holloway Pics!!

From Pick Sure and Place

My housing (on a rare non-rainy day)

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

I get to walk on this path everyday going to class

From Pick Sure and Place

Founder's Hall (aka Hogwarts)

From Pick Sure and Place

Feed the Birds

This weekend I went into London to do a bit of exploring. My plan was to spend all day Saturday going to museums, but I didn't actually get into the city until 3pm and by the time I was anywhere near a museum, it would have been closed.

I ended up roaming around the Waterloo station until I finally found Westminster Bridge. I walked across the bridge and then headed straight into St. James' Park. It's full of birds! I watched as people (including myself) gawked at these ridiculously huge pelicans. Then I slowly started wandering over towards Buckingham Palace since I didn't have my camera the last time I was there.

I then walked along Green Park towards the Memorial Gates and Wellington Arch. My plan was to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum, but by the time I got to Knightsbridge it was too late... So I went to Harrod's :-)

That place is too marvelous for it's own good. It was too lush to simply walk through. I was pretty overwhelmed, so I left. But I plan to come back again and spend hours and hours in there...

After browsing through some shops nearby, I walked along Hyde Park to visit some BADA friends up on Edgware. Seeing Nora, Joanna, and Jesse again was so nice. We got to do some SLC catch-up. They live in an amazing flat and they made a really great dinner for us.

The next day I actually made it to the Victoria and Albert museum. That place is also full of lavish goods, but in a far more substantial way. It's a design museum, so it's jam packed with fabulous objects - art work, pottery, furniture, statues, fashion, etc. from all over the world, covering a huge span of history. I'm really glad I went. Now I just have to get to the Science Museum, British Museum, and Portrait Gallery to take full advantage of the free admission.

Pics from my London weekend!

From Pick Sure and Place

Wandered into a tunnel near the Waterloo station. There were tons of guys spray painting in here! I wanted to try it :-) This guy is spray painting the words "Little Sister"

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

I ran into a group of teenage boys who looked like Lyle and his friends. I asked one of them, he was like 13, what he painted and he explained that this was his first time tagging. He showed me a little blue patch that he did, but then told me that his friend was way better haha.

From Pick Sure and Place

Big Ben from the Westminster Bridge

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

These pelicans were at least 3 feet tall!

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Buckingham Palace from the park

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Amazing black swans

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Wellington Arch

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

The palace that is Harrod's

From Pick Sure and Place

Hyde Park on Sunday morning

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

The Serpentine

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain

From Pick Sure and Place

Fashion at the V&A

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Islamic design

From Pick Sure and Place

Floor rug from the 16th century. The lights are on it for 10 minutes every half hour.

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Japanese Noh theatre mask

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

Reflection of a digitalized reflection of me

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

From Pick Sure and Place

I never knew when I'd see a sunset in London!

From Pick Sure and Place

Pretty Egham streets in the evening

From Pick Sure and Place

Privet Drive?

From Pick Sure and Place