Week 4: Planning Ahead

Greetings everyone,

We have officially been in London for four weeks now and what four weeks they have been! In this week’s edition of my London update, things are a lot more about planning the rest of our stay here in Europe and realizing that school has to fit in somewhere. Read on and find out where Rasa and I are going for SPRING & EASTER BREAKS!

The beginning of the month and week was all about getting rest for me…I stayed in (again!) on Monday (2/4) night and watched Bridget Jones 2. I enjoyed watching it more this time because of all the places and things that are *so* London! Examples: Bridget’s Vodafone (mobile company) when she is texting Marc that she misses him, Picadilly Circus (think of when it says “Bridget Jones & Marc Darcy – the real thing!”) and the Galaxy (yummy chocolate bars) she hands out to the Thai prison women. My laptop speakers also came in so Rasa and I can compete with the DJ who lives next door…haha.

Rasa and I joined my uncle for lunch on Tuesday at a trendy Asian restaurant. We had delicious dumplings, pad thai, udon noodles, and sweet & spicy prawn (shrimp). We also stopped by to check out my uncle’s flat in South Kensington, just a tube stop away from our dorm. The rest of my day was taken up by a group meeting for my marketing class. The group project is worth 40% of our grade, so we are making sure we get together often. My groupmates include another study abroad student from Minnesota going to school in New Mexico, a degree student from Bulgaria, and another degree student from Connecticut. (A degree student means that they attend and plan to graduate from Richmond University).

Wednesday (2/7) was spent making sure classes are in order because apparently Rasa and I were still listed in Blackboard (yes, we use Blackboard here!) class that we had dropped out of. No worries, we took care of it. Wednesday night, we went to Imperial College to check out the surf simulator, but we must have missed the action. We were definitely the life of the dance floor though!

My favorite day of last week was definitely Thursday (2/8) because I watched snow fall basically all morning! Rasa and I then spent ALL afternoon, and I mean from 1-6pm in the travel agency, booking our vacations. The wait was definitely worth it because we are heading to (drum roll please) Greece and Italy for spring break! We will spend 3 nights and 2 days catching the sights of the ancient ruins; followed by 5 fantastic nights and 4 fabulous days roaming in Rome. Oh, but I am not done…for Easter break, we will be trekking the beautiful country of Ireland, beginning with Dublin! I can’t wait!!!!!

Rasa and I were finally able to sleep in on Friday. We had plans to visit the Museum of London, but multiple errands and delays kept us from reaching the museum before closing time. No worries, we will definitely go sometime this week! Plus, our friends were able to book some day trips with us, which I will talk about in a bit. Another plus was I got a taste of Galaxy with hazelnut. SO GOOD!

On Saturday (2/10), I woke up everyone early for brunch, but BOO, the cafeteria did not open until noon! After getting brunch, we headed to Camden Market, (like Portobello Market, but less organized). We never really knew what to expect on the next block or turn. We did, however, enjoy some chocolate covered strawberries! This was my only purchase because after all the booking Rasa and I made on Thursday, I have basically put a lock on my wallet.

Rasa, Becca, Cloud, and I took a coach to Bath, England on Sunday (2/11). This amazing city is the site of the only hot springs in the UK. If I thought the mixture of old architecture and new buildings in London was breath taking, I almost lost my breath walking among the mixture Roman ruins and British shops. The locals definitely take the juxtaposition for granted as they briskly walked past us. We definitely took our time “soaking” up the scenery – but not until after we visited the Roman Baths. We enjoyed very delicious (and relatively cheap) baguettes at a shop nearby before heading farther north into the city where we stopped by The Circus (a round-about) and the Royal Crescent (semi-circle composed of 30 houses, including a museum), which together represent the soleil-lune, or the sun and moon. The 2.5-hr bus-ride (each way) was definitely worth the unforgettable sights!

I hope that these anecdotes of mine are fulfilling expectations! I promise that they are only going to get more exciting as we head out of England!

Don’t think I have forgotten about all of you…please let me know how you are doing! I love hearing from you =)

Hugs, hugs, and more hugs!
Danielle