Favorite England Shots

Below are some of my favorite shots taken while I was away in England. It's just a few that I went through. My time there was amazing with so many different experiences, It's always hard to pick just a few shots to commemorate it. 

We found a cottage that was named after me. 
Fredericksburg reunion in London.  Barbara, Ashley and I in Ashley's London Flat. 
The cloisters in Oxford that they filmed part of the 4th Harry Potter Movie. 
Me with my Christian Union friends one night in London. We all met up for drinks at a pub before heading to Hard Rock Cafe London. 
A beautiful shot in Bath, England. 
It's Stonehenge!!!!
The Atrium in the British Museum. It's really cool architecture. 
Me in the winter with Buckingham Palace in the ground. In the spring I took the same shot and ended up seeing the Queen in her Rolls Royce. 

Cheers!!!

Last Post in Jolly Ole' England

It is sad to say but this will be my last post from England. I've had such an amazing time here with all the experiences and friends I've made. I will never forget it. My last week here has been pretty full of events. Last Friday May 29th I went on a tour with Evan Evans Tour company. I went with Aisling and Susie. This tour was for Leeds Castle, Canterbury and Dover. I really loved Leeds Castle. It was so amazing to see and learn all about it. We only had about an hour and a half there. So just enough time to tour the castle and walk on the grounds. It has 23 bedrooms which is unfathomable, though we only got to see a couple on the tour. We then travelled to Canterbury where we had some time for lunch before heading to the Cathedral. I think seeing Cathedrals in England and some in Germany has been my favorite part. They are just so magnificent and we don't have anything close to it in the States. After touring Canterbury our last stop was to Dover to see the white cliffs. This part of the tour was a bit disappointing. We drove to the opposite end of the cliffs, and only had about 15 minutes there for picture taking. I'm glad I went on the tour though. I've loved getting to see more of England. 

I went into London twice this week. Once on Tuesday and then on Thursday. On tuesday I went in with Aisling and our main objective was to go to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. They do standing room tickets for only 5 pounds. The play we saw was As You Like It. I loved it! the day was gorgeous at about almost 80 degrees. So it was good weather to see a play. Though standing for over 2 and a half hours was quite tiring, I'm glad I went. We ended the day by grabbing dinner at a pub. That is another thing I'll miss, eating at Pubs. They  have great food and a friendly atmosphere. We have a few kind of like it in the States, but nothing compared to England. 

Wednesday I stayed on campus and got a little packing done. My friends Lizzie and Rachel wanted to prepare a proper roast dinner for Aisling and I. So they started preparations and such at 1pm and we hung out and had our supper at about 4. It was such delicious food! I'm so thankful I made such awesome friends here. I hope to keep in contact with all my English friends and maybe get to visit, or have them come to America. 

Thursday was my last trip into London. It is my friend Susie's birthday on Sunday so this trip was her celebration. We went into Westminster Abbey. Even though it was 12 pounds I thought it was well worth it. An audio guide was included which gave a lot of detail. We stayed there for about 2 hours before continuing on. Susie and Aisling decided to tour the Cabinet War Rooms. So myself and my two friends Lindsey and Nicole did something different for about 2 hours too. They hadn't seen Buckingham palace yet and we were somewhat close to it so we went there. As we were walking down the long stretch of road to leave we got stopped at a cross walk. The guards had both sides stopped plus all the traffic stopped so we knew someone was driving out of the gates. We thought maybe just some politician. But no to our surprise out came the Queen!!! She was in her Rolls Royce getting Chauffeured  somewhere, maybe for afternoon tea who knows. But she was smiling and gave a little wave! We were so stunned and amazed that I didn't even think to pull out my camera! Oh well, it is only a memory now! It was a great way to end this whole experience by seeing the queen!!!

As I write this it is of course raining outside. I will definitely not miss all the rain and dreary days. I am pretty well packed with just a few things left. My next post will be from America safely at home!! 

Cheers! 

*Thanks to all who have been checking up on my adventures and living vicariously through me! 

Final Finish

I am now officially done with my schooling here at Hertfordshire. I finished my last exam on Wednesday afternoon, and I'm so glad to be done. All in all I think the exams went okay. I don't really know how to measure how I did since they were all essay format. It's also pretty hard to adjust to how they want you to write it, or how they will be grading it. But I tried to give it my best and do what I could. 

As a celebration of finishing my classes and exams my friend Aisling and I went into London yesterday. Our main objective was a shopping trip at our favorite place called Primark. They have really cute and affordable clothes. The place is huge and can get pretty busy as the day goes on, since Oxford Street is a busy shopping street anyway. So we got up early enough to catch the 9:30 bus that goes in London. It put us into London and right in front of the store at about 10:30. We ended up staying at Primark till about 12:30. I found a couple things like 2 new tops, shoes, a tote bag and a necklace. It was time for lunch so took our sandwiches we brought with us to Hyde Park. We walked further into the park to get near where the little pond was. It was such a lovely sunny day! It's amazing how one minute you can be on the crazy bustling street, and then you get further into the park it's all quiet. All the city noise seems to disappear. It's brilliant. 

This shopping trip was not over with just Primark. After eating our lunch we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe Store, so both Aisling and I could get a few things there. I ended up buying a Hard Rock Cafe London shirt. I had to, it might be the only thing that has London written on it, so I splurged. We walked back towards Oxford street to get to this place called Pure Waffle. Aisling and I went on one of the first visits to London. We'd just happened on it when we were looking for a place to eat. The first time I just got a plain waffle with maple syrup, because I was seriously budgeting. But today was a treat so I got the waffle with chocolate sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle of the two wedges. It was amazing! I didn't want it to end! Before heading out we stopped into a couple different souvenir shops to find gifts for our family. I couldn't believe how many bags I collected! It was a successful shopping trip seeing as I had about 4 shopping bags. We had to wait about an hour to catch the bus, so we went over to Hyde Park again and sat out in the sunshine. 

My adventures into  London are not finished yet! I plan on going in as much as I can in the next 2 weeks. 

Cheers!

One Month Left

I can't believe I'm posting about having one month left. It's been such an amazing adventure here. I remember posting about being here for the first month! Now it's time to post about the last month! 

The next two weeks are not going to be easy. I have four exams I have to tackle. My studying has to completely change. The exams are all essay format, and basically 2 hours of writing that they expect you to be in there the whole two hours. Instead of studying here they do something called Revision. It's a form of studying, but I guess quite different because you are almost doing a mock essay question. I haven't really gotten used to it all yet. I need to have a better plan of attack soon so I do well on the exams. My exam dates are May 12th, 15th, 19th, and 20th. 

I'm set to leave June 6th. However am debating about changing my ticket to go home earlier. I haven't quite decided this. I need to think and pray about it. I will definitely miss all my friends here, though being home earlier than planned will be nice. God will show me what the right decision is, I just have to pray about it. 

If I do end up staying till the original date of June 6th, I plan on making several trips into London. I want to get up there as much as I can before I leave. It's been so nice having it only be 30 minutes away. I've definitely gotten used to London being so close! 

It's getting later..and I need to plan out my study plan for tomorrow.

Cheers!!!!!

The Chamberlain Family Goes Back to their Roots.

For the next part of my Easter Holiday my Mom, Dad and Maggi came to visit. They came for a week, wish it could have been longer. They got in Saturday April 11th, so Friday April 10th I stayed with Ashley. It's been nice knowing that Ashley is there in the city to stay with, it's sad she's leaving soon! 

So the next day I left Ashley's flat a little before 11, which was our original time set for meeting at the hotel. As it turns out my family got through customs, and left Heathrow faster than expected. They were waiting at the Hotel since 9am! I got there after 11:30, it was  great reunion! The hotel was so neat inside. It is a Bed and Breakfast, in an old Townhouse, which they own two buildings, and has 25 rooms. The family that owns it was so nice and hospitable. My family was pretty exhausted when I met up with them, since they'd been up for quite a long time. Regardless they didn't want to miss a thing. So we walked out towards Buckingham Palace, and walked around to Parliament, then to Trafalgar Square. Which at that point they were getting extremely tired. We had to give ourselves enough time to get ready because we booked tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera. 

The Phantom Of the Opera was such an experience. It's been my dream ever since I was here 4 years ago, to see the show and see inside Her Majesty's Theatre. Before heading to the show we at a nice pub/restaurant just around the corner from the Lime Tree Hotel. Everything was so amazing. The show was so magnificent. We got there just in time to get seated, and give a drink order for intermission. Our seats were really great, we could see the stage perfected, being one tier up. The show lasted till about 10:30, and which point my family was ready to crash. Jet lag was weighing heavily on them. 

Easter Sunday was perfect. We started the day off right by having an amazing English Breakfast at the hotel. Everything was so amazing, even down to the toast and jam. We wanted to get to an Easter service, and decided on Westminster Abbey. It was just too unreal to say we went to a service at Westminster Abbey. The service was so beautiful, with the choir and the surroundings. It ended at about noon, at which point we headed over towards Kensington Palace. We took the tour through the Palace, and walked around Kensington Gardens. For dinner we of course ate a pub. Everything was closed because it was a holiday. So we never got to see inside Harrod's on this visit. We got back to the hotel and relaxed for a while, browsing through Bridal Magazine's with Mom and Maggi. We all had a sweet tooth and next door was a wine bar with a great dessert menu. I had and amazing Lemon mousse and Coffee/Bailey's drink, while every one else had equally amazing desserts. We of course passed each around for a try.

For the remainder of the week we rented a cottage in Broadway, which was in the Cotswolds. Our house was right on the High Street/Main street. It was so lovely. Had 3 rooms, a family bathroom, a sitting room and kitchen downstair and a small bathroom downstairs. 

On Monday I wanted to show my family the Uni. and St. Albans. So we made our way to Hatfield, with a stop at the Infamous ASDA for food. It was a beautiful day, slightly chilly, but nice enough for the park at St. Albans. We wanted to make it to Broadway before it go dark, we hopped back into the car and were on our way. Monday night we had dinner at a lovely place called the Swan. It was a restaurant/pub, but very classy. 

Tuesday we drove to Stratford upon Avon and walked around there. It was a bit pricey to do the Shakespeare tour. But not too bad to just go see Anne Hathaway's Cottage. After seeing all we wanted to of Stratford, we made our way to Anne Hathaway's cottage. It had a beautiful garden. Across the way was a cafe, where we had our high tea for the day. 

Wednesday was a fairly nice weather day, so we drove around to the different village towns that were close to Broadway. The first one was Bourton on the Water. We'd heard it was a cute little one. However once there realized it was very touristy. There was a nice pottery place we found, and purchased some things. The next town we went to was Stow on Wold. It was a very lovely town. With decent shopping. We stayed there for a while, and had a high tea as well. Our dinner that night was a lot of fun too. We ate at the Broadway Hotel. It was only about 3 houses down from us. We met some local people too. We ended up staying there till almost midnight talking to them, while having a few pints as well. It was a great evening. 

Thursday was our last day in Broadway. We spent it at the Blenheim Palace, which was about 30 or so minutes away. It was where Sir. Winston Churchill was born and grew up. It was fascinating to see. The place was absolutely magnificent. I can't even imagine what growing up there must have been like! 

Friday we went back into London. Mom, Dad and Maggi were leaving the next morning from Heathrow, so staying in the city made a lot more sense. Dad was able to get us into the VIP tour of the Tower of London. They do the tour for special tours and law enforcement. It was amazing to see at night. We even got to enjoy the Beefeaters Pub. 

Saturday my family left. It was sad to see them go, because the week had been so amazing. It's good to know that I'll be seeing them in just about 5 weeks!

Cheers!!

Photographs of Germany

All the photos below are my photos from my trip to Germany. My friend Aisling and I went to visit my old housemate Shay. We also had the opportunity to tour Munich, and some of Frankfurt. The pictures are mainly from Bamberg and Munich though. 

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Michelsberg Monastery. A beautiful old monastery, that gives a beautiful view of Bamberg. 
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The Bamberg Rathaus-or City hall. Built in the middle of the river with bridges connecting it. 
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The amazing Apple Strudel Aisling and I split while in Munich. 
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The Soccer Stadium at the Olympic village in Munich. 
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The accidental train we hopped on. One of the nicest one stop rides we went on that day. 

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The first night we got into Bamberg. This was taken at an authentic Germany Pub, where American Country music was being performed. Go figure! I haven't heard country music in 3 months, until I went to Germany. 

Germany Adventures

I started my 3 week Easter Holiday off by visiting my old housemate Shay in Germany. She moved there during my freshman year to Student Teach at the Military base in Bamberg, Germany. I've always wanted to get to Germany, and had the perfect opportunity. Plus I haven't seen Shay in about 2 and a half years. It was a lot easier and cheaper to get there from England than from the U.S. 

I haven't had the chance to upload my pictures yet, because my family is coming tomorrow! And the day I got back was filled with unpacking, laundry and re-packing. 

So my friend Aisling and I left Sunday morning from Stansted airport. The flight wasn't too bad, only about an hour.  We flew into Frankfurt Hahn airport, where we then had to take a bus to Frankfurt am Main Train station. We boarded a train for Bamberg, and only had to switch trains once. We got into Bamberg at about 7:30pm. That night Shay made us dinner, and then we went into the downtown and met her friends at Blues Bar, where country music was being played by some Americans. 

Monday Shay had to work, but she gave us the idea of taking the train to Munich. We hadn't even thought of doing something like that. So we boarded a train in the morning and was in Munich by the afternoon. Aisling and I spent all day there. We walked around the Olympic park, went in this huge tower where you can see all of Munich. It was such a nice day. Getting back to Bamberg was a bit of an adventure though. Our train was delayed, which we then had to switch to another train, then get off at the next stop and board another one. This was just the first leg of the journey, which took us to Nuremberg. When we got the Nuremberg we had to wait until 12:11am for a train. Which then got us into Bamberg at 1:15am.  Luckily Tuesday was more of a chill day since we were going to be touring all of Bamberg. 

Tuesday Shay had the day off, so she took us all around Bamberg in the morning. We saw the Rathaus, which is the courthouse. We went into the Dom, or Cathedral. Then she took us up to Michelsberg, which was and is an old Monastery. It gave such a beautiful view of the whole city. While we were there Shay wanted us to try a Bach Beer. Which people used to drink during lent when they were fasting. It was quite an experience, sitting outside drinking a great German beer at 11:30 in the morning. After Michelsberg she took us by "little Venice" which is a row of houses situated right up next to the river, where boats float by them.  Then we had to go back to Shay's apartment so I could register for fall semester classes. While I was registering for classes Shay made us a picnic lunch, which we took to the Seehof Schloss, or Seehof Castle. It was a beautiful day there, so warm I only needed a short sleeve top. We sat around the lawn of the castle and had our picnic. After laying out for a while we walked down the hill to the cafe' which I believe must have been the stables or entrance to the castle. We had an Ice Cream, which I found is a great treat when it's warm outside. We then went back into Bamberg and walked around for a bit, also trying a Rauchbier, which is the locally brewed in Bamberg. It had a smoked taste, with an after taste of Ham. Or as Shay called it, like drinking a Slim Jim. 

Around 6:30pm we met up with Shay's friends at a favorite restaurant called Mahr's Brau. It was a really need place. We tried their favorite drink, shorten to Oue, or Ooo. I can't remember the longer version. We stayed there until heading back to Shay's Flat and crashing at 10pm. Aisling and I needed to plan our or departure to Frankfurt. So Shay called it a night, and we booked our hotel, and found train tickets. 

Wednesday was a bit of a later start. Shay didn't have to get into work until noon, so we had a bit of a later start getting up, while she went for a run. We left the apartment with Shay, so we knew which bus to take to get to the Train station. The train wasn't too bad. Right when we got into Frankfurt Am Main our first objective was to find the Hotel we'd reserved. It was a pretty decent hotel for only 50 Euros total, only 25 Euros per person. We decided on a hotel rather than a hostel, because it ended up being cheaper, and we got our own bathroom in the room. After we dropped off our stuff, it was time to explore some of Frankfurt. It was a fairly nice evening, so we took the underground to a spot where lots of tourists head. It heard more English than I had all week, when we walked around Frankfurt. 

Thursday was our last traveling day. We had to leave early in the morning to catch the Bus back to Frankfurt Hahn airport. The hotel offered a breakfast, which we missed because we were already walking to the bus station by the time is was being served. The traveling back to Hahn, and the flight back wasn't too bad. I had to check my bag again, which totally stunk because it was 20 Euros. I probably won't fly Ryanair again. They add every little thing in there, making you spend more money. 

It was a wonderful trip. I'm so glad I was able to get to Germany! It's been my dream ever since I started learning German. And now I can stay I've officially visited the country!

Pictures will follow in another post. 

Cheers!!!

Oxford and Harry Potter

This was the long corridor/cloister that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire filmed!
The Harry Potter Great Hall!!

Now that I have some time to write I want to describe last Saturday. I went on the International Student Support team's trip to Oxford. We left UH around 10:30 and got there a little after 12:00. I'd signed up without knowing who was going to be there. Luckily there was one other person I recognized, so we stuck together the whole afternoon. His name was Gordon and he was an exchange student from WVU too. I didn't know him before I came here though. It was pretty cool to get to know someone new. 

So when we got to Oxford we had about 25 minutes for a toilet break and to grab some food. We bought Panini's  to-go from a little cafe.  After grabbing our food the tour was about to start. Our tour guide took us along through the town and into some of the Colleges. . At one of the colleges we got to see where the students housing is. It was so fancy! Then we got to go into one of the regular dining rooms they use.  At Oxford the students have to wear black robes for certain occasions, such as, when they take an exam, formal dining, and for some lectures. Also for exams there is a formal uniform dress they must wear. The guys are in black suits with a white shirt and black tie (I believe), and the girls wear a white shirt, black skirt and white tie? Also when the exams are taking place the girls wear a certain color carnation on their lapel which signifies which exam year they are taking. 

Harry Potter!!

I was most interested in going to Oxford for the Harry Potter sites.   We saw where the infirmary shots were filmed, saw the windows of where they filmed the Library scenes. We couldn't go into the infirmary, because they either used as a hospital, or as a place of rest and it wasn't open to visitors. Also the Library was above the infirmary so that was out of the tour as well. Then we went into another place, and as we got to it I knew exactly from a Harry Potter movie. In The Goblet of Fire there were several scenes filmed in the cloisters/ corridors of this one building. It opens up to a pretty courtyard where they filmed as well. Warner Brothers booked that area for 3 weeks and no student or professor could use that area. However it only took them 3 days to film it. The tour guide said that the studio put a green screen on the other side of the walls, so they could piece together the Scotland backdrop with this filming. Finally we ended at the Christ Church College. This is the most famous of all the colleges in Oxford University. In here they took inspiration from the Great Hall dining room and the staircases for the Harry Potter films. Also and arial shot of Christ Church was in the movie the Saint. 

After our official tours ended we had some free time. So Gordon and I met 2 other people that didn't have a group and we went to the infamous Moo-Moo's Milkshake place. It was so amazing. I had a Kit Kat Cappuccino Milkshake. They have over 200 flavors! Basically candy bars are mixed together with vanilla ice cream into a milkshake! Then we walked around some more until 5:00 when we went to The Red Lion Pub for dinner and  Pint. The bus left around 6:30, so we had plenty of time meeting up. 

It was such a lovely day. I wish it was a bit warmer then though, but I'm glad I got to see the infamous Oxford University!

Cheers!!

School Work Overload

I have a few minutes now to post on my blog. I have been drowning in school work since the end of February. Slowly but surely I'm getting it all done. The items on my list to check off are: A group presentation today at 2pm in American History, a group presentation in my Impacts and Ethics course next Wednesday at 10am, a 2000 word essay in American History due next Friday, and finally a 1500 word essay due in my Geography of Travel and Tourism class on March 31st. After all this work is done I'll be able to go into spring break with nothing to worry about!

It has been so different getting used to how to study here, or get the work done. All of my modules had things due in March and not things due through out the semester, therefore my time management had to kick in this month.

I had to make a schedule for my courses next semester back at WVU. I'm probably going to be carrying about 18 credits plus a 1 credit MDS required intro class. So all in all I'll be taking 19 credits! I have to finish on time and this was the only way. I will definitely keep myself busy!

Well this is all for now..I have to get my act together for our group presentation in an hour.

Cheers!!

I <3 London

London is such a wonderful city. I can't believe it is just 40 mins away by train from Hatfield. I went into the city this past Saturday with 3 friends from the CU. We got the all day travel card pass, so we could use the underground..which helped immensely. The train went into Kings Cross Station, which we then took the tube to the Hyde Park Corner stop. The first item of importance was finding a McDonald's for a milkshake. We walked into the one past Harrods in Knightsbridge. I had forgotten how good milkshakes were! Their large was the size of our medium cups back in the US Mcdonald's. Then we took our milkshakes and sat on the steps of the Victoria & Albert Museum. I really liked this museum..it had a mix of everything. There was pedestrian tunnel that ended at the science museum. This museum was really neat too. The exhibits we saw were the space and the hands on part. The Science museum is a big attraction to bring school groups too. That day there were hundreds of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, which reminded me of when my troop would go to museums. After touring the museums it was lunch time. So we hopped on the tube again to hyde park..however realized not many places were around there for eating. It was to the underground again to go to Leichester Square. My friends got subway, but I'd brought my own lunch. We ate our lunch on the steps at Trafalgar Sqaure. Lunch was later around 3:00pm. We were meeting another friend at Harrods about 5pm before heading to dinner. I finally got to go to a Starbucks! Everytime I want to go into one my American friends don't want to! I had the best Latte ever!! It was so nice to sit and relax for a little while. After we met our friend at Harrods, I had the tourist photo taken of me in front of a lit up Harrods! The plan was to eat at Hard Rock Cafe. So our group made our way down there. The wait was about 2 hours! which is pretty normal for Hard Rock Cafe..however at this time it was almost 7pm! Once our name was down on the list we headed to a pub to hang out for a drink. I realized how expensive London really is, so I just had a soda. It was so fun just hanging out and getting to know my new friends from England. The whole reason I came here was to get the full England college experience. Hard Rock Cafe was really neat to see. Now I can say that I've been to one in another country. It was expensive as all get out, but still neat. There wasn't enough time to get a souvenir..I guess I'll just have to go back. We left HRC around 11pm and got to the train station with about 25 mins till the train left. Since we had so much time a game of Charades was played. I didn't get back to my room till about 1:30am! It was an awesome day in the city!

Cheers!

This isn't a Holiday?

So this week I've come to the realization that I'm not on a vacation. This week has been so packed with upcoming assignments, and reading assignments. I have a paper due this coming Monday, a poster project due Wednesday, an article and readngs to do for my class this Friday. Then in march I also have a large group presentation due, and a couple more papers.

The workload has been fine up until now, and I'm finding that there just isn't enough hours in a day! As far as getting so much homework at once, I do enjoy my classes. It is a funny thing because I know someone in all of my classes here. They are mainly the exchange students, but that's totally cool. When I'm at WVU I'm lucky if I know anyone in one of my huge lectures.

If I haven't mention my classes before, this is what I'm taking:
Human Space and Society-Lecture Monday
American History-Lecture Tuesday; Seminar Friday
Geography of Travel and Tourism-Lecture Tuesday; Seminar Tuesday
Impacts and Ethics of Tourism-Lecture Wednesday; Seminar Wednesday

I guess my time management skills need to kick in for me to get everything done on time. Needless to say this weekend is going to be a weekend filled with school work.

Cheers!

Trip to Stonehenge and the Roman Baths

This past saturday I went to Stonehenge and Bath with the International Student Support Team. They plan trips through out the semester for us Internationals and the first one was the trip on Saturday. It was a pretty reasonable price at 25 pounds, which included the Travel, Admission and Audio tour of Stonehenge, Tour of Bath, and Audio Tour of the Roman Baths. We left the Hertfordshire campus at about 8am and got to Stonehenge first around 10:00. I slept the entire way to Stonehenge. I was so exhausted, and motion of the bus just put me right to sleep. We got to Stonehenge a little early, so we stayed there until 11:15 and not 11:30. We were coming upon Stonehenge when I woke up and didn't realize we were almost there until I saw it outside the bus window. What a sight to wake up to. All around Stonehenge are beautiful fields.
My photos of Stonehenge are at the bottom of this post.

We then traveled to Bath City. It was about an hours drive from Stonehenge...I of course fell asleep again. Once we arrived we had about an hour of free time..which was spent finding a place to grab lunch. I packed a lunch but the people I was with grabbed a quick sandwich out. We then made our way to the Abbey by the Roman Baths where our tour of the city began. I was in group C, and our tour guide was a resident of Bath who is a volunteer tour guide, and whose main job is a Police officer in Bath. Since he was a resident of Bath he had a lot to share about the city.

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The Tour guide pointed out that this was Jane Austen's home. There wasn't an official posting on the door to tell otherwise, however the actual Jane Austen Centre was a few blocks up from this building. I took a picture anyway!

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This is the door to Nicholas Cage's flat in Bath. The tour guide stopped here to show us. He said that the actor was actually in Bath at Christmas time, however didn't think he was there at the present time. Supposedly Nicholas Cage paid 4 million pounds for this flat! Crazy!! We walked by it a couple times, hoping maybe he was in.

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This is the Royal Crescent. It is a very famous destination of Bath. It used to be full of many resident homes and still is today. Now they house several Apartments that run about 2.5 or more Million pounds, and there is also a hotel that is 800 pounds a night!!! You can't see it but all the doors are either plain wood or white, except for one door that must be yellow because of a former resident many many years ago.

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As part of our trip we got to tour the Roman Baths. It was a pretty interesting tour. This was the main thing I was interested in seeing was the big main Roman Bath. The rest of the Museum was pretty interesting. It made me think of the Francine Rivers Books "The Mark of the Lion" Series where Roman Baths are mentioned.

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This is me with the infamous Stonehenge. It was such a beautiful day to go see it. It's a shame we can get any closer to it. We were led through an audio guide tour which had some pretty interesting facts about the Stonehenge.

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This of course again is Stonehenge. It really was a beautiful morning, and this was probably the best shot of the day!

All in All the day was very awesome. In Bath it was so interesting to see all the history there. They had an actual spa that they use one of the old Baths for, and the line was way out the door just to get in. There was a ton of walking through the city, but thats the best way to see things. I am so blessed to be able to see all these things. Who knew I'd ever be able to say I went to Stonehenge and toured the Roman Baths. I'm thankful everyday for this opportunity! More adventures await me!

Cheers!!!

One Month In England

Today marks a month that I've been here. I can't believe it. The time is going so quickly. A month ago I was so excited about coming, nervous and just ready to start my adventure. Now I'm still glad I came, I have met some really awesome people, and am settling in to life as a Uni. Student in England.

The day I got into England was a stressful one. It was really early in the morning. I couldn't find the people I needed to meet. I had to go to a different terminal to meet the UH student guides. Once I got to that terminal the group of us still couldn't find the guides. Finally we met up with them and came to the school. I was mainly the only one that had a set rooming assignment, however there was a little glitch with my room door. The day went on forever because I was so jetlagged and had been up for 24 hours. Nothing was really planned that day, and not knowing anyone yet I was pretty Homesick, WVU home sick and totally not knowing why I decided to embark on the journey.

The days got better though. I was able to get over my jetlag in about 4 days. I started to meet more Exchange Students and develop a group of friends. In the first week of classes I went to the Christian Union group. It was so awesome to meet other christians. I am so happy that I was able to find the right group to get involved with. The group is very similar to InterVarsity it's like God took the group at WVU and put it on the UH Campus for me to find!

Now on February 18th I am into my studies here. It is a Wednesday and I have a lecture and seminar. It's just a regular day in the life of an exchange student. One month in I've developed a cold though. So I'm just trying to get well. This coming weekend the International Student group planned a trip to Bath that I'm going on. I'm pretty excited about that! To see where Jane Austen wrote most of her novels!! Now it's almost class time!

Cheers!

London Trip

All of these pictures were taken from my first trip back into London in four years. The Student guides took us. We had an hour long guided tour, then the rest of the day was ours. I was finally able to upload my pictures when my computer arrived on Friday. Enjoy!

I am pictured here with Buckingham Palace in the background. The Queen was in that day, however we did not get to see her. Maybe next time we can, and she'll introduce me to Prince William or Harry.

The London Eye is so awesome. I haven't been on it this trip. Four years ago I was able to go on it. It has the best views of London. It was just getting dark when this shot was taken, before it was lit up.

How could you go to London and not get a picture with Big Ben in the background! You can get the best view of Big Ben/Parliament from the London eye, but for that day I was on the ground!

Cheers!

St. Albans.

On Saturday January 24th, 2009 as part of the overseas orientation program the student guides took us to St. Albans. It is the main city in Hertfordshire about 25 minutes away.




This is the St. Albans Cathedral. When we went in a Philharmonic Orchestra was practicing. Very beautiful to see since there is nothing like it back home.

I am pictured here with the St. Albans Cathedral in the background. This is the side of the Cathedral. It was so beautiful.

They have this market every Wednesday and Sunday of every week. You can find so many different things there. Everything from pastries, bread, fruit or clothes.

This picture is leading up to the market. The streets where so tiny there. On this street they had many different eating places.

Winter Wonderland!!

The snow started last night around 5:00pm and continued through the night. When I woke up there was about 6 inches or more of snow on the ground. I can't believe it! Another great thing that happened because of the snow is that my class today was cancelled!!! Hopefully good news will come that my computer is here and I can sit around and watch movies!

The one nice thing about snow here is that they cancel classes!! My classes yesterday were cancelled. Even though I got up this morning for my early class, when I got there it too was cancelled, along with my later one!!! the bad thing about snow here is that they don't have it very much so their snow removal isn't very quick and all the sidewalks have turned to ice!!! Students yesterday were going crazy with the snow day!! People were out all day having snow ball fights, building snowmen, and even making an Iglo.

Cheers for snow days!!

Sunday Adventures in London

On Sunday the International Student Support team as part of our Orientation week set up a trip to London. We just had to make sure it get a ticket early enough on the shuttle there. We left around 10am from Hertfordshire and got into London a little before 11am. It was so great to be able to go visit the city again. We even drove in by the Hotel I stayed in the first night I was in London 4 years ago!! The day was full of touring and walking! I was so exhausted when we got back!

To start off the student guides had a tour for us, which consisted of walking by Big Ben, Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives, through St. James Park into Buchingham palace!! Where the roads were closed off because the Queen was in the Palace. As we were coming from Buchingham Palace a huge Parade of people in period costumes were walking down the lane towards the palace! they had drums and muskets and all. I got loads of pictures and video of them. After leaving there the took us through Trafalgar Square, where our guided tour ended.

My new friends and I ventured out into london together. We first made a stop for sandwiches, which we ate outside the National Gallery. Once we were finished we entered the Gallery and spent about 2 hours browsing the many works of art. After the gallery we walked to Piccadilly Circus-London's Time Square- and walked around there and into Chinatown. It was getting closer to when we had to leave so we ventured towards our meeting point....stopping at Westminster Abbey to get pictures. However the inside was closed so we only got the see the gift shop.

It was a great day in London. 5 hours in the city goes by quickly. Hopefully I'll get many more trips there.

Cheers....

Getting over Jet Lag

So It's taken a few days...but I think I'm somewhat over jet lag. I'm still getting tired at like 9:00 but it's still gotten a lot better. I'm still having to use the computer in the Library, but that situaton is getting fixed. I've been having a hard time figuring out what to eat. The food is quite a bit different from the U.S. and a lot more expensive. However after this week I think it will be easier to get to the super market and fix my meals. The orientation program has had us so busy every hour. Or in the evenings with social events, Like this evenings outing to Luton for bowling! That was pretty interesting and fun. Then I went to dinner with some new friends and had another hearty meal.

Tomorrow I register for Classes and become an official University of Hertfordshire Student with my own Student ID. I have not idea what to expect from the classes...I just hope they will be interesting. They've scheduled 2 more outings this weekend. One on Saturday to the nearest City called St. Albans...where we ate last night, but get more time there. And and on Sunday we're going into London. I'm pretty excited to visit it again. We only get 6 hours this time...but I'm sure i'll get back there again while I'm here.

Cheers...

Now in England

Sorry this post isn't here sooner. Since getting here there have been a few glitches with communication. First I couldn't figure out how to switch to global capabilities on my phone...but then did..and now my computer isn't working and will have to get that solved.

Besides those the flight went well..it seemed to take forever. Once I got into heathrow I was able to meet up with the group. It's been a full couple of days. I'm on information overload! They've had some fun events for us so far..and will have more later in the week. The campus is very neat. So far I like my room, however cooking might present more of a problem than I thought. Continued prayers are definitely needed as I transition into life in the UK these next 5 months.

One Week Left

I can't believe I have one week left before I leave for England. It will be such an great adventure and it is really happening! Slowly but surely I am getting together the things I need to get for my trip. Just last week I was able to get several guide books for Great Britian, London, and Ireland. The guide books have been very helpful and have allowed me to find different places I want to visit. Before I leave for England I celebrate my birthday on January 13th. I'm going to be 21! I can't believe it. I'm so glad I get to spend my birthday with my parent's this year. God is leading me to wonderful things and I can't wait to partake in them.
I fly out January 17th in the evening and will arrive in England at London Heathrow Airport the morning of the 18th. I'm so glad that the University of Hertfordshire is picking up the international students at the airport. It would be terrible to get in the country and then have to find my way to the university. Signing off for now! More posts on my adventures once I'm in country.