Leaving London

Wow, I can't believe I have less than a week left in London.  Rundown of the week:

• Tuesday: Writing class final due, all-class afternoon tea, finish up homework, pub in the evening
• Wednesday: last class with Peter, final projects due, final exam
• Thursday: Contemporary Britatin paper due, farewell party with class at a pub
• Friday: packing to head home, pub in the evening
• Saturday: flight home @ 3:05 PM, arrive back in Seattle at 4:40 PM Seattle time (that'll be 1:40 AM London time... bring on the brutal jet-lag!)

It's definitely bittersweet, being so close to time to go home.  On one hand, I've been having so much fun here, exploring the city and making friends with some awesome people who live in the area.  Definitely hoping those friendships can continue once I go home.  I feel like there's still so much I want to do in London and all over, with so little time.  No worries, though, because I'll definitely be back, hopefully sometime very soon!

On the other hand, going home will be amazing, too.  It'll be great to see family and friends I haven't seen in 2 1/2 months, and I absolutely can't wait to cuddle my puppy again!  I know she's been sleeping on my bed while I've been gone so I'm sure she thinks it's hers now... I've missed her so much, I'll give her a couple weeks before I kick her off and send her back to her doggie bed in the corner of my bedroom.  Sleeping in my own bed, in my own room will be absolutely lovely, taking a shower in my own bathroom, cooking in my own kitchen... just being in my own house!  And, of course, I can't talk about missing things at home without mentioning the beloved... jacuzzi (yes, new English friends, I have a jacuzzi at home... have I convinced you to come visit me yet?)

Either way, this has definitely been an experience that I will remember the rest of my life.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch and hang out with the other students who were here with me, because this is an experience we'll always be able to share and look back on (London reunions in the future, I'm guessing?).  Whenever I have kids (not even close to being ready for that, haha), and when they go to college, I definitely want to encourage them to do a study abroad.  I've gained so much independence since being here, and I feel like I've grown so much as a person (but don't worry, guys, I'm still the same Chani!).

AND... when I get home, I graduate a week later! Ah, don't know if I'm ready for the real world yet!  What's the plan after graduation?  Probably just chill for the summer (or find a part-time job), go back to my job at SCDS in the fall (there, Ryan, you happy?), and then look into taking real estate licencing classes, then work on the career from there.  Hopefully by then, the real estate market will have had a chance to improve a little more, and then I can get work at an agency.  That's the tentative plan... we'll see how well I stick to it.

Much love to all my family and friends back home!  As much as I keep saying I'm not ready to leave, it will definitely be wonderful to see you all in a few days!

And to all my new friends back here in England: don't forget me and keep in touch, and I would genuinely love for you to make your way out to Seattle sometime to come visit!  I can show you a good time, Seattle-style!

(Most of) our Spring in London: 2011 group.  Thanks for the memories!



Cheers for good times and new friends. Keep in touch, guys!



Ima be getting one of these real soon!



The (successful) Quest for Deep-Fried Mars Bars and Highland Cows: A Weekend in Scotland!

Wow, can't believe how time has flown by!  I only have 10 days left in London, only one full weekend left!  This weekend will be all about cramming to finish up my final papers and projects, which are all due next week.  Next Thursday (1 week from today!) is our class going-away party, and then on Saturday I board a plane back to the States!

But more on that later... this post is about last weekend, our second-to-last full weekend abroad.  Eager to get in one more trip, Andreina and I headed to Scotland with one of our other classmates, Hannah.

At 11:45 PM on Wednesday night, we boarded a double-decker coach to Glasgow.  The ride took about 8 hours, and we arrived in Glasgow at about 7:30 Thursday morning.  Luckily, I was able to get some sleep on the bus ride, well, at least more than I was on the way to Paris.  Overnight coach was definitely not the ideal way to go, but it's definitely the most economical, costing us only £26 round-trip (so about $40).  But, we survived and arrived in Glasgow tired but ready to explore the city.

We found a bus that took us to our hotel, just south of the River Clyde, about a 10 minute walk from the city center.  It was too early to check in (unless we wanted to pay an extra £10, so we just left our bags with the front desk and sat in the lobby, pouring over brochures of things we might want to do during our stay.  Hannah and I wanted to visit the National Aquarium, but it was really out of the way and would have taken a couple of hours to get to from Glasgow.  Oh well.

We left the hotel and had breakfast at a restaurant in a complex behind our hotel, where they had a deal of 2 main courses for £10, so we were able to save some money.  Always good.

After breakfast, we headed out to explore the city a little bit, and ended up doing a little shopping as well.

Hannah and Andreina as we walk along the River Clyde.

After exploring for a bit, we were able to head back to the hotel room to check into our triple room.  Triple room? you may ask.  Yeah, I wondered what a triple room in a hotel was, too.  Well, we found out.  We had a double bed, and then a single bunk bed across the top.  The room had a bit of an interesting layout as well- no proper "bathroom".  Just one small room for the toilet.  The sink was out in the actual room, and the shower opened into the room as well, right next to the bed.  We had fun laughing about our quirky little hotel room, but that's what you get for £21 a night, I guess.

After settling in and freshening up, Andreina wanted to go to the Kelvingrove Museum, where they had the painting "Christ of Saint John of the Cross", by Salvador Dali.  It was about a 20 minute walk, but we ended up spending a lot of time at the museum, seeing not only that painting, but also ones by Monet and Van Gogh.  Also saw some Egyptian artifacts and some specimens of animals that are native to Scotland.  We ended up staying until 5, when the museum closed and they kicked us out.


We hopped a bus to the coach station, where we bought tickets to go to Edinburgh the next day, only £10 round-trip, then walked to the tourist information center hoping to reserve a Highlands tour for Saturday.  Unfortunately, it was closed, so we decided to just reserve the tour online.  We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant nearby.

Next morning, we headed out and caught our coach to Edinburgh around 10:30; we'd bought open tickets, so we could go whenever we wanted, which was nice not having to worry about waking up and getting to the coach station at a certain time. 

The ride to Edinburgh took about an hour.  Our first stop there was Edinburgh Castle.

Looking up at Edinburgh Castle

To be honest, the outside is a whole lot more impressive than the inside, but we enjoyed the panoramic views of the city and the surrounding area, and saw a few interesting things, like where POWs slept and the Crown Jewels (Crown Jewels at the Tower of London =  way cooler).

One of many gorgeous views from Edinburgh Castle.

After the castle, we were hungry, so we walked down the Royal Mile (the road leading up to the castle) in search of food, getting sidetracked by the dozens of souvenier shops along the way.  We stopped at a little Italian place for lunch, and then after eating, set out on our quest for deep-fried Mars Bars.  A worker at the castle had told us to look for a "blue chip shop on the Royal Mile", but hadn't given us a name, so we wandered up and down the road, poking into any building that could be remotely described as blue.  Finally, a waitress at one restaurant gave us the name of the place to go, and we walked down and found it right away.  Turns out we hadn't walked far enough down the road in the first place, and this place, The Clamshell, advertised that it served deep-fried Mars Bars right in the window.  Success!  And deliciousness.

Spent more time wandering in and out of souvenier shops as we munched on our delicious treats, then walked to see the National Monument on a hill overlooking the city.  It was super windy up there, but we made fools of ourselves anyway attempting to climb onto the monument to take some pictures.  A guy saw us struggling and had to help us up.  A little embarassing, but we still made it.

National Monument

Made it up... with a little assistance.

Spent some time up on the hill, then decided it was time to head back to Glasgow.  On the way back to the coach station, we popped into more souvenier shops... they're everywhere in Edinburgh!

Back in Glasgow, we headed to the restaurant by our hotel for dinner, and then went back to the hotel, where we got online in the lobby and booked a Highlands tour for the next day.

Our tour the next morning left from the tourist information center in town at 9:30.  Anyone going to Glasgow or Edinburgh and wanting to do a Highlands tour, I highly recommend the company we went with, Rabbies.  I'd read multiple reviews of this company and all of them were amazing, and for good reason.  They keep the group sizes small, maximum of 16 people, so you're not stuck on a huge coach with 50 other people.  Our tour group ended up only having  8 people in it, giving it a more personal touch.  Our guide, Michael, was extremely friendly and knowledgeable about the area, and shared a whole wealth of historical information with us.  Part of me wished I'd taken notes so I could remember everything!

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't on our side.  It was cloudy and chilly, and later into the tour we got rain.  This, however, showed the other benefits of a small tour group: we could stay at each stop for as long as we wanted.  Our first stop was Castle Kilchurn, an old castle ruin in the middle of a loch (loch = lake).  It used to be entirely surrounded by water, but now there's a land pathway that you can walk on to get to the castle.  Luckily, the rain hadn't started yet, so we were able to spend a while there.

Castle Kilchurn

Inside the castle

Beatiful view from the top of the castle.

On the way from the castle, we spotted...

HIGHLAND COWS! how cute :)

The other nice thing about a small group, we were able to stop and coffee break easily, and Michael was very good about giving us chances to warm up with some hot chocolate or coffee, especially once the rain started coming.

The most beautiful part of our tour was definitely Glen Coe (glen = valley).  According to Michael, Glen Coe is actually better seen in the rain, because all these little streams of water come rushing down the hills.

Hills of Glen Coe

Although, it would have been nice if the rain had subsided a bit, just so we all would have been up for staying there longer to get some better pictures.  Due to the rain and the wind, though, most of the stops we made were very quick, just enough time for all of us to jump out of the van, snap a few pictures, and then run back into the van for warmth.  Again, though, the perks of a small tour group.

Glen Coe

Our final stop on the tour was Loch Lomond, a loch just half an hour from Glasgow.  Michael said that, on nice days, the place is usually packed.  By the time we got there, though, it was pouring pretty good, and we were pretty much the only ones around.  Oh well, the rain didn't stop us from walking down the muddy trail to the shore of the lake.  I mean, we were all already pretty drenched anyway.

Drenched at Loch Lomond.

Due to the fact that we didn't spend as much time as normal at most of the stops, we got back to Glasgow a little early, but I think we were all okay with that.  I was ready to warm up in a hot shower at the hotel.  After we'd all cleaned up back at the hotel, we went to the restaurant behind our hotel for dinner.  After dinner, we spent a little time at the casino next door to the restaurant, but had no luck on the slots.

Our coach back to London left the next morning at 11.  The ride back was pretty enjoyable, especially since the driver was nice enough to make 2 or 3 stops along the way so we could get food and a bathroom break (there was a toilet on the bus, but it was... eww).  We were back in London around 7:30.

I'm definitely glad I was able to make it out to Scotland during my time here, and I think it was a good last weekend trip to have.  Like I've said many times before, though, of course there is still so much I still want to do and see, but my time here is drawing to a close.  This week and weekend it's all about getting final papers done and figuring out how I'm gonna pack everything I have and get it home.

Honestly, though, STILL not ready to go home just yet.  If I could just have a couple more weeks, maybe that would be enough?  Maybe not.  I was actually hoping just a little bit that the Iceland volcano that just erupted might send some ash over this way and delay my flight a bit, but it doesn't look like that's happening.  Although, I've already paid for my cap and gown and stuff for graduation, so probably don't wanna miss out on that... 1 week after I get back!

That's all for now... don't even know if I'll be doing another post, as I come home in 10 days!  Yikes!

Welcome to Shakespeare Country

Been a little bit since I updated, but it's because I have so little time left, and I've been so busy trying to do everything I want to do!  It's hard to believe I've only got a little less than three weeks before I go home, and I'm still not feeling ready to go!  I wish I could stay and see more, and continue hanging out with some of the friends I've made here, and just spend every day exploring parts of London I haven't even come close to seeing.  Honestly, I could have done with six months.
So, what I've been up to...

Last week, our class went on our much-anticipated overnight trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, which we lovingly referred to as Shakespeare Country.  We got to see lots of Shakespeare-related sites, and had lots of fun experiencing some time outside of the hustle and bustle of London.

On Wednesday, we all met bright and early (okay, 8:30 AM) around the corner from Kings Cross Station, where our chartered coach was waiting for us, and we were on the road by 9.  The drive took a couple of hours, but I think most of us spent it getting in some extra sleep.

Our first stop was Mary Arden's (Shakespeare's mother's) farm, which is still a working farm today.  It's still got animals, and people who work there show visitors what it was like to live, work, and cook in that environment back in the day.  The weather was a little crappy, but that didn't stop us from having a good time; we were all especially amused by all the animals.

Spencer and Benji try to make friends with the rabbits.

I, not surprisingly, spent most of my time trying to make friends with the farm's two horses.
 

Didn't really have success with the first one, but....

Aha! Success with the horse we dubbed Shadowfax!

Another reason I belong in England?  This place has horses EVERYWHERE!  My type of place.

Our second stop was...

Anne Hathaway's (Shakespeare's wife) cottage

We had fun exploring the house, and apparently up until fairly recently, descendents of Anne Hathaway's family had lived in the house, so a lot of the artifacts in the house, like plates and stuff, were authentic to their family.  That was pretty cool to learn.

Behind the cottage was a "sculpture garden" and a maze (or, as Peter put it, a "crappy maze").  Teresa and I decided to try out the crappy maze and found that yes, it was indeed crappy.  It took us longer to find the entrance than it took us to get to the middle, partially because people had forged shortcuts through the bushes, and the bushes were shorter than I am, so there wasn't much getting lost involved.  Oh well, we still had fun trying it out.

Teresa in the "crappy maze"

After the cottage, the coach brought us to the main part of the town, where we had the chance to check in at the B&Bs where we'd be spending the night.  Andreina and I shared a room, and 2 other girls from our group were at the same B&B as us.  All of us, though, were on the same road, just a short walk from the center of town.  We had about an hour for lunch (although I squeezed a shower in there, too), and then we continued with the sightseeing.

Stop #3 was Shakespeare's birthplace.


Before entering the actual house, you go through this sort of audio/visual experience of Shakespeare's life, which sort of reminded me of standing in line for a ride at Disneyland.  Being inside the house was cool, too, and a big part of that had to do with the people inside who gave us short talks about different things we'd see in the house.  For example, we saw Shakespeare's father's glovemaking workshop, and the woman there told us about how the gloves were made, and how it's believed that Shakespeare probably helped his dad in the shop, as he often references facts that would only be known by glovemakers.  Interesting stuff.

Stop #4 was the site where Shakespeare's house once stood.  There is now no actual house standing there, but they are currently in the process of an archaeological dig, trying to dig up the foundation of the house to find out more about it.  Also interesting stuff.

Our final stop was, appropriately, Shakespeare's final resting place, the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon.


After leaving Holy Trinity, we had a couple of hours for dinner.  A few other girls and I, in the interest of saving some money, headed to the grocery store and just got sandwiches, then headed to a park by the river to eat.  There we had some dinner-time entertainment, a group of geese harassing two women for their fish and chips.  One of these geese even charged another when he thought it was getting too close to the women who were feeding him these delicious chips.  It was very funny to see.

At 7:00 that night, we headed to the Royal Shakespeare Theater to watch a production of the City Madam.  It was good, but not nearly as good or fun as watching Hamlet at The Globe in London.

After the play, a group of us headed out to a pub for drinks.  It was nice, because some of the people that came were people I haven't spent much time with this trip, so it was really cool getting to spend more time with them and getting to know them a little better.  Late, I know, but better late than never!

The next morning, we had to meet up with the coach at 9:30, so our B&B served us a full English breakfast around 9.  At 9:30, we were all back on the bus and headed for Warwick Castle!



Peter told us lots of really interesting facts about the castle, like there are no records of it ever being taken over due to its good defenses.  Once inside the castle, we were left to our own devices for a few hours, while Peter headed back to the B&B that he owns to make lunch for all of us.

First thing we did was climb the battlements of the castle.  Really fun, and awesome views, but not good to do if you've been having muscle spasms in your leg.  My quads cramped up pretty bad, so I had to take a few stretching breaks along the way.

View from the battlements.

Another view.

Next we wandered to the Peacock Garden and saw, what else... PEACOCKS!  So beautiful... I decided that when I get married, my wedding colors will be inspired by peacock colors (no live peacocks at the wedding, though... they don's sound as pretty as they look).

Me and my peacock buddy... just chillaxin on a bench.

My buddy tried to impress me... it worked.

Dana and me in the garden.

We spent more time exploring different parts of the castle, including a pretty cool exhibit about scandal in high society.  So interesting that, back then, people having affairs was really not that uncommon, and as long as it was kept all "proper" and didn't interfere with anything, no one really paid the subject any attention at all.  Wow, how times have changed.

Later in the afternoon, we boarded the coach again and headed back to the center of Stratford to Peter's B&B, Moss Cottage, where he had a large and delicious buffet late lunch/early dinner set out for us, which included wine AND dessert.  Janet, the homestay coordinator for the program, was there, too, and it was fun catching up with her and talking about how our stays had been going.

After lunch, we boarded the coach one final time to head back to London.  Going back, we got stuck in traffic, the perfect opportunity to work on some homework!  Shortly after arriving back home, I left again to go meet up at a pub with Matt, a friend I've made whilst in London.  We were joined by one of his friends, Ralph, and played pool, had a few drinks, and had a fun time.

The next day, Friday, was the day that my Writing Class group gave our class a tour of Richmond.  I think it went really well, and it was sort of a plus that no one in our class had been to Richmond before, so it was new to everyone.  It was cool, too, because while I was giving my bit on Richmond Park, there was a herd of deer right behind me. (Actually, I had just finished explaining that there are herds of deer in the park, and I said "Now, there's no guarantee that we'll see any deer today..." and one of my classmates points beind me and goes "There are some across the street behind you!")  Hah, I mean, we totally planned that.

Chivaun, Mike, and me: The Richmond Group! Notice the matching outfits... yeah, we did that :)

Wow, what a busy week!  Other than all that, just been having class and trying to make each of these last days in London count.  I've been having so much fun just going out to pubs on weekends (and some during the week), meeting up with classmates and friends we've met who are from the area, and just not really having to worry about anything except for trying to squeeze in all the experiences I want to have before I leave.  Still so much I wanna do, and so little time to do it all!

What's on the adgenda for this week?  Tomorrow, we visit Hampton Court for Peter's class, and then tomorrow night, Andriena and I board an overnight coach to Glasgow, Scotland with Hannah, another one of our classmates.  We'll be there from Thursday morning until Sunday morning.  Hoping to be able to do a day tour up to the Highlands (or at least to Loch Ness), and maybe a day trip to Edinburgh as well, time and budgets permitting.  We found a pretty nice, cheap hotel right in the center of Glasgow, which should make for some fun times.  I'll definitely update you guys with our Scotland adventures next week!

Alright, that's all for now!  Hope everyone back home is doing well, and I'll be seeing you guys real soon!

Midterm Reflections

Well guys, it's official... In one month, I'll be laying on my bed at home in Seattle, probably eating Top Ramen and having a cuddle with my puppy.  I'll be just a few days away from graduating from the University of Washington (what, really?), and then it's off into the real world for me!  I thought, though, that I should take the time to sort of reflect on how this experience in London has been so far, and on what I still hope to accomplish in the next month before I head back home.

Mom, I know you won't like hearing this, but to be honest, I feel as though I'm not even close to being ready to leave London.  Another three months would be great, although I know they'd fly by just as these ones have.  I'm having so much fun here.  London is really an amazing city, steeped in so much history and tradition.  You really can't go anywhere in central London without seeing some building or monument that dates back to the 16 or 1700s, if not before.

One of the main reasons, though, that I'm not ready to leave yet, is that I've met some amazing people while I've been here, both in the UW group I came with, and in people from London and other parts of England, people who I hope to continue to keep in touch with when I've gone back to the States.  Looking back on before we left on this trip, I wasn't sure if I wanted to have a roommate, but now I'm so happy I got assigned a roommate!  Andreina and I get along really well, which I can appreciate even more after hearing from some of my classmates who don't get on so well with their roommates.  The homestay family I'm with is amazing.  Jenny is such a sweet woman and an amazing cook, and she genuinely loves hosting students in her home- she's been doing it for the past 25 years and still keeps in touch with the first American student she ever hosted.  She even keeps books that she has all of her students write in before they leave, so she can keep memories of every single one.

Mom, here's something else you probably won't like reading: another thing I've loved about being here is the independence!  Staying out late with no questions asked, and traveling just about wherever I want on the weekends has been lovely.  All Jenny really needs to know is whether or not we'll be home for dinner... the rest is up to us.

Now Mom, here's something you WILL like reading: I'm finally speaking English properly!  I've just about completely dropped saying "like" every other word, as it's something you very rarely hear in English speech (I was even told by an English guy that I said "like" a lot... whoops!).  It's good, because that was actually one of my goals while I was here, to drop the "likes" in my sentences, and after being surrounded for 2 months by people who don't say it at all, I've realized how ridiculous it sounds, so I've been trying to put more effort when I talk into speaking properly... I'm sure my future employers will appreciate it.

All that being said, while leaving London will be quite a bummer, coming home to see my friends and family will be wonderful, too.  While I've missed you all, I wouldn't say I ever felt "homesick", that is, I never felt sad here, and like I needed to go home.  Plus, thanks to wonderful things like Skype and Facebook, keeping in touch and sharing stories and pictures with you all has been a breeze!

Thanks to everyone back home for all your support as I finally carried out something I've wanted to do for years!  This is truly an amazing experience, and if anyone reading this still has a couple years to go in college, I highly recommend a study abroad trip!  And Caitlin, thanks for introducing me to this program in the first place.  It's been perfect.

Love you all, and I'll see you in a month!