Don't wanna leave her now.....

So after the most beautiful weekend in London leaving the city is going to be even harder.

Friday Anna and I went out in East London for her colleague's art show and then ended up at a really sweet bar near tottenham court. The weather was amazing and it was nice to be able to hang out on roof terraces and not freeze to death.

Saturday we did some extreme exploring. We checked out Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, Primrose Hill, Camden Town and Little Venice. It was soooooooooo nice out and we ended up enjoying some cider along the lock in Camden in true British summer fashion. That is when it hit me that I really didn't want to leave. London's vibe is completely different with everything moving outdoors and I'm really sad I will miss out on it.

Today began with some market-time and then a trip to the Globe Theatre to see King Lear with Anna. Luckily we had seats and didn't get rained on like all the peasants below us and by the time we left it was clearing up for a nice walk past hyde park on the way home.

One week from tonight will be my last night. Not happy about that.

Amsterjammin....

Last weekend we enjoyed our final weekend trip to Amsterdam and it was amazing!

The city is so beautiful and really can only be appreciated by a trip there. Pictures do not do it justice. We spent the two days riding cute little bikes all along the canals and through the Vondelpark in the south west side of town. To keep up our bike riding stamina we enjoyed a few dutch pancakes and the best frites ever! (complete with belgian mayonnaise of course!)

Of course it isnt a trip to Amsterdam without trapezing through the red light district which we did a few times. We made rounds for Bobby to pick out a girl to learn about their pricing. Apparently the average (attractive) girl is 50 euro.....interesting.


After quite a fight with British Airways we returned to London late sunday night with a 125 euro "sorry we screwed you over" gift from BA making our flight paid for plus some. sweeeet. you can pay me to go to Amsterdam anytime.

more to come...

I wrote this but forgot to post....whoops

back to london.....
Easter weekend was long and relaxing but I didn't end up getting anything constructive done....whoops.
So every year Time Out has an Easter treasure hunt that gives you clues to go and find these places around the city. I spent a good portion of Friday working on that before losing my oyster card and calling it a day.
Sat + Sun consisted of basketball (yeah lame i know) and an amazing easter dinner chez nous.

In real news, my internship is FABULOUS! I am working for an event management + concierge company in Ladbroke Grove and its been pretty sweet so far. I am getting lots of exposure to different things and getting to learn a ton about London. In hopes of spreading their name I'm working on a myspace and facebook account for the company so more details to come once those are up and running!
Last night we went to a show for a band who is good friends with my boss and it was pretty chill. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner and then some fun music and dancing.

mmm fish heads

so as I said earlier when we were in portugal we ate fish heads...anna took photographic evidence:

It started with just the tails....

Then someone decided to say "Dare me to eat the head?"

So we did it...

This Is Anfield.

so another update from the last few weeks....

Brandon showed up on Friday morning for his week in London for spring break but SURPRISE not just London but also a trip to LIVERPOOOOOOOOOL!

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to catch our 530 train from Euston...but OH WAIT a freight train had spilled stuff all over the tracks so no trains were leaving the station. merde. So after traipsing back and forth across london at the crack of dawn we finally ended up catching a train to birmingham to connect to liverpool. (^^ I got kinda bored and decided to play with the camera)

We arrived in Liverpool several hours later than planned in hopes of joining one of the beatles tours.....no luck. So we wandered around the city (SO CUTE!) and discovered some Beatles hot spots on our own.

Sunday was the big day though! A trip to Anfield to see the home of Liverpool FC. Brandon was like a kid on Christmas morning....so cute! We went on a tour and got to check out the museum before heading off down the street to catch the game. We ended up at a pub full of locals and us....how cool is that?













It was a pretty sweet trip I must say.

till next time

Vespas to Jesus

so its about time I update about Portugal!

It was beyond amazing! We fell in love with the country even if we couldn't understand a single word of Portuguese. We arrived in Portugal on Friday night to discover the cutest hostel I've ever seen! There were candles and a beautiful terrace outside which we took full advantage of. Bobby even came to meet us on the first half of our trip in the city of Porto.

We spent the days exploring and visiting two different port lodges where we enjoyed some beautiful sweet goodness. After our first port visit we went to lunch on the riverbank where we enjoyed lots of seafood. We concluded our meal by trying fish heads..... not bad but nothing to rave about. We spent a few more days in the beautiful sunshine enjoying chorizo and vino verde before heading to Lisbon.

We took an afternoon train to Lisbon and were again greeted by an AMAZING hostel. It was just like a real world house! The first day we conquered the major Lisbon sites including a few cathedrals and the amazing custard tarts in Belem.

Day two we traveled to they mythical land of Sintra! The book was completely right in describing it as Sleeping Beauty meets Lord of the Rings. There were ruins of an old Moorish Castle that just seemed like a giant play land. Then we went up to the pink and yellow castle on the hill. It was like spending a day in a fairy tale.

Our last day was spent checking out Barrio Alto which was full of lots of bars and some pretty cool tags on the buildings. Sadly we had to leave our warm weather and return to a rather windy and dreary london town on thursday night.

But then BRANDON CAME!!!!

more to update soon!

bisous!

You say thanks, I say cheers.

Okay so I figured it was time for a real update.

Oh the things that have happened....
Major things:
-Dublin:
Two weekends ago now Laura and I took our trip to Dublin. Since planning my semester abroad I knew a trip to Ireland was part of the plan. Dublin did not disappoint. We enjoyed some lovely irish music on our first night there to ease us into the weekend away. Saturday was a full day of site seeing with St. Patricks Cathedral and the Guiness Brewery. YUMMM. When you reach the end of the tour you are rewarded with the most wonderful pint of stout goodness you will ever consume. I recommend it for everyone.The trip continued through sunday night with some amazing irish food with some baileys on the rocks. Overall Ireland: A

-Scotland:
Last weekend Anna and I made the trip up to Edinburgh with two of the girls from my flat. We took the train from Kings Cross and of course enjoyed the chance for the Harry Potter photo-op at platform 9 3/4. I mean we were basically taking the Harry Potter train anyway with our destination of Edinburgh!
After a beautiful train ride through the countryside we arrived in Scotland hungry and ready to explore. Thursday night we checked out the castle and spent Valentines day watching the top 100 love songs of all time countdown on british VH1-type TV.
Fridaywe explored Edinburgh castle and made the trek down the royal mile and up to Arthur's Seat. We discovered that we took the longest most treacherous way up to the top but were rewarded with spectacular views.


Saturday was filled with a 12 hour coach tour up through the Scottish highlands! Here I got to meet my new bff Hamish McHaggis (Anna added the last name). We also enjoyed beautiful sites at Glencoe and Loch Ness and I had a wonderful lunch of Venison Bangers and Mash. YUM! I have concluded that I think Scotland is my favorite place that I have visited while being in Europe (not lived of course because Paris is hands down number 1). Overall: A++

Other News:
--I bought our family tartan in Scotland
--Anna and I went to a fashionspace release event during fashion week where we discovered that apparently all the skinny bitches in London really are Bitches.
--I have become obsessed with British music.

This week has been insane with final exams and the 5 essays I had to compose for my tourism class. YIKES! I am finally done though and feel pretty confident about the results.

Tonight we are leaving for Portugal for our spring holiday. We start in Porto where Bobby is joining our adventure and moving south to Lisbon Monday until Thursday when I return to London for Brandons arrival!

Adeus!

ps-here is ewan mcgregor for your viewing pleasure:

'Another Mama for Obama" (sign at the primary)

so number one in a series of updates:

last tuesday was the first time in history that Americans have been able to go in person to cast a vote abroad. The Democratic Party has created an organization known as Democrats Abroad who have made it possible for the americans living/studying abroad to vote in person for the primaries! woo hoo

so around 7pm tuesday night Jessie and I went across hyde park to the voting location and along with lots of other ex-pats cast our votes! It was such a great atmosphere! There were people lined up around the building to get in to cast their vote then upstairs there were areas for obama and hilary including cookies, beers and of course a stage where you could cast your vote infront of everyone if you chose to do so. It was an awesome opportunity and im pretty proud i got to take part in it!

On the subject of Dinner and Dessert

so when talking about the adorable-ness of Aube's babies this is what bobby had to say:
focs19 (01:06:31 am): well i don't like babies
focs19 (01:06:34 am): except for black ones
focs19 (01:06:44 am): *her babies are not black
focs19 (01:07:02 am): actually, they remind me of vladimir putin
focs19 (01:07:28 am): so they instill a sense of fear in me

so very random but it made me laugh.

in other news: way to go VA with Obama for the Democrats.

finally: i went to dublin this weekend. real updates later.

The day I met my future husband....

So two bits of news.

1. Saturday Anna and I spent the morning at Borough Market, which is my mecca. Imagine every amazing item of food fresh and right at your disposal! We enjoyed some cream tea before I went off to St. Paul's for the long hike up the 400+ stairs to the top! The evening was the best part of the day!
We went Vinopolis for an incredible wine tasting. We tried wines from all over the world including Argentina, India, Germany, New Zeland, Brazil and many others. This also included tastes of Absinthe, Whiskey and Beer, most of which just made us cringe. While enjoying our Bombay Cocktail Anna spotted two of the actors from the British show Hollyoaks adding to our list of celeb sightings. Afterwards we enjoyed an amazing dinner of Indian food....YUMMY!

2. now the exciting bit and the reasoning for the title. After waking up at 5:30 this morning and waiting outside in the freezing cold for FOUR HOURS Anna and I have secured ourselves two tickets to Othello tonight!!!! Iago is played by none other than Ewan McGregor (see title) and Othello by Chiwetel Ejiofor (Kiera Knightley's husband in Love Actually). This is going to be an amaaaaaaaaazing night!!!!!!

We are the package deal...

oh em ef day.

last night = beyond ridiculous.

So it started with some wonderful Lebenese food at the high street and then we decided to head out to Soho.
First stop: Random pub for a pint.

After we decide to wander and find another place to go out. On the way we meet some random guy who after asking if we were American tells us to "just go back home." As we step into the next pub and haley tells us this we meet another Brit who promises to prove to us that Brits really do like Americans and he will take us to see "classy london"
this means Members Clubs (basically you pay ridiculous sums of money to be a member at these exclusive clubs, very popular with celebs and the London elite)

First we went to Soho House where we passed none other than Lionel Richie in the stairwell inside. We relax, enjoy some wonderful drinks and take in the ridiculous beauty of the tiny place. (Also here is where we discovered we are the package deal: Blonde, Brunette, Redhead, Gay guy....what else could a man want?)

After this start where else is there to go but Cuckoo Club ?? Seriously?! I was beyond floored with this evening. After dancing away with super tall and super skinny supermodels we called it a night and recapped the ridiculous luck of our night in a cab ride back to South Ken.

So London?? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamazing!

i love fox dogs

Wow! I have been a busy girl!

I have booked my trips for the semester finally! (which means i have spent a ridiculous amount of money in the last 72 hours) Along with this came the realization that after this semester I will be back in the US without a planned time to return.....depressing i know.

Sunday Anna and I went on a day trip to Bath and Avebury and it was quite a good time (minus the exhaustion from celebrating Australia Day the night before). In Bath we got to check out the ruins of the Roman Baths, eat pasties, enjoy some amazing views of the countryside and the best NUTELLA milkshake ever.

Next we were off to Avebury where we got to look at some big ol' rocks and then enjoy a pint at a very cute pub before heading home. Also I saw the cutest pups ever! They looked like foxes and i loved them.

Monday night I checked out a pub quiz with some flatmates and we got second place! Pretty badass since we were competing with brits and the team that beat us had 4 more people on their team!

Last night I went with Anna to see Stars and got very excited to check out more shows this semester!

Finally, heres my address (i love mail!):
43 Harrington Gardens
London UK SW7 4JU

Another one bites the dust....

This time its my computer.

well its not completely DEAD per say BUT the power cord is done-zo. I dont really understand what happened to it but it just stopped working the other day (aka best buy STILL sucks at life). I have another one floating around the US postal service somewhere and hopefully will arrive in London sometime in the next 2 weeks (greeeeeat).

Until then posts will be few and far between (though they havent been that great as of late anyway).

Here is my news:

* Spring break -- PORTUGAL!!!! well thats the plan at least. A few days is Porto (including a wine tour?) and then off to Lisbon

* Today I am trying to get all my trips planned out for the semester:

Dublin

Edinburgh (including a trip to the highlands and loch ness)

Amsterdam

Paris

Somehow seeing Brie

* Tomorrow is a trip to Bath and Avebury which should be a fun day of site seeing!

* I went to Wimbledon! Yeah im not that into tennis but it was still sweet. Also my professor for the class is ridiculously intelligent and knows SOOOO much about Great Britain. The class includes three field trips and for our last day of class we are going to a pub! How sweet is that? I mean it is part of British culture and we need to experience it ;)

The rest of the day will include a trip to Portobello Market (again) to get some fresh fruit and maybe some Paella at one of the yummy food stands!

Cheers!

Fish & Chips and a pint or two

I have arrived and begun to settle in a bit.

This week has been full of near death experiences from checking the wrong side of the road, a hilarious pantomime of Cinderella last night, a couple of fun meals out and LOTS of british history. They decided that rather than let us explore London on it would be better to put us in a lecture hall and teach us about the British economy and "the grand tour" of study abroad.

Tonight is the welcome party which includes a trip to Bunker Bar for a few pints and then hopefully a fun night of dancing is in store.

More interesting updates to come and pictures to be posted soon.

Cheers!

ps-i hope you like the new look....i figured i needed a change for london!

¨we have met some characters on this story¨ -me

soooooo the adventures haven´t slowed.

we arrived in barcelona on thursday night and what happens five minutes into the metro station?? Rachels wallet is stolen.

not good.

this only added to the stress and created even more problems but now we have gotten things straight and everything seems to be back on track.

Also we have altered our travel plans a bit and are skipping lyon to spend more time in paris and relax a bit without rushing around between the two cities. Whenever i can use my own computer with the internet i will post some pictures for your viewing enjoyment!

now its off to relax before the FLAMENCO show tonight!

Besitos!!

HOLA!!!

so we have arrived in spain....it was quite the journey but here we are.

we missed our flight.
they lost our bags.
they wouldnt pay us for our lost bags.
they wouldnt deliver our bags so we had to skip out on siteseeing to go BACK to the airport.
and then my suitcase was kinda broken and rachels was impossible to carry.

merde.

haha whatevs we had fun in madrid even without the museums and bullring being open and then of course new years was insanity! we went to Plaza Sol and celebrated with thousands of other people stuffing out faces with grapes and champagne!

today we took the most miserable train ever (you know in movies where people ride those miserable looking trains in southeast asia where they are getting thrown around in the cars?....well that was us only in europe!) The train seriously felt like it was going to just come apart at any moment and we would be left in the barren spanish countryside.

Now we are in valencia and excited for a busy day of siteseeing and a crazy night out!

bring on the tapas and sangria por favor!