May 30

Like most mornings, I woke up, and went on a walk before starting my day. I actually slept through the night because I shut the blinds and opened the window before falling asleep. Once again, on my walk, I got totally lost and wandered back with the help of google maps. I knew the vicinity that I was in, but I couldn't figure out which way I needed to turn on the road so I kept going in circles. I made it though, and after studying for my exam, our class met up with our teacher for a pre-exam study session.

Aleesia, Jacqueline and I went on a walk later that night to Trafalgar Square and watched the sunset. The plan was to walk to the water, but we didn't make it that far. It wasn't cold out and there were no clouds in the sky, it was so gorgeous. We came back to apartment 14 to play some peanuts, of course, and we let time slip away.

May 29

I got absolutely no sleep on Saturday night. My nose was stuffed and the room was much too hot. I don't think I slept more than 2 hours, total. It was an awful night, and because of this I decided that I would get up at 8:30, because it had already been light out for 4 hours. I went for another walk, I've learned that walking in the city is easier than running. My favorite past time has become walking around the city for about and hour or so, getting lost, and trying to find my way back either with google maps or the signs pointing towards museums, tube stations, or roads that I recognize... It's really fun, until it starts raining, but that's another story.

I came home and made myself some spicy chili, because England has the ingredients to do that, easily. It is really good, if I do say so myself. I tried to lay down for a nap after that, but with my roommates walking in and out of the room so often, it didn't really work.

Around 7 I wanted this really delicious fudge hot chocolate, that I can only find at the Sainsburys Locals, which are larger than Sainsburys, but all the Locals close at 6 on Saturday. I went in search anyways, and ended up lost and empty handed, but I got another walk in, which was good for me. 

Aleesia, Jacqueline and I then bought tour tickets for Ireland, and Jacqueline and I finished our hostels/train plans for the 2nd trip.

May 28

We all slept in as late as we could on Saturday because a lot went on the night before. At 1, Christian, Aleesia, Jacqueline and I decided to take a walk around the city. We headed towards the Southbank and walked over the London Bridge, which is just an average bridge. Seriously, there is nothing special about the London Bridge. We walked along the Thames and ended up at Borough Market at closing time. Aleesia had never been, so we took her through what we could before the shops started closing up. 

Back at the apartments we had an impromptu fam dinner. I made chicken noodle soup, Jacqueline made some garlic bread with bread form the market, and Christian and Aleesia just sat around, but we were using their apartment, that was their contribution. 

While dinner was being made, Aleeisa and Jacqueline started another round of peanuts and they didn't even stop to eat. The game started at 7:22 and didn't end until 9:26, with very few breaks in between. I wouldn't let them stop, and it was one of the most entertaining things I've witnessed in a long time. They were so frustrated. I was really hoping it would get them off their addiction for the game...and it might have.

May 27

On Friday, Aleesia, Emily, Jacqueline, and I walked to Camden Town and explored the town and the various areas of the market. Camden is only 2 miles from us, so the walk wasn't too bad, although, some people thought we were crazy, but it was cheaper than the metro. The Camden Market is so overwhelming. I cannot even begin to explain how many tiny shops are within several little buildings and areas. There are people everywhere and there is not enough space for them all. The food smelled delicious and they served hefty portions.






We took the tube home and we met back up after a few hours. We played cards, of course, watched movies, made popcorn, burnt the popcorn, made more popcorn, went on a Sainsburys run at 10, played ping pong and went on a 2 am Burger King run for Aleesia. Once everyone started to head off for bed, around 4/4:30, it was already light out. It's crazy here!

May 26

My last class of accounting was today! I woke up early to go on a run in celebration of the end of this class. It's just so terrible. My run was great and it really got me hyped up to sit through a 4 hour class.

Nothing exciting happened until 7:30 when about 10 of us walked to Reagents Park to play capture the flag. We didn't have enough people, so it wasn't nearly as fun. We did make up a new rule, though, if you could get a stranger to tag you, you could get out of jail. We did get one man to get Katie and Jack out, but the other team wasn't happy about it...they weren't included in the making of that rule. Overall we had a great time, and we walked back for popcorn, compliments of Jacqueline, and a movie. At some point our mouse, Poppy, started running around our apartment, so we decided this should be the night we catch her. We didn't, but we had fun trying.

May 25

FSU had a day trip planned to visit Hampton Court Palace, where King Henry VIII lived, but the depart time was too early for most of us. Everyone slept in until, at least, noon, except me. I woke up and went for a run, came back, ate, showered and got ready for the day before my friends were even alert. At 1, though, everyone had to leave the building because Christian set off the fire alarm.

At 2 we left for Leicester Square to buy tickets for a show that night. TKTS was selling tickets, half off, on Wednesdays during May. We bought tickets 47 pound tickets to Guys and Dolls for 23 pounds! It was an exciting moment. Then we went to lunch at Nandos, a famous chain restaurant here known for its chicken. We walked around the city a bit more before heading home, because it looked like it was going to rain.

At 6 we left for the show and got home around 11. It was a good production, but the accents were killing me. They were trying to do American accents, NYC style, but ti just didn't seem to be working well together. The Grandfather in the show kept his British accent which, although was out of place, didn't sound as bad, overall, as the guy who played Sky. I also sang every single song, because Jacqueline told me to, "go for it," when I asked if it would bother her. I was that person. I'm becoming Mom.

When I got home my roommates had also just returned from dinner and we watched Burlesque together before going to bed around 2.

May 24

I took my 2nd midterm for my 3 week class today. I did much, much better than I had done previously. My study method worked! I went grocery shopping after class, which was a mistake because it was lunch hour. There were tons of people in the store getting their 3 quid meal. They wanted to be in and out and I was taking too much time actually looking through the aisle. Whatever.

We chilled in our apartment until pizza night started. Then we went back to Aleesia's apartment to plan for Ireland, and then they played more peanuts. Later, and not nearly late enough, a party started in 18 for some kids birthday. It was a lame party, but we were forced to go to make it look bigger. Once the party group left to go out Aleeisa, Jacqueline and I decided to just take a walk.

We ended up following Alayna out the door, because she was drunk and super willing to walk to Soho by herself...we didn't let her do that. It was one of the best nights ever. You learn a lot about people when they are tipsily walking through the streets at 1am. Alayna really enjoys speaking Italian when she's out of it. It was hilarious. No one got hit by a bus, although there were close calls, and we all made it back in one piece. Once we were back in the apartment a lot of random people were walking in and out and we got a lot of "advice" for Tally from some upperclassman.

May 23

Today we had a guest speaker from Deloitte come to our accounting class. She was from Kazakhstan but moved to Orlando in 2001, then moved to London in 2012. She has worked with Deloitte in Florida and they sent her over to teach some of their London teams. The European companies that trade on the NY Stock Exchange don't know all the ins and outs, because they have to follow the American trade laws as opposed to the European ones. It was interesting to hear her story. She's moving back to America in August, because she's tired of being here and her kids being in Florida. It made the class a little more bearable.

After class Aleesia, Jacqueline, and I met up with Alyssa once more before she left. We took a walk down Oxford Street and went shopping. She left around 5 and then I took to studying. I would look over a chapter, for about half an hour, then watch an episode of Full House and continue that to get through all 5 chapters. It was a system that worked out pretty great for me, if I do say so myself.

May 22

Due to the lateness of when we all got to bed last night, we started our morning around 11. I went for a quick run around the study center area and had enough time to shower and get some trail mix before meeting up with Alyssa. We walked to get Chinese food and took it back to Leicester Square to picnic. We played cards, once we got back to the flats, until Alyssa had to leave.

May 21

Jacqueline and I walked to Borough Market around lunch time to see what all the fuss was about. It took s much longer than normal because we detoured through every area of green we saw. We also stopped to watch a really great guitarist on the street in front of The National Gallery. He was so mesmerizing, we stood there for at least 45 minutes. Once we made it, we weren't sure we were in the right spot, but we eventually realized we were just on the outside of it. It is actually a really cool place, but it's so overwhelming. There are food stands with different cuisines, but there is also a fresh market area where we can get fresh fruits, veggies, meat, cheese, and bread. Jacqueline got a salted beef sandwich for lunch, and I had a bite, but it was just like salty roast beef on bread with mustard. It was being sold at most of the stands there, though, so she though it was worth a try.

We walked around the area for a while and to The Shard, before we started to head back. It looked like it was getting ready to rain though, so we hopped on the nearest metro and rode back, which was great because me feet hurt so badly. I went running in the morning, and then we walked another few miles to get to the market. I was exhausted.

We went back to Aleesia's and just hung out until 8, then we met back up later to go out. We left for a pub around 10:30, but we ended up back home at 11:30. It wasn't that exciting, but we did play more cards. Peanuts is really bringing everyone together, it's really interesting. When new people try to join, my friends will start explaining the game to them and I feel like a proud mom.

May 20

We had class this morning, even though it was Friday, and after this class we only have 3 left until the exam. We've been here for 2 weeks and we're almost done with the first session, it's crazy. After class Aleesia, Jacqueline and I went to the park to study. The studying didn't last long because Aleesia kept feeding the pigeons and they were surrounding me. I was not a happy person. We left abruptly and met up with Alyssa in front of our apartments.

We played cards, and played some more cards...it hasn't even been a week, but everyone is obsessed with peanuts. We played cards for about 3 hours before we were told to move out because the guests in the apartments wanted to sleep. It was getting really, really, intense and loud, and we played with 4 decks and 8 people. Alessia and I won. :)

May 19

At 2, after I got out of my class, late, I walked to Hyde Park to eat my lunch. It was a bad decision on my part because the faster route is via Oxford Street which is one of the largest shopping streets in London. There were people everywhere, and they were being super rude, but I'm not going to get into that. It took me an hour to get there, by foot, when Google Maps told me it would take 30 minutes. Once I got there I ate pretty quickly because it looked like it was about to rain. I didn't get to explore much, but I knew it was huge. My friends and I may go back at a alter time, via a different route.

At 6 we left for the Roundhouse, because we had tickets for Poetry Slam! Brooke and I were talking about it one night and we decided to look up events. We bought tickets for 5 pounds and it was so worth it. Aleesia, Jacqueline, Brooke, Brittany and I went. It was the first heat of a competition (That Aleesia, Jacqueline and I will be in Ireland for :(  ) and the second heat is tonight, but it was sold out. It was amazing. The YouTube videos don't do it justice. We saw 14 contestants preform twice, and each of the judges, all with well known shows in London preform. My 3 favorite people made it into the next round, and another that I enjoyed, didn't, but he's already well known, so that could be why. Rachel spoke about how men treat her on the street, Tom spoke about his best friend leaving for the Royal Marines, and Tommy talked about how poetry is not dead, contrary to popular belief. The last man, Joshua, he wrote a poem to his little sister, and he was big and bearded and it was so sweet.

We stopped at a Domino's that was near the tube before heading back, and we ate most of our meal on the way back (the tube was nearly empty, and we were in the back, so we decided it was okay.) Then Aleesia, Christian, and I played peanuts, again, they're obsessed. It was 3 decks, but by game 2, I was tired, so I went back home to sleep and they continued until early in the morning.

May 18

Thankfully our group activity for the day wasn't until 1:15, so I got to sleep in Wednesday morning. We took a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral, and it was National Organ Day, or something weird like that so the organ was being played the entire time we were there. The tour guides were getting frustrated because no one could hear them over it, but the horns in the back of the church went off, which is something that they had never heard before. The horns were put in for a visit from the Queen a few years back and they were so loud they scared her and she demanded that they never be played in presence again because they were so loud.




The tour took about an hour and a half and then Brooke and I climbed to the top of the dome. It wasn't nearly as bad of a climb as St. Peter's in The Vatican, but it was pretty high up there. The spiral staircases had me getting really dizzy, really quick. The view from the top is one of the best views of the city. We went back down and met up with Sean and Kathryn and we went to Starbucks. I got a chocolate marshmallow frappuccino, without coffee, because they make them like milkshakes here, and that's what I wanted. It was only 1.75 pounds! I was so shocked. We just happened to come during happy hour, half off frappuccinos from 3-5 until May 22nd. We stayed in Starbucks talking and staying warm and dry for a few hours then we parted ways. The 3 of them were going to the Globe Theatre to watch "The Taming of the Shrew." I would have gone too, as it was with FSU, but you have to stand outside for 3 hours while the show goes on...rain or shine. I was cold already and I knew it was going to rain later, so I skipped out on this one, and I have no regrets. It sounded like it was miserable.

Some of them came back early, because it was gross outside. They came back to our apartment to watch "10 Things I Hate About You," which is based off of TTOTS. While all of this was going on, Brittany decided they needed popcorn. She set off the fire alarm. She didn't just burn the popcorn, it was on fire for a few seconds. Everyone that was home at the time had to evacuate the building and walk across the street before we were given the all-clear. This was super strange to those of us from Valencia, because when a fire alarm went off there, nobody moved, we never went outside. This was an experience.

May 17 23:21

Everyone had just left to go out to the clubs, after pre-gaming in the apartment next door. Both Jacqueline and myself decided that tonight was not a night that we wanted to go out...especially because you have to pay here, and a lot of FSU students were going. We told Aleesia we'd go out on Saturday. We were also told we didn't miss much. Instead of going out, I got a message from Jacqueline asking if I wanted to go see X-Men the Apocalypse. I said yes, of course, even though I can't remember anything from the past X-Men movies that I saw way back when. I got out of my pajamas and we walked to the midnight premier of X-Men. The movie doesn't come out in America until May 27th, so I was feeling extra excited. We didn't get home until 3 am, and Jacqueline fell asleep during the movie, but I stayed up the WHOLE time. It was a great night. I was so stoked.

May 17

Today I took my accounting exam, which I didn't think went too badly, but I have since found out I was mistaken. After the exam we took a tour of the financial district of London aka The City of London. It's a square mile of every huge financial/insurance firm/company in London. This tour went over in time, and therefore made us late for our free lunch back at FSU. The tour was nice, but one of our staff lead us around, because she majored in English History, but she was really quiet and it started getting cold as the morning went on. We metro-ed it back to FSU and got in to the lunch thing as we were comparing European study centers, so we chatted with the directors and faculty, and ate cookies. The only food left were eggs sandwiches, or unappetizing looking barbecue veggie like ones.

I made chicken noodle soup, and I made enough stock and chicken to freeze for later, which is a great thing. Then Jacqueline met up with Alyssa (a now senior who was in Valencia in the Spring with us) who is staying in London for a week before heading to Italy, then back to Valencia and onto Paris for her fall semester. We took her to Tesco for alcohol and chocolate and came back to my place to play cards. We played peanuts, and we taught Brooke how to play but we were interrupted by pizza night. We left Alyssa in our apartment to get pizza, and we brought her back a box, because they always have left overs. Then we played another 5 rounds of peanuts, me and Alyssa vs. Jacqueline and Aleesia, before we swapped out Brooke for Jacqueline, because they lost all 5 games. I can't remember how many games we played after that, but at one point we added in a third deck with 6 people...a game which Alyssa and I won. It was a great night.

May 16

Monday started with exam review in accounting. It wasn't anything spectacular, but overall I felt I paid attention better. Then Jacqueline, Aleesia and I went shopping for food, face wash, and 4-function calculators (because our graphing calculators will help us so much with our adding in accounting).

Once we got back Aleesia and I headed back out to Tesco, BECAUSE TESCO IS AMAZING, and we stocked up on popcorn, nuts, Ben and Jerry's (for 2.50 Pounds) and more cheap food. It also has the 2 for 80 pence deal going with the candy, so it's the go-to for the candy craving now. Then we separated and I went for a very long run to the park and whatnot. She went to the gym. When we finished our activities we met up and went to Sports Direct to get Aleesia and new sports bra...because the High Intensity Teacher suggested she would be more comfortable with a new one. I got her hooked on Adidas. I'd be a great sales rep.

Later on over half our accounting class had a study session in the conservatory until 11. It was a good time. There was studying going on, but it also brought us closer.

Cornwall

May 13

We started off great with a 7:15am bus and seats to ourselves (my friends, at least). They had told us that they were not going to provide breakfast, but, they lied. They passed back breakfast bars, fruit, bagels, and water for us. We drove for 2 hours before our fist stop and the entire time I spent frozen. It was warmer outside than it was on the bus. Being frozen led me to buying some Costa hot chocolate for the bus ride, but we got the driver to shut off the air...for an hour or so, until he turned it on again. I slept for the second leg of the morning route and then we stopped for lunch and headed towards the Tintagel Castle, which is really just the ruins of the castle. We were there for 3 hours, which was at least an hour too long. There wasn't much to do but see the ruins and stare at the coast from the cliffs. Our pedometer did let us know that we did about 54 flights of stairs, just by climbing back up to the city where to the bus. We got back on the bus then and drove to the hostel, yes hostel. We were spoiled in Spain with 4 star hotels and we took advantage of them...we have since learned to appreciate our Valencia program. 

That night a group of us had dinner at a Greek restaurant in the city. Aleesia and Jacqueline made us go because "Greek food is the best." It was my first experience and it was delicious. I may have been more excited had I been in Greece, but I'll make it one day. The man that owned the place was from Greece, and he had us sign a guest book because we were from America. We walked back to the hostel and took over one of the tables in front of the bar. We played BS, hearts, and ERS until a little after midnight.

May 14

We walked to breakfast, about 10 minutes from our hostel and got a little lost. We made it, however, and we were served and English breakfast, but it was a really, really sad attempt at a real English breakfast. I had so much better when Dara and I were in London, so I'm taking mis amigas there. Once we finished with breakfast it was time for the water sports activities. We had the chance to surf, paddle board or kayak. Aleesia, Jacqueline and I all chose to kayak and we were in the second wave of people. We were supposed to meet at 10, and we did, outside, in 50 degree weather, wearing little clothing and bathing suits. Aleesia actually started to use her towel as  blanket because we were outside for 40 minutes before they told us we could go inside and wait. We only waited inside, though, for 10 minutes before walking down to the beach. It then took us 10 minutes to get to the beach and half an hour to get wet suits and put them on. By the time we got into the kayaks and in the water we had about half an hour of time left. We had to catch our bus at 2, so that meant we had to be done by 1 so we could get back, shower, and eat. The guy took us into a cave, and when all 10 of us were in there with the kayaks he tells us to turn around and go back, which was not easy. The cave was really small and the waves were pushing us farther into the cave and we were all facing inward. 

Once back on land we stopped for a meal deal somewhere for lunch, in our towels and flipflops. I showered really quickly at the hostel then we hopped back on the bus to go to St. Ives. The bus ride was only an hour long. There wasn't much to do because it's a beach town and it was chilly. There were local stores, and we got free fudge! It reminded me a lot of Put-n-Bay. This city is known for its clotted cream so on our way back from the dog beach (where we spent most of our time) we stopped at a cafe for a scone with jam and clotted cream. It was amazing. The scone was warm and the jam was homemade and the cream was a lot like a butter, but it's really hard to explain, it was just super great.

We got back to the hostel and the wifi wasn't working, so, of course, we left for dinner. For whatever reason Jacqueline and Aleesia were missing fried chicken, so we tried to find a place with chicken tenders, chicken burgers, etc. There were about 5 restaurants to choose from, the Greek place, a Thai place, a Chinese place, and English place, and an Irish Pub. We figured the pub would be good, because fried chicken is pub food, kinda. We walked in at 7:30 and they had already stopped serving food. What?! These people are insane. We left, and walked to Tesco, because maybe it's like Walmart and has pre-made fried chicken. It didn't. It did, however, have a 2 for 80 pence on candy, which included packs of Reese's with 3. So, 6 Reese's for 80 pence. Aleesia was stoked and Jacqueline actually came back the next day with others to stock up. 

On our way back from Tesco we ran across a fish and chips take-away place and they had fried chicken. We got 5 chicken strips and fries for 5 Pounds. It was a great deal. We took it back to the hostel to eat and we started a trend. Other FSU people went for fish and chips and came back with this HUGE piece of fish, they all could've split 2 between the 4 of them, it was that big. 

We went us to Jacqueline's room, and Aleesia and I brought our blankets with us so we laid on her full size bed to watch a movie. (Jacqueline's bed was a bunk bed, but it was a twin on top and a full on the bottom, and because the 5th person in the room didn't come, she got it to herself.) The wifi wasn't working, but Aleesia had National Treasure 2 on her phone, so we laid in Jacqueline's bed and watched that, while eating our 80 pence chocolates, until she started falling asleep, in which case we left. 

Aleesia and I were in a room with Nicole and Emily, her roommates back in London. Emily had gone out for the night, and Nicole went to the pub for a while. We had just turned the lights off when Nicole walked in and instead of going to bed at midnight, it was more like 1:30 because we stayed up talking about Florence/Valencia and it's always interesting comparing the two. 

May 15

We decided to sleep in and skip breakfast on Sunday, because it wasn't worth getting up early. We got on the buses and half an hour later we stopped at a park/estate for 3 hours. THREE HOURS. They're trying to kill us. We could walk through a house on the estate and walk through the gardens/multiple pathways throughout the park, but that was it. I just wanted to get back to London. Jacqueline, Aleesia, Christian and myself walked around for about an hour and a half until we decided to sit and play cards. We were surrounded by people, so we needed a game that wasn't that intense. I taught them peanuts and they love it. We played the entire rest of the time. Aleesia and Jacqueline were really getting into it, they were partners, and it was really entertaining. Christian and I were a little slow, because it's hard to try and watch everything going on at once, but we did win 2/3, so, there's that. We got back on the bus and they wanted to continue playing cards...which was a little impossible due to the small tray tables and 2 people being in front of the other 2. Aleesia tried to play Solitaire, which lasted about 5 minutes, then her and Brooke, played war between the seats. Brooke and I were in front of Aleesia and Christian so Brooke would be turned around and they'd be passing cards to one another over the seat. That also didn't last long. 

We ended up in London around 8:30 and our first stop was to the computer lab to print off our homework. Aleesia and I tried 3 different computers and none of them were connected to the printer. Thankfully, Darren, our IT guy, went on the trip with us so he was in the building, but he just kept telling us to use different computers. Christian finally came down and got us onto a computer he once printed something from, and that one had the printer as an option, but it still wasn't working. Once Darren reset the server everything was okay and we took our accounting homework to their apartment. 

It took us an hour to get through one of the practice exam problems. There was so much stuff to do and Aleesia and Christian were going really fast, but I think I have it figured out now. I really hate accounting. I hate this class. I don't ever want to be an accountant. It sucks. Once we finished the homework I went back to my place to Skype with Mom and Dad, and Christian and Aleesia, I learned this morning, played peanuts after I left. They asked me how the score worked again because Christian won once, but the second time Aleesia made it 46 in the hole and Christian wasn't far behind until they gave up. They didn't think that, that was possible. 

May 12

After class Aleesia, Jacqueline, and I picnic-ed at the park. I packed a sandwich, but I bought chips at the store, and my choice was potato chips with sea salt and peppercorn. I didn't even realize at first, but once I got to the park I laughed because I think if they had, had those when Grandma was alive, sh would have loved them. It was gorgeous outside, a perfect 78 degrees and sunny, which we haven't had in a few days. It was really, really nice. It really made me appreciate my friends and my time here. We stayed at the park, tanning, reading, napping, etc., for 2 hours until returning back to FSU.

Once I got home I took off for a run. I didn't want to walk all the way back to the park to run and have to walk back though. I, instead, walked until I found a less busy sidewalk, in which case I would start running. This continued for about 45 minutes, and I really think it worked. I have also learned, in my week here, to walk on the correct side of the pathway (hint: it's the left side).

Later, around 8, I went up to Jacqueline's apartment and 6/7 of us played cards for a few hours. We started off with Egyptian Rat Screw, we got sensible with Hearts, and back to insanity with Spoons. It was so much fun, it was wild. We had to break the night at 11, because we're going to Cornwall tomorrow and we all had to pack.

My Apartment

Brooke's bed

My bed (on left) and Brittany's

Kitchen

Living Room-ish area

Reid and Griffin's room across the hall
The bathroom (right) and the shower (left)

The bathroom, separate from the shower 

May 11

We didn't have classes today so we ventured to Leavesden, the home of the Harry Potter films. We toured through the sets, saw the props, and looked at everything that went on in the background of each movie. It was so awesome! I wouldn't say that I would pay as much as FSU did, with my own money, but, it was pretty cool. It takes, on average, about 3 hours to get through, insane, right? I took tons of photos and videos, but they're all on my phone, and it's late...maybe later. 

When we got back I took a nap, because I've been exhausted lately. However, I was delayed in my napping so Brittany could vent to me and Jacqueline about Lia. I miss them. It felt like home, hearing everything that is going on between them. We thought they'd be fine until, at least the middle of the summer, but, we were wrong, things are cracking early. I just mentioned this, but, I miss them.

Later I went for a walk around the city and then back to the patio to do my homework. Jacqueline came down a little later, because we were supposed to Facetime Brittany and Lia, which didn't happen, but we weren't shocked. We talked with one of the grad students here, who is an aspiring actor. Jacqueline and I were glad to find out there was a grad program here, because there are a ton of people here who look too old to be here. They are. It's a little weird.

May 10

Breakfast was, yet again, amazing this morning. My class seems to put me to sleep, but it goes by much quicker than my 3 hour classes in Valencia did.

Jacqueline and I were supposed to walk to the park, a different one from yesterday, and have a picnic, but, it's London, and the weather is sucky. It's raining. Instead I went with Aleesia and got fish and chips at a cute little restaurant near us. It was highly rated on Trip Advisor, so, it was great. I don't like fish, and I still don't, but it was bearable for this particular reason. It was HUGE, the portions at this place were HUGE. It was great.

I have since done some homework and booked a hotel for Luxembourg.

Tonight was also pizza night at the study center! They give us a bomb breakfast and they give us pizza once a week. London is pretty great, if I do say so myself. Our apartment got 2 extra pizzas, whole pizzas, we now have lunch for the whole week.

After pizza and a meeting about our upcoming Cornwall trip, Aleesia, Jacqueline and I went for a walk to Reagents Park. I had to get my steps in, so we walked the long way and through the entire park, and then back around to get home. It was a nice night walk, we did a lot of comparing of London to Valencia and Florence, from what we've heard. London is pretty great, but, I think, overall, Valencia takes the cake, but I'm a little biased.

May 9

Today I woke up for breakfast, which I had been told was much better than Valencia's, it is. They had juice, coffee, bagels, pastries (real kind, not in plastic packaging), oatmeal, and fruit, it was a magical morning. Then I had my first, and only class of this session. I'll have accounting for 4 weeks, and then switch classes. There are only 13 of us in the class, so the professor had us go around and introduce ourselves. She didn't know about the FYA program, and was shocked that the majority of us had never had classes in Tally. This was an impromptu trip for her, as our original teacher's mom fell sick, and she had never been to London before. Also, she's from Dayton and graduated, and taught at OSU for 20 years. This will be her 12th year teaching at FSU and I guess her, and her husbands, Ohio State flag still flies in Tallahassee. He refuses to take it down, of course. She thought it was great that I was from Ohio. It was a fun class.

Later I went food shopping, for real food this time, food items that would last longer than a day. I made myself a wrap in hopes of walking to the park and eating it there, but my flatmates were watching the 3rd Harry Potter movie, so I stayed longer. I did end up walking to the park, about 30 minutes away, and it's HUGE! It was just much larger than I expected. It was a gorgeous day, well, it's been a gorgeous week. The high has been in the high 70/80s since I got here, today, however, we got our first bit of rain. It didn't last too long, and it wasn't that bad. The Londoners had told us not to get use to the nice weather.

Tonight we went as a group to see Kinky Boots. I didn't really have much expectations going into the show, but it was hilarious. It got us excited for what was to come in London. My friends are now in the musical mode and want to see as many as they can while they're here. I've been pushing Guys and Dolls for the past few days.

May 8

We took a panoramic tour of London in the afternoon. We had a guide on our bus and we stopped at St. Paul's and Westminster for photos. We drove through the financial district and saw where Sweeny Todd's Barber Shop would be located. We saw the church, with the bells, that Scrooge heard on Christmas Eve. We also drove past Diagon Alley and Gringots Bank (The Australian Embassy).

After the tour Jacqueline (who goes by Taylor here) and I went to the store for toilet paper. They were about to close and some guy comes running up the aisles screaming for everyone to finish and leave...I could understand it, and I was still scared. He was very loud. If I had been in Spain, I'd have been absolutely terrified. 

After the store we ate dinner and around 9:30 went in search of ice cream. Of course, nothing is open at 9:30pm on a Sunday, but we did end up finding a convenience store that was open until 11. We explored a bit, but we didn't get lost, because Aleesia was there...Jacqueline and I would've gotten lost. Everything worked out though.

I got back around 11 and called Mom for Mother's Day, even though, in the UK Mother's Day was March 6th. We talked for about an hour and a little while afterward we were all in bed because we had class early in the morning.

May 7

We had another meeting at 10am this morning, which was a lot like our Valencia orientation, but they were much easier to understand. The director here likes to talk, a lot, she was telling us all kind of stories from students here to her first American experience. She was telling us about a store, like a CVS, that offered a sandwich, drink and a snack for £3, ~$4.50, Brooke, Emily (was in Valencia first semester and Panama the second), Reid, Christian, Aleesia, and Brittany ate at a small park down the road. Some of them went off for coffee at the bookstore we went to yesterday (which I forgot to write about). It's 3 stories and has a cafe in the basement. It's cute. I went shopping though, for food and shampoo and whatnot.

We went to another meeting in the afternoon and got done around 5. Aleesia's apartment has become the meeting spot for us, but the doors can't stay open, so we have to knock every time we want to enter. It's really annoying. Around 7 we left to find food and go up the London Eye, with our "free" tickets from FSU. The most exciting part about The Eye this time was the couple 2 bubbles ahead of us. It was the 2 of them and one worker from The Eye, in their own bubble, with champagne, and it was obviously a plan for a proposal. We assumed it would be once they were to the top, and it was, but we couldn't see them. We did, however, see the women in the bubble next to them jump up and down, hands to their mouths, watching whatever happen, happen, and then they started clapping. It was an exciting moment.

After we got off of The Eye, we started walking towards the food trucks, or, where the food trucks once were. Apparently, England is nothing like Spain and people stop serving food by 10. What? We ended up finding take-away pizza, which wasn't that bad, and it was something (cheap).

*UPDATE 1:49 AM* Reid has just reentered the apartment screaming, "I hate this! I want to go back home, to Spain!" Because the clubs here close at 1:30-2 am on a Saturday night, as opposed to opening at 1:30-2 am on a Saturday night. It's day #2 and those of us that have come from Spain have yet to embrace our new cultural difference.

May 6

In the past two weeks I moved from Valencia to London, packed and unpack my suitcase, packed up my bedroom at home, and Jake and I split up.

The plane ride from Detroit to Toronto was a little nerve wracking. It was a small plane that held no more than 50 people, the flight itself was about 45 minutes, and I could feel everything that was happening. The layover in Toronto was terrible. I had 3 hours of time to kill, but I was secluded to the international departure area, which was not that large. There were free charging stations and access to iPads, which was really neat, but it wasn't enough. I didn't eat anything but some goldfish and cereal on Wednesday and I refused to pay $14 for a sandwich at the Toronto airport, it was my cheapest option, so I didn't really eat.

I slept for most of the flight, which was a God send, but I was awoken for a slice of banana bread, my breakfast (what?). I ate then nodded off again, and finally arriving an hour later. It took about an hour to get through customs and then another 15 minutes to get to the terminal where FSU was. I missed the 11:30 pick-up time and arrived at noon. The next pick-up was scheduled for 1:30. At 1:30 we were told the bus was an hour away, due to traffic. At 2:30 we were told it would be another 25 minutes. At 3 it would be 15 minutes. We finally got on the bus at 3:30 and headed towards the study center. The, what should have been, hour drive took about 2 hours and we arrived at 5:30, and hour and a half after the meeting started. We had our own shortened meeting and then I went to unpack. I'm in a flat with all FYA, I was in Valencia with Reid and Brittany, one of my roommates, and my other roommate, Brooke, came from Panama.

A group of us left around 9 to walk to Piccadilly. Dara and I went when we were here, and my phone was very close to death, so, no pictures. We didn't get too lost, and we found our way back, so that was good. Then I came back and crashed.