"Oooh, Champs-Elysees"

Last weekend was spent in the beautiful city of Paris. A city of grandeur, of history, of fashion, and of passion. The weekend was a bit more stressful than I would have desired it to be, but looking past that, it was a weekend of memories and bathing in the pulsing energy France offers.

The trip was originally optional, but who's not going to go to Paris?? So the whole group piled onto the Eurostar, an extremely fast train, and went into the English Channel into the land called France. I keep getting excited whenever I go to a new country here, because that means another stamp in my passport:) Anyways, when we arrived, each mini group broke off to go to their separate hostels, that were unfortunately spread out all over the city. Sarah, Leslie, the Katies and I all headed over to the Rive Gauche side of Paris and dropped our stuff off at the 3 Ducks Hostel. Sounds kinda lame, but the hostel was in great location and was really cheap. The bathrooms were HORRIBLE though. I've never had the feeling of being more gross after I shower than before...the beds were really squeaky, which was more funny than annoying, and the security was a bit sketch. But everything worked out. Even Sam, who was in a hostel alone, got the extra bed in our room. We had a quick, but great lunch at the Cafe near the hostel, and I spoke my first conversation in French. No one else in my group knew any, so it was so much fun actually getting to speak french, in France. It was cool how much I remembered, sad how much I forgot.

The Friday was planned out already for us, since

Jay and Rachel, two professors, came with us and wanted to show us around. So our first stop was the Musee D'Orsay, which we were a bit late for. This museum was beautiful, and breathed Paris elegance both inside and out. We looked at the Impressionist exhibit, where I got to see Claude Monet, Seurat, Renoir, and my childhood favorite, Edward Degas. I also saw the saddest statue I think I've ever seen, called L'esclave by Ernest Christophe. I don't know why, but it just struck me with grief when I saw it, and I've never been overwhelmed with emotion

like that before, since I've never really been

much into art. Other people might not see anything, but for some reason I do. Before leaving the museum,I picked up a bottle of my favorite drink, Orangina!! I swear, I could live on that stuff.

We then walked along the Seine (so pretty!) to get to the world's most famous cathedral: Notre Dame. I found Notre Dame to be big,

beautiful, and emotional. It has been around for hundreds of years, and is still standing. It's a reminder of the devotional that people had all that time ago to built something that could be possibly worthy enough to worship the Lord in. Inside the cathedral, you can still feel that passion, devotion and love. I feel like we're losing that raw emotion nowadays, and it was breathtaking and awing to be in that feeling.
Also, so many of us girls were wearing stripes that day:) Trying to blend in much?

Visiting the Louvre next was just as amazing! It is such a unique building, and is somewhat the definition of French innovativeness and beauty. I was also having multiple Da Vinci Code flashbacks...like the Madonna on the Rocks painting on the right. After taking a bunch of photos, we went inside and saw a Michelangelo

sculpture, a Cupid and Psyche sculpture Ireally liked, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa of course, and others. For dinner, we took the Met over to the Clichy area and had a WONDERFUL dinner (some of the best salmon I've ever had) and wine rose and blanc in these mini pitchers:) L'addition was a bit high but it was worth it. We were also just a 10 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower, so we walked over right after. It would have been nice if there hadn't been vendors shoving Eiffel Tower keychains in my face. Seriously in my face. Rude.But anyways, JMU payed for us to go to the top of the Tower, so we got into line and took the elevator to the second floor. Leslie and I had to go to the bathroom bad. Really bad. So we waited in line for FOREVER and almost didn't make it, because they temporarily closed it for service. But after that debacle, we got to go to the very top and by that time it was dark, but still beautiful. And the lights went off as we were up

there, the perfect ending to night 1.

Saturday we woke up early (I washed my hair in the sink, ugh) and had a quick breakfast, a croissant and oj, then I had hot chocolate a little later. Then we walked

over to the Centre Pompidou. Rachel and Jay talked about this modern art building for a bit. It looked like a giant cruise ship/ant farm. We didn't go in because it was a bit expensive and we're all kind of museumed out. We headed back over to the Eiffel Tower and sat on the lawn on the North side of it and talked about how symbolic it was. I like it, even though it doesn't have much meaning to it. For lunch I had a wonderful omelette; I will miss French cheese at home. Katie, Sam, and I then took a mini nap on the lawn, so nice. When we met up, we got on a boat nearby and went on a boat cruise on the Seine!

It was nice and relaxing on the boat, and we got to see a lot of French buildings, the Notre Dame again, and listen to French music. We all got amazing ice cream when we debarked as well:) (Sorry I use so many smiles...I think use them a bit too much..oh well:)) The picture on the left is of us walking again along the Seine, this time to the Met to get to Montemarte. There we saw the Moulin Rouge, the giant red windmill about the cabaret designed by Toulouse!!! There was also a giant vent outside of the Moulin, probably in dedication to Marilyn Monroe, so we had a lot of fun taking pictures on that.

Saying goodbye to the Moulin, we walked over to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur, a gorgeous white temple overlooking the whole city of Paris. We had an incredible panoramic view of the city. The stairs to get up there were a hike, but it was all worth it when we went inside. It was just as moving as Notre Dame; I might have even liked this one better. It was simpler than Dame, and quieter. After being inside for a while, we watched this crazy amazing soccer guy outside, who could kick around a soccer ball while hanging from a lightpost...

We left Montemarte, staying on the Rive Droite side, to go to Champs-Elysees (like the American Rodeo Drive). We stopped to take pictures at the Arc de Triomphe, before Katie and I ran to try to get a reservation for dinner, since it was already 8. We ate at Veslac, this Italian restaurant on the Champs-Elysees at sundown, SO NICE. The food was awesome, (I had this amazing shrimp/avocado starter, then tortellini) and Sarah and

I shared some wine rouge, Saumur Champigny.

Another expensive dinner, which means thank goodness I have a mini job this summer or that wouldn't be happening. After dinner we walked to the Eiffel Tower again (then ran around for 15 minutes desperately searching for a bathroom, kind of the theme for the trip). We sat on the lawn to enjoy a night simply in front of the Tower with friends, but things went a bit downhill...won't get into that but it wasn't pretty. It was almost a good ending to a great day.

Sunday we got to go to Versailles!!!!!!!!!! I have always wanted to see it, and it was so nice to see it for real, and not just pictures in the history book. We saw the palace, State apartments, Hall of Mirrors, sculptures, and incredible paintings. We also got in for free since we're students, so

we waited in line for 45 minutes for no reason to get tickets.....But then we bought tickets for the gardens, which were absolutely incredible!! We had a sweet, relaxing lunch of panini's on a bench in the shade. Can't life be like this everyday? When we were walking around later Sarah and I got this weird pineapple sorbet that made our mouths set on fire...it was strange.

We saw the river, the Trianon's, the Orangery, Bacchus fountain, mirror fountain, tons of groves, the Love temple, and even more fountains (Sarah saw her first fountain show!). Except all the fountains were green, and that wasn't too pretty. We walked all the way out to Marie Antoinette's Hamlet, which was unreal. Living proof of where all the money was going during the French Revolution. It looked so surreal, like it was dropped out of Disneyland. See the picture below:) We grabbed a few souvenirs on the way out of Versailles. We took the train back to Paris and grabbed dinner at another cafe near the hostel. There were 7 of us, and 5 out of the seven got cheeseburgers. Such Americans. Bennett and I got fish that was again amazing. Then some guy said I looked french as we were checking out of the hostel, woo!! And we were all dead on our feet the rest of the day, and passed out on the train home. Au Revoir et Bon Soir Paris.

Quote of the Day: Sarah H~ "What's a fountain show? A show with fountains?"

Hazelnuts & Rainstorms

HI. Sorry I haven't written in forever. Things are getting crazier here now since we're getting closer and closer to the end. This post is of last week's adventures, and I'll try to have France up soon! Oh, and I apologize for my lack of editing and poor sentence structure. I've been going back and noticing it's not that great... I'll try to make it better in the future. Keywords: I'll try.

Finally a musical!! Monday we went to see 'Enron' at the Noel Coward theatre. I was hoping it would have been more musical-esque, but it was a straight play with some choreographed scenes and two group songs. It was interesting to see because it was about the fall of Enron, and had British people playing Americans and Texans. Haha :( The acting was terrible; not at all what I expected from a West End show. We had an understudy for the lead and he did alright, but that meant we had two other swings in as well, so maybe the whole show just wasn't at the top of its game. But the two musical numbers were great. The lighting, the electronic projections, the Arnold Schwarzenegger reference, and the monologues were also really good.

This past week for our Media&Society outing we took a trip to the outskirts of London, to a place I never would have thought to go. We went to the London Greek radio 103.3 FM, toured the studio, and talked to the broadcasters and owner. This station is the city’s number one hit music station that does Greek music, events, community news, global news, and more. I thought it was really great to take this quick tour, since I have never seen the inside of a radio station before. It felt like a community inside the building itself; everyone worked together in close quarters to give London an authentic piece of themselves and their culture.

That night we were exposed to more culture with the viewing of the movie 'Four Lions' at the Odeon. It was a funny, thrilling comedy that tells a story about a group of modern jihads. It was pretty funny...until the bird blew up. Then it was all downhill from there.

In Art we went to the Courtald museum, and saw a lot of Impressionist paintings. The one to the left was done by pointillism artist Seurat, who did this piece and many others completely in dots of random colors. We also saw Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh again. After the group meeting later that day, a group of people decided to go out to Piccadilly Circus to eat dinner and I decided to go with them, even though I'd already eaten. It was a bit stressful finding a place to eat, since there were 8 of us and no one had made a reservation. So we split up into 2 groups, and Genevieve, Katie T, and Katie H went to this wonderful Italian restaurant on Regent Street. I didn't get dinner, but I tried the others, and it was amazing:) Genevieve and I also split Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream at the end too, which was GREAT.

That night there was a major rainstorm. Nice, but I got about 3 hours of sleep. Hooray for being such a light sleeper...Thursday morning I ran a few errands, grabbed a few souvenirs and gifts, and got my old keys back (I temporarily misplaced them and it almost cost me 30 pounds)! I think the guy at Starbucks and I are becoming friends since we are now on recognizing and long chats basis. Then it was off to Blog class, where today we were set to go on an outing to the London Design Museum.

The Design museum was made up lots of innovative creations. There were objects there for design, fashion, saving the world, or new ways of living. Each object had a reason, then a unique form for its function. There were light fixtures, like the above left, that had a repeated design of plastic plates in order to

create one unity of light with multiple reflections. There were modern beehives shape

d like boxes rather than hives, to adapt to the changing need to preserve more bees. Form fits function. The picture up right was a solar-powered stove that was easily transportable and could boil water just by using the suns rays in minutes. The picture on the left was a 'Houdini' chair that was comfortable, although it doesn't look it, and has arm rests, although they aren't visible. Form fits function. The picture on the right is the future motorcycle. There were also glasses that allowed you to draw with your eyes, the first electronic bicycle, insanely high heels, better house designs for those in hurricane areas, creepy stimulated pandas, and a small electronic airplane motor. I was also quite fascinated by this abacus below. Each bead was a light that you could slide across the wire to make up words or pictures. This took me a while and my arm was a bit sore, but it was worth it:)

From there, we decided not to go all the way back home because we were going to be seeing a show at the Globe that night. So Ingrid, Dylan, Jackson, and I walked to Pizza Express and had a great dinner, ending with awesome Hazelnut gelato on the river. Then we became groundlings leaning against the stage at the replica of Shakespeare's Globe theatre.

Henry IV was a comic play and the acting was great! It was different having to stand for so long and be so close to the actors at some points, but it turned out to be a great experience!

Song of the Day: "Let's Get Lost" by Beck and Bat for Lashes

Week 5ish?

Monday morning I got back from Amsterdam, which took 5 hours and 8 different points of transportation: car, train, airport, plane, airport, shuttle, train, tube, walking. It was pretty boring...but I made it back before class even with a 45 minute delay on my flight. After class, which we had in the park since it was lovely outside, we all went back to the flat and watched 'Shakespeare in Love', to prepare us for seeing 'Romeo and Juliet' later in the week. I had seen a few clips of the movie before randomly, but never the whole thing. It was funny and cute:) Favorite lines: "I know something of a woman in a man's profession. Yes, by God, I do know about that." (Queen Elizabeth) and "This is not life, Will. It is a stolen season." (Viola).

Tuesday, for our class outing we went to the Saatchi Gallery, a

contemporary art gallery in the upscale part of London. I don't see too much in the really creative pieces of art or understand it, but there were many pieces here that I appreciated and was intrigued by. For instance this room, on the right, was a room that was an entire optical illusion. It looks like a black floor when you first look at it, then it looks like a giant pool, and you are seeing what's below the black water. But it is actually a giant pool of oil, and it is a reflection of the room and ceiling that you are seeing! There was also a cool room made up of 300 speakers, experimenting with the feel, projection, and mixing of sound. The gallery was eye-opening, since I hardly get to see art like that a lot.

Tuesday night, we watched the second to last World Cup game between the Netherlands and Uruguay at Weatherspoons, which seems almost routine now! The Netherlands won wooo and gets to go to the finals, which I'm sure Emma and her family back in Laren are happy about. In art on Wednesday we went to the Tate Britain, and looked at a lot of Britain's (possibly) most gifted painters, Turner. His paintings were incredible, full of color, expression, and vision that made Turner one of the best.

Thursday morning, I met up with my friend from home, Shelby! She has a nannying job here in London this summer, so we finally got a chance to get together while we're both here! We met in the station and went to Kings Cross, just to see Platform 9 and 3/4's, a touristy thing they added for all of the Harry Potter fans:) We then shopped around Oxford Street a bit (I took her to Primark again, that insane department store!), then got some Pret to-go (we both had these wonderful Falafel wraps), and ate in a park near the Marble Arch. It was great to see and catch up with her for a bit!

After saying goodbye to Shelby, I met back up with the group and we all boarded a big bus for Stratford. Sarah and I sat in the back so we had a lot of room to stretch out. The two hour drive passed quickly since I read the play "Look Back In Anger", homework for our theatre class, and listened to music, even dancing a little when Sarah and I got bored near the end of the drive. We arrived at the super cute Craig Cleeve Bed and Breakfast. Sarah and I's bathroom light didn't work, so it was somewhat difficult showering in the dark. I have a bruise on my foot to prove it. We didn't have much time before we had to be at the theatre, so we all went to dinner at this really awful place that charged me a pound for tap water. It was probably the worst food I've had since I've been here. At least Stratford-upon-Avon was really pretty, and I enjoyed walking near the river.


We sauntered over to the Courtyard theatre (the Swan was being renovated) and watched 'Romeo and Juliet', put on by the infamous Royal Shakespeare Company. It was an interesting show: everyone was dressed in the Shakespearian style, except for the main couple Romeo and Juliet. Modern props and effects like bikes, cameras, fog, fire, projections, mars bars, etc, were used to give the play a more contemp feel and message. Even the dancing was really strange; it was a mix sort-of between Bollywood, Russian, and European style. I didn't really enjoy the first half much, since we were up on the third floor in an awkward spot. I noticed during the first act that there were four open seats down on the first floor though, in the second row (highly unusual, since most performances were sold out). So our theatre professor generously saved two of the seats during intermission, since no one was going to show, and Sarah and I got to watch the second half from there. It was SO much better! We felt way more involved, and could see the actors a lot better. Thank you Professor Fox! After the play, we were extremely lucky and got to have a talk-back with the crazy actor who played Mercutio. He was open and willing to share, giving us the inside on working with the director, being a part of the show, and inspirations for his character. But he did seem somewhat...crazy or cracked out a bit. Shelia, our teacher, even mentioned that he was speaking to us through a "Coke haze" and apologized, but we still thought he was great. After he left the B&B, most of us crashed, and Sarah and I had girl talk for almost two hours!

The next morning, I had a HUGE but delicious breakfast (I wasn't hungry until 4ish), including traditional poached eggs on toast! That was a treat after bad bowls of cereal I've had for a while...We then hopped back on the bus for a tour of Stratford-upon-Avon, on which we saw Trinity Church (Shakespeare's resting place), a tarp that was supposedly hiding the real Chitti Chitti Bang Bang, and Anne Hathaway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife). The cottage was surrounded by thousands of beautiful flowers,

and woods to walk around in. The house

itself was simple, and I think we all

enjoyed running around in the fields, walking through tunnel trellis's, lying on the picnic benches, and going through the gift shop more.

We ended at Shakespeare's home and birthplace in downtown Stratford. Ryan, Katie, and I split a piece of amazing carrot cake, which we've been craving since we've been here, and Sarah and I walked around the shops before we left (I bought some tea for my mom finally at Whittard's). We got back on the bus and drove again, this time to Oxford. There we took a two hour tour of the beautiful 'University', when it's more like a complicated college, and had a wonderful cafe dinner and Cadbury milkshake before we left for home.

Saturday morning, I did a totally spur of the moment and random event called Big Dance 2010. The city had dedicated this whole past week to dance, and this was the big finale, that was free to whoever wanted to participate. So I went out to the South Bank Centre at 10am and registered. There were five different groups you could sign up to be in and each group learned a different dance. Each group represented a different hub of London, as well as a continent, and that inspired your dance. There was Africa (in yellow), Americas (green), Asia (purple), Europe (red), and Australasia (light blue). I learned the dance for the Australasia group because it looked the most fun:) We rehearsed a bit and learned the finale, then had an hour break before we had to be back at the centre to get ready to parade over to Trafalgar Square. So I walked up and down the Thames River with iced tea and blueberry muffin in hand, getting a close view of the Eye and Parliament, as well as some of the entertainers on the riverside.
At noon, our group of blue practiced our dance once by the river, then were lead by some awesome drummers to Trafalgar Square. We danced the whole way there, and even the bridge was blocked off just for us to cross and dance on! We had to wait a while in the Square for all the groups to get there, and that wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been so hot...I can't believe I didn't get sunburned. At 2 we finally got to dance and it was really fun! Each group did there routine, then we did them all at the same time, then we mixed into each other so that all the colors were mixed, and performed a finale. Apparently, there was a total of 4,000 of us dancing, which is pretty awesome! It was a great experience, dancing with so many people I didn't know, from all over the world. My partner in the dance was a lady from France (that rhymed) and she was just there to have a blast. While I wish someone could have been there with me, it truly was a memorable experience, and I am glad I got to do what I love with others for the hundreds people watching. So far this is one of the only pictures I've found of it.

It took me about 3 hours to cool off after that, but later that night a group of us went out to Fabric, a popular club in London, and we had another great time dancing and whatnot. Sunday was a chill day, but my roommate Sam and I went out to Hyde Park to enjoy the beautiful day. It was really relaxing; going to parks like this is something I'm really going to miss in the States. We took pictures with a lot of fountains, saw a swan sleeping in the middle of a busy walking pathway, and saw the statue of Peter Pan that was absolutely, creatively adorable! That night we watched the final game of the World Cup, and the Netherlands unfortunately lost to Spain in OT. Oh well, at least they made it that far and I had a great time watching so many of the games this summer.

Song of the Day: "Walkin' on Sunshine"

Ik hou van je

The Netherlands. Bicycle country. Winners of the World Cup semi-finals. Capital city Amsterdam. Home of the Dutch. Home of my good friend, Emma Glazener.

Emma was my suitemate at JMU my freshman year. She studied in America for one year, then returned to her home in Laren. She came to visit my home in Texas for Spring break, so now I got the chance to see her family and home in the Netherlands! I had never been there before, so it was a bit nerve-wracking as well as exciting. I had a seriously amazing time!!

Arriving in Schipnol, the airport, I found Emma and we rode the train about 20 minutes out of Amsterdam to Laren. Emma's mom picked us up (Emma STILL hasn't gotten her license...) in a Volvo, which definitely took me back to childhood. The city looked asleep as we drove, because everyone was inside watching the World Cup semi-finals against Brazil. So immediately when we got home, we plopped down on the couch to watch the game, with traditional orange Dutch dessert Tompoes to get us into spirit. The game started off not so well, but after half-time the Netherlands came back and we won 2-1!!

Emma and I then went on a walk around her neighborhood before dinner. Right next to her house was a giant windmill, so I didn't have to go far to see a Dutch landmark (pictured above)! The town was still quiet for a Friday afternoon, except for the pubs. It was nice seeing all of the creative and cute houses, shops, and even a carnival that was being set up. We took her dog Daantje with us, but she didn't enjoy the walk much since it was so hot! Pictured right is Daantje struggling, or just not wanting to, catch up.

Back at the house, we made dinner: excellent Dutch hamburgers with a yogurt/dill sauce, salad, and strawberries. The we just chilled at the house the rest of the night since we were both exhausted. We watched 'August Rush', which was a really sweet movie, with fabulous music. We slept in Emma's old room which was in the attic, and there was a roof window that allowed the night air in and had a great view.

Saturday morning we had a common Dutch breakfast: bread. Emma made fun of me for just having butter on mine, while I made fun of her for having it with cream cheese and chocolate sprinkles. Then we hopped on the top of a two story train and returned to the city of Amsterdam.

With Starbucks in hand, we boarded a boat near the station and took a canal cruise through the city! It was wonderful minus the fact that it was scorching hot (it felt like Texas...). We did get to see a lot of cool stuff though, like Anne Frank's house, Nemo's museum, galleries, ships, a cruise ship, and the arts center. After disembarking, we walked around and saw a condom shop, the Red Light District, the Dam Square memorial to WWII, and a mini football game. We then stopped for lunch at this place that Emma had heard was good from a friend. They had every type of pancake out there: pizza, chicken, salami, chorizo, ice cream, fruit, bacon, and fantasy? Emma convinced

me, however, to try the Kroket, another traditional Dutch meal. I was a bit wary to try it, since Emma wouldn't tell me what exactly was IN kroket, but I had it anyways, and it was good of course:) This is me prior to tasting the kroket...I smiled after, don't worry. After lunch we shopped for a bit, and I bought a shirt and skirt for just 20 Euro woo!

We then got back on the train again, but this time it took 2 1/2 hours to get to Groningen, where Emma now goes to University. She is staying there in a house with 6 other girls from her sorority. This was my first experience riding a bike in the Netherlands. It didn't go so well the first time around. I'm sitting on the back of Emma's back as were riding to her house, and the back of my flat fell into the wheel and got stuck, therefore dragging the rest of my foot into the spokes. We had to stop so I could yank my shoe out, while Emma couldn't believe I had gotten my foot stuck there in the first place. Later that night, my ankle had a huge blue and black bruise on it. Every time I rode the bike again, let's just say there was always quite a lot of space between my feet and the wheel.

So we dropped our stuff off at her house, then got back on the bikes (this time, I got to ride my own, which was much more comfortable) and rode to a big barn that served as the university club party house. The clubs had been working since April on building stuff, decorating, and putting in hours to make it look spectacular for the 10 day long party they were going to have. That night was the night that they were going to announce the winning club that had put in the most hours and got to have a bar to themselves (which meant free drinks). I made it there intact, and met all of Emma's club friends, which was a bit intimidating. Most of these girls didn't like to speak English, so for most of the night, I was mostly just trying to follow conversations by reading body language. I does feel weird when you have 16 girls around you and they are all speaking a different language...But it was still fun being there, seeing the barn, having a few drinks, and celebrating when Emma's club won the bar!

There were two strange moments during the night. One was when we were eating dessert, and the girls were eating these Dutch cookies called Choos. They kept repeating, "Yay, I love Choos! I love Choos!" except it sounded like they were saying "I love Jews!" over and over.

The second moment was when a Dutch guy, obviously a little tipsy, asked me some questions to prove I was American. Here were a few of his questions:

1. Who is the center forward of the Miami Heat?

2. How many stars are on the flag?

3. Who did Bill Clinton sleep with that he wasn't married too?

4. Who gave you the Statue of Liberty? Why?

5. Who was the president when I was born?

6. Wait, when were you born?

7. What is your last name and number?

This had many of the girls laughing and reassuring him that I was American and to go away. The girls were all really sweet, and I am glad Emma is surrounded by fun yet caring people. It had been raining most of the night, which had been nice for me but not everyone else, but luckily it stopped as we rode home. I rode on the back again, and this time I even managed to do a running hop onto the back, since it's hard to start when someone starts out sitting. Success is sweet.

Sunday morning, we had a nice quiet breakfast of cracottes, these thin cracker-like things. I tried something new besides butter, and had this cheese spread and applestroop (like apple jam). Rode the bike one more time to the station, waited while Emma rode back because she forgot her sister's purse, and bought stroopwafels (delicious caramel-like things that Emma first introduced to us at JMU)! Took the train back into Amsterdam, and just as we were eating some small baguettes, we ran into Sarah, Ryan, Leslie, and Judson! So Emma got to meet a few of my new friends as well.

We visited the Van Gogh Museum first. It was different from other museums, because you got to see the changes that Van Gogh went through in his art chronologically, and I thought

that was really neat. These were two of my favorite paintings,

'Almond Blossom' and 'A Pair of Shoes'. This artist truly had an eye for color and detail. He also painted what he wanted; no one dictated what he was supposed to paint. He let himself be inspired, and that is inspirational.

After, we got some wonderful ice cream, called Magnum, good enough to make any bad day great. Then we walked to a market that Emma wanted me to see, but when we got there we realized it wasn't open on Sundays. So we just took a walk along the canals, and saw expensive houseboats and water

gardens. As we were going back towards the train station, we passed a movie theatre, and I laughed, mentioning that 'Eclipse' was already out in the Netherlands, but not in England yet. Emma decided to pop in and see if there was a showing in the next 5 minutes, and if there was, it would be a sign that we should go see it. So we went inside and guess what. There was a show starting in exactly 5 minutes. So we watched the movie, which still had horrific acting but was WAY better than the first two movies. It was also entertaining due to the Dutch girls in the back oo-ing every time Taylor Lautner came on screen or giggling during any awkward scenes. It was also the first movie I've ever watched with Dutch subtitles.

We got on the train AGAIN (what time is this, like 7 or 8?) and went back to Laren, where we had a lovely spaghetti dinner with the whole family. It went back and forth between Dutch and English, but it was nice to simply relax in a calm environment for a bit. The next morning, we continued to have a chill morning, with cups of tea, before I had to leave. It was sad leaving, knowing that I probably won't see them in a long time, or maybe ever. But it was still an amazing weekend, and I couldn't have asked to spend it with a better person than Emma!

*'Ik hou van je' means 'I love you'. I also learned 'Slaap lekker' which is good night, 'Ik heb honger' which is I'm hungry, and one other that would be inappropriate to post.

Weybridge, Surrey

Last Thursday, I visited the past. Where memories surprise you when they flash out of nowhere and the beginnings of your journey are rediscovered. I woke up early (though not as early as I wanted to due to my temperamental alarm clock) and took the train out to Weybridge, Surrey, about a half hour outside of London. I used to live here in 1993-1998, from when I was three to eight years old, and while I don't remember too much, it was fun noticing the things I did.

First off, I got to see Phil, my kindergarten sweetheart and best friend, first when he picked me up at the station (note: first time for me to ride in a car in England!! I kept wanting to yell at him to get into the

other lane...). He looked so different and yet, still the same. Except now he's taller than me. Weird. After chatting for a bit we drove out to TASIS, both of ours old school. We talked our way past the security guards, then walked around the campus, noticing how so many things had changed but remembered things like the stairs, the park, the field (where I learned to joust and dance around the maypole!), the lower school, where we always took our yearbook photos, the theatre, and the art classrooms.

Next, we stopped by my old neighborhood, and I even got a bit teary-eyed as we traveled down 4 Park Drive. Our street was small; it only had 5 houses on it including ours. I was hit by a wall of memories and wished my family were there to see my house again with me. No one was home, so Phil and I couldn't go inside, and I wanted to sneak into the backyard, but Phil wouldn't let me (something about trespassing?). It was both bittersweet and warming to see my old home again, and the big tree that marked our neighborhood. They will always hold a place in my mind.

At Phil's house, I got to reunite with his whole family as well, which was unexpected and great! They've grown up, but still look the same. I can remember the Christmases we spent together and days out playing on the golf course. It was also funny hearing the different stories that we each remembered. I remember some things, that they don't remember at all, and vic versa. For example, at lunch, Anna told me this story:

"I remember when you stayed over once and it snowed only about a half inch to an inch. You were SO excited! You got up early, by yourself, and went outside to build a snowman. When you finished you were so happy and glowing. Then the two little girls who lived next door came outside and started to cry, because you had taken all the snow for your snowman and there was none left."

Whoops.

On the train, heading back to London, I realized how much I really did miss this place. Maybe I'll live here Pederson's one day, because I feel like this was a place I can always call home. It was also great seeing the, and hopefully I'll get to see them again sooner that we think!

Right after I got back, it was off to Blog class again, and to the Borough Market for the Thursday shops. It was a bit smaller than the Saturday market, but they still had many fun, exotic things. We saw fresh squid, barrels of cider, duck casseroles (pictured left), pink pineapples, and goose fat. Sarah and I bought some chocolate covered almonds and cashews, which were wonderful, and Jackson was content with his giant box of Turkish Delight. We also saw two places from the HP movie: the entrance to Diagon Alley (pictured below) and the Night bus stop.

On the way back, Sarah and I made a spontaneous decision to go see the 'Eclipse' premiere for the UK. None of the main stars were going to be there, but we thought what have we got to lose: let's go see lots of insane fans and get to experience a premiere in Leicester Square! There were indeed lots of crazy teenage girls, but not as many as I thought. And no one asked to be bitten, thank goodness...Sarah and I just grabbed a random spot on the side outside of the square away from the red carpet area. Little did we know, we were right next to the street the cars came down to drop off the stars. We saw Ashley Green (Alice), Booboo (Seth-a werewolf), Alex (another werewolf), and some random British stars.

But the best part that made this whole thing worth it was getting to hug actor Kellan Lutz (who plays Emmett Culler)!! I feel like the biggest dork, but it was great:) Sarah and I were so surprised he even came over to us (he gave us both a big hug at the same time and wished us both a great night) that we both forgot to take a picture and just sputtered thank you so much's to him. But it was a fun night, and we made friends with the security guard, Richard, so we got two free billboard posters. This did, however, start a mini riot and a lot of girls and their mothers started

yelling at us so Sarah and I got out of there. Our "victory walk" home was a bit embarrassing though...yet it was worth putting up the posters in the hall at home and annoying the boys.

Sidenote: That night, I saw a mouse running around in our living room. Not cool. But funny when Rob tried to catch it using a plastic bag while drunk:)

Forty Love, Falafel, & Five Abbey Road

It's hard to believe I've been here for 27 days or just about 5 weeks now. It's July, and time is really starting to fly by. But when I look back, I feel that we've done so much, and still have so much more to see and do. This is also probably the longest I've ever gone without speaking to my parents, because at the current moment, they are in the Bahamas. I can't say that I'm jealous, since I'm so happy to be here, but....I am kinda jealous. I really want to slide through a shark tank and lay on the beach with a pina colada!

So anyways, on Monday evening, we got to go to Wimbledon

and see one of England's most popular sports! It was a bit

confusing initially, since the place was so big and we had cheap tickets that limited the places we could go. Rachel, Sam, Katie, and I picked a court and watched a whole match between Mark Knowles/Katarina Srebotnik and Kenneth Skupski/Elena Baltacha. It was fun because I have never actually sat down before and watched a full tennis match. Before we left, Katie and I got a spicy (aka mild) English sausage in a baguette, which ended the day perfectly:)

Tuesday morning is our Media & Society class, which is probably the most random class I've ever had. Mo, our professor, is all over the place, but he is still really nice and entertaining. This week he took us on a walk around south West End. One stop was Neil's Yard: a little, secluded courtyard made up of colorful houses, shops, and restaurants, once belonging to London hippies. I loved the creativity in this place and could see why people would have been drawn there back then.

We also walked by the Pineapple, where I took a dance class, Scoop, an AMAZING authentic gelato shop, and ended up in Gaby's Deli. This was a cute Eastern restaurant that was popular among theatre actors and locals. We all got to taste the falafel, pita, and hummus. For free:)

After going shopping with Professor Maune for supplies for the pizza party happening that night, Sarah, Jackson, Leslie, and I traveled out to the infamous Abbey Road. Lining the street were tributes to the Beatles, quotes, marriage proposals, and love for a band that was truly spectacular. It took us three times to try to walk on the crosswalk like the Beatles' signature album cover because the street was so busy. It would have been suicide to try and stand in the middle and take the picture too...

We also got a quick side look of the apparently well-known Lord's cricket field (don't really know anything about cricket...) and Jackson bought a cricket ball from the gift shop. That night, almost all of the group came out for a pizza dinner in Russell Park provided by JMU, which was lovely. It was a nice evening to just take a break, eat, laugh with each other, throw the rugby ball around for a bit. Free food=happy kids.

Wednesday, Katie, Rob, and I went to the Pancake Cafe for lunch and had some yummy crepes. For Art History, we got to study Rococo art at the beautiful Wallace Collection. That night the theatre class went back to the National Theatre to see "Women Beware Women", an intense Jacobian play. The guy who played the Ward was the actor who played Dudley in the Harry Potter movies! Except now he is a lot skinner, taller, and funnier:)

Song of the Day: Gettin' Over You (David Guetta)