Oxford, Bath and Stonehenge

Well well well. Every weekend I keep thinking I just had the best weekend of my life. The feeling just keeps repeating itself.

This past weekend I went on another one of the school planned weekend trips, which meant riding on a coach for many hours.We started out Friday morning by packing onto the coach at 8:30 in the morning, always our favorite time of day. After riding for a short 2 hours we ended up in the city of Oxford, home to the world famous Oxford University. Fun fact that we all learned, Oxford is not one college but instead 38 colleges all combined. We found this out when we kept trying to find the bookstore. Anyways we had 4 hours free to wander around the town. While doing this we ran into a church, I believe, that held the stair cases along with the dining hall from Harry Potter. If I had read any of the books or watched more than 2 of the movies I would have paid to go in, so sadly I do not have any pictures for you. After that we hit up a store for some apparel to make ourselves look really smart. While there we talked to the cashier and she told us all the places that she recommends we see while there. This led us to the library which was pretty sweet looking, then we found a market type building which had all these mini shops all put together. Here is where I found the cutest cake shop ever! I hope my cake shop looks exactly like it some day! Here is also where we found Ben's cookies! Most delicious cookies I have ever had in my life! (Pictures: top left-Harry Potter place. top right-Oxford library. bottom left-two yummy cookies combined. bottom right-amazing baby cakes!)

After hanging around Oxford we loaded back up on the bus for another 2 hours and ended up in Bath, England. (AKA home to the Roman Baths AKA famously naturally heated water baths). We spent Friday night to Sunday morning here and it was one of my favorite cities. It was also my first experience staying in a hostel...and the hostel was on top of a hill, 2 miles outside of town. Needless to say I had plenty of time to meet friends on my walk into town. While going there I met up with a group of girls and made some new friends. We ended up finding a local pub that had 2 for 1 desserts and 2 for 1 cocktails. We also heard they were having live music at 9. So we decided at 6:30 that we would stay there for the live music. So at 6:15 we had out dinners. At 7 we were all allowed to order desserts and at 8 we began cocktail hour. The bright sides were that the food was amazing and inexpensive and the dessert was wonderful. The bad sides were that they didn't really know how to make cocktails and at 9:05 they told us the live music had to cancel so all of our hard work was for nothing! But none the less we had a great night out and had fun talking for the hours! After that we began our 2 mile trek uphill and called it a night. (Pictures: left-our weekend gang: Brittany, Danyelle, Abbigail and myself. Right-apparently a mojito which was basically leaves, seeds, pump and ice).

The next day there was an optional school trip for 4 hours but I decided I was sick of sitting on a bus and didn't need to climb any more hills or look at anymore ruins. Luckily my new friend Abbigail felt the same way. So we spent the day together! We first walked to the Royal Crescent which is where the rich people would have lived and I have also been told that parts of Jane Austens movie Persuasion were filmed there. I plan on watching the movie this weekend. After that we decided to hit up the Fashion Museum. Which was awesome! We were able to see how women used to dress and how fashion has evolved through history. We were also able to try on corsets and crinolines to feel like the women did when they had to be skiinied up and tied into their dresses. Unfortunately they did not have dresses we could try on which was upsetting. (Pictures: top left-the Royal Crescent. right-trying on the clothes. bottom left- my favorite dress in the museum!)

After the museum it was time for the Jane Austen Centre. For those who don't know Jane Austen was a famous writer. And no I haven't read any of her books. But I have seen Pride and Prejudice. Which I am going to watch again this weekend with another movie that is based off another one of her books. While here we decided it would only be proper to have Jane Austen tea along with crumpets, buns and victorian cake. So we did! It was delicious! Best decision ever. Then we did the quick tour! (More pictures! Tea on the left and squeezing Abbigail into her newest outfit. This is the part in Titanic where Rose is holding onto the wall and her mother is tying her in as tight as she can!)

We had to kind of power through the tour unfortunately after our tea so that we could meet up with out friends at the spa! YES SPA!!! It was the only spa in the UK that offers bathing in naturally warm spring waters! We brought out swim suits and were able to either sit in the indoor pool on the lowest level of the building, in the aroma steam rooms, or the open-air rooftop pool! All of the water fell as rain water 10,000 years ago and is heated underground by hot rocks. It supposedly had 42 different minerals and is a nice warm 92 degrees! Yes, I did just copy that off the brochure. But it's the truth. So we had 2 hours to enjoy any of the three rooms. It was a beautiful warm Saturday afternoon. The sun was bright and we had been spending the day carrying our jackets instead of wearing them so of course we spent most of our time on the roof-top! We had great views all around the city and it was all so beautiful. We spent most of our time floating around giggling in disbelief that we were actually in a bath, in Bath, England in February and could call it going to college. It was just amazing. Needless to say we were pretty much mush after that and somehow managed to make it through dinner without falling asleep. After dinner we were smart and grabbed a cab and headed back to the hostel. We spent the rest of the night playing with makeup and nail polish and getting hand drawn tattoos on our feet. Oh and eating cookies since we found another Ben's cookies and each bought a box of 7. (Pictures: top right-the best google image I could find to show the bath and the view. left-our hostel, my bed was the one on the floor on the left...just awesome. And no the sheets didn't fit onto the bed).

On Sunday morning we finally had our scheduled tour of the actual Roman Baths. So we got to see the real deal and where they would have bathed back in the day. I lost my brochure for that one so I can't give you much history. But it was very cool. The next stop after that was Stonehenge. Which as you all remember, the Duggars went there a few months ago so I was walking on the same ground and in the same place as the 19 Kids and Counting crew had been! Such an amazing feeling. But seriously the rocks are huge, and no one has any idea how they were brought there or how they were stacked on top of each other. They estimate that the heaviest rock weighs around 45 tons. Which probably isn't too light, especially when being carried by man power. So it's pretty cool to imagine how on earth they got these huge rocks on top of this hill in the middle of a field. Most random place ever to put a bunch of heavy rocks but thats ok. Oh and we had an hour to admire the rocks. So I have plenty of pictures if you want to see more!
Best part of the trip, I have a new t-shirt that says............"STONEHENGE ROCKS!" Get it?

After Stonehenge it was time to head home. We had lunch then began our 4 hour journey. I think it was the first time I was happy to have a long ride because I had been putting off working on my research paper so I spent most of the time reading a very thick book on Edward III and figuring out what to all write about him. So if you have any questions on him throw them my way! BTW he was a pretty cool guy...just saying. Once we got back to the manor I had dinner and a skype session with some pretty cute cousins (Happy birthday Alyce!) then I began writing my 2500 words on Edward which kept me up til 2 but that's fine, I don't need sleep anyways.

Not much happened on Monday besides school as usual and a little volleyball. On a side note, after playing 10 years of competitive volleyball, the best part of the sport is when your serve is on and there is a pouty girl on the other side of the net. Needless to say I don't think she was a fan of my new jump serve.

Tuesday was field trip day, we spent time at a work house 45 minutes away which is where they used to keep poor people and ran it the same way as a jail to some extent in order to help the people and keep them off the streets. We also spent time learning about the manor we have been living in. They taught us how the very formal places of the manor were where the family lived and spent their time and how the cheaper looking places around the manor were where the servants lived and spent there time. This is why there are secret passage ways around the manor. They were used by the servants so they wouldn't be seen by the family. Needless to say I now know that I live in a room where servants would have lived and the classrooms where I have most classes were either a playroom for the children or where the Butler lived to oversee the servants and tended to the family (it has a secret hidden stairway that leads from the basement to the two upper level floors). By the way everyone else has classes in rooms such as the long gallery, the gold room or the state dining room while I have class in "Room 130" and the "Music Room". I also learned that our library used to be a large kitchen. One last thing we were told was that everything in the manor had once been sold off and the manor was supposed to be destroyed but then a very rich women who supposedly invented shaving gel came in and saved the place. So we are very lucky to be able to see the Harlaxton Manor, let alone live in it and go to school in it.

The other highlight of Tuesday was my intense workout. After doing two days of lifting workouts I decided that wasn't enough, so I decided to do a few volleyball-esk drills, then I decided that wasn't enough so at 8:30 at night I decided to run to the end of our mile long drive way. In the pitch black, in the countryside, in shorts and a t-shirt. It was sooo nice outside, it was a great run. How many people can finish off a workout but running home to a beautifully lit up manor. The manor at night is truely amazing to see. I'm hoping to go out on a clear night and take some pictures to prove the point.

Well that has been my life the past week. Hopefully I should be able to move my body again in the next few hours. Classes are pretty rough here. I found out my sociology professor is actually worldly known in his field and has been given many opportunities to bring his family to London just as long as he does a few interviews with the BBC news which is the most popular news program over here. If it wasn't cool enough to have him as a teacher, it is pretty cool that I love his teaching style. We just started two more movies in both of my classes with him. So I believe we are on to movies 4 and 5 at least. It is a rough life I have but I promise I am learning! Wish me luck, tomorrow we have our first home volleyball game! Which should be fun then I will be spending all weekend in my pajamas relaxing, not spending money or traveling all weekend long! It's gonna be awesome!

Cheers!

PS. My newest joke to brighten your day. Next time your in England tell someone to catch you and that you'll give them X amount of pounds. For example, when someone is at the bottom of the stairs I yell, "Catch me and I'll give you 130 pounds!" It's funny because here pounds is a certain amount of money but for us it also is an amount of weight! Now aren't I a clever one?!?

Belgium!

First things first. We won our first volleyball game on Thursday! I even got to play middle and ran a few slides! So Kim, if you're reading this, I'm ready to be moved up to the front row! Oh and our fearless leader Kevin played ok too I guess. He's not very good but at least he buys us pizza after every game ;) So we try and put up with him.

Other than volleyball it was a slow week activity wise. So I'll get on to the exciting travel adventures of the week! Some people may know me as being a somewhat impulsive person, so about 2 weeks ago I decided that I should go to Belgium! I have a friend (Ian) that is studying abroad there, so I thought it would be the greatest idea to make the trip. I also decided that it would be the greatest idea to travel and lodge there completely by myself. My adopt a family was not very happy to hear that I did this and even lectured me and told me horror stories. But anyways, I was planning on leaving for Belgium on Friday, so as to not break tradition I planned everything at last minute. Last Wednesday I booked my train tickets and on Thursday I booked my hotel!

Seeing as this was my very first time basically traveling anywhere by myself I was extremely nervous! Not to mention my last minute planning! I thought I had everything planned out until it hit 1:30 AM Friday morning and I was checking over my schedule, I realized I had the shuttle times wrong and needed to call a cab! So at 1:35 in the morning I was running around the manner making calls in our little red phone booth trying to book a cab. But do not worry, I did it! So then I was able to go to bed and get a few hours of sleep. I woke up the next morning at 8:30, packed up, jumped in the cab and headed to the train station. After a quick breakfast there I made it on to my first train and headed off to London. From there I had to go through the underground tunnel beneath a street to get to my next train station (the international station). After wandering around the station, a few minutes of blank staring at the ticket machine, asking random old ladies to show me how to get to security and getting frisked I made it to the promised land! The train lobby! As I was traveling the whole weekend I pretty much felt like a reached the promised land every time I made it to the right place on time. After 45 minutes of waiting it was time for another train ride! I rode the international train here called Eurostar. Which goes up to 186mph and travels through tunnels and underwater! My ears weren't a big fan but it only took a little over 2 hours to get from London through France and into Brussels, Belgium!

The most terrifying part of the whole trip there was that when we were leaving London all the announcements were in English then once we go into France and Belgium it switched to French and Dutch. (Which I am not fluent in either). So that was a new experience. After the train ride I wandered around the station until I found the great outdoors! This is when I power walked my way to a cab and through the hotel sheet at him. After 20 minutes of what felt like driving in circles we made it to the hotel. Just from the cab ride I could tell it was going to be a great weekend. Every time we turned a corner there was something brilliantly new to see and experience! Whether it be huge buildings, cobblestone roads (which weren't really even roads but places to drive around very fast), or randomly following the tracks from the tram. Which I don't quite get because we were the only car following them. But ALAS I made it to the promised land! Checked into my first every hotel and headed up to my room! Which turned out to be a tiny room with the huge bathroom but it had heat!!!!! So all was well in the world! (Picture on the left is one of the cobblestone roads).

Shortly after getting there I was able to text my mom to assure her that I had not been murdered or ran over by a train. Then I was able to get in contact with Ian. We spent the evening wandering the streets of Brussels and eating delicious food. Ian was a wonderful tour guide and knew the answer to every question I had. We ate at a cute Italian place. I had a gigantic bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese (because it was the words that looked the most familiar on the French menu). To go along with the pasta I had my first Belgian beer of Kriek, which is like a fruit beer and was very good. Fortunately/unfortunately they seated us right next to the dessert case so after my huge bowl of pasta I indulged in some Tiramisu and did not feel one bit bad about it.

The evening we went over to some of Ian's friends apartment and hung out for a bit where the told me a little more about the culture of Belgium such as the fact that it is legal to drink in the streets of Belgium and about how the national symbol is that of a little boy peeing. Supposedly there was a fire long ago and a boy put it out by peeing on it. Needless to say there is a little statue of him to go along with the the souvenir shops selling everything they can that has a boy peeing. So for the couple people I got presents for, you should be excited! I hope no one gets too upset if their present didn't come from Belgium. Don't worry Mom, your chocolate does not have a little boy on it at all.

The next day we started out by jumping on the tram and headed out to see the Atonium. Weird/exciting part of Belgium, they have every form of transportation you could possibly want. Trains (regular and international high speed), trams (above ground and under), buses, cabs, walking, etc. I believe I got a ride on everyone too! But anyways we rode out to the outskirts of Brussels to see the Atonium. It's basically a gigantic steel structure of an atom in the middle of no where.

After that it was time to start experiencing the culture. By this I really mean the food. First up was frites. Which is basically fries (deep fried twice), put into a cone, with mayo based sauce of some sort on it, topped off with a little baby fork so you don't get your hands dirty, even though it is nearly impossible to get all the fries at the bottom with just your baby fork. But these were delicious! I even started looking up recipes for sauces online! After that I believe we moved on to chocolate! In Brussels they have the equivalent of pubs in Ireland. There was even an entire intersection dedicated to the most significant chocolate shops. When I peeked in the one shop it looked like a jewelry store in the all the chocolate was held in glass cases. Our store of choice was Neuhaus! We were even given free samples because it was taking the woman so long to gift wrap everyone elses chocolate. They could even pick from 10 different colors of ribbon. Intense. Delicious. I'll show pics after my mom gets her fancy pack!

I believe after that it was time for waffles! There are basically waffle vans EVERYWHERE to go along with waffle shops on almost every block! You have never had a waffle until you experience a Belgian waffle! They are warm and delicious with little pockets of sugar and warmy doughy-ness in the center! No syrup needed! I am truely going to miss these waffles and I'm not even a waffle person! During the day we also ventured to a couple different parks and a museum. It was a very pretty city; as long as you ignore the clouds, strong winds, and unpredictable rain!

That night we had dinner at Ian's apartment, (thank you Ian!) I was most excited for the multiple cups of tea and innovative cup of Belgian coffee (coffee with sugar, cream, and MELTED CHOCOLATE!), followed by an apple cake pie thing that was great. After that we went out on the town. One of the places I really loved was an old train station, turned into an tourist info center, turned into a bar at night! It was really pretty and a unique experience. The other place we went too was a bar where everyone was allowed to dance on tables and chairs! I have never been in a bar so packed! We had to almost get a running start and jump into people in hopes of getting anywhere! It was just a very fun place with a great atmosphere!

The next day it was time for more traveling. In the morning I met up with Ian to see a few more sights, which included one of Europe's largest markets. It went around at least three blocks and had everything from fruits, veggies, cooking pans, clothes, shampoos and crepes! It was huge! Besides people yelling all the time it was really cool to see. After that it was time to hang out in the train station and start homework. Most interesting experience of the weekend happened right before it was time to leave for my train. Three African women came over and asked me to help them print off passport photos. First we had to figure out that I could speak English with one of the women, then I had to try and read French on the machine, then we had to switch the language to African or something that I definitely could not read...and it also seemed that they could not read it either. But our team work paid off and we conquered the machine. After that it was time to head over to my train. Three passport stamps, one unneeded immigration form a cranky lady made me fill out, and my first experience with a NICE security person later I made it to the train! I made a poor attempt at doing homework, then I ate my Belgian waffle from a vending machine and took a nap! It was a great trip! Then I made it back to London, got lost a little bit, had some Burger King and got on my last train home.

It was one of my favorite weekends so far! I really loved traveling by myself and being an independent woman!

Sorry no time to proofread!!!!

Ireland!

Finally found a wee bit of time to update my hundreds of followers. I never realize how many people are reading this until the idea of presents in mentioned. Then I find out exactly who is paying attention! So don't worry Grace, I'll find you a present much better than your moms!

Remember last week when England got the most amount of snow it has gotten in the past 20 some years? Then we decided to hike to a prison to play volleyball? Here are some pictures! On the left is our mile long hike down our drive way which eventually led to the bar that we met our coach at. On the right is a team picture in the parking lot. The only thing different about this game and many club tournaments I used to play in was that I had to hike on my own instead of sleeping in the car while my mom drove hours through snow storms. I thought I left Wisconsin!

Well last week we had our first big British Studies test. Which meant after staying up all Tuesday night studying followed up by more studying Wednesday morning I just had to spend an hour and forty-five minutes straight writing three essays until my hand was numb and my fingers were cramped.....THEN they finally let us leave for IRELAND! So yes, at 8PM on a Wednesday night our long weekend began. It was a very long night of traveling which started out with a 6 hour coach ride that led us to the dock of Holyhead. Once there we strolled right onto the worlds largest car carrier. I believe it looked a little something like the one on the left but it was 2 in the morning so I'm not quite sure. Once on board we were free to move about the cabin...on the ferry. Most people chose to do the most normal thing and sleep. So it ended up being like a big slumber party on a boat. Unfortunately my adrenaline got the best of me and I ended up wandering around and actually found some friends that were doing the same thing. Good news, the ferry bar was open all night! Well I didn't really take advantage of that but it was still exciting. I basically spent the night wandering around waking people up. FYI people love being woken up in the middle of the night on a ferry. I think the most exciting part of the ferry was watching people walk to the bathroom. The sway of the ferry always got the best of them.

After 3 hours on the ferry it was time to load back up on the coach for some more joyful driving. We made a quick stop at a hotel for some breakfast (at 7 in the morning). Then went out for some more joyful driving! Three hours later we ended up at Blarney Castle in Killarney, Ireland. If you haven't picked up on it, there are way too many castles over here. Well this one was a little more exciting because after hiking up a few very tiny stair cases we were on top of the world! Kind of. Then we were able to lay upside down and hang off the edge of the castle to kiss the Blarney Stone, which thousands of people have also kissed! But it was all worth it because now I have "great eloquence!" Which we all know I desperately needed! Next was another coach trip but this time it was back to the hotel for good! So finally around 2 in the afternoon on Thursday we were free to explore the country of Ireland! We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of Killarney, Ireland (semi cranky but still a wee bit enthusiastic). That night we got our first experience of live Irish music. Which ended up being a man playing in the pub of our hotel. It doesn't take much to impress us!

Friday morning, you guessed it! We hopped on the coach for some more joyful driving! This time is wasn't as painful because we spent the day driving through the Ring of Kerry. It was a 112 mile drive on a very tiny road around the Iveragh Peninsula. We made different stops at varied locations to try out Irish coffee (at 10 in the morning) *(delicious by the way)*, admire the coast, walk on the edge of mountain cliffs and look at waterfalls in the Killarney national park! It was actually a pretty fun day on the coach minus the cd of Irish music that was played three times! They love the song Brown Eyed Girl. The picture on the top right is of me and my roommates at Dingle Bay, I believe, which supposedly has a dolphin swimming around but we didn't get to see him. On the top left is the view from across the restaurant we had our Irish coffee. Hand-holding is me and one of my good friends here in front of Waterville, I believe. Bottom left is right next to the restaurant where we had lunch, so pretty. It was a great trip on a perfect day. They tried to tell us to bring plenty of layers and be prepared for rain. It's didn't rain all day until we got on the coach after our very last stop. It was also warm and sunny the entire day!

Friday night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant. Mostly because we all needed a fix of fettuccine alfredo and it was the first place we found that has had it the whole time we've been here. After that we ventured out to a recommended local pub that had traditional Irish music at the start followed by more of a rock band. Best part of the night? There was a hair straightener in the bathroom! Well the music was pretty awesome too! It was a semi early night to bed so we could get on the coach by 8 the next morning to head off to Dublin!

We spent Saturday hanging out around the city and wandered around the Temple Bar Area which was filled with lots of little shops, actually for every shop there was about three pubs but the shops were still cute. After Temple Bar Area we ventured over to Trinity College. There we saw the Book of Kells, which I know you are all super jealous about! Don't ask me exactly what it is, we had to pay to see it in order to get to the famous library. Yes, that's the library on the left and the picture is a lot better than the actual thing. We were mostly concerned about how they got to the books on the second level because there were no stairs. After that we wandered the campus, which means hearing a band playing and following the sound of the music up three flights of stairs in an empty building then chickening out and running away to Starbucks. Best college tour yet! That night we had some traditional Irish...Subway! It was AMAZING! For the record they still have the best cookies over here too! After that we wandering to a few different pubs which was intense because anyone that can stand up in the country of Ireland is out at the pubs! Soo crowded! Eventually we found a cute little pub with some more live music! I heard Galway Girl (from PS I Love You) twice that night in the same pub! So happy! It was a full Irish experience completed with a pint of Guinness! After that it was time for beddy bye to get up at 6 the next morning for a day of traveling.

It was a typical Sunday. Jump on the coach in Dublin, Ireland; ride the worlds largest car carrier again, drive through Wales; grab lunch at a city in Wales called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Don't worry I have a stamp of it in my passport! After Wales we drove through some more country land back to our manor in England. Just like back home.

Happy belated Valentines day everyone! We celebrated with karaoke in the bistro. Which always gets out of hand when half the school is theater majors...

There isn't too much going on this week. Just a volleyball game on Thursday. The exciting thing this week is that I just booked my own tickets to go to Brussels in Belgium (by myself!) where I will be meeting up with a friend from high school to enjoy some waffles and chocolate! So wish me luck on getting on a shuttle Friday morning, riding a train to London, jumping trains there and riding to Brussels, then staying in a hostel. Then hopefully making it back home Sunday. Someone please entertain my mother so she doesn't worry!

Here are a couple more pictures from the Ring of Kerry. On the left is Ladies view and on the right is Torc Waterfall in Killarney National Park!

Peace out homies!

One Month.

Seeing as I have my first big test tomorrow obviously it is time to procrastinate!

I have been here in England for officially one month! I could leave right now and know that my life has been changed. I have already learned so much about myself, other people and other countries! This blog is mostly for when I am back home and forget exactly how I felt when I was here. So don't judge!

In the past month I have learned that people will actually accept you for who you are. If they make fun of you, ditch them (or leave the country) eventually you will find the right people to be around. That is what I love most about being here! I have met so many people that actually think I'm funny! ...or they just pretend but that's ok too. The other thing I like about being here is that I already have something in common with everyone here. We all decided to leave our comfort zones and explore the world. Therefore everyone here has the most positive outlook on life I have ever seen! I don't think it is possible to have a bad day here. Even if I'm a little down I know Kristin will go work out with me...or just watch very attractive men work out. Missy will go out to the pubs and flirt with locals with me. Ben will give me the bestest music ever, watch movies or have H2H's with me. And Matt will just sing and dance. Needless to say I am always entertained. (Picture: Missy, ME, Kristin, Matt, Ben). So this is a thank you to all my new friends for letting me be myself. Which many friends from back home haven't even experienced!

Next is a thank you to my lovely parents. Thank you Mommy and Daddy for letting me explore the world and experience everything I possibly can. I can't wait for you to get here so I can show you everything you have allowed me to learn! I also can't wait to introduce you to my new Mum and Dad! I know I have the best parents in the world but just in case I wasn't sure before I know now. Especially when I can skype with my mom for 2 hours and never run out of stuff to talk about! I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I haven't been this happy in years and I just have so many people to thank for that!

What else have I learned?
-The quiet ones are the funniest ones-AKA my roomie Sarah
-The nastiest looking food usually tastes the best
-I don't like whisky but glitter bombs are delicious
-Everyone in their own way is a good person
-The best way to meet people is to venture out by yourself
-The locals love to show you new things
-Country music is not popular over here :(
-You don't have to pay taxes at stores here or leave tips!
-Life is always more exciting with theater majors, borrowed guitars, and multiple forms of lighting
-Cab drivers are never happy after 1 in the morning
-Pizza Hot is the best place for deep fried chicken
-You can borrow pretty much anything from anyone (ex. hard drives, sunglasses, nail polish, curlers, inhalers and clothes)
-Roommates don't like it when you keep them up by playing solitaire and coughing all night
-Terrorists are not the worst people in the world
-Shakespeare is actually a little funny
-Castles start getting old after you see 3 of them
-Sheep on hills are funner to look at than cows in fields
-"Historians will go extinct in a few years because history is not sexy."
-Smirnoff Ice and Sex on the Beach are completely acceptable for any gender
-Cab drivers will tell you everything you did not need to know
-You will get made fun of for having a One Direction poster above your bed
-A gold sequence dress is not conventional for England
-Heels are not meant for swing dancing
-The good guys will lunge across the room for anything you drop on the floor
-Smiling, nodding and laughing does not always work when you can't understand accents
-Prison guards have tiny legs
-Lithuanian men are not the most appropriate
-Royalty really means killing off kids and marrying your cousin
-Candy does not taste the same in different countries...chips do!
-Basically life is just like the movies but only better!

'MERICA

Well well well what did I do this week.

Last Monday:
The basketball team went on our first road trip...to the local Royal Air Force. It wasn't a big deal at all, we just showed up, beat them, went home and called it a day. We probably won mostly because I stayed off the court. Anyways our team is just amazing and because we are so good apparently our Tuesday practices are getting turned into Tuesday night bowling. We just don't need to practice basketball at all. Pros.

Last Tuesday:
During the evening my adopted meet-a-family came and picked Kristin and I up from the manor and took us home for a traditional meal! The most exciting part was that they had heat! We enjoyed a lovely dinner talking about many different topics. My favorite was when talking about my degree in criminal justice, our Mum left the room and came back with a baton that her relatives used when they were bobbies! After dinner we hung out in the kitchen and played cards for about an hour. They taught us how to play 7's and we began gambling with buttons. I have yet to win so my button supply is going down hill! It was just a fun evening because they are a very adorable couple and reminded me of my amazing grandparents back home. So Oma, Opa, Grandma and Grandpa be prepared to play cards with me and tell me stories!

Last Wednesday:
During the day we had a field trip to a near by castle and cathedral in Lincoln. It was soooo much fun wandering around in the cold looking at more castles and churches! I loved every minute of it! Honestly my favorite part of the day was when I had 2 hours free to wander to I just went and checked out local shops. I ended up talking to a lady in one of the stores for about 20 minutes and she told me all about living in England. On an even brighter note, some of my aunts have some lovely presents coming their way!
That night we had a quiet night in for once. Skipped basketball practice to do homework which somehow led into movie night.

Last Thursday:
After volleyball practice we decided to check out a little event going on in our Bistro. That little event turned into 'MERICA night! We have been gone from home for about a month so we needed to celebrate our home land! It was basically drinking while dancing to country music and any song that had the word "America" in it! Obviously it was a hit. As far as I know only one light was knocked down and only a few beers dumped on the leather couches. 'MERICA!

Last Friday:
We actually had class on Friday to make up for when we will be missing class this week to go to Ireland. The night started out a little slow because our friends decided to ditch us and leave for the pub early so in order to waste some time we just snuck into their room and did some rearranging and song writing. Apparently they did not appreciate all their beds being pushed together...I don't see why. Eventually we hunted them down while out on the town. Yes that was a rhyme. It was another great night in Grantham. We even realized that we have locals that are actually friends with us and meet up with us on the weekends!

Saturday:
We decided to venture our for the first time on our own! I went with my friends Missy and Kristin to the wonderful city of Nottingham via train. A town that our adopted family suggested. We spent the day shopping and eating Mcdonalds! It was very exciting because the only clothes I brought over here were items I could throw away so now I actually have real clothes that I was able to buy very cheap! Maybe you will see my great new style in future pics! Get excited! Eventually we made it back to the manor as snow was beginning to fall. We originally planned on just staying in, doing homework and watching movies. But the thought of having new clothes was all too exciting so we spent an hour getting ready and dolling ourselves up....only to find out we were snowed in and the cabs couldn't even get up to the manor to pick us up! We pouted for a while in the hallway then bonded over some girl talk. Sadly my friends are losers are were both asleep by 11:30.

Sunday:
Well we woke up to find out that our volleyball game was canceled, but luckily our coach is a very determined person and rounded up his car, his brothers car and a cab to get us to our game. So after running around trying to get ready in 5 minutes we hiked down our mile long driveway to meet our coach at the pub...because they couldn't get up our drive. Then we headed off to the prison to play some inmates! I am a bit sore today from attempting to jump serve and set for the whole match. Sadly we only won 1 game of the match and left quite defeated! It was a little intense getting to the prison, showing our passports, going through multiple locked gates and playing inmates but it was all still fun. Maybe I can get a job there! Last night we just hung out and watched people get excited for the super bowl...that started at 10:45 needless to say I did not watch any of the game but instead studied like a great student!

That is about all from last week. We have a short week this week, just a big test Wednesday then we head out for a long weekend in Ireland! Very excited! I hope Gerard Butler is waiting for me!

Sorry I'm not willing to proofread this. Hope my grammar wasn't too awful!