Mind The Gap

This past weekend I finally made my way south to the big L, London! The University of Illinois planned a weekend for all of the exchange students in the UK to meet and tour around the city, so I got to spend the weekend with 30 fellow Illini! We were able to do all sorts of things that I probably wouldn't do on my own. On Friday night we went to an awesome Mediterranean restaurant then went to a show called Havana Rakatan, which was a Cuban dance show.

The next day, we were all put on a coach and took a tour of all the major sites in London. I got to see lots of things that I didn't see this past summer and got a feel for how big the city really is. After the tour I headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Dave Matthews Band Concert which I saw at the O2 Arena. The concert was amazing! I have always enjoyed seeing Dave in concert, but it is so cool that I can now say that I have seen him in Europe!

The next day we woke up and headed to the Tower of London. Although I have seen it already, this fortress is very interesting. There are lots of exhibits with stuff from London's past like The Crown Jewels and the Royal Armories. If you like to learn about history, this place is a must see in London!

After the tour, me and a few friends went and visited Harrods, the famous department store in London. This was an experience. First off, the store looked like a museum and second, everything was super expensive, half the stuff wasn't even marked! So I decided it would be a good idea to only get one thing, so I got 2 cupcakes, a vanilla one and an oreo one. Both of these were amazing!

After Harrods we just ventured around and finally headed back to the hotel to pack up. The weekend was amazing! This trip again showed me how unique each and every city is in Europe and I love taking in the culture of each place. I can't wait for my next trip to see new cities that can teach me more about culture around Europe!

Bon Appetit

So I finally decided to head out of the UK and I went to Paris this past weekend to be reunited with tons of friends from U of I! I left on Thursday and got on Thursday night and stayed until Monday. It was such an amazing weekend! I saw everything from the Eiffel Tower to The Louvre and got to do it with some of my best friends!

As many of you may know, I went to Europe this past summer and saw lots of the main attractions in Paris, but this time I got to see a lot of things that I didn't get to see last time like Moulin Rouge and Montmartre, and I realized how HUGE Paris is. Everyday that I walked around I realized what an amazing city it is and how beautiful each and every street is. I felt like I could take pictures of everything I saw, because each building is so pretty and unique.

I also got to visit Versailles while I was there, which is a smaller city about 30 minutes outside Paris where some of my friends have been studying architecture the entire year. This city was also unbelievably beautiful. It reminded me of a smaller, less crowded version of Paris.

Although I absolutely loved being in Paris, it made me miss the small and quaint Nottingham. It made me appreciate being in a place where I am familiar and I realized all the perks of being in a smaller town, that also speaks english! Being in France where people spoke french was fun, but it has been an amazing experience getting to know locals in Nottingham and that wouldn't be as easy if I was not in England where everyone speaks english. So all in all, very successful weekend. I was glad to travel outside England, but also glad to be back! Next stop... LONDON!

in YYYOOOORK...

Yesterday, I went on my first day trip to another city in England, York. It is a small, beautiful city that was the military capital of Roman Britain. Seeing another city with so much history once again made me really start to appreciate being abroad and all the opportunities I am given while in England. I love to look at the old streets, castles and churches and think about all the history that has happened right where I am standing. For starters we saw the York Minster, which is the largest gothic church in York, and gorgeous on top of that.

Then we went on to see Clifford's Tower, the old York castle that dates back to the mid-12th century.

We also saw The Shambles, which is York's best preserved medieval street which has huge overhangs and they say that you could almost reach across the street from one 2nd-floor window to another. So although it was a typical day in the UK and was raining, I still had an amazing time seeing everything in York. The people were so nice and I loved learning more about the history of England and I cannot wait to travel more and continue to learn about Europe and its history!

Leeds, Here I Come!

It has been almost 3 weeks and I am finally getting the hang of everything! I have picked my classes and I am taking: Psychology of Addiction, American Visual Cultures, Sociology in Contemporary Society and American Popular Music, and I love them all! All of my teachers are super nice and the lectures are all very interesting. But on to the fun stuff! I had my first trip last weekend and visited my friend Joe in Leeds, which is a town about 2 hours north of Nottingham. It was awesome! The city was flowing with people and Joe's dorm was only about a 5 minute walk from downtown Leeds.

It was fun to see another city in England and compare it to Nottingham. For the most part it was very similar to Nottingham. The nightlife was very similar with clubs and bars and also the downtown had most of the same stores and restaurants. But after being in Leeds for 4 days, I started to miss Nottingham! I can tell that I am starting to fall in love with the school and I am starting to meet some really awesome people from all over the world. I have met people from Singapore, Australia, Brazil, Poland, Chile, New Zealand, and so much more. It has been awesome learning all about different cultures and even the little differences in english between the US, England, Australia and so on. I didn't realize that there would be such a difference in language even with just the english speakers! But so far it has been an amazing experience and I cannot wait to travel more and see what else Europe has to offer!

Finally Here!

So as most of you know, I am studying abroad in Nottingham, England for this entire semester. Although this may seem real to all of you who have not seem me in a while, I am here and starting to get settled in and it still does not seem real to me. I thought for the past 4 months that once I started to pack that going to England would seem real, but as I packed, it still seemed like a dream. Then I thought, well when I am on the plane it will seem real. But now I am here and still cannot believe that I have been given such an amazing opportunity to embrace this new culture, new friends and new adventures. So far, everyone I have met has been amazing. I have not had much of a chance to check out the city, but hopefully soon I will be able to see everything and become more familiar with everything here. But so far what I have seen is beautiful! The campus is very spread out but aside from the rain and clouds, the campus is gorgeous. Getting signed up for class and everything has been much different from home, because it seems like nobody knows what is going on! But I am finally getting in the flow of how things go here, and I cannot wait to see more here and begin to really make Nottingham a home! So thanks everyone for reading my blog and I will keep everyone posted on how life in Nottingham is treating me!