The most AMAZING Spring Break ever... Part 1

Hello Everyone!!! So I know its been almost two months since I have updated... but its been a VERY busy two months

Espana
Barcelona

I flew into Barcelona Friday March 19th to start my month long break! It definelty looks a lot different that I thought it would. Evan, Jenna, Emma, and Josh started our trip out right, with a delicious 3-course meal and 2.5 liters of Sangria at a place called La Fonda. The next day, we did a walking tour of the city, which including seeing many buildings Gaudi designed. Gaudi is a kind of crazy, but brilliant spanish architect who spent way too much money but whose buildings are AMAZINGLY cool. He also designed a cathedral, La Sagrada Familia. It was started 100 years ago and is not set to be completed until 2025. Saturday we also went to the Pargue Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. The park was huge and had the most interesting, sometimes random, architecture. This includes a-gingerbread like house, bridges whose supports look like trees, and a random salamander. That night we went to the Dow Jones bar, where the prices of drinks fluctuate throughout the night, eventually ending in a stock market "crash".
Sunday, we saw more Gaudi designed buildings and had churros and hot chocolate for lunch (Its a spanish thing.) We were able to get in the Picasso museum for free in the evening! We then went to Mexican (AMAZING.... i miss Mexican food) with a couple of girls we met in the hostel and then we were off to Madrid the next day!

Madrid

We didn't get into Madrid till late, but I read about an amazing tapas in my travel book. We had to go to this random apartment complex and buzz up to the roof, were the bar/restraunt was. We were able to sit on the outside terrace, the only problem was that NO ONE spoke english! I was able to pull out by old high school spanish skills and order things I knew. I would say a sentence in Spanish and then our old, adorable waiter would go on for a few minutes in rapid spanish, while i sat, smiled, and laughed. I think he was entertained by our lack of ability to communicate. This meal turned out to probably be the best I had all break! (and probably the cheapest).

The next day we toured the royal palace, and then spent the afternoon lounging in the madrid park and the Prado museum. It was a very relaxing day. At night Jenna and I had a "Good-bye Spain" dinner, and then went to back to our hostel to find 20 Irish people in our room. Needless to say, they convinced us to come out with them. The only unfortunate part was there were no bars open. Regardless, we had a blast walking around with them all night. We got one hour of sleep (it was more of a pack up, lay down for 5 minutes, oh the taxi is here sleep.) then were off to the Madrid airport!!! ( BTW in case anyone was wondering, the Madrid airport is the most amazing airport I have ever been in. Its just soo open and pretty!)


ITALY
Venice

So I hopped on my flight to venice, and then took the ferry down the grand canal, which was sooo amazing, It was just as pretty as I expected it too be. The only problem is that the streets of Venice are very twisted with no order. So it took my an hour to find the hotel ( I was by myself, Josh and Evan came later at night). Our hotel was in a cute open plaza with a church and surrounded by canals (although, to be fair, everything in venice is surrounded by canals.) Our room was AMAZING. It was huge with wood furniture, a huge bath tub with towels!!! After staying in hostels, me and my friends were very impressed. I had the whole afternoon to myself, so I walked around. It was amazing weather, so I pulled out a book and read on San Marcos plaza by the waterfront for a bit. Then the craziness ensued. I ended up standing in line for gelato behind two girls I knew from Leeds! If that is not crazy enough, 5 minutes later I hear someone calling "Anastasia?" It was two more girls from U of I!! It was so crazy but amazing to see everyone! It really is such a small world. I went back to my room and napped until Evan and Josh arrived and then we went to dinner. Pizza in Italy really is amazing, and cheap. We then walked around more and found a free concert in San Marcos square. Perfect way to end the night!

In the morning we headed over to the academia, then took the elevator to the top of the Campiano, and then picked up Kayt from the bus station. It was Kayt's 20th birthday, so we took a gondola ride to celebrate. (one cool fact about Venice: since there are no streets, ambulance are operated on speed boats, which enter the hospital through an underground tunnel.) We then went to dinner and walked around again ( I don't think I could ever get tired of walking around Venice....)

We spent our final morning in Venice on the island of Murano, famous for its glass blowing. I stocked up on the gifts for the family and then headed back to the main island to see San Marcos basilica. It was a very cold and had little light, but impressive none the less. The rest of the day was spent trying to find card for under 7 euro and playing monopoly. Seems kind of silly to be doing that when your in Venice, but we were tired and had to prepare for an overnight train to Florence. On our way out to the train station (at 11 pm) we walked to San Marcos square, which had flooded during the evening. I guess it happens very frequently, because they have these table-looking boardwalks they put out whenever it floods. It is so sad that this city has so very little time left, because it is definitely amazing and one of the highlights of my trip!!

The train transportation, however, was not as fun. Our train from the mainland left @ 3:15 am, but at this point it was only midnight. So we made our way to the mainland station and that was when the problems began. The station was sooo sketchy. The room where we got our tickets was filled with about 40 homeless people, so we got tickets and headed to the platform- 3 hours early. Then, it got really cold, like 35 degrees cold. I luckily had a sleeping bag with me, but my friends were freezing. Eventually the train came, which we thought would make us happier-> it didn't. It was a Harry Potter style train with vestibules where people sat. Well Trenitalia overbook the train, so we had to sleep in the AISLES outside the vestibules with people stepping on as they walked by. The good news was, though, I woke up to the tuscan landscape!


Florence
It was 6 in the morning, so we (Kayt, Evan, and I) dropped out stuff of at the hostel and headed to the museums to start standing in line. We ended up at the Academia first, which houses Michangelo's David (third in line!). David was HUGE!!! I have never realized how big the statue actually was (15 feet tall). Unfortunately, the rest of the museum was not as interesting so we headed over to the Ufizi gallery, to stand in the never ending line. Fastforward 2 hours and we are in!! It was huge, with lots of corridors filled with sculptures. Afterwards, we were exhausted and grabbed some dinner before passing out at the hostel so we could wake up at 6:30 am to go to Cinque Terre .

EXCEPT..... we forgot it was daylight saving time (i blame the hostel), so we woke up at 7:30, so we had to take the 9:30 train. The train ride was 2 hours and not too bad, until we got off at the wrong stop (There are two La'Epezia stops on the same line, brilliant). Luckily, Evan had his garmin, so we were able to walk to right station. We finally made it, and the view at Roimaggiore was stunning! We were on a rocky cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. We started walking to the next town Manarola, which was a pretty easy walk. The hardest trail was to Corniglia, which was all uphill. We ended in Monterosso where there were beaches and a beautiful boardwalk. Most restaurants were closed (palm sunday), but we found a delicious pizza place with pesto pizza (pesto was created in Cinque Terre!). It was so nice to get away for a day, especially with such good company.

We started our last day in Florence by touring the Duomo. We then walked up the campenerio (414 steps), which had amazing views of the city. Finally, we went to Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge in Florence before Kayt and I got ready to head out to Roma!

Rome

I was lucky enough to be able to stay with Colleen, one of my best friends from school, while in Rome. She came and picked me up from the train station and brought me back to her place where we caught up and then crashed for the night. The next day I was able to fit in the Colosseum (AMAZING and huge), the Roman Forum (interesting collection of buildings including the square where Julius Caeser was stabbed and HUGE storage buildings made with arches), and Palatine Hill. It was really interesting to see in person how basic the roman architecture really is. We got lunch in a candy store and then headed off to the pantheon, which was unfortunately under construction. We were still able to peek inside, though. I then headed back to Colleens to get ready for her 21st birthday party! We got together with everyone on her program who was from UIUC and sampled the wine Colleen had made, "wine not" and then headed to the bars. We had a great evening which include getting driven home by Italian men.

The next day me and Kayt headed off to Pompeii at 6:30 am. After a bus and two train, we were there! Pompeii was as amazing as I expected it to be. It is crazy how you feel like you've gone back in time when you visit. The craziest part is they have only excavated about a third of the city. On the way back to Rome, we stopped at Naples to experience the birthplace of pizza. The pizza was delicious, but the city was very trashy and dirty. When I got back to Colleen's place, there was homemade past cabanara waiting for me and a couple of episodes of arrested development.

Our last day in Rome was dedicated to Vatican City, I got lost (which is unusual for me, but was kinda cool to see more of the city then i expected) and ended up walking there. I did stumble upon Roma Hill, which was a beautiful park with sweeping views of the city. We got to the Vatican hoping to go straight into St. Peters, but Holy Thursday service was going on and the line to enter wrapped around the half the city (Its a small city.... but the line was LOOOONG) so instead we grabbed lunch and headed to the Vatican museum. Usually the line takes 2 hours, but we got in the museum after only 15 minutes of waiting! We walked through most of this extraordinary museum. My favorite objects was a huge bowl and box made of a precious purple marble that does not exists in the earth anymore, and most of existing marble belonged to the vatican. The map room was also amazing. The museum ended in the Sistine Chapel. We then went out a door that said "no exit" and ended up at St. Peter's Basilica. It was MASSIVE. The letters on the veiling were as large as a person.

The next day I shopped for a little big before going to the station to catch a train to the airport. Problem was the train went to the other airport, so we ended up catching a cab. Off to Slovakia!

Picture Update!

View of Prague from Prague Castle.


Amber and I in front of the Astronomical clock. Not only does it tell time, but it also shows the position of the moon and the sun, show the times of sunrise and sunset, and have funny figures that dance around on the hour.


View of the church in the main square from the streets! Way cool!


The ruins of Bolton Abbey. The part on the very left is an actual functioning church still!


View from the summit

3 weeks all rolled into one

Ah! I am so behind on things!
So after Prague I only had 3 days in Leeds before heading to London! Which was not enough time, but I managed. UIUC hosted an all-expenses paid weekend for all students studying in Great Britain.
I headed down to London a day early to meet up with my cousin Nate. I was able to go to one of his gigs, (which was amazing! It been a while since I have been anywhere with live music) and then crash for the night. The next morning I met up with all the U of I people at a hotel in London( I use the word hotel loosely... we had single beds, but it was only two to a room... so a bit better than a hostel). We went to a Mediterranean tapas restruant and then off to a latin dance show. It was defiantly not something I would go to if I was by myself... and probably would have been more interesting if I wasn't so tired! I may or may not have dozed off for part of one act... We spent the rest of evening celebrating Unofficial in true U of I fashion.
Saturday we had a coach tour of london (Thank god... because we were all exhausted and im pretty sure no one would have lasted on a walking tour.) I then went shopping with three other girls. We walked around Harrods, which was even more amazing then I remember. At one point we were on the escalator and I heard opera music. Next thing I know we go past a women standing on a balcony... who is actually singing live! It was incredible. We then went to dinner at a local pub and chated in the hotel lobby till around 2.
Sunday we went to the Tower of London(my second time there) and walked around the British Museum before I headed back to my cousins to spend the night. I went to another one of his gigs that night, which was even better than the first. It was held in this tiny blue bar with a great atmosphere which encouraged dance and such. I had a blast!

Fast-forward through the week... which I spent lying in bed recovering from traveling too many weekends in a row... and we get to Sunday ( 4 days ago) which I spent hiking through the Yorkshire Dales!! It was INCREDIBLE! We did about a seven mile hike which went through 4 crazy different environments. We started off the hike next to the ruins of Bolton Abbey (which we later found out is not all ruins.... the other side of the church is still closed and functioning! sort of cool.) We then hiked through the sheep pastures (past an amazing waterfall) into a dense forest, only to come out into the "Valley of Desolation." Now there is a reason they named it that... there is nothing there but a hill with rocks and brown vegetation. We reached the summit (@ which point we may or may not have opened a bottle of champagne and drank it out of our water bottles) and walked back through woods and sheep and along a river. I cannot wait to go on more hikes around the UK.

This week has been... very stressful. I have a paper due tomorrow ( 6 pages... I only have one more paragraph to write so im in good shape there), I have had to pack for a MONTH of traveling (which sounded awesome when I was planning it.... but it not that awesome when u realize you will only have access to the things in one small suitcase and one carry-on) and then there was my camera. As I had mention previously, my camera broke one the first weeks I was in England. My dad bought me a new one and shipped it here (they are LOADS cheaper in the states) well that was 6 weeks ago and we had not heard anything about it. SO Wednesday I spent an hour on the phone with royal mail and finally found it was being held by customs in Leeds(I don't know how I would have found out where it was if I hadn't called!) I decide it was close enough to walk to... well after walking for 2 hours and basically crying to a receptionist at another mail-place I regretted this decision. Luckily I eventually made (before sun-down... I was in the creepy part of leeds) and took a taxi home!

Well I better get back to writing my essay and packing!! Hopefully I will be able to update a little when i'm traveling! Here is my schedule for those interested:
19-22 Barcelona
22-23 Madrid
24-26 Venice
27-29 Florence
30-1 Rome
2 Bratislava
3-4 Budapest
5-7 Vienna
7-9 Munich
10-16th Cruise of the Greek Islands

Praha

Hello! So its been a bit crazy and I have been horrible at updating my blog! But lets jumps back two weekends to my weekend in Prague!

Our trip got off to a great (and funny) start when Chris got pulled over by security at the airport. After searching him, they found two cans of beer at the bottom of his bag. He claims he had forgot they were there, but I secretly believe he was just trying to avoid the outrageous fees airlines charge for alcohol. We flew Jet2, a discount airline (aka flying death traps), direct from Leeds to Prague. The only bad part of the flight was a bunch of guys were standing in the aisles drinking and yelling the entire flight... which would probably be grounds for arrest in the US.

After a bit of a detour in downtown Prague, we eventually found our hostel, which was 2to3 miles outside the city center in an "up-and-coming" neighborhood. The hostel was great, we (Jenna, Chris, Amber, Luke, Evan, Chris' friend Richard from Germany, and I) had an 8 person room to ourselves! It was like having a sleepover. The area was not really as nice, it was clearly still recovering from the communism days. It was pretty late at this point, so we hopped on the metro to the city. We ended up at a bar for a bit then walked around the city.

The next morning we headed back into town for the free tour. It started out in the market square, where there were various booths set up where they made fresh food. I tried the sugar-roasted nuts (delicious), a donut-like bread roll covered in sugar (evan more delicious) and thin waffles with fresh caramel in the middle (the most delicious). The free tour was great, especially for someone who knew NOTHING about Prague before going there. The cool thing about the city is it sustained very little bombing during WWII, so most the really old buildings and landmarks have remained intact. After the free tour, we went straight into a tour of the Prague Castle. It was a very interesting tour, but after 6 hours of listening to tour guides it was a bit hard to focus. We all headed back to the hostel to clean up and sleep.

Sunday I finally got in contact with a good friend from the US who was also in Prague, Colleen (Aka future roomie :-) ). We met up at the Jewish museum, which held drawings from Jewish children who were in concentration camps during WWII. Afterward, we walked to the John lennon wall, ate at Bohemian bagel (the best sandwich/bagel place ever!!), took a nap, and then headed out to a delicious Czech meal (our first of the trip). We spent the rest of the night watching the USA vs. Canada hockey in an Australian pub. We ended up staying after close talking with the owner of the bar. It was the perfect way to end the trip!!

Monday we spent a very LONG 13 hours traveling home... but we made it in one piece!

I will try to catch up on my posts soon! I spent last weekend in London and today hiking in the Yorkshire Dales!!

Uggs are NOT climbing shoes

So the weekend started out well with an otley run. Otley road is a major road in Leeds with a lot of pubs on it. The goal is spend a half an hour and have a drink in each. The otley run I went on was Canadian themed and it was a ton of fun!


Friday night I left for Edinburgh. We arrived at our hostel to find we were directly beneath castle rock!! ( The view from the doorstep of the hostel can be seen above). The castle was so beautiful inside. Some of the buildings date back to the 12th century. After a whiskey tasting (which was so good i actually bought some... I am willing to give it to the highest bidder back home) we headed down to the elephant cafe for lunch. For those of you who are not Harry Potter Fans, the Elephant cafe is where J.K.Rowling penned the first harry potter novel on a napkin. From the cafe you can see Castle Rock, a cemetary(with the graves of Tim McGongall and Tom Riddle) and a castle-like orphanage, which the locals say is the "real hogwarts".

After lunch, we headed down to the local starbucks for our free tour. We spent 3 hours walking around learning about Edinburgh history. Highlights included a heart in the middle of the street which people constantly spit on (in tradition with olden times when people spit on it because that was where they collected taxes) Greyfriars bobby ( a dog who sat by his masters grave for 10 years after he died), and trying the local cuisine of deep-fried mars bars(sound disgusting -tastes delicious) and Irn-Bru(a Scottish soda). It was such a cheap and great way to see the city. That night, we went on the pub-crawl with the same tour group and had a ton of fun.

Sunday we decided to hike Arthur seat(the peak to the left in the pic), a large hill with a 360 view of Edinburgh. Since this was a weekend trip, i only brought two pairs of shoes: Uggs and flats. Uggs were perfectly adequate to hike the hill. It was a bit steep at parts but nothing horrible. We were lucky to have a clear day, because we could see for miles from the top. We sat and ate our lunch and heading back down the hill, and this is when our problems began. 6 of us had climbed Arthur's seat, 4 guys and 2 girls. The guys choose the path down, and what do you know, they decided we were going to climb down the cliff face. If Emma and I had been wearing tennis shoes, it would have been fine... but climbing down a pretty vertical cliff with ugg boots and a longchamp purse is not really the way to do it. Nevertheless we made it down... and it was totally worth it.

I spent the few hours we had left at the Edinburgh museum, seeing Dolly the Sheep (stuffed and creepy looking) and various ancient Scottish artifacts. Then we hopped on the train and headed home!!

In other news... I passed my first test!! yay!! Its refreshing to know I can still pass this semester even though I am gone every weekend/ cannot will myself to do much schoolwork. I also got a lovely care package from my parents containing lots of goldfish, chex mix, girlscout cookies, and easymac so I am not longer suffering from American food withdrawl. I am heading to Prague tomorrow (AH!!) which will be the first European country, besides England, I have EVER been too!

Tipsy Tuesdays?

Tuesday nights have been the best nights I have had in Leeds so far. Tuesday night is "international night" at a local pub and they have become an event of sorts among my friends. Last week, we went to the Eldon pub early and watched the Leeds soccer game, this week we had a potluck dinner, and next week we are holding a beerpong tournament complete with pizza and curly fries. We were talking about a possible "drink potluck" the week after....

Also... through wikipedia... I have found out some pretty cool facts about places I have been. For Example:
The Harry Potter movies use the Durham Catherdral (which I went to last weekend) as the sets for classrooms and corridors! I didn't take a picture of the walkways... but I am pretty sure the scenes where filmed in the corridors all around this courtyard!

Hello all!

So last Saturday I went to York. It was so beautiful because the city walls and some of the buildings have been around since the 12th century! We walked around, saw Yorkminister and Castle Howard, and then did a bit of shopping.
Yorkminister

Castle Howard

It was a perfect day trip, and we were exhausted after walking the wall around the city.

Sunday was the superbowl!! Me and two other Americans convinced all of our other international friends to go to a bar from 1am-4:30 am in order to watch it. Needless to say I was exhausted the next morning. Besides that, I had pretty much a routine week; classes, International night at the pub tuesday (there was a soccer game before we went to watch, so we were there for almost 6 hours!).
Thursday I went to a charity masquerade ball in a casino with some of my friends. I played one round of roulette, and lost (surprise surprise!). But we had a ton of fun watching the boys gamble and dancing.

Finally, Amber and I spent Friday and Saturday in Durham with her cousin who goes to college there. Durham is fascinating. It has both a cathedral and a castle which are built on a cliff over looking a river. The castle is actually part of the University of Durham housing (yes! college students actually get to LIVE inside a castle with was built in the 1500's.... some of it was actually built in the 1000's). There is a bar in the basement of the castle that we went to one night to have a couple of drinks. The close the castle doors at night, so to get to the bar you have to go through this 4 feet tall opening by the gate. I was trying to think back in the 1500's what this basement would have been. I thought it was a cellar but others said it was probably a dungeon. Good thing I'll never know...

Right: the courtyard inside the castle gate(the bar was underneath the steps to the left)

I was completely in awe of my surroundings in Durham the entire time I was there.
Above: The castle. The students live in the keep, to the right. The bar was more to the left inside the doors.
Below: The left is part of the castle while the top of the cathedral can be seen to the right.

One night we went out to Newcastle to go to a club. It was a bit different than what I am use to in the states, but awesome seeing the nightlife in Britain. The only problem, however, is that the first train back to Durham is at 4:30 am... which meant that after the club closed, at 3:30, we had to sit outside the train station for an hour in about 15 degree weather. Needless to say, I woke up the next morning tired and with a bit of a cold. I still ended up having a great weekend though!

I have my first test Tuesday (AH! have to start studying for that....) And then I am spending the rest of the week trying to plan out and book my spring break! I basically have the first two weeks figured out : Barcelona, Madrid, Venice, Florence, and Rome. Now its time to start working on the second two weeks. It is a TON of work to try to plan all this, but I am sure it will work out in the end.

I go to Edinburgh this weekend! which I am VERY excited for. The only problem is my camera broke yesterday :-(. So I am working on finding a replacement before then.

Happy Valentines Day <3

Forecast: Foggy

So it's been a pretty low key week. The weather has been quite gloomy (fog so thick you can only see 5 feet in front of you). Amber and I went to the top floor of Harvey Nichol's to eat at their sushi bar!! And last night I went ice skating with a few friends.
but I spent most of my time planning trips... This is what I have planned (some tentatively) at this point:

Feb. 6th - York
Feb 12-14 - Newcastle
Feb 19-21 - Edinburgh
Feb 26- 1 - Praque
March 4-8 - London
March 12-14- Munich (possibly...)
April 23-26 - Istanbul (possibly....) or Bristol, Bath & Stonehenge
May 7-10 - Paris (my mom and aunt are coming)

its seems a bit crazy to have so many weekends full already but I am so excited for all of them!!

First Week!

First of all: Its soo nice to have only one or two hours of class a day... Its so different from the USA but I am not feeling suffocated by school.

Monday I had one class @ 1 and then walked around the city to take some pictures...


The first picture is of the Victoria arcade and the second is of the downtown shopping area... Which I am sure will prove dangerous to my bank account.Monday night me and my friend, Amber, went out with my roomates to a club called Halo which is hosted in an old church. It was sort of an odd experience to say the least.

Tuesday I had my first traditions of alcohol class! It was very cool... we get to do tours of brewery ( and maybe a winery) and the week after easter break we brew beer in groups!! I have feeling I am not going to be very good at it... but we will see
Tuesday night me and Amber headed over the Eldon Pub for international night! It was absolutely PACKED! we could not even move (keep in mind it is 9 pm right now.... no one in England goes out until like 11). We each got cider ( a pound fifty! ) and set off to find some people I had met a couple of days before ( they can all be seen in the picture below... although that was a different night). We hungover by the "jukebox" and paid to choose songs all night! It was so much fun! but after about an hour of our DJing someone came over and paid like 4 pounds to choose 10 songs... guess they didn't like our choices
Thursday I met up with a group of other study abroad students (Emma, Mitch, Luke, Chris, Evan, and Amber... the majority of who are from Australia) to go to the union for a headphone disco. Basically everyone is given out headphones with two channels, A and B. On the dance floor, there are two DJ's so you can listen to whatever music you want. The funny thing is there is no music playing over the loudspeakers (since it is all in the headphones) so its essentially silent except for everyone who is singing along! It was soo much fun. We ended up being there from 11 till a bit over 3am.


Finally, Saturday I traveled with Jenna, one of my sorority sisters, to Liverpool. Despite my weakness in musical history, especially regarding the Beatles, I still had fun! There was this awesome cathedral... the largest in Britain. Below are pictures...

Currently I am planning my first trip out of England, to Prague. I am going with the same group I went to the headphone disco with so it should be very fun! We are going the last weekend on February and I am going to be able to meet up with my roommate next year, Colleen and some other people from U of I. I am also heading out to Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick next weekend!

Finally... some things I have learned this week

-Smarties in England are MnM's!! what?? makes no sense!... what are American smarties then?

-It is better for Americans to refer to soccer as soccer... because if you try to be more "english" and say football... they assume you are referring to American football
Real Conversation I had:

me: My sister plays football! she is going to play in college
Henry: Oh! wow! does she play linebacker? One of the people who squats in the line

-It is impossible to understand Indian professor with British accents. I am definitely taking that class pass fail

My First Days in Leeds...

Helllllo!


I have finally made it to Leeds! I had only one scare, when my plane from Chicago to Detroit was delayed.... I had to run through the Detroit airport to make it to my next gate. It really showed me how out of shape I am. Luckily no one had to sit next to my sweaty self because the plane was only half full! so I got two seats to myself. I had a short layover in Amsterdam and then straight onto Leeds :-)

I was getting a taxi when some guy asked me if I wanted to share. Before everyone has flashbacks to the movie "Taken" he was a fellow study abroad student from U of M and I recognized him from the other two flights. I finally made it to campus and to my dorm. My room is AWESOME. It is huge... like bigger than my bedroom at home. And I have my own bathroom and shower. I have like nothing to fill the space though! If anyone wants to come to visit, I certainly have plenty of room. I also have a nice view of a park outside my window. Well actually its a cemetery... which is kind of creepy but i'll just try not to think about it all semester.

When I got here I just kind of walked around and took in parts of the campus. But I was really just tired and went straight to bed. The next days I had a ton of study abroad orientations and stuff. It was also my birthday! I spent all day walked around campus and the downtown area, which is gorgeous. When I got back to the dorm, my flatmate's decided that they were going to bring me. They even surprised me with a birthday cake! I girl I met, Amber, who is from New Zealand also joined us at the club. It was a great birthday :-)

So I talk to my flatmates a lot about the difference between our countries. For example:
- TJ Maxx in America is TK Maxx in Britain
- There are no american food brands... like goldfish and macaroni and cheese.
There are many more interesting ones, I am just having a mental block at the moment

Anyways, school starts on monday, and I dont think I am ready to work again. I have 9 contact hours, which is amazing compared to the 25 I had last semester at university of Illinois. I am taking 5 classes:
Geotechnics - a civil engineering class about soils
Fluid Dynamics - a civil engineering class
Transportation engineering - a civil engineering class focusing on roads and airports
Traditional alcoholic beverages - about wine and beer making
Theology of Islam - I am soo excited about this class, but I might have to drop because of conflicts :-( Hopefully not though
I actually found out yesterday that my geotechnics and fluid dynamics classes started last week, but no one told me! Not that it would have mattered because I flew in Wednesday and would not have been able to attend. Hopefully I am not too behind in these classes.

I travel to Liverpool this weekend! It should be fun!

Final weights of my luggage:
46.7 lbs
48.8 lbs
SUCCESS!!

Packing Up...

Hi everyone!!!
So I am finishing up packing to leave for Leeds ( T - 3 days). That is more easily said than done... I have a feeling I am going to have to re-pack my suitcases a few more times before I get everything to fit. I probably don't need 5 pairs of jeans or 6 dresses, but how do I know which ones I won't use?!?

I am taking a break from all the packing tomorrow, thankfully. Since my 21st birthday is the first night I get there I am not sure how much energy I will have to go out so I heading down to Champaign to celebrate and say goodbye to friends. Then I will have monday for all leftover errands! Everything is coming up so quickly! I just can't wait to leave!

Until next time,

-Anastasia