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