Shakespeare and Riding in Wild Wales, England...

For my Theatre in London class we get to go to a new theatre and go to see a play each week. In our third week this past week we went to visit Shakespeare's Globe Theatre which was re-created in 1994 according to how he described it in his plays. Here are some pictures from inside the theatre...






This past weekend me and 2 of the girls here, Kate and Lynn, went on a trip to Wales for horseback riding throughout Brecon Beacons National Park! It was a beautiful place and basically in the middle of nowhere but it was awesome to get out of the city and see what the rest of England was like. We stopped in 2 small towns on our way to our destination where we spent the night. One of the towns was literally devoted to bookstores and the majority of stores were such. But things got unexpectedly crazy when we got to our hotel/hotel/mansion. We were told that behind the hotel there was a "disco" aka a barn where people are literally shipped in through buses to party. We decided to go see this place before anyone was there just to see if what we were told was true...oh and it was. When we went back later on there were people dressed up as smurfs...yes, blue face painted people with white mini skirted dressed and hats on. It was very very odd but so hilarious to see people like this. Apparently it was some girl's 18th birthday and they were celebrating. Who would have known that there would be a rave in the middle of nowhere!!! Anyway, the next morning we headed over to meet our horses that we would be riding that day. My horses name was Friday and it was really a good experience. the last time I was on a horse was like 6 years ago. We got to a trot for short periods at a time but mostly walked but the scenery was picturesque and there were little sheep grazing everywhere on the hillside. Unfortunately it rained while we were out there and it got pretty cold but we got back without a cold so that was good news. Here are the some of the pics I took!...







Good Times!!! Hopefully this weekend we'll find something to do for Halloween! But I guess we will see what happens...It's crazy that I only have 8 weeks left until I'm home...and that I've already been here for over 5 weeks! <3 I'll post soon...next trip is Dublin! so exciting!

Cheers from London and other places in England!

It's been a while but nothing too crazy has been happening...Except I'm headed into my 3rd week of school and am realizing that London is a wacky place to live. Last week Thursday and Friday several professors were on strike because the school recently cut labor. I decided to check it out, plus i wasn't sure if I was even going to have class but I decided to go just in case and find out. Turns out that not every professor decided to strike...at least not those in the union. It was a weird day to say the least. This weekend we did some shopping at the Camden Markets and found some pretty unique things for negotiable prices. It's cool how on a boring day, it's so easy to find something simple to do. Sunday, we left London around 8am and made our way down to Sainsbury and Bath, England. I got to see Stonehenge and basically took a photo shoot because there are only so many things to do there...Bath, however, was very fun. We only had a few hours of free time after we went to see the Roman Baths but I found some delicious places that sold some chocolate delicacies! Overall, it was a stressless weekend and next weekend should be similar! I'm going to head over to Wales and go horseback riding! Hopefully it won't be too cold but we will see!.. Oh yeah, I forgot about one of the most important things i've experienced here! I entered Platform 9 and 3/4!!! Aka, pretended to! Over at Kings Cross Train Station they have a "fake" platform set up and we visited randomly on our way to Abbey Road! Where I creepily/"accidentally" dressed in an all white suit just like John Lennon, it took like 6 times to get right but it was worth it I think!...
Beatles...

Headed to Hogwarts...

Abbey Road Graffitti and Lyrics...

London Met Strike...

Stonehenge...

Being that American...

Creepy!...

Bath Abbey...

Closest I can get to being in to Roman Bath...

Hi!

Park in Bath...

Scenery...


WOOHOO!! Wish you all can see this and be here for my adventures!!!

Amsterdammm...for realllll

After exploring Belgium, we made our way to Holland...About a 3 hour train ride from Bruxelles! I tried to sleep the entire way but after about an hour into the trip I woke up to some lady trying to get my ticket from me...then we realized we were sitting in the "1st class" section and we clearly were not first class because we were trying to use the least amount of money as humanly possible...The only real difference was that there was a box around our 6 seats vs. just sitting in a row without the "cage." Anyway, we made it to Amsterdam and were in search of a hostel immediately, even though we wanted to head over to a coffee shop...but it wasn't pleasant. However, everything worked out with hostels/hotels for both nights. We checked out the red light district, the Anne Frank House, some shops, sex museums featuring Long Dong Silver...(awkward) and walked a lot...after 2 nights and reaching exhaustion, we got the train back to Bruxelles-midi and decided it was a good idea to become bums and sleep in the train station..FOR 12 hours! haha, it was a ridiculous experience but oh well. a few times the security guards checked that we weren't literally homeless and required us to show our tickets to them...good times. Lets just say that it was very refreshing to take a shower when we finally got back to London Sunday Morning!! :) Here's a preview...

Train Station...


Only 3 Euro's!! Pretty good deallll...


Our Bed/living situation!...(before we added 3 more beds)...


Bikes/Water/Boats, EVERYWHERE!...


Fuzzy Picture of the Red Light District...


Well, tomorrow is my first day of class so i'm pretty excited about that and my professor's names are Longbottom and Goodfellow, i'm pretty sure they couldn't be more English! P.s, the next trip planned includes Wales and Horse-back riding...(in a few weeks!) Can't Wait! :)

Lost in Amsterdam, forever!

This weekend I took a weekend excursion to Bruxelles, Belgium and Amsterdam, Holland...It was thurday night around 9:30pm and all of a sudden the idea of going to Paris for the weekend came up...However, since all the trains were booked for the next couple of months, it was decided that we would make our way over to Amsterdam. Friday morning...early early morning (4am)...we walked over to King's Cross Station (on ONE hour of sleep) for our departure toward Amsterdam. Our train left for Brussels around 6am and we got there in 2 hours, 3 with the time change. It was raining a little but died off, so we headed over to the center of the city...after eating a classier (more expensive) version of a hot pocket (aka cheese and ham hot pastry), we started walking around the city...we ended up seeing the Capital Region and the famous statue of the "Manneken Pis" which is basically a little cherub peeing...but it's actually seen as a symbol of French and Dutch cohabitation in Brussels. When we were there, he was dressed up to celebrate the National Day of Beijing...which is similarily the same day as Dad's Birthday...what a coincidence!...



Heyyy...


Mmm, Chocolates from Belgium!


Sweet mens fashion in Brussels...


Graffitti...slash why do i have 4 chins??



Amsterdam may have to wait until next post...

Prime Meridian = 0°

Last Week Wednesday I was able to go to the Prime Meridian and it was honestly probablly one of the coolest things yet. Maybe because everything else I've done here involved congested city streets... Anyway, on our way there there was a hill that reminded me of one in Orchard Park over at Chestnut Ridge where if you climb to the top- you can see the entire skyline of Buffalo. Except, on the top of this hill you could see the skyline of London. It was awesome to be there because there were literally 4 other people just relaxing on the top of the hill and it was probablly one of the most peaceful times of the trip so far. After I got some sweet shots of the city we moved to te location of the Prime Meridian where longitude is 0 degrees. This also provided a great view of the city but just much more crowded since it's more of a tourist spot...

Welcome to London...


The top of a church after climbing the hill...


A Chestnut, I thought it was sweet looking...


Piece of the skyline...


At the Prime Meridian Observatory...



WooHoo!!