so I'm terrible at this get over it

So I was told like a week ago that I needed to wrap up my travels blog, that people needed closure or something lame like that. ;) Well I'm just now getting around to doing it, but you still love me anyways.
Zürich was good, kinda lame. Really expensive, not a lot to do, but we had a good time. I left Zürich alone and headed back to London, which was a really weird feeling. I hated being separated from my group like that but at the same time was really excited to try doing something on my own. I left the hostel really early, got to the train station, and eventually got on a train headed toward the airport. I settled in for a good 40 min train ride like the hostel told me it would take to get to the airport... little did I know that 10 minutes later, I was at the airport and almost missed getting off. oopsie. Thanks nice lady sitting by me. Then I was really early for my flight, apparently they told me 40 minutes to the airport from the hostel... but I'd rather be really early than really close to late.
In London I went and saw all my favorites one last time. Got to see the tree at Trafalgar Square, that is donated by Norway. It was really cool, and huge. Saw the eye and Westminster area decorated. It was great. I went to the Original Hard Rock Cafe with Brittany and Crosson. Went and saw my favorite bridge one last time, and the Tower of London. Rode the tube for the last time.... lets just say it was an emotional few days. But sitting at Trafalgar one night, I realized that when a city like London become this much a part of you and you've spent this much time in it, you WILL be BACK. I can't not come back. So part of me when I hear home still things of the Daniel House. So leaving London was not good bye it was until next time or see ya later. which made it much easier to leave.
It took me about a week to be officially on schedule ... I woke up the Friday after I got back and was so excited that it wasn't 3 am. I've gotten to play with and love on my babies, see lots of people of I've missed, talk on the phone to people... thats weird. Life is going back to what I knew it as. SL drama, school, work, friends, babies... you know. And its weird to think that a few weeks ago I lived in London, Europe was a hop away. My responsibilities were to learn and travel and see all I could, not bills, and school, and job, and junk. Don't get me wrong I love being able to see people but I wish I could have my cake and eat it too.
I hope you all had a Happy Boxing Day.

Munich, Germany

I'd like to start with the fact that the keyboards here are totally different and I am struggling with it.
We arrived today at about 1 and couldn't get into our rooms until two, which was fine because we were planning on dropping our stuff and going. We dropped our packs in the luggage room, and hopped on a train to Dochau. Dachau is where one of the first Nazi concentration camps was and is now a memorial. It was intense... but it's something I think everybody needs to see. We didn't make it through to everything, so that was a little upsetting but it was still really interesting.
Courtney walked out talking about how blessed we were to be free and that that would never happen and all that was running through my mind the whole time I went through was how fast it happened. And how easily it could happen again, we believe anything the media puts in front of us. Being in London and sitting in my British History class, I learned a lot about how we are taught History and their side of history. It's really interesting. This is a whole really long conversation to be had over some tea with a pastry... not me sitting in my hostel and you reading it. But seeing the concentration camp and being in Europe has put what I just learned about and saw pictures of as real and valid and life... I want to go back and read up on some history and learn more about the places and things I've seen.

Salzburg

We've spent two lovely days in Salsburg. I love this town.
We've gotten to relax a lot and take life at a slower pace, which we've all really enjoyed. I can't believe tomorrow is Sunday and about a week from then this whole European adventure is over. I have loved it so much, I have loved my housemates so much. We have become a family and are already missing eachother terribly, while we travel. We've had the tell what you miss about each person, and the Daniel house, the imitations of people, you know the things you do when you miss the people you love.
But back to Salzburg. I got to do the sound of music tour, today which was really really neat. I loved getting to see things and they took us out of the city and into the mountains with the snow and all. We went to this tiny little lake town called Mondesse, It was charming. I loved the feel of it, and the people we met were all really nice.
Last night our roommates where a married couple from Korea and the husband's brother. We talked to them for a long time, despite the language gap we managed to communicate very well. They gave us these beautiful bookmarks, and it just kind make me think about how they prepared to meet people along the way and give them gifts. there is more to this story but its dinner time and I'm getting hungry. Let me just end with my new Korean friends taught me a lot and I will never forget them.
Home in minus 8 days and counting.... crazy..... what side of the road do they drive on in America? AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Vienna

Vienna is beautiful. I love it. It has snowed like 3 tims on us today which has been really fun. I have several stories I would love to tell you all right now other than the fact that the z and the y are switched on this keyboard and it is killing me. But I am running out of minutes and still have a few things I need to do.
love you and I will post more very soon.

Thanksgiving

We had a little Thanksgiving feast here in the Daniel House, it was prepared by Elliot and Cassidy's Mums. It was great, we had one of our British History Professors and his wife and one of our neighbours. It was a great day, we got to take a day off from finals, but we did have to go to a concert and we had a final the next day.
We had lunch about 2, and after that we watched our group projects. The first day we got here we were divided into 3 teams of 6, and these teams have stuck for the semester. So we share a shelf in the fridge with your team, you do your group project with your team. Our group project was to make a movie/slideshow about the semester... sounds easy, but it means a lot of work, and most of it for one person. But we showed them today it was really fun, and great to be able to look back on all our memories together. I'm trying to load my group's on to Youtube so I can share it with you guys, because they mean a lot to us.
It was really weird to know that we had celebrated Thanksgiving, in a place that they don't celebrate it (thing about why we celebrate it). But really before anybody in the states celebrated it. We were having lunch as people were getting up to prepare your Thanksgiving feast. crazy I know.

travels ...

Okay if you haven't read the last entry do it. its awesome. I'm working on uploading a video or two to my new Youtube account. They are my end of term projects, and I think they are awesome. Lets just say one of them is "flats" the London version of "Cribs". And gives you a look at the Daniel House, my home here in London.

They are both going to be promo video for Samford London Program recruiting.

Other than that. I leave tomorrow for my 2 week Travel Break.
We're heading to Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary; Salzburg, Austria; Munich, Germany; and Zurich, Switzerland.
here is my Itinerary, and I'll try to update when I can:

Sunday November 25, 2007: Vienna, Austria – Wombat “the lounge”
- Flight: depart 11:05 arrive 14:35
Monday November 26, 2007: Vienna, Austria
Tuesday November 27, 2007: Vienna, Austria
Wednesday November 28, 2007: Budapest, Hungary
Thursday November 29, 2007: Budapest, Hungary
Friday November 30, 2007: Salzburg, Austria
Saturday December 1 2007: Salzburg, Austria
Sunday December 2 2007: Munich, Germany
Monday December 3 2007: Munich, Germany
Tuesday December 4 2007: Zurich, Switzerland
Wednesday December 5 2007: Zurich, Switzerland
Thursday December 6 2007: Zurich, Switzerland to London - Daniel House
-Flight: depart 10:30 arrive 11:20
Friday December 7 2007: London – Daniel House
Saturday December 8 2007: London – Daniel House
Sunday December 9 2007: London – Daniel House
Monday December 10 2007: London to USA – My Apartment

Do I have a story for you....

Tonight we went to see Sound of Music. Which was incredible. So we just watched this great love story, it was awesome we are leaving Oxford Circus on a very happy note. We get to the tube station, and people are running all around us, so we figure we should run too. We run, as we arrive at the platform we realize why people were running, it was the last train of the night. So good thing we ran. We barely make it on some of us getting separated into different cars. It is packed in these cars and we are about to hit one of the busiest tube stops as our first stop. And its about the right time for all the people who just came out of their shows to get on the tube. Awesome.
So the tube becomes even more packed; I thought it was tight before we hit Leicester Square, but boy did I learn. I now have a man's armpit in my face, and I can't move, my arm is stuck up against my chest because I moved it at the wrong moment. In these moments on the tube you usually just don't look at anybody and don't talk about the awkward closeness. Well, we were waiting a few extra seconds to get people on since it was the last train... and these two very drunk ladies come up to our car, and start trying to push their way on. There is no way another 1 person much less 2 is getting in. They then stat yelling in between can you squeeze together anymore, "We're from South Africa. We just beat England in Rugby. World Champions." There is an audible groan through out the train, and any hint of wanting to be nice and try to let them on, was completely gone. Lets just say they didn't make it on.
My friend Brittany was on the tube with me and we were making faces at each other and commenting about the situation, and the girls . When all the sudden she just says to the guy behind me, "how you holding up back there" he is totally pushed up against the doors, and I am totally on top of him. I then apologize, and he just says, not like you can help it. We then had a great conversation with the guy. It was awesome. But the best part was after we got off the tube.
I'm just going to admit right now, he was SO attractive! Like I'm not kidding. And when we had to get off in my head I was going, can't we just go one more stop. And another confession, since we are on the topic of his attractiveness.... The whole time we are talking in my head I'm thinking, in the movies this would be when the main characters totally just start making out. This is how it happens. (I know we've watched a few too many romantic comedy movies this week while trying to get projects done.) And we were so close whilest we were talking that had the train jerked we totally would have kissed. I don't even know if you are getting the full picture of this.
Well we get off the train and we're walking to make it to the next one we have to get on to go home. Brittany start talking about the whole experience, how cute the guy was etc. We get off the tube at the Gloucester Road stop and are still talking about it. Only now we have moved to what we were thinking during the whole experience.... we totally both were thinking, about making out the whole time the conversation was happening. We would be.

It was a great night. Graham aka tube man come back to us. ;)


I just realized you totally could take this so wrong. Think packed tube. Think stressed out, sleep deprived. Think we've watched too many movies. It was totally a funny experience and I'm so glad we have this story now.

it is 1:17 in the Am and I am still awake.

I can't really believe that I am still awake, but when I was trying to study last night I kept finding myself not really knowing what was going on and finding my head on my desk more than a few times, so despite the fact that it was like 9:45 I gave up and went to bed.... so I got lots of sleep last night... therefore I'm not tired now.

here is a snippet of the video I'm working on for our thanksgiving/ part of my final....
enjoy... and know that there is more where this came from.

The Harry Potter Holy Land

Today I went to Oxford, England. I loved it, except for the constant rain and freezing temperature, I'm pretty sure some of the rain was solidifying or freezing by around 4 o'clock aka the time it was starting to get dark. But it really was a fun little town, basically the epitome of a college town, because there are 39 colleges that together make up Oxford University. It was a beautiful, homey little town.

Oxford is the home of writer C.S. Lewis, I have read a lot about Lewis the past few weeks because I wrote a paper about him. Anyways, there was a pub called the Eagle and Child that he and some of the other "fellows" he was friends with 'hung out' at. They liked to call it "The Bird and the Baby". We had lunch there and actually sat in the Rose room by the fire which is where Lewis and Tolkin would sit when they came in. It was SOOOOOOO good. Then we toured a few of the colleges, I loved them. All of the colleges are really small the biggest one has like 600 students and the smallest about 100; I think it would be really neat and really great for your education to be in such a small group to learn. You get so much more professor time, and smaller classes, you know all that jazz. One of my favorite Colleges, it might just be for the name, was 'Jesus College'; I almost got a pair of sweatpants that said Jesus on them... ha.

We toured Christ College, which is where they filmed a whole lot of stuff for HARRY POTTER! So I stood where in the first movie, the Philosopher/Sorcerer's Stone, Professor McGonagall welcomed the first years on the steps before entering the Great Hall. Where Neville lost his toad, and Malfoy told Harry if he knew what was good for him he'd want to be in Slytherin, and all the Characters that we love so much and have 'watched/read about them growing up' were standing out side the Great Hall wondering what was to come of the 7 years they were going to spend at Hogwarts. What house will everyone be, at this point we didn't even know what that really meant, not like we do now. Anyways, I stood there, I stood where the students would have been and also where McGonagall would have stood. It was pretty awesome. Don't believe me, look at the picture. Then we went into their dinning hall, which was used as the Great Hall for Harry Potter, you could so tell too. There are pictures all over the wall that they took down and made a new back ground behind where the professors sat. Also there was a lot of computer animation done to make it look bigger, but I was there.
I also got a Oxford Sweatshirt, and show sweatpants that will totally be great for Travel break in here in a few days. Which reminds me, I have 15 days and then I'm back in America. That is terrifying, exciting, and depressing all at the same time. I really can't believe it. But I've got 2 weeks in Central Europe before that and Finals. Lets just hope I make it through this week of exams, and term papers and packing.

Birthday week.

Holidays have a tendency to jerk you into reality, that is when you aren't living in it.... if you are it might take you out of it. Anyways. This is birthday week, which I love and wish that it happened more than once a year, but its also about that time of the term and our time over here that we start to get home sick. I love London, and I'm going to get home, and 2 months later when the excitement of seeing everybody wears off I'm going to be crying myself to sleep because I miss it. But today especially I can't help but think what I would be doing if I was in B'ham. What would today have held?
I got up this morning and I had heard about this parade and I really wanted to go but I didn't think anyone was going, then I found out at the last minute a lot of people were going... but I wasn't ready... so I didn't get to go. And there were some fireworks tonight but no one else wanted to go, so I didn't push... you know I don't want to be that birthday girl. I did go to Borough Market, which is a food mark and AWESOME! and got a "Prim" at London's oldest pub and then went to china town got some way cheap but really sweet boots, and some Chinese. I spent most of the day with Katie, who I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with, but I really enjoy when I do get to spend time with her.
I had a great day. There was some drama, but what would my life be with out drama right. I wouldn't know what to do! It has been a great reminder of a day that things do not always turn out as you thought they would.

Paris

This past weekend we had a class trip to Paris. It was so much fun and so good to go as a big group. Also to have a place to stay and our transportation taken care of, all of our major worries when we travel were dealt with for us.

Its starting to hit me that I can say things like "when I was climbing the Eiffel tower" or "when we were at the Colosseum" or "I can't remember which language I'm speaking some times". We've learned so many little parts of languages to get us by as we travel, that we some times get confused with them. I'm not ready for this to be over. I don't want to leave. Sure I want to see people I love in the states, but I don't want to go back.

You never know how much you've changed until you go back home. I'm about to have the biggest culture shock of my life and realize how much I've changed in a few short months. Whats scary is that I know already that I've changed a lot, so I can't imagine how much it is really going to be. I'm about to walk away from living with 21 people, who yes drive me crazy some times, waking up and dragging myself downstairs for breakfast as we partially acknowledge each other and eat our cereal. To living with 1 person and a dog, I can't imagine what this is going to be like. From dumb class meetings where we discuss "community butter" to the life I used to know...kinda. From walking to the grocery store and to the tube to get places, to driving my car... on the right (i think) side of the road (I'm already realizing how confused I am about what side of the road cars drive on).

I don't have much time left here, but I will make the most of it. I get to celebrate my 22nd birthday in London ... on Saturday. that's awesome! But on the bright side I will be back, I have to come back. As a friend of mine told me "you're ruined now" I know what its like to live here, I'm love with London, the city and its people. I have an obsession with traveling, its rush for some of us. I know live on this side and life on the other will never be the same. I will be back... perhaps to live... (i know mum likes hearing that one;) )

This is The story of a Busker

What is life of a busker like? I ask myself this question every time I see one while walking through the tube stations. Is this their only source of income, is it enough, how does this work? So many questions, there was only one way to answer them, So Courtney, Heather and I set out on a Journey to find a busker.
The first question to be answered is what is a busker; it is musician in British lingo. Most often they are found in the tube stations, because that is where all the people are, and in many of these stations there are great acoustics. So this is the story of a busker named Bobhi FM.
There is no telling how many buskers there are in London, but I they usually go to the same station frequently. I’ve seen Bobhi FM before in the Westminster tube stations so I was excited to get to talk to him. Bobhi does Reggae music, so most of the songs you will hear him singing when you pass him are Bob Marley cover songs. Bobhi was very gracious and let us have some of his time, and then played a song for us at the end.
One of the biggest things to be learned from Bobhi if you are seeking a career as a busker, is that you have to play cover songs. In Bobhi’s words “people want to hear stuff they know not my music.” Bobhi has 5 albums; playing cover songs doesn’t help him to sell his own music, which has cost him a fortune to create. Each album he makes costs him about 5,000 pounds to make.
Bobhi has been playing music for 32 years and he can play an array of instruments, from the acoustic guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, and several percussion instruments like the bongos. Bobhi has been playing music pretty much all of his life, he grew up playing it in school, and really enjoyed it.
Bobhi has had had several experiences all over the world and living in other places like Paris, France; Santa Monica, California; Jamaica, and Africa, but he calls London home. He used to work a 9 to 5 job as an administrative assistant, but that wasn’t quite paying the bills. So he started to play music in the tube stations, eventually the 9 to 5 job wasn’t fulfilling. He because relying solely on his music to provide his income, this is from being a busker and selling the 5 albums he has.
There is more to Bobhi than just music, he likes to travel, and read. He is actually in the process of writing a book that will tell about the life of a musician. Bobhi was a very interesting person and I hope to be able to talk to more buskers and learn more about their lives. Being able to talk to Bobhi and see him living out his life doing what he loves and surviving was great. Bobhi was incredibly nice and before we left him he gave us one of his albums, so now I can jam to the sweet tunes of Bobhi FM any time I want not just in the tube.
Bobhi will not remember meeting 3 girls on one random afternoon, but we will not soon forget the experience. Being able to look into the life of a real Londoner, to be able to understand what life was like for him just a little bit was a blessing to us. So next time you are walking through the tube station don’t just walk on past the person offering you the gift of their music, telling them they are great, you appreciate them, and support the arts. It is truly great that they are doing what they love and blessing us with their talents.

This is the story of a weekend.

Well pretty much everyone stayed home this weekend. Recovering from fall break, sleep wise, homework wise, bank account wise, you know. Its been a good relaxing weekend. I haven't gotten a whole lot of work done, but I have gotten some, and there is still tomorrow.
This week we saw the Lord of the Rings musical, don't do it. It is horrible, the music is forgettable, the story is not an epic story... its just not right. This inspired Daniel House Lord of the Rings day today, in which I didn't technically participate, but I did in the fact that I didn't work a lot today.
We also got to see a great play called Rhinoceros. I really enjoyed this one, it was one of the ones we have to see for our British Theatre class, so you never know how it is going to go.
Basically this was a very Theatre filled week, because some of us also saw PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! Incredible. I had a terrible seat, couldn't see half of the show, but I still loved it. The music moved me to tears. I hope that I can go back, and get a better seat... it all depends on how the finances look ... which is lame.

We've all started talking about and looking into our last travel break, where we want to go, who we want to travel with, how we wanna do it. It made a lot of stuff surface from the last break, which is good and needed to happen. I think I might be able to make going to GREECE happen, which makes my heart so happy. I had a really good conversation with a girl I traveled with over fall break, and we have a better understanding of each other and I guess you could say the week. Lets just say 5 girls perhaps some over-dramatic-ness can equal a stressful week for all involved. I'm just saying.

I started watching all of this season of Grey's again, I mean this is in the last hour, but I really like this season.

Firenze, just when you think you are done...

Monday morning after breakfast we headed off to the Duomo. Where we saw the dome made by Brunelleschi. The Duomo has the 3rd largest Nave in the world, right after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London. We climbed the 463 steps to the tope of the dome for an incredible view of the city of Firenze.
After the Duomo we went to the Battistero (Baptistery) right beside the Duomo. We got to see the famous bronze doors which depict scenes from the Bible in exquisite detail. Inside the Battistero was not worth the 3 Euro we paid to get in, but what I got to witness was for me worth it. I walked in looked at the ceiling, and was almost about to walk right back out; when I caught a glimpse of one of the most precious moments ever. I saw a mom and her daughter sitting on the floor, the daughter laying on mom; the mom was pointing up at the ceiling and talking while the little girl stared in amazement and wonder. I was curious what she was saying so I stepped over in that area, sure I was going to hear some other language but hopeful I could pick some things out of it, I've been doing it all week. But to my amazement she was speaking in English, she was explaining the Bible stories that were depicted on the ceiling of the dome. I hadn't even noticed that there were Bible stories depicted. So I stood there and listened as this mom panel by panel explained the stories of Cain and Able, and Moses ... to her little girl. It was absolutely precious.

What a week!

I am back in London, its a strange feeling. I learned a lot, feel in love with a beautiful country, and can't wait to go back. I think this post shall be in list form, there is far too much to put into one post so it will probably be an on going list for a few days.

1. Not having a map when you enter a city and then start walking around isn't a good idea, especially when you don't speak the same language as everybody else.

2. Always pick your tour guide based on how cute he is opposed to how well he speaks English, we lucked out and got both but I'm just saying.

3. The Sistine chapel is so much more impressive when you see it in person than in reprints. Its also much cooler when you have walked through the Vatican and seen some of the places he got his inspiration from. When you go if you take a tour of the Vatican Museum first walk all the way through to the big wooden doors on the opposite side of the room where you enter, don't look up. This anticipation is very similar to waiting for Christmas as a small child. Once you get to the door, turn around and look. This is the way it is meant to be seen, in order and the correct. Incredible.

4. Michaelangelo was an incredible sculptor, oh my gosh. We'll come back to this.

5. I was blessed by the pope. Yeah you read that right.

6. The pope has got to be brilliant, he spoke in like 7 different languages.

7. Leaving the house at 4 am usually means its going to be a rough start to the week for all involved, but you get over it quickly, especially with some caffeine.

8. You never know where you are going to make friends and from where all they will be. We met a lot of Australians that liked to say "wicked", a ton of people from Ohio, a precious couple on their honeymoon from California, and some Texans. Some of the best things we did included getting to know people whether in our tour groups or waiting to hear the pope or at the Trevi Fountain.

9. See the Trevi in the day time and at night. (thanks Rachie) I prefer it at night.

10. Don't be fooled by fruit vendors wanting you to pay 10 euro for a kilo of grapes, thats dumb.

11. Don't buy a Eurail, you can get rail tickets for cheap just at the desk. Although the Eurail is convenient.

12. Always buy gelato from vendors that have guys selling it... they give you more.

13. Stay off main streets in Italy, its so much prettier and you find amazing things. like great restaurants and cheap gelato.

14. You know those guys dressed as Gladiators all around Rome, that want you to pay to take a picture with them.... do it. It is so much fun, and those are some of my favorite pictures.

15. When you don't think you are going to run into the other 10 people in your class in Rome you will do it all the time. We ran into a group of them 2 in rome, and the other like twice in other places. awesome.

I shall continue later. ;)

It's a Italy!

I'm in Italy. its great. I love you all.
we left rome 2 days ago and are in florence or firenze and leave here tomorrow morning. We'll go to Pissa for a few hours and see the leaning tower, then on to cinque terre. And end in Venice.

I'll post about it all when I get back to London. But let me just say I get to hang out with 'david' today. if you don' t know what that is google michelangelo's david and then you'll remember.

;)

Welcome to life.... Here and NOW!

This isn't practice. This isn't rehearsal. This is it.

It seems like a life time ago that camp happened. So much has happened between now and then, but it feels like I just got to London. But in fact camp ended some 61 days ago and I've been in London for 46 days. How is that possible. Where did those days go? In about 30 days I'll be 22. In a mere 60ish days I'll be back in America. WHAT?!?!?! how is that possible? some days it seems like it will never come, they days I want to be sitting on my couch, with Maggie, Brookles, and Lins watching Center Stage and Grey's, talking about Stepsing, and going to SL and playing with some babies. And there are days that I think, I'm a 10 minute tube ride from any thing I could ever want to do, see a play/musical, sure there are like 18 million going on all around me. There are days when I think Dec 2008 can't come soon enough, and then I realize I only get to do this once, and Grad school isn't college, it's almost over, what am I going to do with my life? Never again, most likely, will I live in this great of a place, despite its quirks and drama. I am a tube ride away from 'the pulse of the world', I'm in a safe and very clean area of London; I'll never get this again. Sure school and all the writing get overwhelming, but I'm in London whatever.

I've just been thinking about all that today.

I'm going Italy, I leave the house in 5.5 hours. OH MY GOSH.
I'm going to see this,
and some other really cool stuff in Rome
and then I'm going to see this
and the statue of David in Florence
and then I'm going to see this,
in Pisa
and then spend a few days here,
the beautiful Cinque Terre
and then end it all riding one of these....
in Venice.

and I will ride on one of these too...


alright now that I think you are sufficiently jealous. I expect to come back to a plethora of comments. Bring your friends... it will be great. I know good stories are about to come of this week... we don't speak the same language ... it's going to be GREAT!

there wasn't an outcry for the finishing of that last story, so that and the fact that it has been a busy week ... means I never finished it. If you want the rest ask. I'll tell you.

Few things are going on in the world of Tiffany,

1) one week until fall break... 4 days of class and then I'll be in Italy.
2) Midterms... enough said.
3) His Grace is sufficient for me.
4) We went on a walk around SW1, (an area of London) also known as Westminster City, with a friend of mine's boss today. It was great. He is so knowledgeable. It was good to connect the dots that are the tube stations I know how to get around with but to get to walk it above ground is so much better. I think I'm going to go walk that route again, it was a very historic and beautiful area. It includes, Buckingham Palace, Parliament building, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Choir school, a very famous "Public" (what we'd call private) school the school that Andrew Lloyd Webber and the man who wrote Winnie the Pooh A.A. Milne, Trafalgar Square.
5) He picked out a book for each of the 5 of us who went on the walk. He picked the books based on our major and what we had talked about in the first hour of the walk, we all looked at them later this afternoon... he did an excellent job, they all fit perfectly.
6) This man knowns Margret Thatcher, and she might be coming to a few events his company is throwing including a private birthday party... we've been invited and promised to be introduced and get a picture with her. INCREDIBLE.
He knows all these awesome people, like the presidents of random places. He took us to lunch after the walk and we got to talk a lot about it. Awesome!
7) Did I mention next week is fall break, and this week is midterms. I'm only slightly stressed.
8) ITALY! if you've been you should tell us things not to miss and things we can skip! it would be greatly appreciated.

Ps 62

My soul finds rest in God Alone;
My salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

...

Trust him at all times,
pour out your heart to him,
for God is our Refuge.

...

You, O God are
Strong.
You, O Lord, are
Loving.

Matthew

I was in search of treasure;
searching the field for pleasure.
Sifting from gold and silver
and I found much there.
I was in search of fine pearls.
I was in search of gaining the world.
Drinking from cisterns broken.
I saw you and sold it all.

I could gain the world
oh but lose my soul.
I could gain the whole wide world
oh but what would it matter
I'd give the world to be with you.

Tell me why would I hold on to anything but you?

A Journey to a Cab

Well, I am feeling much better as hard as it was, going to bed early was the way to go. Momma Moya, aka one of our professors and basically the mom of the 18 of us, convinced me not to hang out last night but to just go to bed and get lots of sleep. So I did. I’m feeling better but I’m also taking like 1000mg of Vitamin C a day, so that’s got to be doing something for me.
As promised here is a little up date. Mainly I want to let all of you in on my travels to Northern Ireland. I think I’ve worked out the issues and all my pictures are now up at tiffanyjallen.shutterfly.com, let me know if they are not. I think its been messed up for a while so there are also ones from our class trip to Stonehenge and Bath. But the ones for the trip in which I am discussing now are in the album appropriately entitled ‘Northern Ireland’ clever I know.

And now … A Journey to a Cab….
The weekend started off when my alarm went of at 2:30 am on Friday September 21. I dressed, brushed my teeth, and went down for a quick bite of breakfast, taking my pack the 99 stairs down. We had called the cab company the night before but to book early meant an extra charge, we don’t play that game, so we called 20 minutes before we needed the cab (like they told us to). Jenny and I were calling and got disconnected a couple of times and then told there was no one in our area, and it would be like 45 minutes at the least before some one got over here, only problem is we didn’t have 45 minutes our train left at 4:05 and its already after 3:00. And it is about a 30-minute cab ride to where our train was. At this point we are panicking, slightly. And at this moment I realized I had forgotten to print my conformation numbers off, so I run downstairs and print them really fast and head back up. Heather our third travel buddy, has not surfaced out of her room and we are standing by the door, packs on ready to go. So I run up, to tell her to come on and make sure she is awake. She is, she is coming. So we start walking, hoping that there would be a cab at the Holiday Inn across the street, or they could get one quicker. As we walked up to the Holiday Inn, with a completely empty lot, were starting to realize not many people will be arriving or leaving at this time of night/morning, what were we thinking. And now the panic has set in. What are we going to do. Jenny and I are about to call the 2 cab companies again, I reach into the pocket where my phone should be, its not there… but here comes a cab, it’s a miracle. We start to hop in, and it is confirmed I have left my phone, and sheets with confirmation numbers on the table right by the door. We don’t have time to go back, we can’t let this taxi go and hope for another because there most likely won’t be another, but we can’t sit here and think or me run back because the meter is ticking away. I say lets go, we’ll figure it out when we get to the station.
The cab driver gets us to the Victoria Station in about 17 minutes, perfect. So we go in, start trying to get tickets, at the ‘quick ticket’ machine, I learn I have to have my confirmation number to get my ticket. The train leaves in like 20 minutes. So I run to the counter and tell the guy my problem, and very nicely he explains to me my only option is to buy another one. But then as I’m like okay that’s my only choice, as I’m telling him what train I want my ticket for… he says, “that doesn’t exist.” Jenny walks up shows him her ticket and says then why do I have a ticket. Well, we learn we need to be at Liverpool Station!!!! Not kidding. The guy behind the desk offers his advice to the horrific faces I’m sure we are showing him. “The train is slightly delayed, it will be 4:30 before it departs, so you’ve got a little time. Go get a cab, take it to Liverpool, once there, where the pay phones are there should be one that looks a little different, pay a pound and you can check your email, and get your confirmation numbers.” So we’re off. We get a cab, it has a precious old man, who is going to get us there asap. About halfway to Liverpool Jenny starts asking us to roll down the window, then we have to pull over. She is throwing up out side of the cab, and the meter is ticking, the time is ticking. She gets back in and we speed off.
Once at Liverpool Station, it was slightly complicated to get in, the main entrance was locked, and you had to go in a side entrance. Once we figured that out, the first thing we see is the thing for the internet. I put in my pound and get my train confirmation number but I can’t get my flight one to open. So we decide worst case after the hour train ride its 5:30ish, if I’ve got to have that number we call someone, wake them up and have them look at it and tell me. I get my train ticket, and we run to the train. Its sitting there, after about 10 minutes we can get on. We sit on the train for about 25 minutes not moving. Its not about 4:45, a train that 2 days prior was leaving at 4:05, then at 4:25, has not left yet. We start moving. Thankfully, we’re on our way on the Stansted Express to Stansted Airport.
It turns out it was a huge blessing that I left my confirmation number behind, and at that moment my cell, because we would have called another cab had I had it on me, and who knows where we’d be. And if I’d had my confirmation number it would have been a lot longer before we realized we were at the wrong station. Who knows what would have happened then.

Okay I think that is enough for tonight, which is a shame because there is so much more to tell you. But I’ll post it tomorrow, I promise.

Pathetic

So I know I haven't updated in a while and there is no excuse good enough. But I had intended today, after we returned from Brighton, to update all of you; however, my stomach had different plans, and didn't let me know about them.

So in short I hopefully will have a real update for you tomorrow. But for now, I think I might be getting sick, so just pray for some wellness on the Daniel House, sickness is not what we need right now, 2 weeks before fall break and midterms.

love you

Arm Bites just aren't appreciated...

So I've hit a place where I sincerely miss those Aqua hugs and arm bits and laughs and tears and love; where I truly long to see the faces of my bffs. To hear a small child attempt to say my name while running to give me a huge hug is a dream. Aka I’m realizing how much I appreciate my friends and the family I have constantly surrounding me in Birmingham life and the fun times that we have.

We’ve manage to have some one send us a copy of the last 2 Crimsons (that’s the campus paper for those of you not in on Samford ling). Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, its reminding us of the life going on with out us, of our friends and lives we put on pause to come here. Don’t miss understand this, I’m so glad I’m here, and I’m loving every minute, I would not trade this for anything. But as we are settling in here, and finally in a routine of life, we’re also at the point where we’re getting to experience a rollercoaster of emotions together. And that makes life fun and emotional or something like that.

In the Crimson there is a new column dedicated to seniors, and its hitting home the reality that I’m about to have to leave the Samford Community I love and cherish, and enter the real world. Where you have to get into and go to grad school, have a real job, pay bills, and life your life with out class and committee meetings and dinner on the dirt, or random Samford parites, late nights discussing life.

I am now off to go people watch at Trafalgar Square and hopefully take some fun pictures. I’m heading to Northern Ireland this weekend, it will be great to get out of London and away from the house for a few days.

A day out of the city

Life has been great. Really busy, but I can't complain about it. I've gotten to go a lot of places, see a lot of things and call it homework.
This weekend we took a class trip to Stonehenge and Bath. It was a great day out. We left the fast pace of the city really early Saturday morning, and came back with plenty of time to go and do when we came back Saturday evening.
Here are some pictures from Stonehenge. Its incredible to think that this structure has been there since around 3100 BC.






there's more where that came from as well as pictures from bath at.... tiffanyjallen.shutterfly.com

New pictures at
tiffanyjallen.shutterfly.com


I promise a new update this week.

Don't be jealous...

Don't hate me, I took this...


yes that is Orlando Bloom and yes he is looking right at me, and yes I am that close. I told you not to hate ;). The rest of these are some pictures from the night we went to see 'In Celebration' - which Orlando was in. The first is at Trafalgar Square, the second a billboard in Trafalgar Square and the third me in front of the poster at Duke of Yorks Theatre

History in the Making

After all that I forgot about my favorite part, but its probably best because that was a long post. I apologize and applaud anyone who made it through.

Last Friday marked the 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. My scavenger hunt group, happened to have an assignment right by Kensington Park, which is were Kensington Palace is, which was the home of Princess Diana. So we went by for a bit. I'm so glad we did.

Upon arriving at the palace it was packed with people celebrating the life the Princess had and the impact she made on this city, this country and the world. As we walked up to the palace there was a priest leading a prayer service, so we joined that and then continued on. We walked past the pictures, poems, notes, and flowers all upon the gates of Kensington Palace. Watching a precious little girl place some flowers near the gates, and walked into the palace courtyard. Where we noticed a table with people surrounding it, obviously we checked it out. At this table people were taking these metal flowers and putting a gold leafing on them, and then taking them and putting them on a metal rod, and taking that and putting it on a giant ball composed of lots of them, these balls of lots of golden flowers (10 in total) are then put in the yard around Kensington Palace as a gift and sign of remembrance and gratitude to the Princess of Wales. Then a lady asked if we'd like to make one, of course arts and crafts area always an option in my book.

They are a beautiful decoration, and it was amazing that I got to be part of something so special.

Here are a few pictures of the newspaper articles from that day (notice the man leading a prayer and the little girl placing flowers on the gate, sound familiar). I've got more so be looking at tiffanyjallen.shutterfly.com to check them and all of my pictures out.

God Save the Queen

It has been one week exactly since I arrived at the airport in Atlanta and sat and got to know my 17 housemates and prepared to get on a plane and fly to another country. We sat in circles in the airport and talked of what we expected, and how we thought life would be. We wondered what we'd do when we arrived, what the house would look like, how it was going to work. And here we are a week later, calling the Daniel House home, getting around the city with such ease, knowing what stops are on what tube line, and the order of several of them. The general idea of where things are around us. We have a confidence to branch out into London and explore on our own or in small groups. Sitting around and discussing British History with each other and our professors. We've come so far and learned so much in a week. It is amazing and such a great opportunity, that I'm so thankful I've been given the chance to be a part of.

The weather has been amazing. I'm adjusting to the cooler weather which is great, because its about to get even colder. Well I think today I shall do thinks a little backwards. Start with today and try to take you back to where I left off in my last post. Theoretically things shall calm down a bit, and I won't have as jam packed posts and be scrambling to even post, they might even be read over again after I type them, amazing ;) .

Today, we had a later start to our day, which was really nice. We walked to church this morning, it was a really great little walk and we got to see more of the area that we live in. But I did learn one thing early on, I did not bring the right dress shoes. OH MY GOSH! I ended up walking back to the house barefoot because I got so many blisters on the way to church, it wasn't pretty. But lets get back the the better part of this post. We went to Holy Trinity Brompton this morning as a group. It was so beautiful. It was built in the 1820's, and by just looking around the walls you could see the great history of this community. Now a cool aspect that made many of us feel very at home, was the worship leader.... Tim Hughes; who has written many of the classic Christian worship songs, many of which you probably sang today in your service you attended. It was so great to be in a familiar atmosphere, attending the service here was so much like what a lot of us are used to, yet at the same time so different. This church has a clear passion for social justice, the poor and the hurting, as well as those wanting to help, those seeking, and those who don't know where they are in life. It was great to be in an environment that shared my passion for social justice and the poor and to see them acting on it, inviting me along. Another wonderful thing that today brought for a lot of our house was sense of not being alone, let me explain. We have had several conversations feeling as if we are walking in a lots city, a city surrounded by God and with so much of our Christian heritage happened right here. Yet it seemed, because we were just passing face after face after face, that none of them cared, none of them realized the beautiful things surrounding them were created by and for God, the praises the flowers in the park were singing out to God. But today, as we walked into a church, filled with people that loved Jesus, all of this shattered to pieces, it was such a blessing to be able to stand in a room of people worshiping, to worship alongside of strangers yet know we had a special bond. The people at this church were so nice, we met several people that pored so much into us in a matter of a 10 minute conversation. We found out about some ways we can get involved at this church and connected with other college students in London. As a house we are all so pumped and ready for all of this to begin. It was a great morning.
The rest of the day was very chill and wonderful. We went out and spent a little time just looking in shops we'd passed for days and been unable to go in. Then came back and took a nap! I still am so jet lagged and not adjusted to this schedule, but I was also slightly sleep deprived before we left. I think in about a week we'll get it down.

Okay and to quickly fill you in on the other 2 days, on the second day of our London Pass, which I mentioned last time, my group headed out to Windsor Castle, and Hampton Court Palace.
Windsor Castle is one of the official residences of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. A Royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today. I believe it was built around 1070, and is located right by the river Thames, in the town of Eaton, which is precious. The castle is home to St. George's Chapel, which is beautiful and contains a lot of medieval architecture, I look forward to hopefully going out there for a service when their choir is there, which is I hear is amazing. Several former Kings and Queens were married, buried, or born here. In St. George's there is a display that shows the crests and flags of the current Knights and the crests of every former Knight. One really cool thing we got to see in our visit out here was Queen Mary's Doll house. This doll house made in the 1920's is incredible. The plumbing and electricity actually work! In the King's bathroom, the counter top is made of real marble. This doll house which was a gift from the nation to Queen Mary for her birthday, was made to show the best of English arts, crafts and manufacturing. This doll house is incredible, if you ever get the chance, go see it. I found some pictures to show you the incredibleness of this doll house. We also got to see the changing of the guards at Windsor Castle.


The first picture is the Butler's Pantry, complete with real china and a tiny jar of mustard that they really used in the 1920's. The second picture is the day Nursery, with a toy train and play stage, the next picture is the library. The fourth picture is the north hall, which shows the staircase and side rooms. Then the fifth picture is the queens bedroom, the ceiling is painted by a famous artist of the time like the ceilings of most rooms in the palaces for real.
The house also had a working miniature electric vacuum, which was a big deal when the house was built. The sixth picture shows the doll house with the sides pulled down and where it just looks like a house; and the seventh shows one of the sides, with the dinning hall



After Windsor Castle, we hopped a train, the tube and a bus, and headed to Hampton Court. Hampton Court was the home of Henry the VIII. Hampton Court was built in 1814, and is was his main residence. The interior of this palace was not as ornate as many of the ones we had seen in previous days, it was beautiful, just a little calmer. There was a maze that we traveled through and had a lot of fun in, met some interesting people that decided we knew what we were doing and followed us everywhere we went through the maze. We got to see what the Tudor kitchens looked like and travel through the original kitchen. Another really great part of this palace was that it wasn't over crowed with tourists, which was lovely. We were able to walk at our own pace, and not feel like we were engulfed in a crowd. There were some amazing gardens and areas surrounding the palace. We also got to see the royal tennis courts, and some guys playing on it which I could have clearly beat. But it was really cool.

I think that catches you up to date. On Friday we did a scavenger hunt and familiarized ourselves with getting around town, and not just relying on the tube but learning to use our maps and navigate the crazy streets of London. We found some really cool things like the paperchase store, they make amazing journals, and stationary and such; and we found a place with really cheap pizza.

Until next time, Cheers!

Days Packed Full of AWESOME

Well here we are it is the end of Thursday and I have yet to post of I think the last 3 days, I do apologize. It has been quite busy. And now I believe I am prepared to tell you and show you a bit of it.
We will start with Tuesday our first full day here. We started our day with a visit to BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
It was so beautiful and a whole lot of fun. I learned so much here and upon leaving really wanted to learn as much of British History that I could. I felt so inadequate not knowing some things and was quite proud when I did know other things. After Buckingham Palace a small group of us went to Piccadilly Circus, had a bite of lunch and walked around. Researched prices on some theatre tickets, you know the important things in life. After Lunch, we took a tube and went to Parliament. It was AMAZING. I loved it. We are so fortunate that Parliament will be in session while we are here and I believe that I will actually get to go and sit in on a few sessions. But I thought that I couldn’t learn enough about history fast enough at Buckingham Palace, this was so great. Made me want to come back to the house and get a book and hop on the tube immediately. I love, love, loved it. We had a great tour guide and a really small group; our tour guide, Liz, spent lots of extra time telling us more information than she had to answering questions and making sure we got to see everything, and see it well.
It does seem like weeks ago that we visited Buckingham Palace and Parliament, but it was 2 days ago, there is so much that we did and I still have yet to tell you. Its difficult to remember it all, most places we weren’t allowed to take pictures so its all in our head and all running together.
After this we hoped on the tube again and went exploring our new home. We went up to the Tower Bridge Area. Walked around took pictures of the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and many other things in the area. There was a part of a wall that was used by the Romans, I believe as a protection wall before people got to their fort, but I could be wrong. I do know it was used by Romans, and therefore is really old. It was a beautiful area and I look forward to spending lots of time up there. We later found a great little place for dinner, and got really cheap chicken (or fish) and chips.

For the past 2 days we have had this thing called a London Pass, where we paid some random fee for it and then we get in all these places for free. So we have been running around like crazy trying to do and see all that we could for free while we can.
On Wednesday, we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral which has been there since 604 AD, and this is where Princess Diana and Charles, Prince of Wales got married, as well as many other significant things happened here. We sat on the steps and watched the city for a while and took in our amazing surroundings. We then went in, and walked around; spend a little time in the crypt, which honestly, probably would have been much cooler if we were Catholic, we did see the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren, who built St. Paul’s so that was awesome and then today on our way to another location we saw his house. After the Crypt, we made our way up 530 steps or 280 ft high. And got a great look over the city of London, as well as over the Cathedral at the whispering gallery, which was only like 400 steps up. It was incredible. Here are some pictures ...




(can anyone tell me how to rotate these so you can see them right, everything on my computer has them rotated right but its not working.)

After St. Paul’s, we made our way to the Tower of London, this time to go in. The Tower of London, built I think around 1066 by William the Conqueror, well the white tower part. This site is incredible, it has been worked on by so many different people, and has so many different parts and roles in English history. When just looking at the site itself you can easily tell that it was not all completed at one time. Some buildings look completely different from each other. It really is basically its own little city. There are some really amazing things there currently as well as the awe of how long this structure has been around and who all has been there, lived there, been tortured there, imprisoned there, etc. Currently the Tower of London is the home of the Crown Jewels, and I got to see them. We went through several times and got some very good looks at the 2 largest diamonds in the world; the largest diamond, which is 530 Carrots, it was huge, and beautiful, and amazing. You just couldn’t believe it as your went past on the moving sidewalk. There was a great exhibit on torture where we had a great discussion with an Englishman about torturing prisoners. You could also see the weapons and statues of the horses of the Kings and Queens and their armor.


After several hours at the Tower of London, we headed over to the Tower Bridge. The Tower Bridge has been there since 1894, and was one of my favorite things to just sit and look at, maybe because I actually could. We got to go up inside the tower and walk across the bridge, which gave us a magnificent view of the city of London. We also got to visit the Engine Room and see how the bridge used be drawn up and down.

I think this is long enough so I will tell you of today later, for I have to get some sleep some time.

As I look back at pictures it doesn’t seem real. We really saw all of this and experienced it and we still have weeks left to do more. I have so many more pictures but its taking so long to load them. I'm working on somewhere for those of you who don't have facebook to look at pictures and I'll let you know where that is when it happens.

An adventure that seems like it started this morning yet so long ago.

Some pictures taken while driving from the Airport to our House.




Well this is a day late but I didn't have internet yesterday... so here it is....

I can’t believe it really happened; that I’m really here.

We have arrived and spent our first day in London, our new home. This is crazy. As we walked the streets, learned to shop in the grocery store and learned about the tube in our new home the feeling was all too unreal. We got on a plane in Georgia, at what seemed like this morning; in all actuality this day has been going on for 48 hours.

This little adventure has already taken me on a rollercoaster, I can’t imagine what is next; from 7 am on the 26th when I could sleep no longer and hand only slept for about 4 hours, to 11 am when Brooke and I departed our apartment, to about 12 when we realized there was a time change between Birmingham and Georgia, that we had totally forgotten about, to arriving at the airport my friend driving off and me figuring out what line to get in to check in, one bag being 4 lbs over weight and me having to rearrange my packing situation, to the check-in lady losing my passport for the worst 10 (seemed a whole lot longer) minute span of my life, to meeting all my classmates/housemates/travel buddies/ new friends, and going through security with a few of them, to sitting in the airport wondering if they’d really let us take of. I think that pretty much all of my group was convinced that something was going to happen and we wouldn’t get to go, so the arrival this morning was quite an exciting time on the plane this morning. There was an hour and a half delay to taking off while sitting in the plane because of storms, an 8-hour flight that included great movies and great times but not much sleep. Then came the landing in our new home and hoping we didn’t screw something up at customs and not be allowed in. There was a 30 minute bus ride where we got to see and learn a lot about London, and mostly admire the new world surrounding us. There was the arrival the Daniel House, and walking into our new room for the first time, obviously the nice boys carried our luggage up the stairs for us at some point in this. There was an issuing of our new cell phones, and an exchange of numbers with each other. Our first meal in London, and the real fun began. We went and bought oyster cards or Tube and Bus passes, had our first shopping experience and lesson, came back and had about 30 minutes to get a few things settled in our rooms. Then off again we went. Armed with our cameras, “buddies”, oyster cards and tube maps we set off, all we knew was what line we were getting on and where we were getting off, well and where we started. We got a few blocks from the tube stop and were sent out, told to make our way back to the house by 5 for dinner, this was about an hour and a half away. That’s it, no experts, no one who has done it, just us. It was great. We walked a lot; talked a lot; saw a bunch of stuff, and random people doing random things. Sat and people watched in Leicester Square, shopped a little and bought some very cute scarves to being fitting in with the Europeans, as if our shoes didn’t give us away enough. But we did it, figured out some connections and stops we could walk between so we don’t waste tube money, and we made it back with 20 minutes to spare.
And here I am all unpacked, still debating if I’ve packed too much or too little.

It has been a great day, a long day, basically 3 wrapped into one. I think in the past 3 days I’ve slept maybe 4 to 5 hours total but I am still awake and trying to keep myself up a little while longer so I can adjust to the time change.

I love you all and I want to hear how the first days of school went and life in your world.

And yes Kristina, we were here in time for this and actually a large part of our group was at it. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070826/en_nm/britain_carnival_dc;_ylt=AiMmezVnYG7981QEC8oO9iADW7oF