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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
me 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.
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.
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;) )
