Weekend in Wales

I'm off to night class... I'll explain these pictures later - but all of them are on our hike in Wales yesterday!! The video is us temporarily stranded at the trainstation in Wales... I'll tell that story later :-).
Love to all,
Gen

Okay, so I'm in editing this now...
Towards the end of our hike. GORGEOUS.
Lisa about halfway through the hike - we were this close to the cliff/coast the entire 7 mile hike!
Me and the Atlantic Ocean!
Me and the coast!
The awesome scenery - the entire hike was like this.
Lisa and I.
Wales around 10a.m.


So let me explain this video: in order to save money, we decided we would take a coach to get to Wales (which went quite smoothly), and then a train back. The train trip back involved a train, to a bus, to another train. When booking the tickets online a few weeks ago, everyone's tickets but mine and Lisa's confirmed. So, after trying to book two tickets together and the website not working, we called to book the tickets. Half an hour later, after Chelsea had thoroughly ripped the Indian woman on the other end of the line a new one, Lisa and I had tickets for ten pounds more than anyone else. Oh well, they were booked. It wasn't until two days later when I checked my credit card statement, that I realized I'd been billed for THREE SETS of tickets. The ones online, plus the ones on the phone. So, yet another rational (haha, NOT) phone call was made by Chelsea to the train company to remove the charges from my credit card. Ten days later they weren't removed, so we harassed them again, and FINALLY the charges were removed the day before we left for Wales. Whew! All set for travel, right? Well, the weekend was fantastic, and come Sunday, the people who run the lodge/program we were staying with dropped everyone off at the train or coach stations at 2. The first train wasn't coming until 4, and the train that JT, Chelsea, and Sarah were booked for was at 6. Lisa and I weren't sure which train we were on because they never told us over the phone. SO, JT makes a call to the company and finds out that Lisa and I are on the earlier train. Meanwhile, the ticket office at the train station is closed. We figure it will open up when the train's arrival nears, but come 3:30, it still wasn't open. A local informed us that the ticket office isn't open on Sundays. Awesome. So there we stand, all five of us, with only confirmation numbers on a post-it note, and no tickets. So... Chelsea makes another call to our favorite train company - another friendly Indian who she can hardly understand informs her that because the train station isn't open, we'll all need to wait and leave on Monday. (well, we have CLASS on Monday and we're tired and and and....). Either that, or we have to buy new train tickets on the train. Needless to say, NONE of us were happy. We already BOUGHT our tickets and Lisa and I went through enough to get them in the first place! So the train pulls up at 4, Lisa and I approach the official looking guy from the train, who tells us we'll need to buy new tickets. We immediately start to argue, so he says "get on the train, we'll discuss it then." So we hop on and the doors close behind us - leaving JT, Sarah, and Chelsea alone at the station with THEIR confirmation numbers in our hands. We text them their numbers, and then the train-guy comes to talk with us. As soon as he mentions buying new tickets, Lisa and I just about explode (it had already been a looong day). Either because he was afraid of what two young crazy ANGRY American women could do, or he felt generous - because he told us not to worry about the train we were on, and just go to the ticket office at the bus station. Soo... Lisa and I get to the bus station, we turn in our confirmation number for tickets, and wander over to the coach (bus) station. We had NO idea which bus we were supposed to get on to get us to this place that we hoped would have a train to get us to London...so we asked a local who pointed us to a bus nearby. We hop on the bus, and it leaves within five minutes. We'd heard it was about an hour ride to the next station, so we settled in... and visited with the person in the seat in front of us. However, after about ten minutes, all I could hear was my bladder screaming with urgency. I turn around to head towards the bathroom in the back of the coach, only to find there ISN'T one. So I sit back down, cross my legs, and pray Lisa will still like me after I ask her to contemplate emptying her waterbottle in case I need it. :-) I manage to fake out my bladder long enough to make it to the train station and find the toilet. Luckily it wasn't a pay toilet because I think I would have taken out anyone in my way. :-). After glorious relief, Lisa and I find a little cafe, buy overpriced sandwiches for dinner and, in a change of luck, catch an earlier train to London. Meanwhile, the other half of our group sends us a text message to say they got on the first train, but the train guy wasn't as nice to them and made them buy 70 pound train tickets! (that's $140)...we try to text back to console them, only to find that our pay-as-you-go phone is out of money... *sigh*...after a mild laugh at how ridiculous the day has been, we continue to spend the next few hours doing word finds and crosswords until our brains can't remember how to spell the word "squawk." We finally find our selves in London, rejoice that the Tube is still running, find the one line (out of three) that is still running to our stop, top up our phone, and nearly kiss the floor of our tiny little London flat we call home. We looked up the night bus route for JT, Sarah, and Chelsea, got them home around midnight and called it a day. And what a day it was...... First Great Western trains in our future? I think NOT........ Anyway, this video shows our hunger and *mild* hysteria outside the first train station.

Stonehenge and Bath

Yesterday we visited Stonehenge and Bath for our British Life and Culture class. It was somewhat of a long day (2 hour trip to Stonehenge, another half hour to Bath)..but it was fun. We saw the old Roman baths in Bath and then had some time to wander around the town. We (and by we I mean Lisa) were smart and brought our own lunches instead of paying for lunch in Bath. So instead we found our way to a pub, had a glass of wine, and chatted with the bartender. :-). It was a good day.
Tomorrow we're off for our weekend in Wales, so we're all very excited. Chelsea and I went to STA travel today to look into a Greek cruise over spring break, but unfortunately it was completely booked. So, if it works out, she and I will be going to Germany to visit my friend Julian instead! For now, we're excited about Wales, Paris for my birthday, and Ireland on St. Patty's day!

The five of us by the largest Roman bath - JT, Chelsea, myself, Sarah, and Lisa.
Bath.
More Bath.
The largest Roman bath.
Stonehenge!


Me and Stonehenge - just to prove I was there! :-)


Quick video of Stonehenge.

Change in Class

So our religion professor had to fly home this weekend because his wife was diagnosed with some form of cancer. They think they caught it in time, but for now he flew home to be with her through surgery and such. He IS hoping to return at some point. For now, our class is based online and we'll keep him and his family in our prayers.

Our art history class was boring again. The professor's a somewhat nice lady, but EXTREMELY boring... and class is two HOURS long on Mondays. *sigh*...

Theatre was fun as usual... a little long - luckily the class never takes the entire three hours... but at least I find all the material interesting!

That's all for today folks.
Love to all,
Gen

Latest Update II

Hampton Court/Castle....

Chelsea harassing the swan... actually, the swan was harassing us!!
Chelsea, Lisa and I behind the castle.
Lost in the hedge maze...:-(
The back of the castle.
The view from the back of the castle.
They're doing some renovation, but hey, why not stick up a picture of Henry VIII? :-)
The front of the castle.


A video from Windsor - the changing of one guard.. kind of humorous.. looked like they had a few new guys :-).

Latest Update

So yesterday Lisa, Chelsea, and I went with part of the International Enrichment group to Hampton Court/Castle and Windsor Castle. Hampton Castle was home to Henry VIII, and Windsor castle is one of the current homes of the Queen herself. A certain flag is flown when the Queen is home, but she wasn't there this weekend :-(. These are all pictures of Windsor Castle... the coolest part was walking through parts of the castle (only a fraction of it is open to the public) - one would assume that the parts available to the public aren't currently in use for the Queen. However, as we were walking through an elaborate long rectangular-shaped room, they had a video playing of the Queen using that very room as a dining room for royalty events within the last couple years! It put a whole new perspective on the room when you realize the Queen of England was standing in the same spot as you sometime within the last year!


Chelsea, Lisa and I with the guard. I'm sure they get really sick of this...
Wrong flag was flying.. no Queen today.

Firing the cannon...:-).


A short video outside Windsor.

Pictures & Video

The London Eye and the Museum next door.
Making a wish in a fountain at Trafalgar Square.
Me at the London Eye.
Big Ben - striking noon!


Video of us at Big Ben!

Videos

The first video is of us getting lost in downtown London..

Video 2 is us getting tea outside St. Paul's Cathedral..

More pictures

A random old car...
A friendly reminder :-).
The building we have class in - the student union.
The street that intersects with the school..
One of the "smart" cars... I giggle every time I see one (which is quite frequently).
An awesome flat building we get to walk by every day for school.
The sign for our neighborhood...

Paris anyone?

So we just booked (we, as in Sarah, Lisa, myself, and Chelsea) my birthday trip to Paris!! For only 140 pounds a person! And that includes transportation and everything! We see the Lion King for class Thursday the 7th, and then catch the bus to Paris at 6am Friday morning - and we'll be there 'til Sunday!! I'm pretty excited - girls weekend in Paris - for my BIRTHDAY!!!!

PS. Did I mention yet that we're also going to Wales the weekend after next? The four of us plus JT? I'll give more details later - that's going to be an awesome trip as well.. YAY for travel!!!!
Our neighborhood - our flat building is just around the corner to the left...

First day of class

So it was the first day of class today... (I have no idea why my text is blue and underlined, but I guess I"ll go with it..)... We had three of our four classes. The first was Non-western Religious Thought - the professor for that class is the director of the academic part of the program, so he seems like he might be strict. We're supposed to write an 8-10 page paper for that class - argh... but he didn't keep us for the whole two hours today, so he might be okay :-). Our next class was Art History. We all know how much I like history, and our professor's an older woman who almost scowled when I introduced myself as we went around the room and said that I had never taken an art history class. So... we'll see how that class turns out - we're supposed to write an 8-10 page paper in that class too... *sigh*... we had an hour and a half break before our night class so Chelsea and JT made dinner (mac & cheese and chicken nuggets they found at the grocery store!). Our night class is musical theatre and I already love it. Our professor is British (the rest are from Missouri), and he's really cool. He was excited when I said that I used to be a theatre major, so I think we'll get along just fine :-). Turns out we'll be seeing at least 6 shows through the class - Lion King, Les Mis, Phantom, Billy Elliot, We Will Rock You, and Blood Brothers... along with a drama school performance... so I'm really excited. Thursday we're taking a tour of the West End theaters as part of class!

For now, it's pretty much bedtime (my font is back!). Sounds like our newfound friend Chelsea is going to switch with our flatmate Britni - we really like Britni (and Britni likes us!), but her friends are in Chelsea's flat, and Chelsea is in our flat more anyway, so it seems like an appropriate switch. So yay!

Bedtime for me - chat at ya'll later :-),
Love, GenThe neighborhood close to the flat.
Walking through a muse on the way back from class.
The view from our front door - I'll take more pics of the neighborhood in the daylight!

Sunday

We didn't do a whole lot today.. we made it over to Trafalgar Square where there was a Russian Festival going on.. so we watched a Russian band for a bit and indulged in some Russian food. After that we took the Tub to Platform 9 3/4 so we could try to make it to Hogwarts :-).. Obviously (from the picture) we only got part way through the wall...=) We're back at the flat doing some reading for CLASS tomorrow...:-(.... the tech guy is here at the flat now trying to fix our wireless internet, so hopefully I can post more frequently after he fixes it.
Love to all,
Gen
Hogwarts here I come!
At the pub Friday night with our flatmate Britni (and another girl from our group that I don't really know....)
Part of the neighborhood - picture courtesy of JT.
At the Russian Festival with our friend Chelsea, also from MSU.

End of day..... only 4? haha.

So it feels like we've been here over a week, but I guess it's only been four days... jet lag is something else.... it's almost 2am our time here.. and we've been up hanging out with our "flatmate" Britni, and our new friend Chelsea (who is also from MSU - ironic, aye?)... everyone's getting ready to crash for the night, but it's my turn with the cable for internet, so I'll use it while I can :-).
Today was pretty uneventful - it was the first day that was completely unscheduled. So we refrained from setting an alarm and woke up when we felt like it (for Sarah and I it was noon - ha, I love my roommate ;-))... we ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast/lunch and headed out to wander with JT. We walked around the Kensington - Chelsea borough (which is where we are) - taking pictures of the GORGEOUS buildings (this borough is one of the two richest ones in London), wandering into a few shops, and being stared at like we were Americans or something :-) until we reached Kensington Gardens.. we walked around Kensington Palace and discovered that Kensington Gardens/park is one of the most beautiful places ever... it was just like in the movies. A GREEN park, tons of people - couples, babies, families - with a huge pond in the middle with people feeding the hundreds of birds, ducks, geese, and swans wandering around... it was incredible.. after looking at a map later, we discovered that it actually connects to Hyde Park, which is right next to school for us, so we're hoping to picnic there for lunch most days :-). After we wandered around for a while and felt more secure in our bearings, we wandered into the grocery store for the third day in a row (people really only buy day by day here..) and bought supplies for a nicer dinner since we didn't go out to any pubs tonight :-). With Lisa's cooking skills we made chicken, rice and broccoli with cheese... it was GREAT.
We spent the rest of the night in the flat getting to know some of the other people in the program better and just spending the night in.. it was a really nice, quiet SUNNY day...

What's up for tomorrow you ask? Well, we might make it to Camden (sp?).. to wander around.. we're kind of going where the wind blows us until we have to be in class on Monday :-(.... but that's all I've got for you tonight folks...

Love you all,
Gen

Flat Videos II

The last two videos of the flat... enjoy!

Our internet is really bad today - but I'll keep checking in when I can!!
Love to all, Gen

Flat video

The first two parts of my video of the flat... I'll work on the other two here in just a second... love, Gen

Busy Day

It's been a busy day... we hit a couple pubs last night with a few other new friends from the program - woohoo! We were back by eleven (when most pubs close here), showered up, set our alarm for 6:45 (we had to be ready to go at 8), and called it a night.
We woke to Lisa frantically saying "shit! We overslept! It's 8:05 right now!!"... so we hopped out of bed, hit our heads on the too-close bunk beds and started the day. :-)
Luckily we weren't the only ones who had problems getting out of bed - there were a couple others, so we made it to our meeting at the school (following an RA because we still get a little lost trying to find the school) just in time.

The day was mainly school "orientation." The disorganization of the program so far has been a little disappointing - but it's hard to complain when we're in London - especially in one of the richest boroughs! They explained our British Life and Culture class first - we have to write short weekly papers about ideas and themes of what we visit - but the class grade is entirely attendance and the papers, so again - not much to complain about there. From there we had a walking tour of campus - it was a stereotypical rainy London day, and the people from International Enrichment seem to find it necessary to take the most round-about ways to get from point A to point B, so it was interesting - luckily I was wearing my rain boots with my matching polka dot umbrella :-). After the tour we had a short fifteen minute version of our classes. A couple of them might be more work than I thought (8-10 page research papers - and we ALL know how much I LOVE writing papers!)... but it will be worth it.. right? :-) After that we had a break for lunch - there's a couple pubs on campus, so we found one for lunch and got panini sandwiches for 2.5 pounds - yay!! After that we met one more time as a large group to listen to some info on traveling to other countries. Sounds like the four of us will be in Wales the last weekend in January - we found an awesome deal were we can go stay in a house - with a max. of 30 people - get homecooked food - and go surfing, rock climbing, mountain biking, etc... it's gonna be a ton of fun..we're also looking at Paris for my birthday (!!!!)...we'll see... anywho, after our last meeting we did some more grocery shopping for things we forgot yesterday, and we're back in the flat now - sipping wine and getting ready to make spaghetti for dinner.. The pub crawl is REALLY happening tonight, so we're excited for that too!

And I think that brings us pretty much up-to-date.. I'm trying to post a video of our flat, but our internet keeps cutting out before it uploads completely - I'll keep trying though!!!

Love you all,
Gen

Changing of the Guard video

The changing of the guard!

More pictures

Sarah, JT, me, and Lisa in front of St. Paul's Cathedral.
London Tower.
The London Eye.
Big Ben through the bus window.
Amanda Felt (another MSU Scholar's House resident!), Lisa, Sarah, me, and JT in front of Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guard.
The changing of the guard.

Piccadilly Circus with JT and Sarah.