I have not been blogging as frequent as I would of liked, but now that I am settled that should change. I have been busy doing lots of things. Some of them included...
--Spending some much needed time with Amber. And going into central London a the day. My favorite part of that excursion was travelling in with no agenda and seeing where the day took us. As we walked out the doors of Waterloo Station, looked at each other and asked "Where to now?" My response few out of my mouth with a "Well, it looks like a lot of people are going this way (as I point down the road). Why don't we follow them?" Amber responds with a smile and off we go! We went all over, but my favorite part was our time in St. Margaret's Chapel which is a small chapel outside of Westminster Abbey followed by eating a a tavern called St. Stephen's Tavern directly across from the Abbey.
-- Another enjoyable part of the first 10 days was going up to Potters Bar with Amber to her Auntie Pam and Uncle Al's house. I can honestly say they are two of the sweetest, loveliest people ever! I loved being with them and spending time with Amber and her family. We chatted a lot and talked about life, which was great. I said goodbye to Amber for the longest time we have ever been away from each other since we have become friends!!! Yikes! This was a big step for us. Haha. I look forward to meeting up with her again in Paris in July!
-- I got to spend a good amount of time with my family and catching up. We had long dinners, talks on the deck, magic shows (or Uncle Ian making me feel absolutely clueless!), grocery store and errand outings, and relaxing. All of which was so good to do with the people I love dearly and do not get to see as often as I would like.
--Then there was a beautiful and enchanting wedding! Anthony and Michelle got married and became Mr. and Mrs. Osborne!!! It was such a beautiful day weather-wise accompanied with a day filled with joy, celebration, love, dancing, fireworks, and so much more. It was a fantastic day on many levels. One thing I want to note now and will talk about in a later blog is marriage ceremonies. First off, I have never been to a wedding in another country before. Secondly I have never been to a non-religious wedding. In England they call the civil ceremonies. I know their are civil marriages in America, but I have never heard of such a ceremony like the one Anthony and Michelle had. It was interesting and beautiful all in a way I had never experienced before. (I plan on exploring this further later)
--I moved out of living with my family and moved into my homestay family's house with my roommate Elizabeth. After looking forward to this Study Abroad Maymester (which basically takes place in all of June) for so long it was great to finally meet my homestay parents and start this new journey and new exploration of London like I have never experienced previously. My homestay parents are extremely kind, considerate and caring. They have treated us like their own family and have been welcoming, warm, inviting and sweet. It will be fun getting to know them as I get to live with them.
--I have begun to meet more of my classmates on a personal level and look forward to our excursions together and to get to know them deeper. Today we had fun during the day then this evening many of us went to the coolest pub I have ever seen, heard of, or been in!! It is about a 15 minute walk up a massive hill ,(the largest/ tallest natural place in London) past the Alexandra Palace, and through a park. Quite a lovely walk. The pub is called O'Neils and it is an old church that has been converted into a pub! Interesting... was my first thought. Elizabeth and I had heard about the place from our homestay parents, but I had no idea what to expect. Let me tell you it look exactly like some beautiful old church you would see in central London. It had a massive steeple, arch and very high ceilings, and upstairs, and great stained glass windows. I thought the place was great. I am going to definitely go back several times, take pictures and a video for sure.
It is an exciting and busy time to be in London! As Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee approaches this coming weekend (June 2-4th) and the country has a 2 day back holiday, it is England and Queen Elizabeth pride galore! Lots of parties and celebrations are starting and it will be crazy this coming weekend with endless festivities. I am looking forward to experiencing them. And the London Olympics and Para-Olympics will be here in the end of July so there is lots of preparation for that. Lots of buzz, hustle and bustle and tourists!
Here is an interesting article I found on TIME about 86 things you may not know about the Queen.
86 Surprising Facts About Queen Elizabeth II. Check it out! I thought it was pretty cool.
My favorites were #20 The Queen is the only person in Britain who can
drive without a license or number plate on her state car. #42 Queen Elizabeth
has 30 godchildren. (how does she keep them all straight?!) #81 She once
demoted a footman for giving her corgis whiskey. (haha)
Well I am fading fast and will be up and running again soon. I will post again tomorrow (Wednesday) evening.
Thanks for reading! Happy thoughts :)
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