Two Weeks

As of right now, I leave London to go back to the United States in two weeks. 14 days. 336 hours. 20,160 minutes. Where has the time gone? As I look back, I cannot believe I have already been here for three months. It is blowing my mind.

Just yesterday, I was saying bye to Austin and Sammie as they drove off in the other direction towards Tempe with my mom and dad on our way to LAX making sure to stop by In-N-Out.
Just minutes ago, I was sitting on the airplane wondering if I would ever fall asleep, knowing that I was far too excited/nervous to sleep. A couple seconds ago I was panicking not knowing if I would have enough Pounds to pay the cab driver on the way to my flat.

Wasn't it just yesterday that I walked in and met my seven roommates and went out with all our neighbors trying to find a bar in central London and failed miserably? Looking back now, it is almost embarrassing not being able to find something. Now we know where to go based on the night because we know what place has deals for students.

There is no way that 13 weeks ago I was in orientation wondering what classes would be like. Now I am just doing everything I can to get through these last couple classes, feeling almost as routine as they do back at ASU.

It seems like I was just getting together with friends to plan out all these weekend vacations, and now the guy who had never left North America can say that he has been to London, Paris, Versaillse, Normandy, Dublin, Barcelona, Granada, Madrid, Toledo, with Oxford, Manchester, Windsor, and Brighton hopefully still in the cards.

In the blink of an eye I also went from the kid that had never used public transportation(besides the lovely Orbit in Tempe), but could now navigate pretty much any bus/tube/rail system in Europe. Regardless of language.

Seconds ago I feel like I was making this blog, thinking that I'd be updating it multiple times a week. Now I am doing everything I can to make sure I post so all my fleeting memories of the greatest experience of my life don't leave me forever.

No more than five minutes was I walking into Sammie and Sara's house thinking no one was coming over only to find 25 or so people waiting to surprise me and reassure that I would be greatly missed in the months to come. Now I am here with my new friends, but highly anticipating getting home and having the best Cinco de Mayo that Tempe, Arizona has ever seen.

As much as I miss my life back home, I feel like I have established a whole new life over here and it is really upsetting me that I am going to have to leave this all behind me, most likely forever. It has been great. About twelve hours after I arrived in London, I felt that I didn't belong here and was ready to board the next flight back to LA. Knowing what I know now, I would have hated myself for the rest of my life.

14 days. Really? There is no way.

The weather was absolutely amazing today, so I wandered the city for about 6 hours today. Going to several areas, some new some old. Hopefully this weather keeps up.

Big Ben from the bridge side


Ben from the Westminster Tube Station


Millennium Bridge

London 2012 Olympic Stadium
They won't let you get any closer than this

One Month To Go

As of yesterday I have exactly one month left in London, and cannot believe it in the slightest. As much as I have loved my time over here, I have missed a lot of things back in the good 'ol U S of A. Such as:

-Looking right when stepping into the street
-The variety of fast food - it would pain me to tell you how many times I have had McDonald's while being here
-My own room - I share a room with two other people. It's been an experience. I'll just say that.
-What feels like unlimited hot water. Living with eight people cuts the amount of hot water we can use by a lot.
-Normal sized pools - when I want to work out with swimming I swim in a 25 yard (or meter) pool, and the gym I joined has a pool that is only 15 meters. It is really awkward to swim in.
-Working - Yes, I am working over here, but I am not getting paid, and in one of the most expensive cities in the world, I am missing a regular pay check like crazy.
-Warm weather - Today it was about 57 degrees and I took my sweatshirt off, what is happening to my Californian blood?
-Quality television - London's play reruns of Friends like it is going out of style, I think I have seen the entire series while being here already. Seriously, I think they play it for about 3 hours a day.
-Normal classes - the classes I take here are set up extremely different, I can't take notes on my computer which I would much rather do.
-My car - as much as I love not having to pay for gas, I do miss being able to just grab my keys and go somewhere. Just today a girl was standing in front of me and I missed a train, and after that train left they stopped the line that I had to take, so I had to go figure out what bus I could take home.
-Everybody - last but not least, I just miss everyone at home. I have made plenty of friends here, but I don't think anyone could ever replace the people I have back home.

Spring Break Continued - Granada & Spain

So after a 5 hour train ride south from Madrid, we made it to Southern Spain and were ready to gallivant around Granada. The day we got there it was beautiful and sunny. We could see the mountains covered with snow in the distance which was a little sad. My roommate Sean and I were kicking ourselves that we didn’t know you could snowboard there because we totally would have taken advantage of it.

That afternoon, we decided to take a nap to catch up from the lack of sleeping we had been getting that week. That night we decided to go on a tapas tour. In Spain, they have what are called tapas, basically appetizers. In the old days, the king of Spain didn’t want his citizens getting drunk and embarrassing the monarchy so they passed a law that said any alcoholic beverage must be served with some sort of food. Typically they just bring you any random tapa that they have, but the bars our tour guide took us to had menus of tapas so we were able to choose from a selection. We went to two bars, one with some of the best calamari that I have ever had, and then we went to a bar for the remainder of the night. They had a pool table and a foosball table so we took advantage of that. We had a little ASU vs. Pitt tournament; Max and Sean vs. Skyler and me. After three games, Skyler and I won. It may have been by a eight ball getting knocked in, but hey, a win is a win.

They next day we got up and went to the palace, Alhambra. It is one of the coolest places I have ever seen. All of the walls had more detail than anything else I have ever seen. We spent a couple hours there just walking around and headed back into town. After that we came back to our hostel and asked about going on a hot springs tour. They usually do it at night but made an exception for us because that was our last chance to do it. We drove for about an hour and then spent an hour and a half at the spring and just relaxed for really the first time all week, so it was highly welcomed. On the way back, I was looking at pictures that we had taken that day, and set my camera down. I then proceeded to leave it in the van, and wanted to die when I realized it. I got a hold of the company and asked them to send it to me, and it should be here this week sometime and that is why I have not included any pictures in the past two posts. That night we met up with some of Max’s friends who were studying in Granada to go to a club. Considering the club was free entry and free sangria for an hour and a half. After that we went to another bar and then decided to go get some food and take the other girls home. After that, we decided that it was just too late to even go to sleep, so we went back to our hostel and waited to catch the bus to the airport for our flight to Barcelona. One of the longest nights I have ever had but we still had a lot of fun, probably because we were so delirious for being tired, but it was still hilarious.

Once getting to Barcelona, we checked in our hostel and then slept for about 5 hours. One of the most magical sleeps I have ever had. That night we decided to go to a restaurant on Calle las Ramblas, the major Barcelona Street. We had traditional Spanish paella, which consisted of rice, vegetables, and steak. It was pretty good, but not the best food I had had in Europe so far. After that we went out for another night out, with some friends studying in Barcelona. They took us to a bar called Espit Chupitos, which is a shots bar with over 500 different shots with all different kinds of names; some favorites were Harry Potter, Boy Scout, and Monica Lewinski. The fun part about this place was that they lit almost everything on fire. When taking the Boy Scout, we took the roasted a marshmallow on the bar then took a shot, and chased it with the mallow. Like I said, awesome. After some time there, most of the group went to a club on the beach but Sean, Deanna, and I went back towards the hostel and just went to a pub for a pint, which is much more of my style so I was pretty happy about that.

The next day, as it was our last full day in Spain, we went on a walking tour of the city. We chose the Antonio Gaudi tour, which took us all around and showed us the different buildings that he built during his time. He was one of the most unique architects I have ever heard of. The pinnacle of the tour was his crowning jewel, his church, la Familia Sagrada (the Sacred Family). It was easily the most amazing thing I have ever seen. It is a giant church with 3 different facades representing the life of Jesus. The first side of the church is very gothic which is called the nativity façade, which represents the birth and early life of Jesus. There are giant engravings in the side of it that depict the various moments in his life such as the birth, marriage of Joseph and Mary, and him going to school. The other side was the passion of the Christ, the time leading up to his ultimate death. This side was a lot less detailed, but at the same time it was a lot easier to see the various stories played out on the wall. It showed him on the cross, the betrayal of Judas, and him being whipped by the guards. The last façade is still under construction, which is the Glory façade. This side is the main entrance and it is still under construction, even over 100 years later with at least another 16 years to go. It is going to show the glory of Jesus and the salvation. It is also going to say, “Father give us our daily bread” in 50 different languages which will represent the unity of religion which I thought was really cool. All in all it was absolutely amazing, including the inside. It looked like a cathedral, but at the same time it was modern and didn’t feel as cold as Notre Dame did. There are so many windows that it lights the whole place up, and it is beautiful with all the stained glass. It is also one of the tallest buildings in Barcelona and it is still only about half of the way there. Gaudi, being very religious designed it to be 1 meter shorter than a hill in Barcelona because he did not want to create something larger than his creator, God. It was easily the most amazing thing I have ever seen and want to go back one day when it is finished and would recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone who has the option. It also kills me that I didn’t have my camera for Barcelona because if there was one city that I wanted it in, it would have been there.

That night we went to a club on the beach which was really cool, but as clubs are not really my thing, I decided to leave with Max, Sean, and Deanna. We went back to the shot bar and had a great time. The next day, our flight wasn’t until about 6, so we had a nice and easy day of exploring. Of course, for really the first time all week, we had AMAZING weather, I felt like I was back in California. We went down to the ocean and walked around the harbor for a few hours. I wanted to go to the beach, but it was just too far out of the way, and I will have plenty of time for that this summer, so I was ok with passing on that. All in all, it was one of the most amazing spring breaks I have ever had, and cannot wait for next year to see if my last spring break ever will be able to top it.

In conclusion, Good Luck Spring Break 2012, you have a hell of a lot to live up to.

PS. Sorry it was so long, I only have a month left, so I am going to try and do this more regularly, which means they will be a little shorter.

Spring Break pt. 1 - Madrid

I am sorry I have been slacking on this, I really wanted to do better at it but I don't know what happens. Anyways, here goes Spring Break. Last week, 5 of my roommates, and one of the girls from next door, Deanna, went to Spain for 7 days. It was amazing. We went to Madrid for three days, Granada for two, and Barcelona for the last two. The only downfall was, I left my camera in Granada, so I have no pictures for this post at the moment, and no pictures of Barcelona what so ever. Someone found it and is in the process of mailing it to me though, so that is great news.

We had to wake up extremely early for our flight to Madrid. We got up at 6am and caught a cab to the airport. Once we got through security, we stopped by duty free to take a look at what they had. We were wandering around and looking at some Patron, deciding that we would splurge. How many times to you get to spend Spring Break in Spain? Not many, that is the answer. While we were looking, a girl who worked there came up and asked if we would like to sample the Patron to see if we wanted silver or gold. Umm... yes? Yes, if you are keeping track in your head, it is only about 8:00 am at this point. Stop judging, it is Spring Break.

We end up buying the gold, and take off to Madrid. We got there in the afternoon, dropped our stuff off at our hostel and took a walk around the city. It was very different from London, and awesome. After a quick lunch, which wasn't the greatest because I was probably the most efficient in the language, except for the fact that I never took the time to learn the details of food. Oh, well. After that, we went back to our hostel and decided to take part in the Spanish culture of ciestas (naps). We got up later that night and met two of the girls from our program who were also in Madrid for dinner and to go to the club Kapital. We ended up at this Beatles bar that played really awesome music and was quite nice. After dinner we headed for the club and it was almost midnight at this point, Spaniards are crazy with how late they stay out. The club was one of the coolest I have ever been to, seven stories tall, different style of music on each floor. Only problem was drinks were 12 euros each, so the complimentary drink I got upon entry was the last one for me. Still stuck around til about 4 am and then walked back to our hostel. Even after the hour walk, there were still hundreds of people around. Like I said, they're crazy.

The next day we went on a guided tour of the city which was also awesome. This company puts on free tours in a lot of the major cities in Europe, so we obviously took part in it. It was three hours long and pointed out all the historical places in the city and I learned a ton about Spanish culture. Later that night we went on a pub crawl with the same tour guide from the afternoon. We went to four bars and then a club. It turned out that one of the girls that was on our tour actually went to Chapman University in Orange, and we had 2 or 3 mutual friends. This world just keeps getting smaller. We started at a bar where we had free beer and sangria for about 45 minutes until we left for the other bars where we had a free shot upon entry at each one. It was great. The first bar we went to everyone was dancing and having a great time. I am not sure if it has become big in the States yet, but there is a techno song here called Barbra Streisand that is HUGE here. They play it absolutely everywhere, probably in each of the bars we were at that night. After that bar we went to another bar which actually turned out to be a salsa bar. A girl that was on the tour turned out to know a little about salsa so she spent the about 45 minutes we were there teaching and dancing with me. If I didn't have two left feet it would have helped a lot, but it was still great. After the four bars our guide took us to this awesome club where we danced until about 5 am again. When we left, the club was still jam packed, with no signs of slowing down. These people are crazy, I'm telling you.

The next day, Deanna, Sean, and I decided to get up relatively early and head over to a convent where they supposedly sold delicious cookies. It was an adventure to say the least. We got there and were trying to figure out how to get the cookies and there was this crazy Spanish nun yelling at us in Spanish what to do, but we obviously weren't understanding. Supposedly you were supposed to put your money on a shelf that spun around and there were cookies that would spin around to you. How could we have not know that? Stupid Americans. But anyways, the cookies were stupid, it was a box of little lemon cookies that you probably could have bought from any grocery store in the area. Oh well, gave us a reason to wake up and an adventure. Later that afternoon we took about a 40 minute train ride to Toledo. It is set upon a hill surrounded by a river so it looks amazing walking up to it. I would love to show pictures, but like I said before... Ugh. But we walked around for a few hours and had some laughs. The city was pretty dead because the day was ending so we ended up just finding this nice little cafe for some wine and sandwiches. We made our way back to Madrid later that night and thought it was going to be a relatively mellow night because of our early bus ride to Granada the next morning. How wrong we could have been.

We got to the city and decided we were going to go find this bar that had shots in chocolate glasses with Spanish liquor called Madroño. It is made from the fruit of the madroño treem which is the symbol of the city. It was easily one of the most delicious things I have ever had. We ended up having a couple and bought two bottles of it. That night we decided to walk around and went into a bar and it turned out to be one of the bars on our pub crawl the night before that we loved. So we spent some time there before we decided it was time to head home. Some people said they didn't want to leave which was fine with me but I wanted to get sleep so I and some others were leaving. But everyone seemed to follow for some reason, I am not sure why. As we were walking we were approached by a bar promoter telling us to come to their bar, we kindly declined saying that we were going home. He offered us a free drink upon entry. "Well, I guess we'll come for one drink." After our drink and hanging out for about half an hour, we were on our way home again. Another promoter stops us, "No thanks, we have to get some sleep." "Free drinks?" "Ughhhh." That happened to us four or five times, so I guess I can't complain too much. It was great. We ended up at this Irish bar, where we ran into two other friends from our pub tour. We danced there for about an hour or so, where Deanna and I actually ended up on top of the bar at one point. Maybe it is good I don't have any documentation of that for this. But after that bar we headed back to the city center again and one last promoter comes up to us and we ended up back at the first bar of the night. There we were talking to random Americans that we ran into and met a girl who was in Madrid for the weekend but was headed back to Granada the next day, where she studies. "We are going to Granada in the morning! Or who are we kidding, in like 3 hours." We hung out the rest of the night and all exchanged numbers and decided to meet up while there. In the end, Deanna and I decided to leave and get at least some sleep, I would rather have an hour than nothing. The rest of them stayed out all night and we went back for some much needed rest. An hour later, we were up and on our way to the bus station for a five hour bus ride.

Overall, Madrid was my favorite of the three cities in regards to nightlife. So I am going to end this one right here and write about Granada and Barcelona sometime this weekend probably. If you made it all the way through this post I appreciate it. Sorry it was so long. Just so much happened in those three days so I didn't know what to cut out.

St. James Park

Today turned out to be an amazing day. I woke up and was on my way to class and it was just another gloomy day in London. What a surprise. As I was sitting in class the sun came out and I figured it would come and go. Go, it did not. So as I walked out of the building, the sun was still shining. On this momentous occasion, I decided to go to St. James Park and do some reading. It has become my favorite place in the city.

From there you can see Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and Big Ben. It is an awesome park. It is pretty small with a small lake going all the way through it. Although the past times I have been there it has been pretty relaxed and a few people here and there, today was not the case. Apparantely this week is the London public school system's Spring Break. So it was packed.

Even though, it was still nice. There are some trees and flowers blossoming which makes me excited for the fact that winter is obviously coming to an end. Not only the flowers were signaling that it was coming to an end, but on my walk home I considered taking my jacket off. I literally have not thought that since I have gotten here, so that is a step in the right direction. Considering I am now on Spring Break, I hope that weather continues, but mostly in Spain since that is where I will be for the next 7 days as of Saturday. Here are some pictures I took from St. James Park.

Buckingham Palace

The London Eye and Big Ben

St. James from Buckingham

Here comes spring

View from where I was enjoying Harry's company

Paris

So this past weekend a couple of my roommates, neighbors, and I went to Paris for about 48 hours. It was full of amazing food, sights, and just amazing times. It was my favorite weekend here so far. I only had three bad things to say about Paris. It stunk. It was dirty. Last but not least, I don't speak French. But seriously, it was one of the coolest places I have ever been to.

The day we left to go there was a nightmare. Instead of shoveling out a few extra pounds to take the train under the English channel, we decided to fly there. BIG BIG BIG mistake. We actually probably ended up spending no more than we would have to take the train anyways. We had to travel about an hour to our airport and then once we got to Paris it was about another hour train ride. So the girls that were taking the train left an hour after us and ended up getting there about 4 hours before us. Like I said, big mistake. Oh well, we were not going to let this hinder our weekend in Paris. That night we went out to a bar which was kind of a dud but it wasn't that big of a deal.

The next morning we decided to get up early and travel down to Versailles. It was the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen and my pictures are not going to do it justice in the slightest. We wandered around there for a few hours and then we went out to lunch at a little creperie where I had possibly the best meal I have ever had in my life. It started off with a nice cup of French cappuccino, which was delicious. Then for the entre. My friend Jack and I both got a flat bread pizza. It had tomato, cheese, basil, and a whole bunch of amazing things. It was was essentially a giant piece of bruschetta. It may have been very well the best meal I have ever eaten in my entire life. Hands down.

After that, we went to the city and walked around. We went down to the back of the Louvre and just explored. We then walked down the river to Notre Dame. At this point it was pretty rainy so that was upsetting but not terrible. We went inside for a while and it was amazing. It was a very cool experience to be inside one of the most famous churches on the planet. I took tons of pictures of it but it did not do it very much justice. Later on that night we went out for a fancy French dinner. We decided we wanted something where we could get an appetizer, entre, and dessert. Everyone was talking about how they wanted to try escargot, but I was not having it. I decided to order a French onion soup. I regret my decision. I decided I wanted to at least try the escargot since everyone was raving about it and it was actually amazing. I am excited to get it again one day. I then had a filet mignon and a creme brulet for dessert. We all shared a couple bottles of wine. It was a perfect way to really experience the French culture.

After that, we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower. It was awesome. I knew it was going to be cool, but it was definitely more than I expected. We took the elevator to the top, because I mean come on, you can't come all the way to Paris, and not do that. I really wanted to do it during the day, but seeing the city all lit up was probably just as amazing. After that, we got back to our hostel at about midnight so we were exhausted and went to sleep.

The next day we got up early again and headed straight to the Louvre. If you want to go to the Louvre I would definitely recommend going first thing when it opens. We went straight to see the Mona Lisa. I really wasn't that excited to see it because frankly, I think it is extremely over-rated and not even a good painting. Even so, it was still really cool just to see it. Usually there is a line, so if there is a line I wouldn't recommend it, but if not, it is pretty cool. We wandered for the next couple hours and saw some pretty amazing art. After that we headed up the street where the Champs de Elysees is, the French version of Rodeo Drive basically. At the end of the road is the Arc de Triomphe, that we realized you could walk up to the top so we were not about to pass that up. After the eight million stairs, the views were unbelievable. After that we went to another cafe and had some last minute delicious French food before we had to make our way back to the airport.

All in all, like I said, it was an amazing weekend. I would love to go back one day and really hope to do so. If you ever get the chance to make it to Paris, I would definitely recommend it.

On top of the Arc

Closer Up

Arc de Triomphe

Mona Lisa.

View from the top

A picture I took of the Eiffel Tower

My friend Katie and I in front of Notre Dame

My meal in Versialles

The Palace of Versailles

Past Week

Sorry I have been failing so miserably, I wish I could stay on top of it more. I just am never by my computer here, and then when I get to it, I always forget or don't have enough time to sit down and think about what to write.

Last weekend we went to this awesome club called Koko for what was Button Down Disco. It was supposedly a hipster(indie) theme, so all my roommates dressed up. We were probably the only one's that didn't get the "Hey, its themed, but don't actually dress up" memo. We will take note of that for next time. It was AWESOME. Picture in your head a really nice and enormous theater that you would go to see a giant Broadway musical in. It basically looked like that with all the seats taken out. The main floor was the dance floor and then there were balconies upstairs with another bar. It was pretty awesome. There are two more of these nights while we're here so we are all planning on going.

On Sunday we all went to the Portobello Road Market for a few hours. It was one of the coolest outdoor markets I have ever been to. We made the mistake of going into a cafe because we were so hungry. Down the road there was more fresh, delicious, amazing food than you could ever imagine. Some people ended up eating again, but I didn't want to spend the money. Later that night, it was time for the Superbowl. And when I say later, I mean way, way, way later.

The Superbowl here does not start until 11:30. A little messed up if you ask me. I really didn't care who won so I cheered for the Packers because everyone I was watching it with hated the Steelers, so I was not about to swim upstream against that. Another downfall of spending Superbowl Sunday in London is they do not provide the proper commercials. Actually they don't play any commercials at all. It was rather frustrating. During what would have been normal commercial breaks, they jumped two these two Americans and a British guy(who knew nothing about football) who spoke basically repeated all the commentating that already happened. Why would I want to watch that?

Today I had to go down to Portobello Road area again for my Marketing class to go to the Museum of Brands, which was really cool. They had products from back in even the 1800s. It basically showed all the different ways people have packaged, marketed, and advertised different products. They separated it into ares divided up by different eras and then each decade of the 1900s.

Tonight I am going to a play that our school gave us free tickets to so hopefully that will be pretty entertaining. And then tomorrow four of my roommates and three of the girls next door are going to Paris. I am really excited. I could have left a few hours ago but most everyone has class tomorrow so I am not about to go by myself. But we'll leave Friday afternoon and then come back Sunday night. It should be pretty fun so I will try and blog as soon as I get back.

This is a picture of the club that I stole from Google.

Cultural Differences

So far while I have been here, I have really decided to embrace the pub culture of going for a beer to relax at the end of a long day, or just to have a beer. Up until yesterday, I had really been embracing it.

Disclaimer: Sorry Mom.

Up until yesterday, I had at least a beer each day I had been here. It is hard to pass up when I could jump out my window and land on top of the bar of The Queen's Arms. Or walk 60 seconds to The Westbury for some beer and pool or The Old Bell for some karaoke. Or even yet, walk another 60 seconds to The Betsy Smith's, where we decided to go tonight. Not that I am drinking in excess by any means any of these nights, it is just nice to unwind.

Sue me. I'll justify it as a cultural experience.


I told you, that is The Queen's Arms from our dining room.

Re-Cap

Sorry I haven't been updating this, I have just been pretty busy. Last weekend we took a trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was pretty cool, but I don't know if I would recommend it. It was free for us so it was worth it. It was just a little anticlimactic. Bath however, was pretty awesome. We walked around for a few hours and basically looked at all the architecture. We walked past Jane Austen's house, which was cool, but I am not a huge Pride and Prejudice fan, so it wasn't really that cool.

I am also well into my internship at The Frozen Food Store. Random, right? There is another girl doing an internship there so that is pretty nice. I have basically just been doing little projects for them such as making maps of where all their trucks go, so they can find the most strategic place to move their warehouse to. And then, I have just been answering phones and things like that. The major downfall of my internship is the commute. It is about an hour or maybe a little more away. I have to take two trains, one all the way to the end. Then I have to get off and take a train about 15-20 minutes.

On Sunday, we went to a bar and it turned out to be karoke night. We each had about three beers and Deanna sang a song, and then we did a duet and then we were just waiting for Skyler to sing. Deanna and I sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" but it turned out to be the wrong version. We didn't know a single word, except Ain't No Mountain High Enough. It was pretty lame. But like I said, we were just waiting for Skyler to sing. We each had finished our beers so we were going to leave after Skyler sang. Then the bartender came over and told us that we were going to either buy more beer, or leave. Um, excuse me? We were there for like an hour and a half and had three beers. I'm sorry that is not enough for you on a Sunday night, bitchy bartender. See if we come back there again. We are tonight though. How can you pass up some karoke with drunk old english men? That is right, you can't.

Last night, we went to the Imperial College's American Night. It was supposed to be an American themed party with beer pong and cheesy American music. I am not sure what they mean by cheesy since every time I've been there, they have played NSYNC, Avril Lavigne, and other things like that. But it turns out that they didn't play that cheesy of music which was a bust. And also, it was pretty much all American students studying abroad. So that was also kind of lame, but it was still a blast.

Well that is all for now, miss whoever is reading this.

Westminister

Today I woke up and had a few hours until I had to go to class so I thought I would go into the city and walk around without a tour guide for a little while. I went to Westminister and walked by the following:

-British Parliament
-Big Ben(it is actually part of the parliament building)
-Westminister Abbey - where William and Kate will get married
-St. James Prk
-Buckingham Palace

It was pretty great, I just wish I had everyone at home to come hang out with me. The only frustrating thing with London's weather is, although it was one of the first days with sunny weather, it was much cooler than any other day we had. Although the clouds are quite unappealing, they keep the warmth in, so when the sun peaks through, the temperature plummets. Quite frustrating, to say the least.

[British Parliament]

[Big Ben]

[St. James Park]
(You can see the London Eye on the left and Big Ben on the right)

[Buckingham Palace]

[Proof That I'm Actually at all These Places]

Daily Commute

So I have an hour commute to my internship three days a week, so I bought this yesterday to help make it faster. Yes, it is the British version of it. Started it today, I am pretty stoked.

Things I Have Realized in London

I know I have only been here for a few days but I have already realized many things.

-Looking right instead of left before stepping into the street proves to be easier said than done.
-Public transportation can be a marvelous thing.
-The sun is greatly underrated.
-Space is a commodity.
-Pubs are wonderful.
-I have never felt as slow of a walker in my life than when I walk through the tube.

Hopefully I will add to this in the coming months.

'Ello London

Greetings from London. So it is now Sunday afternoon and I got here Wednesday afternoon. That is four full days, it feels like I have been here for a month.

Wednesday
I landed at Heathrow at 1:00 pm, which if you wanted to do the math, that was 5:00 am my time. Ten hours on the plane was a hoot, especially because I didn't spend an ounce of it sleeping. I got to my apartment and met my roommates. We went on a little tour of our town and then passed out at 7:00. Yes, 7:00. But thanks to jet lag I woke up at 4:00 in the morning. Woo travelling!

Thursday
So there are six 8-person townhouses in my complex, and two of them are from my program. Six of us are from ASU, nine from Pitt, and one from Santa Cruz. The other houses have kids from a school in Indiana. They have RA's in their houses. Fun. But anyways, about 30 of us from our complex went out that night and tried to find a good bar, but failed. Ended up at a pub and just wandered London all night.

Friday
We had a tour Saturday morning, so Friday night I was looking for something kind of mellow. My roommate Skyler, and our neighbor Deanna were going to a play that night so I joined them. We saw Billy Elliot, which was very good. After that we went to a pub across the street(yes, there are as many as you would imagine). Got a pint and then took the bus home to be adventurous.

Saturday
We had a bus tour of London that took us all around the city. Although I have never felt more touristy in my life, it was great. We saw all the typical things, Buckingham Palace(Lizzy wasn't home, damn), Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, London Eye, and others. We actually saw the building they used as Gringotts from the first Harry Potter movie, and I was pretty stoked about that. Didn't get a picture though, mistake. That night we went to a couple bars and ended up meeting two of our neighbors at a sports bar to watch the Steelers game. We got there at 11:45 pm, and it was packed wall to wall. Got some pints and watched the Steelers win, so it was pretty great. Since our program is made up of about 50 Pitt people we will probably continue to go there and watch the games, and hopefully the Super Bowl.

I don't really know what I'm going to write about on here. I don't really like just listing off what I did each day, but we'll see. Maybe I'll just wait for more substantial things to happen. If you really want to know, try and grab me on Facebook chat. Good times would probably be from whenever you wake up til 4:00 California time(midnight for me).

Taking Off

Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow night at 6:25 I will be boarding a plane for the next 11 hours to go to London, UK. Once there I will be participating in an internship with a local London based company. In addition to my internship, I will actually have to complete the study portion of my study abroad.

Get ready for it. I am going to be taking a whopping two classes. What? Right. Considering my internship counts for 6 credits, my two classes are going to make up for the remaining 6 credits I need for studying abroad. I will have one class (Ethics in the Media) on Wednesday, and one more (International Marketing) on Thursday.

I am going to be living in a flat with 7 other guys from my program. There is one single, two doubles, and a triple, and what do you know, I landed in the triple. But whatever, I was looking for a new experience and that is what I'm getting. Coolest thing about my flat....

It is one block from Abbey Road. Less than 1/2 mile from Abbey Road Studios.

WANT TO CONTACT ME?
DON'T text me. I won't get it. Have a smart phone? Download Kik Messenger. It is like BBM for smart phones that I can use while my phone is connected to WiFi. I know it works for Droids and iPhones. It may also work for Blackberries but I'm not sure. I also have an app called WhatsApp. The only problem with Kik right now is you can't send pictures, so on WhatsApp you can do that. Do it, so I don't have to miss you that much. Only downfall of WhatsApp is it is only a year long free trial, but both of those apps are free.

Find me:
Kik: derek_g
WhatsApp: Derek Gardner
Skype: derek.l.gardner

I will do my best to keep this updated so those of you who want to read this will know what I'm up to.