London continued!

     Alright it's time to catch up so that I can keep you fully updated! So I left off with Sunday night at Koko! We went to another club the next week called "Fabric." I went with my friend Emily and some of her friends from American. I had heard that Fabric was really cool. I'm not really sure who the source was of this, but I don't think they went to the same Fabric. We got there and it was giant, there were three different rooms and all were enormous. There was one big problem - the music. I wouldn't really call it music as much as very, very loud noises. There wasn't really a beat, definitely no words, and there was absolutely nothing to dance to. The British people seemed to enjoy just thrashing around to it though. I didn't understand, and we left after about 15 minutes.

 The next night we had another school event at a club called Heaven, but the name of the event was called 'Club Neon.' Basically everyone dressed up in bright neon clothes and brought glowsticks and whatnot. There was free UV paint, but I was too busy dancing the night away to notice. They had a stage on one side, but they kept kicking everyone off and then letting them back on so it got confusing. It was a lot of fun though! We actually went back to that club later, on a normal night, and it is really cool. They have a sort of pyramid in the middle that you can dance on. It was another really big place! 

     On Wednesday, we had our reception for everyone in the psychology department. I'll just say, it was one of the most fun/ridiculous things I have ever done with school. There were two kegs. This was a school sponsored event - and there were kegs. And many bottles of wine. We just couldn't stop laughing at the fact that this was our welcome event. Lots of friends in the psychology department now! They were really impressed with my vast knowledge of all things pop culture.

    We finally got around to some sightseeing on Thursday! Buckingham Palace was only open until Friday so we decided we had to get a look before it closed for the year. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, I'm pretty sure because it would've taken us hours to walk through because we were taking so many pictures. I have never seen any place so extravagant and elegant. Every room looked like it was out of a fairy tale. And to think - someone technically lives there! There really was not corner that was not magnificent. There were even secret passages! I need a place like that.

outside the gates of my future home

back of my future home

front of future home

    I also got to see the throne room! It was pretty intense. That was where people get knighted and where the queen officially opens Parliament. The inside was just so unbelievably beautiful, I wish i could've gotten some photos! At pretty much all the sights in London they give you a headset with information about what you're seeing and they're very helpful. You may see me wearing some in pictures - don't judge.

     We continued our walk through London towards the houses of Parliament and Big Ben. It's not as big as I thought it would be! But I guess everything seems bigger when you're younger. My brother Ben is really excited for me to add these pictures to Facebook because he insists that I tag him as Big Ben. That might give you an idea of what he is like.

    

found him!

Parliament - intimidating looking

me + Ben = bros

Westminster Abbey is across the street so we took some pictures of it. We didn't go inside yet because that was more money and we had already paid 15 pounds for the Palace! Westminster was absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to go inside - it must be beautiful!

lots of important people in here

can't wait to go inside!

That was pretty much all the sightseeing we did that day but I forgot what we had done an earlier day! We walked around the Thames and saw Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and the Tower of London! I have to say - the London Bridge was a huge letdown. Not only was it not falling down, no one would have even cared if it did (assuming no lives were lost). It is the most boring bridge ever. Tower Bridge, on the other hand, is beautiful! I heard a rumor that the London Bridge from the song is actually in America, but if it is, why even come to this continent?!?!?

Tower of London - will enter later

Tower Bridge - bridge that is actually cool

tower again

this bridge has a song dedicated to it and I don't? whatever

     So that has been the majority of our London sightseeing! Last Friday was out big, ambitious, touristy day though. We did Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath all in one shot! It was a very, very long day but I will just start from the beginning.

     So we were up at 6:30 and at the tube by 7:30 to get our coach bus from Victoria Station at 8:30. We got on the bus and we loved our tour guide! He was an older guy but he was really funny. I think his name was Nick? I forget already, but he was cool. Should have gotten a picture with him. Anyway, we went through London a little bit and saw the outside of some of the museums. AMAZING. The Victoria and Albert Museum looks like a castle (and must have been at some point) and I have class there on Monday! I have so many museums and galleries to go to it's ridiculous! I don't have class on Tuesdays, so I'm going to use that as my gallery/museum day (except for today because the fire alarm has been going off all morning and I need to sleep because I have tennis tryouts tomorrow). 

     So our first stop was Windsor Castle, which is the other official residence of the queen and the longest inhabited castle in the world. Let me just say, this queen has got it made. Buckingham Palace had 600 rooms - Windsor Castle has 950! The place was gargantuan - our tour guide told us we probably wouldn't really be able to get a picture of it because there is really no place where you can see it all at one time. You can't take pictures there either but we got a few shots outside.

let's go!

finally home

the queen is pretty lucky

man with a cowboy hat!

the weather took a turn for the worse

us at the castle!

workin' the headset

     Another stunning place to see! Unfortunately we didn't have that much time to stroll through, but you could definitely get a feel for the castle from the time we had. Our next stop was Stonehenge. Also unfortunately, as you can tell from the umbrella picture, this is where the weather took a turn for the worse. It was cold and rainy when we got to Stonehenge. Like, very cold and rainy. We basically ran around it and then ran back to the bus. Oh, I forgot to mention who I was with! My new travel companions I had met at the local pub one night (everyone on campus goes there). The girl with the man in the cowboy hat is Erin, who goes to Cornell and lives a few floors up.  The boy is Matt, who goes to Delaware and lives nearby, and the shorter girl is his friend from home Bari, who also lives nearby and goes to Emory. 

    Stonehenge was undoubtedly the most random sight I had ever seen. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields (and herds of sheep), is this stone formation. It's fascinating when you think about it. Where did they come from? How did they arrange them? Some of the rock are 50 tons! Due to the bad weather we didn't spend much time thinking about any of this but we got a few pics in!

Where did it come from?!?

loving the weather

important rock

freaky

They sold "rock cake" at the concession stand on site. We got a good laugh out of that. They also had headsets, but it was so windy that we couldn't hear them anyway. We didn't spend too much time looking - it was just so miserable! We were all starving at this point so we stopped at a pub in Lacock for lunch. Naturally, this being an authentic English experience, we all got fish and chips and cider. The pub that we went to was the oldest licensed pub in England. It's something like 800 years old. There was a wheel in there that a dog used to run around to do something. To be honest, I have no idea what that dog was doing running around that wheel because I couldn't keep my eyes open when he was talking, but apparently it's cool.

pub older than time

a dog ran around this wheel. significance unknown

So, full on fish and chips, we were off to our next stop! There was horrible traffic so we barely made it to the Roman Baths on time! We only had about 45 minutes to walk around but we still got to see a lot. I wish we could've walked around  Bath a little bit more because it looks beautiful but we had to make our bus home. The Romans really knew how to build some nice places! I had a hard time understanding exactly how they made this bath but it seemed like a pretty impressive feat. Here is a little look!

people used to bathe here

gettin' ready to go for a dip

more bathing locations

us with the bath!

our tour guide- a Roman with a British accent...funny..

The Bath Abbey was gorgeous as well! I really wish we had had the chance to spend a little more time there. Johnny Depp has a home there I heard!

beautiful churches everywhere on this continent

    Finally, we had hit all of our destinations! We still had a two and a half hour bus ride home though! I have to say though, the beginning of the ride home may have been my favorite part of the whole trip. We had an absolutely gorgeous view of the English countryside. I wasn't sitting on a good side, and a picture could never really show it, but it was breathtaking. Then the rain stopped and there was a rainbow! It was a nice end to an exhausting day.

gorgeous

wanted to spend the whole day here

rainbow!

We finally got back to UCL at around 9:30. We had left fourteen hours before! Here's a little indicator of how I was feeling at that point:

who's ready to dance it out?

I actually did end up going out that night to a club called "Debut." It used to be warehouse and was also giant. I was pretty dead tired though so I was out of there fast! Alright I need to continue this on another post because this has gotten out of control! Hope you enjoyed!

    

    

Beginning of London!

      Ok! I am determined to catch up on this blog so I'm going to try and take a little time to describe what has happened so far! It is not nearly as well documented as that trip so you'll have to bear with me. I arrived late on the night of 20th from Stansted Airport (which, despite it being a "London" airport, is 45 minutes away) and made it to my dorm room. I have to say, my dorm is pretty awful. It is a lot smaller than any room I've had at Penn and I've had to use my suitcase as a drawer because there is literally nowhere else to put my clothes. That being said, I am living alone and it is nice to have my own space. There are four other people from Penn on my hall! It is absolutely ridiculous how many people from Penn are here this semester.
    That first night, I basically just ate and went to bed. The next day I got up and went to our welcome talk, which was pretty standard as far as universities go. We're excited to have you here, London is really big, academics come first, we're taking your money, etc and then we moved onto enrolment. This is where I began to realize how much better our university systems work. We had to wait in line for two hours just to get our ID cards and school usernames/passwords. Thankfully, I used that time to make a couple friends. I've lost touch with one since but one I ended up spending a lot of time with. Her name is Emily, she goes to American, and she's studying political science. I was glad I made one friend then because they basically had no events planned for us to meet people. Everything here is really about doing it on your own.
    That day we did a little exploring. We walked around Regent's Park a little bit (it is really big so I have a lot of left to see) and we took a few shots.

Regent's Park (ten minute walk away - loves it)

Naturally we decided to go to a traditional English pub for dinner and had fish and chips! Photo op!

so fried

     I'm not really sure how to describe it. I mean, I went to Paris and everything was absolutely delicious (and had to have some type of bread in it). I came here and everything is...fried. Or has a lot of butter. The first night at the dining hall I kind of felt like I was just nibbling on a stick of butter rather than eating  real food. Anyway, we went out a bar called "Vibe" that we found in the guide book, but were way too tired still to stay very long. We had to walk through Brick Lane to get there though, and let me say, we were not at all prepared! Brick Lane is known for its Indian food. When you walk down the street, people from the restaurants accost you and yell different deals at you. It basically just sounds like random numbers. "17% here! Free bottle of wine here! 23% off here!" Since we weren't going to dinner that night, it was kind of annoying, but we are definitely returning when we are actually in the mood for some Indian food.

    The rest of the week was just spent at various welcome talks. Computer use, libraries, blah, blah, blah. I probably could've just skipped the whole thing to be honest, but it was good way to have something to talk about with new people. People went out basically every night because we hardly had anything to do. It's nice being able to relax in a pub at night, instead of just sitting around someone's room. The atmosphere is so much more lively. Especially with the pubs around here - everyone is a student at UCL. It's a great place to meet people and have a drink. The one near us, The Court, is where people hang out the most. It's only a couple blocks away and if you buy a "yellow card" you get 40 pence off all drinks!

    The first couple nights we went to a club called Roxy, which is within walking distance (we have an excellent location in central London). The first night was fun, the music was basically popular songs with techno beats added. The second night was one of the most bizarre nights of music I have ever experienced. It started with some songs that were popular about...ten years ago. Then it just went insane. First he would play Johnny Cash, then Madonna, then rap music. It was so bizarre. I went to make a request and he didn't have any Britney Spears, Kesha, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, or Pussycat Dolls. We had a serious crisis on our hands. Finally, I had a brilliant idea. Me: "Spice Girls?" DJ: "YES!!!" So after he was done playing "Rock Around the Clock" we moved onto "Spice up your Life." So. Strange. He later played some Lady Gaga, and some more '50s classics. Just a very strange night all around.

     The next day we finally did some sightseeing and went to the British Museum (which is only a fifteen minute walk away - I actually had class there today!). The place was enormous so we only managed to cover a little bit. The odd thing about it is that almost nothing in it is British. Our first stop was the Rosetta Stone, probably the best known object in there.

me + Rosy. She is pretty useful

pharoahs weren't exactly lookers

recreation of something ancient and important

chillin with some Romans

he's seen better days

twinsies

     The place was filled with stuff from Ancient Greece and Rome! It was crazy to think how old some of those things were. Some were 5, 000 years old. That's such a long time. Imagine how many times Madonna could have reinvented herself in that time? Or how many times Lindsay Lohan could rebuild and ruin her career? The possibilities are endless. 

    The first weekend was pretty quiet, we were all burnt out from the week. I finally met a cool group of people on my hall and we hung out at the school's union pub (yeah, the student union has a pub) and the drinks were really cheap! It was nice to have a relaxing, not too expensive night. Sunday night was our first big school event, which was at a club called Koko. It was awesome! The place used to be a theater and they converted it into a nightclub. There is a big dance floor where the orchestra seats would have been and you can chill out on the balconies overlooking the dance floor. The dj was on the stage going crazy. 

    That pretty much sums up the first week! More to come from induction week/freshers week/sightseeing adventure! Only a week behind now!

End of trip!

Munich 1: Welcome to Campingplatz

      Hello again! I am determined to finish telling you guys everything about the trip because it has been two weeks since it ended and I am seriously lacking behind! We got up early the next morning to catch the train from the Hauptbahnhof in Zurich to the Hauptbahnhof in Munich. We walked the mile to the train station and came upon a strange sight. Everyone was drinking beer at 8 am! People were in hats and costumes and drinking that early! We got on the train and I could not believe how much beer there was. People were bringing thirty packs on the train! We took our seats and watched as the madness unfolded. At first, we were in pretty calm carts. People were just playing cards and enjoying their beer. We had to move because we were in someone's reserved seats at the next stop. We moved into the back cart and that's when things got crazy.
     Not only were people drinking, they were getting up and singing! The guy who worked on the train kept trying to calm them down but they couldn't be tamed (as Miley would say). Here is a little taste of what that four hour train ride was like:

This went on for hours. It was unbelievable. We finally arrived at the train station and people were in lederhosen everywhere! The train station was extremely packed with people going every which way. The grounds for Oktoberfest aren't far, so everyone passes through the main train station to get there. We managed to get out and get on our train to the campground. When we arrived, we got exactly what we paid for: tents. It wasn't completely roughing it though, we had sleeping bags! (but no pillows)

high class living

loving my tent

 It was already pretty late in the day, and the free buses from our campground had already left, so we decided to just stay at the campground for the rest of the day.  We met some of the nicest, most interesting people. One group was from Ireland. The majority didn't go by their actual names. Gully, Stacky, Cats, and Rachel (the long person with an actual name) were the most fun group I could've imagined. They made us feel extremely welcome (along with everyone else) and were always ready to have a good time! They were joined by another couple from Ireland, Michael and Lynne, who offered to let us stay with them in Dublin (which we will definitely be taking advantage of!). There were also a few people from Australia! Cara (who is also coming to study in London) had just finished a trip swimming from island to island in Greece and a boat trip down a lake in Croatia (she had some really cool stories) and Justin and Hannah, who were traveling around Europe for six months. The final person in our group was Chris from LA, who dropped out of college to move to Europe and is going on a three month crabbing trip in the Arctic! (some of the things that these people told us almost sounded made up but I choose to believe them)
We basically just danced and laughed the night away that day. Here's a few of us chilling at the picnic table!

Rachel, Me, Justin, Cara, Hannah, (complete stranger), Katie

(starting at left and going around) Stacky, Michael, Lynne, Rachel, part of Cara's head, Justin, a cup over Hannah's face, Me, Katie, Garrett, Cats, Gully, some guy

It was so interesting to talk to them about what they thought of America. They all LOVED our reality shows! They were all big fans of the Kardashians and of Jersey Shore. We nicknamed Justin "J Bomb" because we wanted something that sounded like JWOWW. They kept asking us what had been happening because they get all the shows a few weeks after us! We also asked them how they thought Americans spoke. Basically, everyone described someone from the deep south - talking really slowly with a lot of "y'alls." Thankfully we don't speak like that so they liked us! It felt like we stayed up laughing all night with them, but at about midnight we were all exhausted and headed to our tents. A great time was had by all.

Munich Day 2: Oktoberfest

The next day we woke up rested and ready to go! We went to board the bus for Oktoberfest, but the driver got completely lost and we ended up going really late. We managed to get in a group photo though! This is pretty much everyone who was staying at the campsite (at least that I liked):

us + Oktoberfest BFFs

     There were also some really cool girls from UNH who are studying in Budapest in this shot - I might go visit them! We all finally got on the bus to go. Halfway through the busride, we had to pull over and they had to get something out of the luggage compartment under the bus. It turned out that something was a person. Her name was Jasmina and she was from Finland. I thought someone had shut her in there by accident but it turns out she thought it would be fun to ride in the luggage compartment. Her friends got scared that she might suffocate (legitimate fears I think). She later told us all she wanted was to ride her luggage compartment in peace with a baguette. She was quite the character.

     We finally got to Oktoberfest and it was crazy! People in lederhosen running every which way and thousands of people in general trying to get in. We first had to run through a parade (which was scary with police surrounding it) so we could make it to the grounds. Oktoberfest is the biggest festival in the world and let me just say, it's gargantuan! We started the day by going on a roller coaster, which was awesome! I haven't been on a roller coaster and I love the feeling of it. There was a sign that said you couldn't lift your arms in the air, and I didn't take it too seriously and almost ended up getting my hand chopped off! Thankfully I made it out alive. Stacky was terrified out of his mind and screamed "I want my mummy" the entire time. I spent most of that ride just laughing.

     After our roller coaster adventure, we decided it was time to find ourselves a beer tent to park in. We ended up at Lowenbrau, which I don't think is the biggest tent but it is still pretty massive. Most of the tables were already taken so we split up and found a couple half tables to put our group at. I'm not really sure how to describe this beer tent in words. The beers themselves were massive (and cost 10 euro which is not cheap). There was a band playing and every once and a while they would play a song that would get everybody standing on their chairs dancing. My personal favorite was "Sweet Caroline" which I have never belted so loudly in my life. They played the song that goes "Heeeey! Heeey baby! Hoo Haa I wanna know, if you'll be my girl" approximately 37 times and the Germans couldn't get enough of it. At some points, people would just start yelling and everybody would start yelling, then everybody would say "cheers" and take another gulp! We laughed and sang and danced and drank for hours. I didn't think I could just sit around for that long and enjoy it but something was always going on! There was actually a fight which was a little too intense for me, but the police thankfully broke it up.

    The German waitresses were quite the sight too. They would carry around 7 of those giant beers at a time! They were always screaming at people to get out of the way in German and they were quite intimidating despite being in outfits that looked like Little Bo Peep. Here is a little taste of the madness:

very, very large beers in steins

crazy beer tent

Heeey, heeey baby (hoo hah) i wanna knooow if you'll be my girl!

Around 7 we realized that it was time to go back (we were supposed to catch a bus back but ended up taking a train). Here is one last shot of the group!

the most fun bunch I have ever met

     We eventually made it back to the campsite safe and sound! I lost Garrett and Katie for a little while but thankfully we all ran into each other at the train station. We got back to the campsite and had another great night! I was dancing around, per usual, and I told the people who ran the campsite (Stoketoberfest travel group) that I would get my ipod. They ended up using it all night! We danced to Britney, Lady Gaga, Miley, Spice Girls, every cheesy pop group you could possibly think of. They were impressed with my vast collection of dance music! I made sure to show them how we dance it out here in the United States (especially when "3" by Britney Spears came on). I sort of did the Bad Romance dance (I just kind of made it up on the spot but people seemed to think that it was right).  I tried to keep everyone dancing for as long as I could! We ended up dancing until at least midnight (the campground quiet hours start at 10). I didn't want the night to end!

me + Lynne + Rachel = best buds

Michael and me! (he had a cool hat)

Cara! (she's done some cool stuff)

Chis and me! (that cup is from Oktoberfest - you're not allowed to bring them out of the beer tents but he managed to sneak one out!

      The next morning we got up and ate breakfast at the campsite (which was surprisingly good) and headed to the airport. We were very, very sad to go and even as I write this now I miss all the people that I met over that weekend. They made all of us feel so comfortable. 

     We had a layover in Dusseldorf on our way home, and we decided to turn it into a little photo op. I mean, who hasn't dreamed their whole lives of going to Dusseldorf? We wanted to capture every moment.

looking like native Dusseldorfians

longing to see Dusseldorf

Finally we made it back to London! I will describe everything that has happened since in detail soon. I'll give you some quick highlights - Buckingham Palace, Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Bath, British Museum, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Tower Bridge. Details and pictures to come soon! Hope that everything is going well in the states!