Okay...now that I've officially put off blogging for two weeks it feels like a chore. Warning this will probably be long!

Last Thursday: I had a walking tour for my London class...in the rain. We walked all over the City district, we learned about how the Great Fire spread and at one point looked at an old rock that survived the fire...weird. I then went to my Modern British Society class and then to the gym. We went to a bar in Camdentown that was 20s themed.

Christopher Wren Fire of 1666 Monument

Friday: After getting some extra sleep, Emily & I met up with Tara and her parents at the Tower of London. Which I obviously loved! I got to see Henry VIII's armor, Anne Boylen's execution site, and the Crown Jewels...aka I was in history heaven. After we went to this really really nice Italian restaurant in Knightsbridge with Tara & her parents. After we tried to go to a new bar but it closed at midnight so we went to McDonald's and called it a night.

Me & The Tower Bridge

Execution Site Memorial

The White Tower

Tower Bridge

Saturday: Woke up really early and took an hour long bus trip to Hampton Court. It was so cool, there was all this historical stuff about Henry VIII and I got to see his apartments and kitchens. The building itself was also magical and the gardens and even the trees were like something out of Alice and Wonderland.

Hampton Court!

Being royal and stuff :)

Back end of Hampton Court

Alice and Wonderland Gardens

So pretty!

We then traveled from Hampton Court to Windsor Castle where we got lunch at a pub. I traditionally got fish & chips, it was wonderful. We then went into Windsor Castle and explored, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside but I of course had to sneak one of Henry VIII's toomb site haha. It was really cool going here because I went when I was 9 but didn't really appreciate the history of the building. It also made me miss the fam a little because we went here for Mom's 40th birthday! After exploring the castle we had to run to catch the bus and traveled back home. The rest of the night we just relaxed and hung out, it was nice.

Henry VIII & Jane Seymour are buried here!

Windsor Castle on a SUNNY day!

My friends outside the castle in the town of Windsor

Sunday: We got some much needed rest and then Emily and I went to the library, gym, and then went grocery shopping. We then relaxed the rest of the night by watching the Tudors season 1...so basically it was a Tudor-filled weekend, and I loved it.

Monday: ...Valentines day. Okay, so I'm not a hater of Valentines day by any means. My issue, people here think that public displays of affection are okay. Old people, young people, it doesn't matter, they all love "snogging" everywhere. On the tube, on the escalators, even on the sidewalks...its weird. I thought the English were supposed to be all cold and stand offish and they make me feel so awkward. Anyways, I was really scared to go out on Valentines day because I didn't want people making out everywhere and Valentines day essentially "threw up all over London" according to my friend Tori. Either way, I had work and class. My class was at Hampstead Heath...aka in the middle of a forest. We went to Kenwood house, and it was a nice 45 minute walk through muddy paths but it ended up being pretty cool.

...wait this is London? And I thought this was art class?

Kenwood House in the middle of Hampstead Heath

I got home from class to an email from my roommate Emily trying to convince me to go out to the bars because Valentines day is the "day to go out" since everyone thats single goes to bars. So...I napped and we went out. I didn't feel like drinking so I instead used my money to get some KFC after haha.

Tuesday: I had work from 9-5...lame. And then went to the gym, had dinner and went to the Sports Cafe where all the American college kids go on Tuesday nights. Emily and I played in the beer pong tournament and we had a blast. Its really fun going out with all my housemates, we always have funny times back in the kitchen eating after and on the bus home.

Wednesday: I had work from 9-5 and then did laundry. I stopped by the Notting Hill Gate Arts Club for one of the girl in our house's 21st birthday.

Thursday: I had my London class and we learned about the Georgian Era, crime, and executions in London which was really interesting. I then had lunch with the girls and then went to Modern British Society where we learned about social classes and watched the last of the Andrew Marr BBC video series. After class I went to the gym and then we had dinner with our housemates at this Mexican place that we discovered the week before. I had quesadillas and an enchilada with this Blue Hawaiian drink, it was great haha and we then tried this bar around the corner from our house but it was a bust so we just went home early.

Friday: We slept in, because we could (getting up at 8 Monday-Thursday takes a toll on us haha). We went on an adventure to find the Parent Trap house, it was a success!

Where's LiLo?

After we went for a walk on Tour Bridge and I was determined to find this restaurant I went near the bridge with my family when I was nine that had really good pizza. After jogging my memory we stumbled upon it and made sure that was the place (with the help of Bob's memory to verify). It was really yummy and it had such a cool view and we had window seats!

At dinner, you can see the Tower Bridge behind me!

After we got ready and went to get Kelly Murphy who left Galway to grace us with her presence, at her parent's hotel in Knightsbridge. We then took her to our favorite bar O'Neil's. It was so fun and great to see Kelly, all the girls loved her and we had such a fun night.

Me & Kel at O'Neil's

Saturday: Clearly slept in again. Then went to the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington. It was really cool they had some awesome exhibits from sculptures to theater stuff and jewels.

V & A Museum

The Courtyard of the Museum

Me, Tara, & Emily then went for our epic, most anticipated meal of the week: TGIFriday's in Piccadilly Circus. We missed American food so much we waited 45 minutes to get seated. I had buffalo wings, sizzling chicken and cheese, and we all split a brownie obsession aka I felt like a pig but it was so worth it.

Sunday: I went to the National Gallery in the morning with Emily who had to study a painting for her art class but I just wandered around and took in the paintings that I didn't see in class yet. After we went to the gym and then picked up some food at the grocery store.

Monday: I had work in the morning and then my art class was at the National Gallery. We focused on Van Dyke and Royal Portraits, it was really interesting but a lot of information. After class I went to Gourmet Burger Kitchen with some girls in my house because they had a friend from SJU who is studying in Madrid visiting...and we found out its 40% so my meal was great and cheap. After I wrote a paper outline for my internship credit...boring.

Tuesday: I had work from 9-5 and then went to the Sports Cafe with the housemates, typical Tuesday I guess haha.

Wednesday (Today): I had work from 9-5, sat in on a Strategy and Development team meeting which was cool and interesting. I then came home to pack and finalize all my travel plans for tomorrow to Italy! Woo! I'm going with Tara, Emily, Carolyn, Tori, and Lauren and we're staying with various friends in Florence and Saturday we're going to Venice on a day trip. I'll blog after my return! Ciao :)