Yess!

Ahhh! Such a crazy last few days. This is the first week of actual classes, since last week was "syllabus week" .. and it's the first time that I feel like I actually live in London. Up until now I have felt like I've been on vacation, and now it is starting to feel like home .. SO WEIRD! On Monday I had to wake up at 7:30 to be able to make it to International Marketing at Harrow in the morning since one of the lines that leads out of the city was "in good service" (being worked on). As soon as I woke up I knew it was going to be a hectic Monday morning  ..... obviously a Dave-on-my-iPod kind of day. I put the music on as high as it could go and headed for the tube station. I had to make four exchanges on the tube .. during rush hour ..... it was fantastic. Rush hours on the tube are like a video game, and this was the first time that I experienced what it was like to be on the tube .. all noises cancelled out .. music in my ears. It was the first time that I felt like London was becoming my home and it was amazing. With the line being in good service, I barely made it to class on time but when I got there he hadn't started the lecture yet since he knew people would be late. This was the first time that I enjoyed International Marketing and my module leader. My seminar leader was out sick, so I got to see the module leader in seminar form and he was completely different. It's crazy how the professors here don't allow you to see their personal side during lecture! So formal and structured .. I love it so much more than school at home. After seminar I met Cori at ISA for soda and a little chill time before she had class. Kate and Kim showed up, and were going to go explore somewhere and said I could go with them, and it was a really good night. We went and explored Notting Hill and walked down Portobello Road and looked in some shops. Our destination? Gourmet Burger Kitchen ( http://www.gbk.co.uk/menu/burgers/ ). I got the Mexican Burger (Sour cream, avocado, spicy kidney bean salsa, mayo and salad). There are pictures on my Facebook .. so ridiculous haha. Once we were done eating we went outside and it had started to rain, so we stopped in a local shop and got some posters for our rooms and Kim got a really cool ink pen. Then I came back to my flat and hung out with Taryn. Taryn is my flatmate from Chicago who I didn't really meet until last week. She is also a Virgo, she is a Psychology major, and she is beyond unbelievable. We went out and explored our area around 10pm and it like a completely different city to me for some reason. Since I always travel by underground tube and never by car or bus, I never get to actually visibly see what landmarks I am passing during the commute. But now that I've explored so many areas just by walking around, I'm starting to understand and find a sense of direction here .. so cool. 


And here comes the reason for this entry being titled "Yess!" ..... yesterday (Tuesday). I met with Henry, Emily, Mary and Taryn at 9:15am to head to our Sexualities class that we have together. We had different lecture and seminar leaders yesterday because our regular module leader was out on bereavement. After class Taryn and I went to Argos and got some stuff for the kitchen, and I came home to meet Cori, Dori, and Kim to BOOK OUR TRAVEL SCHEDULE!!! I just finished filling out my calendar, so I'm going to list everything that I'm doing and when I'm doing it so anyone who had planned to visit can see times for when it would be possible. Some of the trips are included with ISA.

January 28 .. Afternoon tea at Harrod's and Hyde Park tour - ISA
January 29 .. House of Parliament tour - ISA
February 1 .. Totem Cirque du Soleil in London
February 2 .. BBC World Studios tour - ISA
February 4 .. Visiting Ben Franklin's home, the Freud Museum, and Sherlock Holmes Museum
February 5 .. Stratford on Avon & Warwick Castle
February 9 .. Tour of Chelsea Football Stadium - ISA
February 10-14 .. BARCELONA, SPAIN!!
February 24 .. National Gallery tour
February 25-28 .. DUBLIN, IRELAND!!
March 3 .. Tour of The Bank of England - ISA
March 4-7 .. AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS!!
March 9 .. V&A Museum and Natural History Museum - ISA
March 12 .. Stonehenge & Bath - ISA
March 13 .. Cambridge - ISA
March 16 .. "We Will Rock You" - ISA
March 18-20 .. Paris?? (not booked yet)
March 25-27 .. Edinborough?? (not booked yet)
April 1-April 17 -- FREE SO FAR .. Mom, Dad? This is over Spring Break.
April 18-27 .. ITALY!! (Milan, Verona, Venice, Florence, back to Milan)
April 29 .. The Royal Wedding
May 7 .. Windsor Castle - ISA
May 19 .. ISA Farewell Thames River Cruise & Dinner

I'll be going to Croatia and Prague for a week at some point in May .. we're just waiting for our exam schedules to be released (sometime in February). So .. besides whichever week I end up in Croatia and Prague, the rest of March is FREE. All of June is also FREE .. Mama's coming at some point and she has first call.

June 25 .. Final day in London :(

Ahh! Thank you Mom and Dad for giving me this once and a (rare) lifetime opportunity! I love you both so much and can't wait to share my life here with you!


Ok. That was my Tuesday! Today (Wednesday) I had Public History lecture 10-11am. After class I came home and slept until 4:30pm, and then left for Marketing Research from 6-9. Now here I am, wide awake, and somehow it's already 1am. I honestly don't think I'll ever get on a good sleeping schedule while I'm here. At least I got this written!! Tomorrow we're taking our first Public History seminar trip to the V&A Museum and The Natural History Museum. I'm so excited!

I hope I have passed all of my positive energy to you through my keystrokes .. I've had a smile on my face this entire time. I love knowing that people are reading this :)

LOVE YOU <3