Roma!

No, I was not mistaken as an Italian pop star (Lizzie McGuire movie). A bit of a disappointment. BUT Rome was still pretty awesome. The first night we arrived, we figured out the Roman metro system and found our hostel pretty easily. To put it nicely... this one was not quite up to the same standards as our past hostels... Only one bathroom, not very clean, semi-broken shower, creaky bed, no clean towels half the time, no breakfast (even though it promised breakfast online). Anyway, after checking in, we set out to find some dinner. And after roaming (hah!) around for some time, we stumbled upon a cute little Italian restaurant down one of the streets. They gave us free bread and an appetizer (first time I've gotten free food pretty much all semester! Usually they charge you for bread and even water). I had some spaghetti al ragu (spaghetti with meat sauce). I think it was the best meal I'd had so far! So delicious! It was a really nice dinner, the three of us got into a laughing fit at some Spongebob quotes... haha don't ask.

The next morning, we headed straight for the Colosseum. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a rainy day (again! Isn't Italy supposed to be sunny?!). We had to wait in line for a bit, but when you first walk into the Colosseum it is truly stunning. I have never seen anything like it. Even through the rain and umbrellas blocking our view, it was so cool!! The centre area was not covered with a stage (as it would have been back in the day), so you could see everything that would have been underneath it, where they kept the animals and where the mechanics of the stage worked. Its crazy they had this fantastic architecture and mechanics so many years ago! We spent a good 2 hours wondering around the Colosseum, going to the top level too. Theres an exhibition on the top level with all kinds of information about the Romans and emperors at the time of the Colosseum. We took A TON of pictures.  And the entire time we were singing This is What Dreams Are Made Of (Lizzie McGuire movie again)! Eventually, we left to go find some lunch. We found a cheap place close by and I had some spaghetti with egg, cheese, and bacon (it was bit weird). Then, we walked to the nearby Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. They're basically just a giant collection of Roman ruins. It was so unbelievably cool to be walking around in ancient palaces, gardens, and cities. We walked through streets, houses, shops that stood 2,000 years ago. Unbelievable experience. After about 4 hours, we left to go find the famous Trevi fountain (I think most girls my age know this fountain from the Lizzie McGuire movie... its where she throws in the coin, makes a wish, and turns around to find Paolo!). It was quite an adventure finding the fountain, but we got there eventually. It was STUNNING. A hugeeeeee beautiful fountain that took 30 years to build. It was magical. We took lots of pictures there (and yes, made some wishes and threw in coins). There were tons of restaurants around, so we had dinner close by (4 cheese pizza!).

The next day was our day for the Vatican. We got there a little before 11 and noticed the line wrapping around the Vatican walls. Once again it was raining and we were hoping the line wasn't too long. After waiting in line along 3 different walls, Kelsey finally went to see how long the line is. We still had 2 long walls to go. So 2 of us went to get some lunch and we ate while standing in line (thankfully there was a brief break in rain at that point). Finally a little after 1:30, we got through the Vatican walls (THAT WAIT WAS MISERABLE). We went through metal detectors and bought our tickets (which were pretty cheap since we got the student discount!) and explored a gallery with some works of Leonardo da Vinci. Then, we went towards the Sistine Chapel. Of course they know everyone goes there just to see the Sistine Chapel, so they led us through what felt like hundreds of other museums and rooms before we finally got there. They were all beautiful, but it was so packed full of rude people that we were just ready to see it. We finally got to the Sistine Chapel and it did not let down, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so beautiful and enrapturing. I just stood there and stared for several minutes (I also snuck a picture or two or the famous Michelangelo ceiling). But because there were hundreds of people inside the chapel, we didn't stay too long. We got a quick snack and exited the Vatican Museum. We got some more gelato and then headed for Saint Peter's Square. The square was pretty cool. I had seen it in so many movies, so it was cool to finally see it in person. We went through a second set of metal detectors to get inside the Basilica of Saint Peter. The church was probably the most beautiful I've ever seen. There were all kinds of beautiful colors and high, vaulted ceilings. It seemed so gigantic, with all kinds of tombs for different popes. It was such a different style than the English churches I'm used to, like Westminster Abbey. Mass was going on while we were there, so there was a choir singing in the background. Really an amazing experience. When we left, there were guards in crazy looking outfits and we got there just in time for the changing of the guard (EXTREMELY lame changing of the guard compared to Buckingham Palace of course). We left the square and took the metro back to the area around the Colosseum because there were a ton of good, cheap restaurants around there! We found a place that had spaghetti and meatballs. It was definitely the picture perfect Italian meal any tourist dreams of: spaghetti and meatballs with a glass of (nasty) wine all in view of the Colosseum. Perfect last supper for our last night in Italy! On our way back to our hostel, we stopped in at the gelateria by our hostel for the third night in a row.... :-)

On our final morning in Italy (sad!), we went to Piazza Navona. Since there was some weird stall in the Rome metro system (their transportation system is really bad... we had several problems with it) we had to get off a stop early. But this actually turned out fine because we stumbled upon seeing the Capitol building and the Pantheon on the way to the square. Both super cool! It took us a while to find Piazza Navona, there are a million squares. You turn the corner and think it might be it and then you're like oh wait... this is just another square (Joanna actually had a nightmare of never-ending squares haha!). But we DID find it. The movie Angels and Demons (with Tom Hanks) has a part filmed in the square, so that was cool to see. There are 3 beautiful fountains along the square and a basilica in the middle. We found a cheap place for lunch a little away from the square and my last Italian meal was delicious (4 cheese gnocchi). We walked back towards the metro and on the way, walked by the Spanish steps (also in the Lizzie McGuire movie, where she does the cartwheel!). Back at our hostel, we picked up our luggage and then made our way to the airport. It was a long day of traveling after that... we finally got back to Queen Mary campus a little after 11 pm. Every time I come back to London I get so excited, I really love it here! It is such a special city and I am so blessed to be able to live here for half a year!

Italy is definitely my favorite trip so far... really a dream come true! Amazing food and places to see! We had some weird recurring themes of the trip... Lizzie McGuire and Spongebob. Lizzie McGuire came from the Lizzie McGuire movie being in Rome (such a good movie!), but I'm not quite sure where Spongebob came from... At night when we were exhausted and lazy, we watched episodes of Lizzie and Spongebob and they were, of course, quite entertaining :-) My favorite city out of the 3 we went to (Venice, Florence, Rome) was Venice. It was such a peaceful, beautiful city. I really liked Florence, I wish we could have had some more time there. Rome had some awesome things to see in it, but it was also a crowded city full of rude/smelly people. The people we met there were not very nice... Surprisingly, the Vatican was the worst. The other people visiting were rude and the people who worked there were even ruder... But it was all worth it. Couldn't be happier to have gone! I think I had enough gelato to last me a life time :-) (or maybe just a couple of days..........)

Firenze

Part 2 of our Italy trip was in the beautiful city of Florence! We only had about 24 hours in the city, so we tried to make the best of it! When we first arrived at the train station on Friday night, we walked the short distance to our hostel. It was called Leonardo house and was very nice! We had a room to ourselves. We set out to find some gelato and explored a little bit. We found the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. I think it was the biggest church I'd ever seen! It had beautiful colors and seemed to stretch on forever! We got lost for a little bit and eventually found our hostel.

The next morning we got up and walked by the Basilica of Santa Maria again and continued on to Piazza della Signoria, a beautiful square with several statues and fountains. There's a copy of the famous statue of David made by Michelangelo there (the original had to be moved to a museum, but the copy is in the same place and is completely identical). We then walked to Santa Croce, the church where several famous people are buried, including Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli. We had a bit of a bad experience there. Joanna and I were wearing very cute dresses and they singled us out and made us pay extra for robes to cover our shoulders (they weren't even spaghetti strap dresses!). We thought it was fine until we got inside and saw several other people wearing the same outfits. They clearly singled us out and were not nice about it. But we soon moved on to cross the river and climbed to the top of a hill to have a beautiful view of Florence. It really was so cool!! Then we walked to Pitti Palace and had lunch and gelato. We crossed Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge with shops on it, and made our way back to Piazza della Signoria (with a brief stop in a Disney store!). We toured through Palazzo Vecchio, a really beautiful palace! After leaving the palace, we relaxed in the sunny square for a bit. It was such a nice sunny day! We eventually made our way back to the hostel and picked up our stuff to go to Rome! It felt like we could have spent several more days in Florence, but we got a nice taste of the city and I'm glad we were able to see it!

Next stop: ROMA! (To be continued...)

Viva Venezia!!

We flew out of London early Wednesday morning and arrived in Venice in the afternoon! It was a beautiful sunny day and we quickly learned venice is pretty much impossible to navigate. There are a ton of canals and there aren't any streets, it's just like a maze. Very narrow walkways and not many street signs. After a very confusing adventure finding the hostel, we eventually got there. He actually led us to our own little house right on the canal! We had our own bedroom and bathroom and shared a kitchen and living area with 2 other French people. We dropped our stuff and headed back out to have our first Italian meal. All the restaurants are usually cute little cafe looking places with tables outside. We found one on the canal and I had some four cheese pizza, yummy!! We then decided to do a gondola ride and FOUND THE MOST ATTRACTIVE GONDOLIER EVER! Afterwards we realized we should have asked his name. But since we didnt know it, we just named him Michelangelo. The gondola ride was so cool!!! The canals of Venice are beautiful, I can't imagine living there. Lots of houses and doors are right on the edge of the water. After the ride, we wandered around until we somehow found our hostel again. We wanted to watch the Lizzie McGuire movie since well be in Rome soon but couldn't get it to work. Instead we just watched some Lizzie episodes! They are so hilarious and cheesy, but so wonderful.

Yesterday morning we woke up and after wondering around the maze of walkways and canals found a fish market. We shopped for touristy things around there and then crossed the famous Ponte di Realto. It's a huge bridge with shops on it. After getting some lunch (Margherita pizza) and gelato, we went to the Basilica dei Giovanni e Pablo. So beautiful inside! The Italian churches feel and look so different than the English ones. I'm not even sure how to describe the differences, but they really are so different. Then, we went to the major square of Venice, Piazza San Marco. It has the beautiful Basilica di San Marco and Doge's Palace. We went through the palace and saw the state rooms and the prisons in the basement. We crossed the Bridge of Sighs and walked along the sea outside the palace. On the way back to our hostel, we stopped for some dinner (Spaghetti with meat sauce... Yumm). We played some cards back in the hostel and were all so exhausted we fell asleep a little early!

This morning we woke up and I decided to wear my new long dress! We went back to Piazza San Marco and rode the lift to the top of the Campanile San Marco. We had some amazing views over all of Venice from up there! Then we waited in line to see Basilica San Marco and it was so beautiful inside. Again, so different from English churches. It was striking in a different way, not as showy and it had more of a medieval feel to it. They seem to use more mosaic and marble. Joanna and Kelsey fed some pigeons in the square (I politely declined). Some random Chinese girl came up to me and asked to take a picture with me. I'm just going to assume she thought I was someone famous. We found some lunch on the way back to the hostel (lasagna). I got tiramisu for dessert, it was DELICIOUS!! On the way back to our hostel some guy in passing told me I was bellisima. This new dress must be a hit. Wearing it everyday. Back at the hostel we picked up our bags and headed to the train station. We were on the train for about two hours before we arrived in Florence! So far, it's beautiful and we've already gotten some more gelato! Florence update in a day or two!

British Education system

I took my neurobiology exam today (worth 75% of my grade!). So happy to be done with it. The entire process was actually pretty unorganized. I'm used to taking finals in the normal classroom with the professor there. Here, they separate all the classes into different exam rooms, which made it so much more complicated. I found my exam room and desk and once I started, I realized I was missing a whole section of my answer sheet. The invigilator didn't speak very good English and it took me like five minutes to get him to understand I was missing a piece of the exam. Finally, I got it and at the same time all this was happening, there was a group of guys who thought they were taking one exam and then when they showed up, were told they were taking a completely different portion of the exam. Throughout the entire two and a half hours, the people running the exams kept coming in and out of the room. I guess its just such a different process than what I'm used to! The exam went pretty well, I'm just glad its done!

I think I've come to the conclusion that I like the American education system so much better. At least at Southwestern, every single one of my professors I've ever had is so passionate and truly wants to help their students learn. They all know me personally and are willing to spend extra time with me outside of class. Here, I feel like I didn't learn near as much because I only had class once a week and all the professor did was give a brief background on the subject. Everything else they would tell you what to read and they expect you to learn everything else on your own. I definitely feel like everything I've learned here was self-taught. I'm sure British students are used to learning everything on their own, but it was hard when you're used to the American system to adjust. Not only do you have to learn everything yourself, you don't have much time to figure it out. All my classes only had two grades. Two of my classes had 2 exams (each worth 50%), one class had an essay and an exam (75%), and one class coursework and an exam (worth 75%), so you better hope you understand it the first time! And other than my drama professor with a smaller seminar, none of my professor even have any idea I exist. I have loved every minute in London and have learned so much about the world and myself. I would never give up this experience for anything, but it definitely makes me appreciate SU and how much I love it there!

Anyway, I went to Borough Market after my exam this afternoon as a reward :-) delicious lunch! We leave for Italy in 1 day and 14 hours!! I have one more exam on May 24 (Abnormal Psychology). Then Ireland in 26 days and 1 hour! And home in 39 days and 16 hours!!

Lovely London :-)

Over the last two days, I've managed to take some nice touristy breaks from all this essay writing and revision! Thursday morning we got up at 5 am (YUCK) and caught the first Tube train at 5:28 to make it to London Bridge in time to watch the sunrise! It was really beautiful with Tower Bridge in the background. From there we walked all the way past Southwark Cathedral, Borough Market, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, St. Paul's Cathedral, Fleet Street, the Strand, Trafalgar Square, St. James Palace, Buckingham Palace, and Green Park. I think it was about 3 miles, but we got to see so much of Central London in those 3 miles! We got on the Tube from Green Park and went to King's Cross (where we had a brief Harry Potter moment at Platform 9 3/4) and continued on to Aldgate east, where we got off to get breakfast at Brick Lane. The American pancake place was closed (sad) but we ate at the famous Bagel Bake! We did all this and got back before 10 in the morning!

Today, we went to Notting Hill Gate. I absolutely fell in love with the area, it is just so adorable!! The market there is called Portobello Market, I think it is my favorite of London's markets so far. They had several unique shops and Friday through Sunday there's a huge vintage market. From the film Notting Hill, we got to see the bookshop and the blue door from his house. (Yesterday we saw the Ritz and the Savoy which are also in the film!). They were some nice breaks encouraging me to get through all this studying and reminding me why I love London so much! So blessed to be living in this AMAZING city!!

We leave for Italy (Venice, Florence, then Rome) in 4 days! I finished my last essay, two more exams to go before I leave June 8. My first exam is on Monday (Neurobiology)... prayers would be much appreciated (AHHH).

Thatcher funeral

Since I got back from the big trip, I have been working on revision and essays before the exam period starts at the end of April. I haven't had the chance to get out and do much around London. But, on Sunday, we went to Brick Lane. Its only about a 20 minute walk from campus and it was such a beautiful, sunny day. It was like 70 degrees and we were actually sweating outside for once! We ate some amazing food and shopped around the markets. I love Brick Lane, its always so much fun! I've finally been able to go to the gym every morning, now that classes are over. Yay!

Today was the funeral of the former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. We were planning on going until last night when several people had told us there were planned protests and it could be dangerous, so we ended up not going. I was able to watch the whole thing live online and it was really so cool! She was honored with full military honors (excluding the military fly by, at her own request). For the first time in a long time, Big Ben was completely silent the entire morning. Shots were fired from the Tower of London once every minute. The entire procession began at Westminster Abbey and went past Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square, Courts of Justice, the Strand, Fleet Street, and finished at St. Paul's Cathedral. As far as I could tell, there were only a few shouts and posters in protest, nothing too bad. It was very sad to hear booing and shouting at a funeral. But overall, the entire procession and ceremony was really beautiful. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were in attendance, which was cool since she hasn't attended a big funeral like this since Winston Churchill. It was so cool to watch knowing it was only a few miles away! (If I look out my flat window, I can see the Shard and from the other side of the building you can see the Olympic Stadium. Such an awesome location!)

Well, now to get back to work :/ Only one essay and two final exams to go for the semester! And Italy in 14 days!

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

I just got back from the trip of a lifetime! The whole trip was 9 days, including Prague, Salzburg, Munich, and Brussels. Laura, Sophie, and I began the trip by flying to Prague! We got there around 8 at night and walked to our hostel. The hostel was super nice and still pretty cheap! After checking in, we found a cute Italian restaurant around the corner and ate some tasty pizza! We headed back to our room and got some sleep. The next day, we got up and went on our tour of Terezin concentration camp. The town of Terezin was originally built as a military fortress and then used by the Nazis in World War 2 as a concentration camp. Terezin was not a death camp. Instead, it was used a holding camp, keeping Jews there until they were transferred to a death camp. Hundreds of thousands of Jews went through Terezin and thousands died there due to terrible living conditions. They even ran out of burial space, so began cremating bodies. They had 4 ovens and at its height, each oven cremated over 300 bodies a day. The entire town had an eerie, depressing feel about it. We headed back to Prague after the tour and explored the city a bit. We found the Old Town Square, which is the main square in Prague where everything happens. There was a huge festival going on for Easter for a whole month, with entertainment and tons of food! We hung out there a little bit before heading back to our hostel to get ready for the bar crawl that night. The bar crawl picked up right from our hostel and took us to several bars around the main square. We had free drinks everywhere, so I tried some beer (which I didn't like) and some wine (which again, I didn't like). It was really fun, we met an Australian guy and 3 girls from Dubai studying in England. We hung out with them for the night. The next morning, we decided to go on a 3-hour free walking tour of the city. It turned out to be an amazing tour and we had the best tour guide ever. I think my favorite thing I learned was about name days. In the Czech Republic, on the day you are born, the parents are given a list of about 400 names to choose from and each name corresponds to a certain day. Therefore, there a ton of Czech people with the same name, but its kind of cool because you sort of have two birthdays. On the astronomical clock in Old Town Square, there is a dial with all the names and their corresponding days. We learned a ton about the history of the Czech Republic and walked through the Jewish Quarter. Sophie downloaded an app that allowed us to track how much we walked and since the morning, we had walked over 10 miles! That afternoon, we walked across Charles Bridge and spent more time in Old Town Square (of course, eating more food). The next morning we went back to the square (and yes, got more food) before our train departed at 1:30. We had about a 6 hour train journey to Linz and then a 1 hour train to Salzburg, Austria. It was a really nice train and we even had our own compartment for most of the way!

Once we got to Salzburg, we walked to our hostel and checked in. It was very close to Salzburg Fortress and Nonnberg Abbey (the abbey where the real Maria von Trapp was a nun). The hostel was more of a family place, with lots of high school groups and older people. The next morning, we went on the Sound of Music tour! It was amazing, we got to see several of the sites from the movie and from the true story of the von Trapp family. We even got to ride into the mountains to see the countryside and the church where they filmed the wedding. We listened to the music along the way and it was so beautiful! Afterwards, we went to Mirabell Gardens (also used in the film) and then to the main town centre. There were lots of cute little shops and restaurants. We went through Mozart's birthplace, which was pretty cool! We ate some dinner and went back to the hostel. The hostel played the Sound of Music movie for everyone to watch. It was really cool to be able to watch the movie after seeing everything that day! The next morning, we went to the Salzburg Fortress and back to Mirabell Gardens (it was really so beautiful!). I think out of all 4 cities we went to, Salzburg was my favorite. It was such a picturesque, peaceful city (more of a village actually!)! After leaving the gardens, we boarded our train to Munich. It was only about a 2 hour train ride and again, the train was really nice and comfortable!

We got to Munich in time for a quick dinner and walked to our hostel, only about a 3 minute walk from the station. After checking in, we went to the main city centre to explore a little bit. We discovered the amazing Glockspiel building and then Hofbrauhaus! Because its the Hofbrauhaus I tried some beer and didn't like it much... Sophie had one that was good (only because it was mixed with lemonade) We decided to come back the next night and have dinner and I could get the better one. Hofbrauhaus was really fun and had an amazing atmosphere! The next morning, we walked to the train station and got on the train to Neuschwanstein Castle (only about a 2 hour train ride). Once there, we immediately spotted the castle up on the hill and it was stunning! We bought our tickets and walked up the hill to the castle. The surroundings were snow-capped rocky mountains and just took our breath away! The castle was nestled into the mountains with snow all around it. I have never been anywhere so beautiful! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside unfortunately, but it was even more stunning inside! It truly felt like the Disney castle. I could really feel the inspiration for all the Disney movies. In the King's bedchamber, his walls were painted with the story of Tristan and Isolde. The king's favorite animal was the swan, so there were swan paintings, sculptures, etc all over the castle. The whole castle had a fairy tale feel to it. The king actually died before the castle could be completed. They wanted to get rid of him, so they declared him insane without any medical examinations at all. The next day, he went on a walk with his doctor and neither one of them ever returned. They were found dead in a waist-high lake. Their deaths were never explained and it is still a mystery to this day. Very interesting! After we finished the castle tour, we took a million more pictures of the outside and then walked back to the little town. We went back to Munich and rested for a bit before going back to Hofbrauhaus. We got some dinner, which was actually really good! I got a liter beer (the white beer + lemonade one) and it was actually pretty good. We decided we felt like vikings or something with our very hearty/simple, but delicious meals. The next morning, we got up and explored the town centre a little more before our train left for Brussels in the afternoon. We got lucky and caught the show in the Glockenspiel right before we had to go!

We got to Brussels pretty late at night, so caught a taxi and went to our hostel. Our hostel was really more of a bed and breakfast, it was so nice! We finally had a room to ourselves and A TV!!! We kind of freaked out a little bit when we saw the TV because we really haven't seen one since we left the US!  The bathroom was super nice, with a heating towel rack! Mamma Mia was on, dubbed with French and Flemish subtitles. Weird! But the songs were still in English. The next morning, we went down for our delicious breakfast and then headed out to explore Brussels. We found the main square, which had a TON of Belgian chocolate shops and Belgian waffle stands. We decided to do our own walking tour, so we went to the famous peeing little boy fountain, the Law Courts, a flee market, a park, and the royal palace. It was all so beautiful! Sophie's walking app informed us that we had walked another 10 miles :-) We made our way back to the main square and got our Belgian waffles! They were amazing. The waffle was the smallest part. It was stacked high with strawberries, bananas, whipped cream, and chocolate. So delicious! That night, we went back out for dinner and found a nice little cafe. The next morning, we slept in a little bit (finally!) before finding our way to the coach station to catch our bus back to London.

Over the entire trip, we guessed we had walked at least 50 miles. We really walked everywhere and it started to feel like almost nothing! Its catching up to me a bit now though... pretty exhausted! But it was such an amazing trip. Every single city had such a unique feel to it! All the pictures (theres an album for each city) is up on Facebook!