Last Post from England...well, for a month

Hey everyone! This is my last post from England until I return on April 25th. Wow...I cannot believe that I'm going to be home TOMORROW! In a way, it seems like I've been gone for years, but then again, it also seems like I just left yesterday. I'm REALLY excited about coming home to good ole Mississippi, but I'm NOT excited about carrying my suitcases...they're huge! Here's my itinerary for tomorrow: 6:15 a.m. - catch train to the airport; 7:40 a.m. - arrive at airport, check in, hang out; 10 a.m. - fly to Newark, NJ; 12 p.m. (American time) - arrive in Newark; 2:30 p.m. - fly to Atlanta; 4:33 p.m. - arrive in Atlanta; 7:50 p.m. - fly to Jackson; 8:15 p.m. - arrive in Jackson - finally! I'm really excited, because my aunt Patti and cousin Katie are going to meet me in Atlanta and eat dinner with me! Hooray! :) Tonight, Marfo, Michelle, and I went to an Italian restaurant called Ask for dinner. It was really nice! Cat's parents arrived today from Texas. I met her mom, and she's so sweet! This past weekend, I had class and ran errands. On Saturday night, Marfo and I went to see the movie V for Vendetta, which was pretty good. But guess what...one of the main characters lives in Stratford-upon-Avon! Tim Pigott-Smith, who plays Mr. Creedy (one of the bad guys) is living in Stratford and performing in the play Women Beware Women at the Royal Shakespeare Company. When his character came on the screen during the movie, Marfo and I were like, "Oh my gosh! It's the Duke!" (He plays the Duke in Women Beware Women). I've seen him around town, so I think it's so cool that he has a major role in a movie! I actually saw him today, jogging by the river. How cool! Sunday was Daylight Savings Time, and it's been SO nice...the sun has been setting at 8 p.m.! It's really warmed up a bit, but it's incredibly windy...the wind practically blew me down today! I've never felt anything like it. Hopefully I've packed everything for my journey home tomorrow! I'm going to be working on essays while I'm home, but it shouldn't be too bad. My suitcases are SO huge that I have a taxi coming to take me to the train station tomorrow, even though it's just a 10 minute walk. Luckily I can leave most of the stuff home and come back with lighter suitcases. :) Please pray for me as I fly tomorrow! My total journey - from the time I fly out of England til the time I reach Jackson - will take 16 hours. Yikes! I hope to see everyone soon!

Mississippi College and Salsa Dancing

Well, my last full week in Stratford has been a very fun one! I've mostly been working on my papers (well, that's not the fun part), but I've also gotten to hang out with friends and try new activities. On Tuesday, I had my last Shakespeare's Women class. I really enjoyed the class, but my teacher was very hard. Tuesday night, a bunch of us headed to A Hole in the Wall for two-for-one pizza. I love that place! My favorite is the fajita pizza (chicken, salsa, and sour cream), and I can definitely eat the WHOLE thing. On Wednesday, I did some last minute gift shopping, and ate dinner with...the Mississippi College group! So fun! They had a busy day, so I didn't get to see them until after five. We went to A Hole in the Wall (again) for more delicious food. They went to see a play at seven thirty, but afterwards, Mallory came over and hung out for awhile. It was so great to see her and the rest of the girls! :) Tonight, Michelle, Marfo, and I went salsa dancing! Cox's Yard, a local pub that has a dance floor upstairs, has salsa classes on every other Thursday, followed by a salsa party. We stayed for three and a half hours, and had SO MUCH FUN! We were laughing the whole time. Our teacher was from Spain, and he was great. We definitely want to do it again! Tomorrow, I'm going to be working on my essays, and then my friend Jordan is cooking dinner for Cat and me. I have class Friday night, and then some people from school are having a party. I have class ALL DAY Saturday and Sunday, and then Monday I'll be packing and getting ready to head out Tuesday morning! I switched my flight from Atlanta to Jackson, so now I'll be getting home at 8:12 p.m. instead of 11:07 p.m. on Tuesday. Hooray! :)

My Last Full Week...

Well, the countdown has begun! As of today, March 19, I have NINE days til I fly home! :) A month at home will be SO nice. I love it here, but there really is no place like home. Before I go home, though, I have to finish three HUGE papers. I've finished one, and I'm starting on the next one, but I don't think I'll be able to finish the third, so I may have to work on it at home. All of my classmates are busy working on papers. Cat's planning on pulling an all-nighter to finish one that's due tomorrow. Good times! :) I'm looking forward to this week...on Monday and Tuesday, I'll be working on my paper, plus I have class on Tuesday (ok, I guess I'm not looking forward to that), but on Wednesday, the crew from Mississippi College is heading to Stratford-upon-Avon for the day, so it will be fun to see all of them. On Thursday night, some of my friends and I are going salsa dancing. :) We're going to a two-hour workshop, and then there's a salsa party! It should be fun...I've never salsa danced before. I have my last weekend class next weekend. Whew...I can't believe I made it through a whole school year! I'm ready to enjoy the nice, warm, Mississippi weather. I think everyone in England is ready for spring, because people are starting to wear brighter colored clothes. Teenage girls in England amaze me...it can be snowing outside, and they'll be wearing short skirts and a light jacket. I don't know how they do it! So while the rest of us are bundled up in scarves and heavy coats, the teenage girls are dressed for spring all year round! Monday, March 20 is my dad's birthday, so be sure and wish him a very happy birthday! :) This weekend, Cat and I were talking to Marfo, and we asked her if they have the Easter bunny in Greece. She said, "The WHAT?! The Easter BUNNY?!" We said, "Yeah, the Easter bunny brings presents to children on Easter." She started laughing, and thought we were trying to play a joke on her! We finally convinced her that it really is a tradition in the United States. Easter is one of the biggest holidays in Greece. Marfo told me that they have huge parties and lots of food. She said that at 11:00 a.m. on the Saturday before Easter, everyone leans out of their windows and drops vases onto the street. Pretty cool! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

My Birthday and London

Well, I had my first birthday in England...I'm officially 23! On Sunday night, I went out to eat with my housemates, Cat and Marfo. We were originally going to go to a pub, but in England EVERYTHING closes early on Sunday, so we ended up going to Cafe Rouge, a nice French restaurant. I really love French food! We had a delicious meal...I had the croque monsiour, Cat had steak, and Marfo had some dish with mushrooms. On Monday, I went to London for the day to hang out and do a little shopping. I went to Monmouth Cafe, my favorite coffee shop, for coffee, bread, and butter. It's the CUTEST little cafe...very open, with coffee from all over the world. The employees know all about coffee, so you can go up to them and say, "I'd like something chocolate-y and dark, but not bitter," and they'll tell you exactly what you should get! I've had coffee from Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Kenya...it's so good! Afterwards, I walked along the Thames on the South Bank, crossed the Westminster Bridge beside Big Ben, and headed to Oxford Street to do some shopping. Oxford Street has unbelievable shopping...it's almost overwhelming! (Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I only bought a jacket!) My train left at 7:33, so I had just enough time to grab something to eat. The train that goes to Stratford-upon-Avon leaves from Marylebone Station, which is in a very posh neighborhood...Madonna lives in that area! The weather is still VERY cold...when I went to the gym tonight, I wore: a t-shirt, fleece jacket, coat with fleece lining, hat, gloves, scarf, and two pairs of pants. Brrr! Even though sometimes I'm ready for warm weather, it has been kind of nice to have a cold winter. It's real winter weather, which you rarely find in Mississippi. But I don't think I'd like to have such cold winters EVERY year...just every once in a while. :) Today, I had class and then I worked on my paper. Tonight, I went to A Hole in the Wall restaurant for two-for-one pizza. Their pizza is delicious! Cat and I were pizza buddies (meaning we ordered together so we could get the two-for-one), and then Michelle and Hannah came to join us. I'll be home two weeks from today...WOW! :) I hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm posting some pics from London!

Stoney Street...one of the cutest streets in London! Home to Monmouth Cafe, flower shops, a cute old pub, and Borough Market. It's also the area where "Bridget Jones' Diary" was filmed!

Southwark (pronounced Suth-ick) Cathedral on the South Bank...it was built in 606 (no, I didn't leave off the 1...it really was built in 606!) and is the oldest Gothic church in London. Shakespeare supposedly went to church here.

People crossing the Milennium Bridge over the Thames

A Day in Oxford

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been able to post lately, the server on the blog site was down. Yesterday, March 10, was my parents' 27th wedding anniversary, and tomorrow, March 12, is my 23rd birthday! On Friday, Michelle, Marfo, Emily, and I went to Oxford for the day to do some sightseeing. We stopped in Bicester (rhymes with mister), a cute little town that has an outlet mall. They even had a Polo outlet...you don't see much Polo in England. Oxford is about an hour away by car, and luckily Michelle drove us. It was nice not having to take the train! Oxford, home to Oxford University, is a nice little town, and quite a bit bigger than Stratford. The University is actually made up of 39 different colleges, so instead of applying to Oxford University, you actually apply to an individual college. For example, there's St. Anne's College, Hertford College, etc. They all specialize in something different. The different colleges are placed all over the town, some right next to each other and some across the street. We went into the courtyard of the Bodleian library, which supposedly has a copy of every single copy-righted manuscript in existence. WOW! We went around and looked at other colleges, and did a little shopping, too. The town is really cute, and actually looks a little similar to Stratford. I saw The Eagle and Child pub, where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to meet for drinks...how cool! Unfortunately, the picture I took didn't turn out. We had an early birthday dinner for me at a pub called Chequers. I really like pub food...it's kind of like having a home-cooked meal. After dinner, the weather became very windy and rainy, so we decided to head on back to Stratford. It was a fun day trip! Last night, I got to watch the Oscars! Cat's dad ti-voed it for her and mailed her a copy on a CD, and she let me borrow it. It was funny, because all of the presenters kept saying, "Millions of people around the world are watching right now," but I'm pretty sure that the Oscars are only broadcast live in the U.S.! They didn't even come on in England til Monday! Tomorrow night, Cat, Marfo, and I are going out for my birthday dinner. I've been on a pub food kick lately, so we'll probably go to a pub. :) I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Oxford! Check out all of the bikes!


Quite possibly the oldest-looking Nokia store ever! :)

Emily, me, and Marfo outside of Radcliffe's Camera

The front of the Bodleian library

Cute bridge connecting two buildings of Hertford College

Random graveyard in the middle of the street!

Rotary Party and Speeches

On Saturday night, Mike and Judy picked me up and drove me to Peter and Iris Raine's house in Coventry. Peter is a member of my host club, and every year, he and Iris host a big party to support a charity. This year, the theme was "Are You Game?" There were thirty people, and it was a sit down dinner. In between courses, we played fun games like Bingo and Beetle Drive. Beetle Drive is a lot like the game Cootie. I tried to explain that to some of the people at my table, but they had never heard the word "cootie" before! At first they couldn't understand me...someone thought I said "cutie," and another person thought I said "cooley." But basically, the point of Beetle Drive is to construct an entire beetle bug, including legs, head, tail, and antennae, and be the first at your table to do it. But you have to roll the dice, and each number represents a different body part. We also played a game where we were given clues, and we had to guess which British candy bar the clues described. There were fifty different candy bars on the sheet! Luckily, being the chocolate lover that I am, I was able to contribute some answers. Gustav, the Swedish exchange student, was there, too, and he and I have gotten to be good friends, so it was fun seeing him! Dinner was great...instead of new potatoes, we actually had mashed potatoes, or "mash," as they call it here, which I haven't had in so long. And of course, we had cooked carrots. Pate is a popular dish in England, but I'm not a fan of it at all. That was our appetizer, and although I like most British food, I just can't make myself like pate. The party lasted until 12:30 a.m., or "half twelve." On Sunday night, Michelle and I went to see "Walk the Line" again. I just love that movie! Today, I gave two Rotary speeches...one at lunchtime in Stratford, and one at dinner in Tamworth. Two Rotary meetings...that means a double dose of new potatoes and carrots! The meeting in Tamworth was actually a Foundation evening, where all of the ambassadorial scholars in the area come to speak. I love Foundation evenings, because I get to see all of my friends from different universities! Jessica from Texas, Rebecca from Utah, Rinko from Japan, Amber from Taiwan, Clement from Malawi, Alex from Italy, and Kaz from Japan. All of us go to different schools, so we usually only see each other at Rotary events. All of the other scholars are really nice, and so much fun! I didn't get home tonight until midnight, though. Rotarians in England are definitely night owls! Mike, my host counselor, is so wonderful...he drives me everywhere! He's so great! I just found out tonight that we set our clocks forward for summer a week earlier in England than in the U.S., so for a week I'll be seven hours ahead of the U.S.! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Snow!

I hope everyone had a great week! The weather has been really strange this week in Stratford...it's been snowing, but the sun has been out! Wednesday was a gorgeous day, so I got some coffee and a magazine and went to sit by the river and enjoy the sunshine. All of a sudden, little white balls started falling on me. I thought maybe they were seeds from the trees above me that were being blown down. They kept falling harder and harder, so I looked around, and they were everywhere! So I touched one to figure out what it was, and I realized it was snow! It was so strange, because the weather was cold, but not cold enough to snow, especially with the sun out! It did it again yesterday, too. But, the snow didn't stick because of the sun. On Wednesday afternoon, Jeremy and Junko made homemade soy milk. They're very healthy (well, Junko is) and grow vegetables in their garden and try to be thrifty by going to garage sales (called car boot sales in England) and making their own food like yogurt and soy milk. I've never tried soy milk, much less homemade soy milk, so Junko fixed me some with a little honey, and I have to admit...it was GOOD! It really did taste like milk - hard to believe it came from beans, not a cow! On Thursday, we had a lecture, and then Michelle, Emily, and I went for coffee. Today was another beautiful day, but it didn't snow. Although it's freezing, it's nice to see snow every now and then. Tonight, I went to see Walk the Line with Cat, Marfo, and Isaac. It was SO good! I was worried that Marfo might not like it because it's about old, southern, American culture, but she loved it! I'm going to see it again on Sunday with Michelle. Tomorrow night, I'm going to a Rotary party. We're going to be playing games. I don't know any British games, so hopefully I'll learn them fast! Next Friday, Michelle, Marfo, Emily, maybe Cat, and I are going to Oxford, which is about an hour away, to walk around and see the sights. It's a small town, but supposedly very cute, and the university's campus is supposed to be amazing. I can't wait! Also, only three and a half weeks til I come home! My sister told me that some people at home were laying out because the weather has been so warm...I can't believe it! I must say, I'm a little jealous, but the snow has been nice, so that's ok. :) I hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Little Bit of Snow

Well, it snowed a tiny little bit in Stratford today! Not enough to stick, just a few flurries. It's snowing really hard in north England, so I wonder if it's going to make it's way down here. I had class this morning, then I ran some errands, and decided it was a good day to stay inside where it's nice and warm! Four weeks from today I will be home...how fun! Not only will it be nice to see everyone, but it will also be nice to have some warm weather! I kind of like the weather here, though...absolutely no humidity! It's amazing. I'm probably going to be in for a shock when I get back home! On Sunday night, I taught Marfo how to make banana pudding. We used the last of my ingredients...sad! Apparently, Nilla wafers are strictly an American product, because Marfo said she's never seen anything like them in Greece. We made two batches of banana pudding, one for us and one for some girls we go to school with who live down the street. Jeremy and Junko got to try the banana pudding this time, and they seemed to really like it! Jeremy and Junko met when they were both working in Saudi Arabia...Junko was a nurse, and Jeremy taught English to Saudi businessmen. Jeremy said that some parts of Saudi Arabia have a custom where you name your child after the first thing you see right after you give birth. So, he knew a guy named Saucepan and another named Shovel. Pretty crazy! Jeremy and Marfo told me about this big Eurovision music contest, where all of the European countries submit a song and it's voted on. Greece won last year! I've never heard of the Eurovision contest, but apparently it's been going on for a long time, because ABBA won it one year. Today before class, one of my British friends was telling me that she passed a bunch of school children in their uniforms and little hats, and she thought they were so cute. I told her that British school children (well, the young ones) are adorable - they dress like Madeline, the girl in the children's books. Plaid skirts for girls, plaid shorts for boys, straw hats for girls, little caps for boys. Another British lady told me that when she went to New York, she loved how all the day camp and school children wore t-shirts. She thought it was a great idea, and much preferred it to uniforms. America is definitely a t-shirt wearing society...I definitely look very American when I go to the gym in my sorority t-shirts. British people wear workout "outfits" - clothes designed strictly for working out, not for everyday wear. And they aren't afraid to wear tight pants...even the guys! It's definitely interesting. On Thursday, Michelle, Catherine, and I are going to see "Walk the Line"...hooray! On Saturday night, I have to go to a Rotary party. I hope everyone is having a great day and staying warm!