Lately...

Hey everyone!

Lately not much has happen- that is why I haven't really written. Lol. Lets see... I went to London again, this time with my class. Things were interesting on that trip. Got to see some cool stuff- go inside Parliament (where I sent my mom and sister's a vday card)! That was cool. I got to see where the Queen sits during meetings and where the House of Commons meets. The art work in there is so amazing! And the "throne" where the Queen sits- DANG! Couldn't take pictures otherwise I would have one up right now! We also went to a few museums. They were actually pretty sweet- and FREE! Here, they would rather educate the people than to make a profit. I mean... the war museum we went into had a trench area. They did a little stretch of area to look like a trench would have. That was probably the best thing I saw! To walk through this trench... with lights flashing, holes in the ground, noise, and people (statues) bleeding or getting ready to leave the trench to fight. It truly gave you an sense of what it was probably like. Here are some pictures:

On my free time I got over to the Buckingham Palace! However, it was at the time of "Changing of the Guards." So trying to get near the Palace was a nightmare! But I got pretty close and saw some of the ceremony that takes place! It was pretty sweet. OH! And I got The Lion King tickets for when my best friend comes to visit me in March. I am really excited! We got great seats too!! So I will be seeing that on March 28th. Now I just need to get tickets for Phantom of the Opera and I will have seen EVERTHING I wanted to :-) Well at least for this trip :-]

School has been ok. Just turning in papers... This week I have four papers due. Ugh. But these are the final drafts- we have spent the last week working on them to make them better. On one of my drafts, I got an A-! So pretty good start.

Now I am just trying to plan my trips for the rest of my stay here (I can't believe I am only her for about another 2 months! Doesn't feel like a lot of time...). I go to Amsterdam to meet one of my friends next weekend. Then I am hoping Paris the weekend after that, then Denmark to meet another friend, and then Scotland right before spring break! For spring break I am meeting my best friend, Justine, in London. We will hang out there for two days then fly to Italy where we will stay for a week, and my friend Lindsey (I met her on this trip) will meet us in Italy when her family leaves. We all will fly back to London and have one last night before Justine heads home. Then I will take a train back to Bath with another friend I made on this trip, Lindsey, after Justine leaves. So much to plan!!!! Oh man! I am getting excited. I just hope it all works out though... We are all trying to make sure we can afford it. Lol. Although Italy is FOR SURE!

I actually just got back from Bristol with my host family. It was fun. They took me to the markets and shops around there. I found some cute stuff but didn't get anything because I want to wait to do my shopping until the very end. Bristol is like San Jose, if you were to say Bath is like Boulder Creek. So a big difference but not totally crazy. Lol. Did you actually know that Bristol and America were very close (in trade relations) back before the slave trade? That actually Bristol was one of the cities in which they went to Africa and got people to sell to America... America would sell them tobacco and sugar--> no wonder why everyone here smokes and loves sugar in their tea! Lol. Yeah... It is part of Bristol's dirty history... Interesting.

Hope everything is going well for all of you! Miss you guys!

Love love,

Me!

--> This is for Lola and JobE! They have Yorikes here! Pretty sweet :-)
Oh and Aunt Daniell--> everyone thinks that my "S" necklace is very cute! I wear it around and if they ask about it I tell them how you gave it to me and wrote a poem. They think it is SOOO sweet! haha