FRIST TRIP outside of England!

Hello everyone!!!!

First.... We had PANCAKE day last Tuesday. Not your big fluffy pancakes, but thin and basically crazy sweet (after all the toppings)! Pretty good. After two though, oh man I was DONE! And yes... Those are some picture below. The first is Tracy and Ian (the parents) and the second is Tom and Tegan (Tom is Tegan's boyfriend. Tegan is the daughter). And then you get the picture of one of the pancakes I had. Lol

On Thursday, I went with my class to Oxford. There we went on a tour of Christ Church College. Just in case some of you do not know about Christ Church College, I will tell you some interesting facts that I learned. First off, this is a college that MANY seek but only 600 students are actually accepted into. The school is enclosed, has its own library and dining hall. There are NO classrooms on campus, just student and teacher housing. The teachers, also known as tutors, are provided for students based on their area of interest. So if I went there, I would have a teacher that just helps me learn kinesiology. Pretty cool! It is hard to get into this school though! Not even money is enough to get by. A student accepted into Christ Church College must have GREAT grades, be good at least one sport, have a music talent, and be involved with the community. OH DANG! They only want the best of the best.

Now FUN facts... Harry Potter was filmed there!!! If you look at the first two pictures in the group below, you might notice they look familiar to scenes from the first Harry Potter movie. The picture of me in the dining hall is what inspired the dining hall in Harry Potter. Then there is a picture of me looking down from a railing. That is from the end of the movie when Harry asks Ron and Hermione how they are (after Harry is released from the hospital). Very sweet! It was great to stand where they had once stood! Also the picture of the random green door is what inspired the story Alice and Wonderland. A student wrote the story about the dean's daughter Alice who would always look through the door into this "forbidden" garden. You can see part of a tree in right side of the picture-that is where Alice's cat use to always get stuck. Make sense?? Lol. So interesting!!!!!

AMSTERDAM and HOLLAND

This last weekend I went to Amsterdam! I also got to go to Holland. I had a GREAT time though. So amazing. I flew in Friday night to be met at the airport by Maaike and her friends Nine and Tim. We then went to the market to pick up some food (they cooked for me!) and headed to Nine's place. They made me this dish that looks gross but is AMAZING! I loved it. After that we went to the RED LIGHT DISTRICT. Whole other world over there... It is really crazy to see. Women in windows selling their body... It was interesting. The next day we went to markets and walked around. We had a girls night later that night- watched a Dutch film, talked, and Maaike made these sweet cookie things. On Sunday, before I had to be a the airport, Maaike took me to her city. She showed me where she goes to college, where she works, and just around that area. We later went and saw New in Town (they have AMAZING chairs- so comfortable) because Maaike can get people in for free since she works there. After that we grabbed some Dutch food (from a food wall *see picture below of a bunch of windows) and headed to the airport. We got there really earlier, so we had fun eating chocolate and taking pictures. Overall, the weekend was GREAT! I am so glad I was able to go. Plus I got to meet Nine and Tim who are such funny, amazing, great people! I will miss hanging out with them and Maaike. SO much fun!!!! *Gina- if you are reading this, YOU WILL have such a great time there. And I am pretty sure you will LOVE Nine and Tim too!

This weekend:

I will be leaving this Thursday for Paris!! So next week look for a blog on Paris! I am so excited! Also, I am officially going to Italy for spring break (March 30th- April 6th)! It is going to be too much fun! Lol

Miss and love you all!

Hope everything is going well for all of you!

~Sar Bear