Day 5

Today we went to a different school to observe.It was a school for children with multiple disorders. I had a very bad experience and am continuing the thought of changing my major to early childhood. (Don't worry, Mom and Dad, we'll talk about it.)
But anywayssss
After that we went to St. Paul's and had lunch before touring the church. I took this picture from the top of the dome of the church. It was amazing!


Then, we came back to our B&B so we could change and get ready to go out again. We went to Chinatown for dinner and ate at a noodle bar. We discovered that chinatown is surrounded by gay bars, so that was funny watching Dr. Smith's reactions. After dinner, we went to see Phantom of the Opera. Dr. Smith and Maribeth treated us to the tickets again. It was soo good!
We stood outside at the stage door afterwards and got a picture with the woman that played Christine (the lead woman) and Phantom as they were leaving the theatre.

Overview PLUS Pictures :)

I acquired a way to upload my pictures, so now I can share some of them with my posts! :)


Day 1:
Visit the St. Mary Abbott's Church near our B&B.


Walk through Green Park and by Buckingham Palace


Day 2:
Elizabeth and I on the bus tour around London


Finally seeing Big Ben!


Tower of London


Saw a protest in front of the National Gallery. Say NO to the bike parking tax.


Day 3:
Exited the Tube and ended up right at the base of Big Ben!


Toured Westminster Abbey


Megan and I in line to get into Westminster.


Wicked!!


Day 4:
Hampton Palace


Shopping the rest of the night :)

email me! I miss you all!
amanda_slack@ecats.gcsu.edu

At the Tower of London

Just a picture of the group yesterday when we toured the Tower of London. The man was our tourguide and to work at the Tower, you had to be in the military for at least 22 years and also complete many other guidelines. As well as working there, he also lives there with his family among the other men of his kind (I can't remember exactly what they were called. In the old days, they called them beef eaters because all they could afford was beef)his daughter was allowed to be baptised in the chapel there and she will also be able to get married there. The Tower was beautiful and it also houses the Crown Jewels.
I would post more pictures, but I have no way of uploading them. I took this picture from one of the other girls' facebook because she uploaded some last night from her camera.
I hope all is well in the States and I will hopefully be able to update later and talk about everything that has gone on today :)
love love :)

Day 2

This morning we got up at 8:00. We all slept like we were in a coma or something. It was so nice to lay down and be in a bed. OH! wait! I have a really good story about last night. So the shower on our floor doesn't work, so we have to go down a level to shower. So I was the last one taking a shower, so I walk down there thinking "i think i'm forgetting something" but I couldn't figure out what it was. So I get in the shower, start washing my hair and THEN realize that I forgot my towel. Awesome. So I finish my shower and stand there being mad and trying to figure out what to do. So I pat dried with the shirt that I had been wearing that day and got into my pajamas, walked upstairs and into my room still soaking wet in my pajamas. Yeah. Good story.
anywayssss...
So today we had breakfast here at the B&B before getting on the Tube to go to the Big Red Bus tour. We got on the Double Decker open-top bus for the tour and went all over London! We got stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half before having to get off at Big Ben because they couldn't get us to where we wanted to go. Big Ben was everything I expected and more. I always thought of Big Ben when I thought of London, so it was amazing seeing it in person. I almost expected to see Peter Pan and Wendy flying around it, but not today I guess. We then got on a boat to get us to the Tower of London. The Tower of London was a lot bigger than I thought it was and it was very interesting. We learned about the torture methods that they used and the people that were executed there. The coolest part was the Crown Jewels! They were unbelievable!
After the Tower of London, we walked around Trafalgar Square and then got on the Tube to go back to our neighborhood. We were allowed to go wherever for dinner, so the girls and I went to the Prince of Wales Pub that's two blocks away from our B&B. We got back about a half an hour ago and we're all sitting in the lobby checking e-mail and stuff. Tomorrow we're going to the Queensmill School to work with autistic students.
I hope you are all having a fabulous week and I will talk to you all soon!

Day 1

'ello everyone!
We finally made it here! The plane ride was ridiculous and long, but we made it. There weren't any air vents, so it was very hot. I slept ALMOST 2 hours, so we're all dead tired. We landed around 11:00 and had to wait at the airport for almost 4 HOURS for another girl to arrive. She had taken Delta to use some sky miles. We were all exhausted and grumpy to be sitting in the airport. The cool thing was that the computerized voice that came over the intercom had a British accent and it was fabulous. After Deena arrived and we found her, we got on the Tube and walked to our Bed & Breakfast. Let me just say that the Tube has alot of stairs and very few escalators. That plus running off of 2 hours of sleep and dragging luggage that weighs a million pounds did not make for fun. We finally got to our B&B and saw that this building doesn't have a lift. So we had to drag our suitcases up 6 flights of stairs. Talk about a tiring day and that was only at 4:00!
After we had time to change clothes and change our faces to not look like zombies, we got back on the Tube to go to Trafalgar Square. After being on the train for awhile, they had to shut down our train, so we didn't make it to the square. We then re-routed ourselves to walk through Green Park to Buckingham Palace! The flag was up, which means the Queen is in! We took some pictures and got back on the Tube to return to our neighborhood of Notting Hill.
We ate dinner 2 blocks away from our B&B at this tiny italian restaraunt. Dr. Smith and Maribeth treated us to dinner and it was very good. I got a four cheese pasta and it was sooooo good! We've all been sooo exhausted from lack of sleep and running around to the different tube stations. We got back to the B&B about 30 minutes ago and we're glad to just be able to relax.
The British people are fabulous with their accents and we haven't had any weird experiences yet, but the trip is still young!
Tomorrow, we are going to the Tower of London, so I will update with that later. I miss you guys very much and I hope your summer break is off to a great start!

It's GO Time!

All the waiting, the countdowns, the Daughter Dinners, the orientation, and the talks have boiled down to this day. Tonight is the night that I leave for London. I am currently doing laundry and getting everything together to go in my suitcase. I am so incredibly excited for this trip. I have dreamed about going to London and Paris since I was little and the time is finally here.
I will miss all of you very much and look forward to e-mails from you while I am gone.

3...2...1...
IT'S GO TIME!!

Spectrum of Change

It's always hard to introduce something new. Or maybe it's not even new. Maybe it's old, but it has a new start. Or maybe it's just always changing, so it always seems new and exciting. How do you start it? Maybe "Once upon a time..." suffices. Or maybe "In the beginning...". Why not just jump right into the story? No, no, no. Can't do that. There's too much missing. That's like only watching the last three Star Wars episodes and not seeing the first three. You're just missing too much Skywalker.
Anyway, this isn't the beginning. It's a change that puts a new perspective on life. Sometimes change is good and sometimes change is bad. In this case, however, change is neither good nor bad. It's simply new. Good things and bad things happen, but either way, it's all how you look at it. When it happens, it's simply godo or bad. But after it happens, it's all about what you got from it. What you learned from it as a person and how it added to your experiences. Sometimes you just need to remember that. No matter how bad an experience is or how bad a time of your life is, you have to remember that after all is said and done, it's in the past. It is then an experience that left you with something. Sometimes it even teaches you something about yourself. You never know.