the longest post ever...

To my most devoted readers, Grandma & Aunt Yvonne, this LONG post, is for you two lovely ladies! :)

So, I am going to recount my last 4 weeks. In order. With pictures. Get ready! ....

On Saturday October 3rd, the BCA group was taken to the city of Bath. The historical site known for its natural hot springs, where many people flocked to religiously.  For me, it was my second time getting to see this beautiful place. And I loved it the second time around even more! It was nice to experience it with friends, new and old.  When we arrived in Bath, we were taken to a place called Sally Lunn's.  This is the oldest house in Bath. It is also the home of the famous Sally Lunn Bun! (A bun that was, at least, 5 inches in width that we ate with butter, clotted cream, and jam! Also served with the best tea I have ever had!)  It was delicious!

After eating our mighty breakfast, we were taken to the Roman Baths for the audio guided tour. The audio guide looks something like a big cellphone that you listen to around the entire place, and it is really informative.  They even had "actors" that would walk around the baths pretending to be in the Roman times. It was really cool.  

Although I have been to Bath before, this time around was even more special because I got to do a lot more in the town that I had when I came the first time.  For any of you Jane Austen fans, Austen lived in Bath for a few years, and it gave her the inspiration to write two of her famous books, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.  I got to visit the Jane Austen Center, which showed a lot of history on Austen and how she lived in Bath. I even got to see one of the houses that she lived in while in Bath.  For the English major, this was WONDERFUL!  After visiting Jane, we went to a place called the Royal Crescent. Which is a huge piece of land, which is covered, (only half way) by apartment buildings. Sounds weird, but it was beautiful! :) We ended our day in Bath successfully by finding this nice little cafe where they served us the most delicious panini sandwiches! 

That was weekend 1!

On Wednesday, October 7, a few BCA girls and I caught the 94U bus and took it to the next town over called Gloucester.  In this pretty town, there is a HUGE cathedral, where, wait for it, some of the HARRY POTTER films have been made!!!!! AHHHHH! :) We got to go to the cathedral and walk the hallways where immediately we recognized the sets from the movies! It was amazing! And, being with other Harry Potter lovers, it was such a fun day! And on top of all this, it was a BEAUTIFUL day out! It was meant to be! 

Done with week 2! :)

On Saturday, October 17th, Kristen and I went back to London for our second time, where we would meet my cousin, Mandy, and her friend, Anu, who had been traveling Europe for the past two weeks. (Back story) I promised Kristen I would write about this experience...

Friday night, October 16th...Kristen and I were eating dinner and planning out our trip for 

the next day, when she realized she had no idea where her credit card was. We searched her entire room! And, we made a 

HUGE mess! But, two hours later, many drawers and other things all over the ground, we found it, in her wallet, which we checked 3 times. SO...the moral...when something is lost, stay calm, look EVERYWHERE, and check everything multiple times! ;)

Anyways, the next morning we woke up and caught the 9:45 bus to London! When we got to Victoria Station, we met up with Mandy and Anu and were off.  We ate lunch at a pub called The Shakespeare. :) It was wonderful! I love being immersed in this culture! After lunch, we went to The British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone (2nd time!) and the other wonderful things. Something that is really great about London, the museums are FREE! It was really cool to see the museum again and experience it with my cousin and friends. (Side note: this is the SECOND time Mandy and I have met up in Lond

on. The last time was almost 2 years ago when I went on my January term trip and she was studying abroad in London. Now, our roles were reversed!)  After the museum, Kristen and I begged Mandy to take us to the Millennium Bridge, where, in the 6th Harry Potter movie, the bridge is destroyed by Death Eaters. (I feel like my entire study abroad experience has so

mething to do for my love of Harry Potter).  After crossing the bridge, Mandy showed us the Globe theatre, which is now closed, sad day, and the actual place where the real Globe stood before they tore it down.  It is so hidden in the city that many people don't even know about it! Afterwards, she took us to the OLDEST pub in London, called The George Inn where we all enjoyed a drink and some laughter.  It was at 7:10 that we realized we should probably hurry back to the station so we could catch our 8PM bus back to Cheltenham.  For some reason, the transportation system in London was crazy on Saturday night, and so, long story short, we ALMOST missed out bus. We pulled up to the station, by taxi, at 7:59, and ran to our gate. We ran on to the streets and caught our bus right before it was to leave the station. Close 

call, but we made it! :)

End of week 3!

 

And finally, this weekend! :) We're almost caught up!

On Thursday, October 22, our friends Katy, Erin, and Julia, who go to Manchester with us, and who are studying in Northern Ireland for the semester, came to visit us here in England! We picked them up from the rail station and it was SO WONDERFUL to see familiar faces! We went to dinner at a pub and then enjoyed catching up and hearing all about Ireland and them about England on Thursday night.  On Friday, after my classes, we all went to Gloucester Cathedral (my second time!) and experienced the thrill of Harry Potter again! :) hahaha. On Friday night we all got to go out together and have a good time! It was really nice to be reunited with the girls, even though we miss our girls back home! (WISH YOU WERE HERE!)

On Saturday, we took it easy and slept in! We then went and showed the girls around town! It was neat to see it through a newcomers eyes, as well as seeing some things I had never seen as well. We then made dinner together and watched a movie. 

Today, we woke up and went to Starbucks for a pick-me-up and breakfast! :) We then did some shopping and then went and explored Pittville Park, where there are still some hot springs. (Cheltenham is also known as Cheltenham Spa, because it also was a spa town, along with Bath, where people would come to enjoy the springs). After the park, the girls had to leave to catch their train back to the airport.  Kristen and I then went out to dinner with some of the other BCA girls to a T.G.I. Friday's (AMERICAN!) 

AND>.......you are now caught up in the life of Cambria abroad.

:)

oh! I've been working on my first paper of the semester, (I haven't written one since May!), and I spent 7 hours in the library writing it, and plan to devote my entire day to revising it tomorrow in the library again! It's due on Tuesday, where there is a WHOLE complicated procedure on how to turn in assignments. I'll let you know how it goes! :)

This coming Saturday, HALLOWEEN!, the BCA group is going to Stonehenge! It'll be really cool! 

Hope this suffices my devoted readers! :) Love you all!

-Cam

overdue: London, class, and new friendships!

I'm sorry it's been awhile since I last posted anything! There is just SO much to write about, I decided to save it all for now! :)

LONDON!!!

So, the back story on our trip to London, is that Kristen and I only got max 2 hours 

of sleep the night before. Mainly to do with laundry, (and our flatmates), but by 4:15, when the alarm went off, we weren't feeling to "bright". But we were on our way to LONDON! We ended up being on the bus with 9 other students from the BCA program who had decided to go to London that day as well.  We walked to the center of town to catch the bus and from there we were off!

The bus ride took a little over two hours from Cheltenham to Victoria Station in London. But, when you're tired, it flies by! 

When we arrived, it was around 8 in the morning and so we got to explore the morning light and life of the city. A group of us, some of our new friends, walked from the station to Big Ben. Meanwhile, thanks to Dad and the blackberry, I ordered tickets for all of us to get in to Buckingham Palace for a tour, because we learned that it closed on September 30. So, kudos to the blackberry. Our tickets were for the 12:15 and the changing of the guards was going to take place at 11:30. So, we had time to kill.

So, we took pictures...When we got to Westminster Abbey, a whole rush of deja vu hit me. Not even two years ago had I stood in the same place. I am a very lucky girl. Thank you parents. But, the weather was a lot nicer on this trip to London than the last. 

We walked across the bridge to get a better look at Ben and the London Eye. It was really cool to be there with all of these friends, new and old. It's moments like this when you realize, "Oh yeah, I'm in England!"  After we took a million and one photos, some of the group went to go look inside Westminster Abbey, and the rest of us walked the streets of London a bit more.

We met up at 11 to walk back to Buckingham Palace. And when we got there, it was packed! I was glad I had seen the changing before, because being short was not to my advantage this day. I used my camera to see what was happening. But, everyone was real excited to see this special event. The flag was also flying on top if the Palace, which we heard means

 that Queen Liz is in. Cool. 

After watching the guards, we walked to the side entrance and started out tour. Sadly, you aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so it's a mental picture memory. But, the palace is gorgeous, and HUGE! There are over 200 rooms and each is more beautiful and extravagant than the next.  We took the state room tours, which are guided by individual headphones for each person. The tour lasted around 2 hours, and was a real nice treat to the day. But, it tired us out! When you exit the Palace, you are in the back at the gardens, where you then walk for awhile to get back to the streets. The gardens, (and these were the ones public can see, so who knows what the Queen's Gardens look like), are 

GORGEOUS!

And it was a lovely day on top if everything, so it made it even more fantastic.

After the tour, Kristen, Khouri, and I decided to walk to Covent Gardens which is a nice little shopping area. Here, we ate a late lunch and then decided that it was time to walk back.

We met everyone at the station, and got on the bus, and made our way back. It was a long day, and so it felt glorious to be back "home".  It's funny how the term 'home' becomes part of your vocabulary after only such a short time of being away from your "real home".

And that was our London trip... :)

So, this week we started to dive into the planning stages of where we would like to travel while we are here.

Kris and I got a hold of our friends Katy and Erin who are studying abroad in Northern Ireland this semester to plan some trips with them. They are going to come visit us near the end of October, and the first weekend on November, we all are going to meet in Dublin! We all can't wait to see each other! It'll be great to see familiar faces!

Kristen and I are also planning on another trip to London where a friend of mine, Kevin, lives. We will stay with him for the weekend and, to our luck, my cousin Mandy will be visiting at the same time. This will be the second time that I see Mandy in London. The last time, two years ago, I was traveling while she was studying abroad, and now the roles have switched. Funny how things work out, right? 

Also, my parents told me this week that they booked their flight to come visit me in November! I can't wait to share this experience with them! (Dad's convinced he's going to rent a car and drive all over...we'll see)  But, since neither of them have been here, it'll be really neat to show them around!

Classes have been getting more and more interesting, pending on the fact that I've only had 2 of each... but still, it feels good to be a student again! And today, my American Literature class was a lot of fun! Our homework for class for today was to read the Declaration of Independence,...interesting. And then today in class, our tutor was sick so she had a sort of substitute come in, who in fact, was American. We then discussed with her and the rest of the class, who are all British, besides two other girls and I, what it means to be an American. It was really interesting to hear what they had to say.

And on a good note...IT'S FRIDAY! :) Another week down. I can't believe we've been here for 3 weeks, and I left home 4 weeks ago. Time really does fly.

Tomorrow the BCA group is being taken to Bath. It'll be nice to see everyone again. 

And then on Sunday, some of us are planning on going to Gloucester to see the Cathedral where some of the Harry Potter scenes were shot. (side note: Sonny, aka Slumdog, or kid across the hall, was an extra in the HP movies. nice! Also, he's in some wii commercials here! I'm living next to a star!) Gotta love England!

love.