well. the last two days have been wonderful. and i’m pretty much done packing. which is sad.

okay. well this is a bittersweet moment for sure. but i want to relive all the wonderful things i saw and did.

-adventuring around the city without a map

-getting asked for directions and knowing where i was.

-living everyday among amazing history

-riding the tube and listening to music

-nights full of laughter, good food, and even better friends

-being able to make a beatles connection to pretty much anything.

-traveling around europe like it was no big deal.

- learning who i was, what i want, and who i miss.

-being broke, and still managing to have fun. :) money’s not everything!

- living in london!

and finally, a green day quote. [It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.] and i did.

i’ll be back across the pond tomorrow. crazy how fast three months go, huh?

♥ -h

everyone. :) in the tube. :)

so, wednesday i got up and went to a cricket match, and then addie and i met the art class girls and we went to the cutest little diner, and had a delicious meal. then…. addie and boy-taylor and i went ELEPHANT HUNTING! It was awesome. oh. the hunting was with a camera, not a gun. no worries.

yay! elephants!

and i found 47 elephants! woooo!!! and then, we met a bunch of other people at the ORIGINAL! hard rock cafe. it was delicious and awesome and a great ending for courtney and em, because they left the next day. :(

Thursday i worked on packing (ew) and had alone time (It’s a miracle) and in the afternoon went to portobello market and got delish cupcakes from a cute little place. :)

but then, Friday, i chilled out until ginny, addie and i went out gift shopping, and then ginny and i adventured around and found MORE ELEPHANTS! and the elephant store. :) it was a wonderful day.

and today. it was dante day! we went to changing of the guards. :) and then i came back and hung out watchin’ ginny cut her hair, ate lunch…. and gave russell a head massage for like an hour. he fell asleep. hahaha. and then ginny and i went baking crazy. muffins. baked apples. scones with jam in the middle. then fajitas for dinner (okay not baking.. but food.)

and now we are watching over the rainbow. :) double elimination week. oh dear. and then later we are movie watching, ice cream eating, and drinkinggg.

tomorrow holds the final stages of packing, elephant hunting again :), and dinner with matt’s daddy. :) and last day things. :(

less then 48 hours left. oh dear! loveeeeeee! -h

Yesterday I finished writing my papers, and went to the science museum. WHICH WAS SO COOL. they had a whole section devoted to math.

okay. then today Ginny and i got up early and headed to the hunatarian musem. which is a surgical museum with lots of body parts in jars. it was weird, but cool.

then i had the last theatre class and my last sociology class. wooh. then i napped. :)

and tonight all of elon (in london) is headed out and about for our last college night. woooo!

hope everyone is wonderful. :) -h

alrighty. the chronicling of the last days. woah. who thought they’d be here so fast?

so i am currently in a flurry of packing, doing the last things on my to-do list, finishing finals, and getting people presents. :)

alright. but time to focus on blogging. (no really… there was like a 20 minute period of distraction between the last two sentences)

Thursday! we went to Beatles class and watched Let It Be: Bootleg. it was interesting, although somewhat depressing. then taylor, kara, and i went to a restaurant called Humus Bros. and they ate a humus filled lunch. i just had a snack. cause i don’t like humus. then we came back to the flat and did work and i took a wonderful nap. then we watched movies and chilled out.

FRIDAY! i did absolutely nothing. no really. i ate. and slept. and worked on papers, sorta. and then em came over for our weekend flat f sleepover/food extravaganza. and we ate cookies, and brownies, and lemon squares. and hung out.

and satatataturday ginny and i went adventuring. first i worked on my paper for a bit. then showered. still in kara and addie’s shower, because we still have no hot water. :( but then i had lunch and em, ginny, and i went to waterloo bridge book fair. which was so fun. and then em went off to go see We Will Rock You. Ginny and i continued on to spitalfields and and petticoat lane markets. but they weren’t particularly happening because it was mayday. whoops. but then we went to oxford street for one last time, and hit up Primark and touristy shops so we could get presents for people. :) and i got AWESOME teal tennis shoes. and a purty black and gold dress.

and today. i started packing, worked on finishing all of my papers, and chilled around all day. yay.

and i am leaving you with a thought about london… well actually it’s from the song boondocks, but i feel it’s applicable.

“It’s where i learned about living, it’s where i learned about love, it’s where i learned about working hard and having a little was just enough.”- Little Big Town.

i’ll be hoppin’ cross that pond sooner rather then later! love y’all! -h

but… now… YOU GET AN UPDATE! get pumped!

alright. so last week was not terribly interesting. i did lots of work. and went to two plays for theatre. one of which i loved (Ruined) and one of which i hated (Posh). I did school work and tried to be productive. ew. but thursday! i had a raleigh date with Mary Catherine and we chatted and adventured and made friends with the waiter named matt after our beatles class went to the British Music Experience. which was AWESOME. and similar to the rock and roll hall of fall, except all british.

where cricket was invented!

And friday, kara, boy-taylor and i went to primrose hill and the grown-up playground. (okay. actually a workout area. but grown-up playground sounds like more fun.) AND! on the way there, i found Lord’s Cricket Grounds. Which was so cool.

and then on saturday. kara, russell, and I went on the coolest trip ever. okay. other then the entirety of london, of course. and it was our trip to WALES. YES.

So. First day we went to castles, and ruins, and ‘the intellectual woodstock’ which is a town of books called Hay-on-Wye. It was so beautiful, with green grass, rolling hills, fields of sheep. look at all the fabulous picutres:

beautiful rolling fields. love. it.

CASTLE!

street near the castle that supposedly inspired Diagon Alley. suhweet.

chapel ruins. it was for the masons who worked on the church.

church ruins. and me. :)

um. so cool. and gorgeous. and it was sunny. and so fun.

after our day of adventures, we went to our hostel. which was a hotel and hostel. called Baskerville Hall. which was the inspiration for Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Book The Hound of Baskervilles. isn’t that awesome? i slept in the same building where he slept. cool. and our hostel room was still really nice.

THEN!!!!!!!!! the next day we got up and had a wonderful english breakfast and headed to the horseback riding center. YESSSSSSSSS. after filling out forms, and going through the basic training (how to not kill yourself on the horse. etc) we got on and started off.

and. oh. my gosh.  it was so cool. we were riding on the side of mountains, through farms, in rolling hills and on the edge of cliff-like things. and! anyone who had history riding got to stay back every once in a while and canter to catch up. which. was. so. AWESOME. i got to gallop through rolling hills in wales past herds of sheep. it was like a dream.

after our four hour ride, we had sunday roast at a local pub, and it was one of the best meals i have ever had. ever. then we rode home. but it was such a sweet weekend. and… more pictures! :)

me! happy as a lark from riding.

my horse, King. he was awesome. a little bit fiesty, but chill for the most part. he was so sweet.

see how gorgeous it was. oh dear... it was just amazing.

my empty plate. such a good meal.

okay. then on monday, i got up early and went shopping for leila’s london gifts. yayy!!! and got here some fabulous stuff.  then i came back and did some work. yay. and went to my last education class. :(

tuesday was work filled. ew. and then yesterday we had hackney adventures for sociology and i got to go to the olympic grounds. and the hackney marshes, which is the largest collection of football pitches in Europe. and a fabulous cafe with awesome food. and then i met all the other flatmates at primrose hill for addie’s surprise birthday picnic. :) and i finished my book laying on primrose hill. which was wonderful and sunny and pleasantly breezy.

then! we went to Macbeth at the Globe. and it was SO good. although it was really hard to stand for three hours. really hard. but i did it, and Macbeth was soo cool. and Macbeth himself was quite a looker. so that was cool. then, because the globe is bankside and the tide was low, taylor, dante, and i walked along the thames river. :) and took silly pictures. it was simply wonderful. :)

love you all! see you in less then two weeks. i cannot believe that i am almost done with my semester here. it is just so surreal. ♥ you! -h

friday we went to camden market, ate dinner on fleet street,  and bummed around covent garden awhile. it was a wonderful adventure. and i got a pair of aviators. :)

yesterday, well, i was productive. worked on homework, and caught up with people. also good. oh and i read a book.

today, i have been doing more work. and i read the kite runner, which was awesome. and i’ve been contemplating how few days we have left.

Samuel Johnson said, “You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” and i have found that to be very true. while i am excited to go home, i’ll always be ready to jet off to london (if the ash allows).

london has taught me to hold on to the good, and let go of the bad, plus, like sam said, “for there is in london all that life can afford.”

a quick update, but below are some pictures. :)

taylor, dante (creepin') and i lunching in camden market!

lookin' tough in the tube with our aviators. ;)

us deciding how to get to fleet street. we did get there, despite all the fingers in different places. oh. and all photos compliments of t. mckee. :)

so on wednesday, after doing a little bit of work… courtney and i went on an adventure to find the tea and coffee museum. which, after looking quite extensively for it, we found out had shut down. :( but we ended up finding the awesome borough market, and adventured around there for awhile. then we walked along the Thames river path to waterloo station (our favorite) and adventured around there for a bit, then we headed back home. and i was not productive, but read instead.

then yesterday, after beatles class, frontani took us out to lunch. yum. and then i chilled at home a bit, gave taylor a tall person hug, because the ash cloud meant she couldn’t go to italy, and then headed for sociology class. we went to the geffrye museum. and had tea and bagels. :) and then walked around islington for a tad. then, when i came home, i finished reading another book. and ate dinner. and then we just hung out for a while, and took lots of ridiculous pictures. which are on facebook.

miss y’all! love y’all! hope all is well over there. :) -h

Me inside edinburgh castle- i got to climb to get up there. :)

‘ello! So, yes, I had an Edinburgh adventure this weekend. Yes. It was awesome. Yes, I love Scotland. Although, sadly, Russell and Jake were both under the weather, so we moved a little slower then usual.

So we took the train there.  The countryside was so beautiful. Plus, I just love trains. We arrived in good ‘ole Edinburgh around noon. And so we had a quick lunch and walked to our bed and breakfast. The Kaime Inn. And after a quick rest, we headed into the city. We found ourselves on the Grassmarket, which is essentially Pub Lane.  Then we ate at a pub called the White Horse. It was where body snatchers used to get patrons drunk and then, well, body snatch them to sell to science. COOL. And I had bangers and mash. Yup. I was adventurous in the food realm. Be impressed.

Then we adventured around the old part of the city for a while and just hung out. Then we headed to the Grassmarket pub to watch soccer. It was actually not terrible, seeing that I am generally not a big soccer (football) person. Then we headed back to the B&B for some R&R.

The next morning, we had our big breakfast.  lovee the English breakfast concept. Then we got ready and headed to Edinburgh Castle. SO neat. It was really interesting. After spending a lot of time there… we headed to lunch and Jack Auld’s Pie Shop. It was very cute. And I had a yummy panini. (okay, so I’m not THAT adventurous quite yet…)

After our delicious lunch, the boys headed to the Scotch Whiskey Experience, and I adventured around the Royal Mile a bit. I ended up splurging a tad and getting myself a wool sweater. That way I don’t keep stealing momma’s Scottish wool sweater that I like so much.

After the boys finished in the Scotch Whiskey Experience, and did their quick shopping, we headed back to the B&B to put our stuff down and chill for a bit.

Jake really wasn’t feeling well, so Russell and I headed to the Grassmarket and watched Aston Villa play Chelsea. Jake met us there, and then we went to this really cool pub for dinner. The original owner was actually the inspiration for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, because during the day he was a respected member of society but at night he was a drunken hot mess. They didn’t actually use the term hot mess, but I’m paraphrasing. Then we walked around for a bit, and ended up at Maggie Dickson’s Pub. And Maggie Dickson was a women who was sentenced to hang, but then once they hung her and put her in the coffin, she woke up! She wasn’t dead! So then, she opened a pub. Fun fact. (okay. So that is a seriously shortened version of the story. But it’s the gist of it.)After then moving to yet another cool pub called the Black Bull, we headed home.

from the gardens. :)

After breakfast the next morning, we walked through the gardens at the base of Edinburgh castle to get back to the train station. After yet another exceedingly pleasant train ride back to London, we headed back home to Clifton Gardens.

Yesterday, I worked on homework. Boorring. And then in the evening we just chilled. Fun fun. And I had a delcious dinner. Yummmmy.

Today is full of classwork and homework. And I will be heading back across the pond in less then 4 weeks. CRAZY!

Loveeee -h

okay. so terribly sorry for being lame and not updating my blog, but in my defense, after spring break, my parents got here, and then my internet went kaput. for a whole week. how frustrating.

but it is back now! and you get an update now! yayyyy!

okay. so my parents came on the 28th. and we did all sorts of fun things like a double decker bus tour, the British Museum, the Globe Theatre, Tower of London, Thames River cruise, the Eye (well, mom and i), Wicked!!!!, Stonehenge, adventuring around the East End, and they went to a bunch of other museums. it was a very nice visit!

once they left, i recovered… haha. just kidding. well… i did sleep a lot since i had been getting up early and staying out late. but then i went to an Easter Sunday service. which was wonderful. and Monday i did some work, and procrastinated as well. Tuesday, Beatles class was cancelled, but i still went to theatre and sociology, after which Kathryn, Linda, Brooke and i went to a nooodle restaurant. (the extra o was intentional.) then we went to go see The Habit of Art, a play about W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten. it was fascinating.

Yesterday, i was productive. i ran errands. wrote a paper. and then in the evening we had silly time. as usual. but unusually it culminated in brownies. and ice cream. yummm.

AND i got to talk to amber. woah. AND she told me that LADY GAGA is coming to RALEIGH. suhweet.

today i went to Beatles class, had lunch, wrote a blog, and then i will be doing homework. ew. BUTTTT tomorrow morning. very early. I AM HEADED TO SCOTLAND. woooooooooo! and i will return on sunday evening. so get ready for another post. providing that i have internet that is.

hope all is well across the pond! i will be crossing the pond in just under 5 weeks. CRAZY! -h

hahha. anyways. Portugal was freaking amazing. i got to sleep as much as i wanted, food was cooked for me, dishes done for me, there was real sunlight, and it was quiet. :)

okay. so we arrived sunday. and our resort, well… my parents would have felt youthful there. but it was totally okay by me because i like shrinking grownups. :)

meeeee on the coast! isn't it beautiful?!

the next day it was beautifully sunny so after a morning adventuring and shopping we laid out in the sunshine. and i got a little color. thank goodness. i was feeling terribly undercooked.

Tuesday and Wednesday were also days of lazing about and getting sunshine. :)

Thursday we had to leave. and since we had to check out 6 hrs before our transport, we planned on beaching it up, but it was raining. lame. but we ended up finding this adorable pub and had lunch and chatted with the owner, who was originally from london.

after finally getting to the airport we had a 2-hr delay on our flight. ugh. but we got home safe, albeit at 4a. and we met some fabulous Essex women, who were tons of fun to talk to during the various waits we had.

today i began major preparations for the parentals and seester to arrive. i’m quite excited. we will get to do lots of fun touristy things! anyways. miss y’all!

hope all is well across the pond. Obrigadas for reading! (see that? yup. i’m good.)