Friday, October 31, 2008

happy halloween!
















hope everyone is having a great halloween! things have been very fun here. there have been tons of things going on for halloween! they don't really decorate or make as big of a deal of it here as in the states, though. it's my favorite holiday so I was wishing for some more like festive decor at places!


so just a few days til the election! yay! I'm getting everything ready for Venice so I've had to do a ton of homework to get ready and I'm having to take a test early and stuff. this school is so great for people who like to travel, though, because they work with you so much when you're gone and everything. it's really great.


well anyway I have more Edinburgh pictures!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

edinburgh!














































so I had a blast in Edinburgh. and I'm going to venice next week! elections are a week from today too so hopefully you have all voted or are going to in a week! obama 08!

anyway, so yes Edinburgh. We stayed at the Globetrotter Inn, which is probably the best hostel in the world. I'm not positive about that because it's the first one I've ever seen but still...it was pretty dang amazing. The view was awesome from our hostel and the place was just so cool! There is a photo up there among the pictures of the view from our hostel; it's of the Firth of Forth, which is a body of water...sort of like a bay or something. anyway it was so cool to get to see the water from our hostel and we're pretty sure we saw Nessie that first day we were there...of course, we had been up since 4:00 am...so maybe it was just a duck or something....

I absolutely loved the city! I was actually more impressed than I thought I would be. We went to two museums, saw the awesome castles, and did the Scotch Whiskey Experience, which was wicked cool. It's like a tour that teaches you about how Scotch Whiskey is made and like the different areas that it comes from and then they put you on a little trolley type thing and you go through a tunnel and yeah it's just really neat. it was only like 7 pounds and was definitely worth the price!

there is a store here that..ladies...if you ever come over here, you must check out. it's called Lush and it is freaking amazing. it's like bath and body works to the 10th power. my skin is so soft right now! I'm recommending Lush to you all! also, Primark...it's super cheap! Primark and Wilkinson's have become our friends haha. lots of cheap stuff. like an equivalent of wal-mart or something.

So the new Snow Patrol and Lovedrug CDs have come out and everyone should check them out! these albums are amazing.
I will have more pictures of Edinburgh up soon!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

edinburgh tomorrow!

so tomorrow my girls and I are heading off to Edinburgh! yay! tonight is karaoke again! so fun! I've been like a crazy madwoman trying to get all of my homework done since I'll be gone all weekend. it's been pure craziness. but I'm offically finished with all my homework and it's only four so yay. thank goodness for no class on Thursday lol. but yeah I've basically had no life all week and it's been lame. especially since so many people have been sick but I havent been sick yet! haha knock on wood! but yes my completely healthy self has been stuck in front of my computer all week doing homework. boo! but it's ok because it's all over now and I can go laugh at people at karaoke tonight and then we're off at like five tomorrow morning for edinburgh! I plan on taking a ton of pictures! I've been charging my camera like crazy but I feel like my converter is killing my battery charger because it's not looking like it's charged yet....grr. it better not be or I'll be freakin ticked! haha
I would very much love to go running but it's raining. isnt that just the way it always is? it's actually been clear and beautiful weather almost all week except on monday when I had plans and now today when I would love to actually go run and not just do homework. blah. no fair.
anyway I'm off to go clean or something! I don't even know what to do with myself!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

aaah fun trips!




























The pictures today are of my backyard. The sky was so pretty that day. Also, I went to the movies with one of my friends and watched Burn After Reading. Amazing! Afterwards, we went to Eddie Rockets and ate delicious burgers. American burgers better than most places in America! haha. Also, that food up there. yeah that's some amazing food that my friend Jenn made. We eat dinner together all the time and it's always amazing! One of her flatmates had his birthday the other day. the big 1-9 haha and we had a party for him with a pinata! it was super fun!


so on Friday, I'll be setting off for Edinburgh! yay! we're going to have so much fun! then like two weeks later, I'm going to VENICE! yay! then about two weeks after that, PARIS! then Freiburg, Germany, the next week! my final trip will be right before I go back to Oklahoma when I go to Dublin. I'm super excited for my five big trips haha. I've certainly gone a number of places in the UK since I've been here, though. There are so many more places I wish I could go, but, oh well. I can't go everywhere here and I'm getting to see some of the most amazing places and places that I've wanted to see forever so I'm very happy with what I'm doing and just feel lucky to be over here at all.


This week was pretty low-key. I've mostly just done homework and cleaned and watched movies and other low-key things haha. I also went into town with one of my friends to look for halloween costumes and found a few cute things but nothing in my size that I want. everything is too big! grr. but also, I couldn't even try things on and I definitely want to try on my costume haha. But yeah, I've had mucho homework this week and weekend because I know I won't be here next weekend and I need to get ahead right now. Most of my homework, though, is from my online Oklahoma classes, since we don't really have homework here.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

pictures, trips, and mumbles






















This weekend my friends Carla, Allison, Jenn, and I went to Mumbles to see the pretty sights. It had been a couple of weeks since I had gone and I wanted to go again so yay for that. The four of us are also going to Edinburgh in about a week and a half or so and we're also going to Germany in November! A week before the Germany trip, though, I'm going to PARIS! yay! I had a trip to Milan and Venice sort of planned but it didn't end up working out with all of our class schedules so that's ok. I do want to go there, though, and also to Barcelona. They have so many good deals on flights here that I'm sure I can get a good flight. One of my friends is going to Gibraltar, too, and has asked me to go with him and I want to so badly. That's a more expensive trip, though, so we'll see about that. I booked my flight home :( sad. I'm leaving here December 13 and am going to be back in OK on December 16 because I'm spending two days in Dublin before I go back home. It was cheaper than flying straight home from London! haha I am a travel genius folks haha.


Yesterday I had an interview and some pictures taken for an article about Oklahoma. It is to help promote the relationship between Swansea University and Oklahoma so I was more than happy to help out with that!



I'm going to be volunteering with the American Studies office here on campus. They needed an intern or a couple of interns and were offering academic credit but I already have a more than full schedule so I said I would do it for no credit. I'm going to help out with a fair that they're having in November and will be making presentations for British students who are going to America, as well. Also, I might help out with things in the office from time to time. Seems like it will be fun and it's certainly something to keep me busy!











Tuesday, October 7, 2008

update!






hello there world! it's been a minute since I've written on here eh? well I had a humongous paper due and then I had my LSAT this weekend in London so yeah. I know right? LSAT. eek! second and final time to take that!



so funny story actually about my LSAT weekend in London. I got into London on Friday night and stayed the night in a hotel right by Paddington Station because yeah it was late and I just wanted to get a room and study and take a very LONG hot shower and relax and everything before the test. So anyway on Saturday, I wake up to go to my test and get all ready and everything and go to the lobby to have the girl behind the counter call me a cab. She calls me a cab and a few minutes later this really nice Volvo shows up and some guy in a suit gets out. I thought it was just some London guy in his car because it didn't say taxi anywhere or anything. Yeah it was my cab, though, and the guy comes in and takes me out to the cab and is running around opening doors for me and everything. I just thought like "wow I really lucked out on this cab! this guy is awesome!" So we're driving and he's telling me about how he drove around all these models for fashion week and blah blah blah. I thought he was just telling me all this because I'm a girl and so I must like fashion (true story...I do but whatever). anyway when we were almost to my destination, I realized that he ONLY drives around models and that apparently the girl behind the counter thought that I was a model (all 5 ft 2 inches of me...) and had called this company to drive me. Why she thought this, I don't know but whatever. it was a wicked cheap cab ride and the guy was freakin awesome so whatever but I thought that that was nuts. I'm not sure if he ever figured out that I wasn't a model but I was trying to explain to him that I was on my way to a test but he kept asking if I was on my way to an agency or a photoshoot and stuff. yeah it was pretty hilarious to me but whatever. I find out Oct. 27 how I did on my LSAT but I actually feel pretty good about it so I guess we'll see. I met some really fun people at the LSAT and hung out with them in London after the test and so that was fun. It was mostly American students and other American people who had to come to London for it. There were people there from Sweden and Ireland and stuff who were studying or living there that had to come all the way to London.



Hmm other new stuff. Ah classes. I started classes recently and they 're going pretty well. I have two now that my presessional is over so yeah. I have German and "Artists and Warfare." The professors are cool and it's pretty fun and I have friends in both of my classes so it's not bad at all.



I'm having such a good time over here and it's so fun. It's amazing how many people I'm meeting from such different places and all the new words I'm learning and the new ways I'm learning that people use words like "sorted" and "wardrobe" and "queue" and "smart" and ugh yeah it's just crazy. I love it, though, and time is flying by so quickly. I've made like so many amazing new friends already, both local and American.



hmmm so yeah new pictures time!
so we went to Bath, England (home of Jane Austen for a little while) and I went to the Jane Austen center, which was cool, and had tea. I'm not at all a tea drinker so I'm experimenting while I'm here and attempting to like tea. It's a long and bumpy road for me haha. Also, I had Indian food for the first time like a week or so ago, which was amazing! I'm officially in love with Indian food!