It's been awhile

Well, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote on here. Here we go.....

LONDON
Two weeks ago we took our first weekend trip to London. This was my third time to visit there, but I still loved every second of it. We left around 8:30 a.m. on Friday. We arrived around 12 and stayed on the coach for a Blue Guide Tour of the city. We hit most of the typical spots - Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Tower of London, and lots of other places. We finally checked into our hotel around 2! Basically, we threw our stuff into our rooms and headed out. The group started out a decent size and then somehow ended up being just Katie, Clay, and me. First, we went to Picadilly Circus and tried to find Chinatown. As it turns out, Chinatown is not fake designer bags, but lots of Chinese restaurants and markets... boringgg. Picadilly Circus is the Times Square of London. It has a huge display of electronic billboards and is a bustling intersection. We then went to Trafalgar Square to take pictures with the lions. With help from Clay, Katie and I were able to get pictures on the lions, not just in front! Next, we walked to the royal stables. Unfortunately, it was getting dark so the horses had already been put up for the night. We took pictures with one of the guards, though, and Clay even made him smirk a little :) 10 Downing Street is very close to the stables so we walked there and took a few pictures. This is where the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, lives. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at an Italian restaurant and had the best meal since we've been here! The portions were large and thankfully filling. We ended the night with a little bit of shopping on Oxford Street. Once back at the hotel we watched She's the Man and some other American movie I had never seen.

Saturday morning came all too fast! We went down to breakfast only to find out we needed to go to the other side of the hotel. After we got there we found out we needed our hotel registration card, so we decided to skip it and go out for breakfast. Katie, Molly, Sarah, Clay, Jeremy, and I went to Pret, and it was sooo good! The underground station was across the street so we went over there to buy our day pass. Our first ride was to West Minster Abbey, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament. We hung out there for a little bit then tried to find the closest station, but ended up just walking to Buckingham Palace. The Changing of the Guards was happening and we stayed for about an hour. A few of us were getting on each other's shoulders to get better pictures. When we left Buckingham Palace, we headed to the Tower of London. I've already been there twice and didn't want to pay to go again, so Jeremy and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral while the rest were taking a tour. We met back up with them and went to Cafe Nero for lunch. I had hot chocolate, a bowl of fruit, and some kind of ham and cheese sandwich. We then decided to go to the British Museum for a few minutes (we were aware this wasn't enough time, but we wanted to at least see a little of it). I had already been there a few years ago, but it is always changing and there is no way I could've remembered every museum. We then headed back to Oxford Street and shopped a little longer. The Urban Outfitters here is always so great for finding the most amazing clothes AND awesome things! Not that they aren't all like that, I'm just partial to the one here. We had dinner at McDonald's and it was DELICIOUS! My coke and double cheeseburger were just what I needed after a long day! We rode the underground back to our hotel and got ready for the night. Our plan was to go to a pub or a club, but when we were in the lobby on our way out there was a huge group of students from Spain. So, we stood in the lobby and talked to a few of them for 2 or 3 hours. Really random, but a really awesome experience. The language barrier was crazy. I felt like I had forgotten every single thing I had ever learned in Spanish class. Luckily, Katie is a Spanish master and did most of the translating. What was really weird, though, is supposedly they had been taking an english class since they were 7 or 8 and were probably on the same level as us. After talking to them forever, we went to bed to get some much needed sleep.

Sunday morning we left the hotel at 8:30 and went to Hampton Court Palace. It was one of Henry VIII's. Katie is in love with Henry, so she was really fascinated by the whole thing. Personally, I feel like all castles/palaces/etc blend together, and I enjoyed the outside more. We did the maze and looked around the beautiful gardens. Katie and I got lunch at a cute cafe and then boarded the coach back to Grantham. Overall, a fabulous first weekend!

LINCOLN/MANCHESTER
Our second weekend was a short one because we had the school field trip to Lincoln. Lincoln was alright, it definitely would have been MUCH better if freezing rain wasn't coming down at us along with crazy wind. We checked out the castle where the Magna Carta is kept. The original had just been returned from a trip to the U.S. so a copy was there which was lame. Our tour guide took us all around the castle and on top of the castle walls which was pretty neat! After the castle, we went to the Lincoln Cathedral. One of the British Studies professors, Bujak, took us on a tour which was interesting because he's fun to listen to (expect in lecture because I never know what he is talking about). The cathedral is absolutely gorgeous and incredible. The amazing thing to me is that they could even build thing so great so long ago. After the cathedral Bujak took us on a walking tour of Lincoln which was absolutely miserable. I honestly didn't learn anything because of the awful weather conditions, but it was still interesting to see things that are so old! The last hour of the trip we had free time so Whitney, Nick, Cassie, and I ventured down Steep Hill. Such a good idea and bad at idea. We found a pound store at the bottom, and bought lots of awesome things for just a pound! The walk back up was insane and we had to take a couple of breaks.

Once back in Grantham, we quickly gathered our things, because our cabs to take us to the train station would be here soon! Ten of us (Katie, Alex, Kyle, Sarah, Molly, Jeremy, Clay, Susan, Jarrod, and Me) booked a hostel and were on our way to Manchester to watch a real Futbol game! We arrived in Manchester around 9 or 10p.m. and had no idea where our hostel was. Fortunately, Kyle saved the day and asked someone. On the way to the hostel, it seemed like we were staying in the most sketch place ever! It ended up being a really cool place and an awesome first hostel. I always imagined some really creepy place and staying in a nasty room with lots of people you don't know. This place was pretty nice and we got a 10 bunk room. However, someone else had one of the beds so we shared it with him. We went to the downtown part of Manchester Friday night. Saturday morning, we woke up and had Subway then headed to the game. There were street vendors on the road leading to the stadium, so everyone bought Manchester gear! Our seats at the game were pretty high up, but it was awesome regardless! The fans had lots of chants cheering on the team and ranting about Glazer (an American who recently bought the team and has put it in a lot of debt). After the game, we went to Burger King and loved every bite of our burgers! Everyone came back and took a nap then got ready to go out. We went to the downtown again. Susan and I met a girl from Wales who was awesome and said we could come stay with her sometime! Her boyfriend was with her, and he said he had served as a U.S. Marine which I thought was incredible since Brandon is doing that right now. He was explaining the difference in the treatment of military between America and England. He said in America random people would buy his dinner, etc. and randomly thank him, but in England it was basically the opposite! So weird how our countries are so much alike but so different at the same time. Anyways, Sunday morning we woke up and ate Krispy Kreme!! SO GOOD AND SO EXPENSIVE. One glazed doughnut was equal to $2.50! That's insane since you can get 12 for like $5 at home. We still bought lots of delicious doughnuts though then headed back to Grantham. It was so fun to be able to experience a futbol game which is something that is really important to many people over here and to have the opportunity to talk to some real people who live here!

EDINBURGH
This past weekend I went on the school trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. I went here on the trip I took Junior year but was so excited, because I thought it was the most beautiful and peaceful place ever. We left Friday morning at 8:30 and didn't arrive until 2:30. For some reason school trips always use coaches which is a ridiculously slow way to travel. It must be saving us money or something. Anyways, once we arrived, Clay and I went to the sea. We were hoping it would be like the water is at home and it would just be wide open water, but it was the opposite. Apparently Edinburgh is in a little inlet thing so even if there wouldn't have been ships and boats all over the place we wouldn't have been able to see very far. The walk down there wasn't a total loss, though. There was a little market and Clay bought some fruit for 31 pence (about 50 cents!). It was reallyyy good! After that we just walked around town. The stores in Edinburgh close super early, like 7, so our shopping trip was cut short. Our hotel was right on the main strip, Princes Street, so we did not have to walk far. We decided we are sick of paying for food. It's a waste of money and we'd rather buy stuff we can take home, not gross English food or American fast food. Our solution was to strictly eat pb&j's and get lunches from Harlaxton. It worked out well until the meal on the way home Sunday, which was only 5 pounds so no big deal.. and it was amazing Italian. Anyways, though, Saturday I went to Edinburgh castle which is probably one of my favorite castles. I realized I am such a guy when it comes to castles. I would much rather look at the outside, like the canons in Edinburgh and the gardens at Hampton Court, than the inside. All of the insides blend together in my mind, but I can remember the outside pretty well everywhere. After the castle, we went to climb Arthur's Seat. It was a little bit of a hike up there, but totally worth it. The view was incredible, and I had such a good feeling being up there. It was cool because you could sit right on the ledge of the cliff while staring at all of Edinburgh and then the rest of Scotland on the other side. So Beautiful. The grass here is perfect and stays green year round. This makes the temperature outside very deceptive, though.

I'll write more later.....