whole bunch of pictures from the last 2 weeks!

there has been so much going on. it is crazy!! 2 weeks from tonight will be my last night in london! it's so weird to think about. I remember just like it was yesterday when I was writing a post that said basically the same thing except it was that 2 weeks from then was my last night in america! so weird. so much has happened...but it seems as though I have more or less settled into my life here. So nothing seems noteworthy enough to write about..yanno? So, so much for my plan of faithful blogging..but I have been pretty faithful with pictures..eh? So, here ya go.

one night we came home and i accidently broke the door handle....it just plain fell off!
then we went on the london eye :]




oxford

blenheim palace on the train at blenheim


after finishing the blenheim hedge maze! so much harder than you would have thought...
Afternoon picnic at Hampstead Heath. It was really really pretty up there.

All of our fresh fruit and veggies and bread that we bought from Borough Market. Definitely my favorite market in London. It was DELICIOUS!

Playing dress up at the V&A. What better way to spend the afternoon?? This hoop skirt was hilarious.


Then we went to SCOTLAND for the weekend! super fun!
Our first day there we decided to hike up to King Arthur's seat. It was basically a death hike. Straight up a mountain. and it was SUPER windy.
This picture is extremely unattractive. But I didn't know Sam was taking it. and I think that it basically sums up the unhappiness that i was feeling. :]
finally up at the top! very very high.and windy was no joke. it was so so windy.
okay. i sucked up alll of my pride.and posted this picure. i have 2 sweatshirts tied around my waist...my pants look like they are pulled up to my belly button...(they arent..) and the look on my face is sheer death. seriously..it was not the funnest experience of my life. if i didnt have a fiance i so totally wounldn't have posted this picture. but! becuase i do. i figure that everyone can get a laugh out of this like we did. ha.



edinburgh castle.
(this picture was actually at sterling castle...thus the change in wardrobe..)



then we went to this BEAUTIFUL place called inchmahome where we took a little boat out to an island in the middle of a lake that had the ruins of an old old priory on it. i loved it! it was so so pretty.
william wallace monument...
300 steps to the top!
Its that tiny building in the distance on top of the hill...which we had to climb up in order to get to the monument. super fun...






our whole group on top of the wallace monument.


With a real live, legit, scottish bagpipe player in front of the National Gallery of Scotland.

:]
One night in Edinburgh we took an "Haunted Underground Ghost Tour" through the underground vaults of the city. It was fun! Not scary at all...but really interesting to see all of the underground city.
On our last day in Edinburgh we went to the Royal Museum of Scotland. It was probably one of the coolest museums that we have gone to so far!! It was sooo interactive. It kept us entertained for hours! it was fantastic.
There was one room where you could drive a race car through a simulated course. It was seriously so much harder than it looked!
There was another room where you could dress up like vikings or scots!


Scotland was fun. I liked it. But it was so nice to come back to London! We only have 2 more weeks left and tons to do! If the internet in the centre will cooperate...I will try to be better about posting!

26 days.. :]

33 days.

not that im counting..

4 weeks.

okay seriously...ive been here for 4 weeks!
time is flying by. i only have 3 weeks and 2 days left. it is crazy. im definitely getting excited to go back though.

in the last 4 weeks..here are somethings that i have become grateful for.

1. sinks. normal sinks. with normal faucets. here, the hot water comes out of one side, and the cold water comes out of the other. you can just FORGET getting warm water to wash your face in. its a joke. and. the toilets here dont flush. it takes a good 5 or 6 tries. it is absurd.

2. living on the top bunk sucks. thats the only way to put it! my ladder is non existent...so climbing into bed is a joke. and theres a huge gap between my bed and the wall, atleast a good few inches. so stuff falls down all the time. and there have been countless mornings when ive woken up to find my blankets on the floor...gah. im so excited for my big beautiful ikea bed that we're buying when i get home!! yayyy!

3. having a car...public transport systems are fantastic. they really are. but its so annoying to have to take 3 different trains and walk for 15 minutes to get somewhere that is just a few minutes drive away. plus the tube is always packed and sweaty and there are lots of wind tunnels..gross.

4. cheesy gordita crunch & chicken quesadilla. enough said??

5. hello yougurt. me and greg went there alllll the time before i left. corner of university and state. oh my gosh. its heavenly!! love it. miss it. bad.

6. sunshine. i have come to ADORE the days when there is actually sunshine here. its mostly cloudy. and rainy. and windy. not so fantastic.

7. i miss my phone so bad. so so bad. i miss texting google. and chacha. seriously..thats what i miss the most. not texting everyone else isnt so bad. but not being able to text google!! its tragic. it also gets hard to meet up with a group or find someone if they get lost cuz you cant just call..

8. i miss being able to get to church in 10 minutes. here i have to take a 30 minute tube ride with one line change, pay 5 pounds, get on an overground train for another hour, then walk a few blocks to get to church. about an hour and a half each way. that means my church experience lasts 6 hours. and costs money. church was definitely something that i took for granted.

9. free refills! and free water. seriously restaurants over here are crazy. there is no such thing as a free refill. and water is a rare occurrence. we went to one place that tried to charge us 2 pounds for a baby size water bottle. when we asked if we could get tap water they told us that "they dont do tap water". faaabulous. customer service overe here is basically a joke all together.
10. and of course. i miss my boy. we get married 5 weeks from today!




but. of course there are several things that i have come to love.

1. wagamas and nandos. two of the most DELICIOUS restaurants i have ever been to.
2. parks and trees everywhere. ginormous huge parks. central parks all over the place. love it.
3. having homecooked meals twice a day. i love having a big breakfast. and a hot dinner every night. soo yummy.
4. digestive cookies.
5. markets. i discovered borough market yesterday. my absolute favorite. we bought fresh tomatoes and raspberries and bell peppers and peas and apples and juice and chocolate and fresh bread. oh my heavens it was simply divine. it was so so so good. and there were samples. it doesnt get better than that.
6. there is something kind of exciting about living with your professors. definitely weird when youre in your pyjamas eating breakfast and in comes your english teacher. but its kinda fun. for a little bit at least. tonight we needed some medicine, so what do we do? oh just go upstairs and ask the teachers wife. she hooked us up. it was awesome. have a question about your homework assignment? no biggie. just ask your professor at dinner. haha. i love it
7. living with 40 girls has a lot of disadvantages. just take my word for it. but there is something so fun about it at the same time. everyone kind of congregates in the kitchen about 9 or 10 and we all talk or watch movies or do puzzles. its kind of fun.
8. beligum waffles. enough said. seriously heaven.
9. the history and the amazing architecture. london is beautiful. every single building has a beautiful mysterical ancient full of history kind of look to it. i love it. i love riding the bus and just looking at all of the beautiful buildings.
10. shows. I LOVEEE being able to go to shows. it is definitely one of my favorite things about london.

today was fun. we woke up and got breakfast at portobello. then we went out to hampstead heath for a picnic with all of the food from borough market. it was so much fun. we ate then fell asleep in the park. it was glorious!

everyone in the centre is sick. seriously almost everyone has a cold or is just getting over one. cant breathe or swallow or sleep. its rough. but i think my nyquill is setting in!! yay!

pictures. update to follow.

Tower of London!


Oxford! Seriously, now i understand how JK Rowling came up with such ingenious ideas as common rooms and great halls. They totally exist!! All of the colleges at Oxford have common rooms and dining halls and stone hallways and such. It was crazy! We saw the famous "harry potter stairs" that lead to the great hall..but the great hall where they filmed was closed. bummer.


promise someday ill write a good update. someday.
here are some leftover pictures from polperro and tintagel.