Munich and Sweden!

Its be such a busy few weeks that I haven't had time to update on any of our trips! Two weekends ago, Bobby and I traveled to Munich, and last weekend we were in Gothenburg, Sweden visiting my second cousins! Both trips were incredible. We saw so much in Munich, including Marienplatz, the Glockenspiel, Nymphenburg Palace, the Olympic park, and the BMW museum and factory. The first night we had dinner at the famous Haufbrauhaus beer hall where you sit at long tables and everyone sings and dances in German outfits. I kept thinking that it felt like Germany in Epcot! There were people playing tubas, and girls in drindls with big baskets of pretzels. It was quite the German experience. The second night we went to dinner at another German restuarant near our hotel. It was nice to have some good, hearty food for a change. Then we went to another beer hall where we ended up meeting some American backpackers who were fun to talk to for awhile. The sights in the city center were great to see but it was freezing! We definitely were not prepared for the weather. Our second day instead of walking we did a bus tour that took us to the palace, olympic park and bmw museum. It was really cool to see the olympic park from the 1972 olympics. It was a beautiful area to walk around. The BMW museum was great too, it was huge and had a building next to it called BMW World with even more interactive exhibits, the newest model cars to look at, as well as restaurants and a big store. It was a lot of fun to see all the nice cars and Bobby loved it. I especially liked the art cars exhibit, in which famous artists had painted different BMW models. Here are some of our Munich pictures!

                                                                    Nymphenburg Palace

                                                                      Haufbrauhaus!

                                                                   In the BMW museum

                                                       One of the cars in the Art Cars exhibit

                                               Olympic tower and the BMW Welt (World)


After we got back from Munich it was just a few days until we were off to Sweden! I've only met my second cousins there once before, but we were very excited to stay with them. Their home was beautiful and they were so incredibly welcoming! Our first day there Bobby and I went into the center of Gothenburg and rode the Wheel of Gothenburg, overlooking the city. We then walked around the center of town which is right on the water and found a Swedish restuarant and had delicious meatballs for dinner. We then met the girls in town to go see Eat, Pray, Love, which just came out over there. I was so happy that it was in English with Swedish subtitles! The girls bought us lots of Swedish candy to eat during the movie (they really do have swedish fish there!) After that, we headed home and hung out for awhile talking and drinking tea until it was time for bed. The next day it was pouring so we went into Gothenburg to check out some of the museums they are famous for. We ended up meeting up with one of Jessica's childhood friends and went out for a late lunch and drinks and then to an adorable Italian coffee bar. We decided instead of going out in the rain that night we would stay in and make a big dinner and invite some of their friends. We sat around chatting for quite awhile until we realized we should probably go out and get food for the big dinner we kept talking about. Vanessa took Bobby and I to the store so we could get a Swedish food shopping experience. On the way there she took us through parts of Gothenburg with huge houses and we drove up a large hill of houses that overlooked the entire city. It was so nice to get a personalized tour from people who have lived there for so long and truly love the city. The store was huge with so much great food. Not only Swedish foods, but lots of American brands which was great to see for a change. The girls love being American and it was definitely nice to be around a more positive attitude than we get in London. The store even had an aisle called "American Cuisine" with Kraft mac and cheese, Jiff peanut butter, Campbells soup, and lots of other American brands. Vanessa bought us everything she could that she thought would be Swedish for us to try. After spending a long time in the store we headed to pick up Vanessa's friend and then went back to the house. By the time we got back it was already around 10:30! The girls started cooking dinner and we all sat around eating snacks and drinking all different wines. The girls gave me and Bobby Glugg, which is a warm, spiced wine that they drink at Christmastime in Sweden. It was so fun getting to try all their Swedish things and having them show us all their traditions. We finally sat down to a feast of steak, potatoes, vegetables, bread, and salad right as it was midnight but we couldn't have been happier. We spent a long time eating, drinking, and then having dessert over Swedish songs and toasts, as well as stories from them all about their holidays and traditions. My cousins were so wonderful and I loved getting to know them and their friends. We had a blast and I definitely plan to go back to see them!

                                                        Walking around the city center

                                       Overlooking the main street on the Wheel of Gothenburg

                                                   Our home made dinner on the last night

                                                               Vanessa, Jessica and I

I will try to post again soon, I can't believe its November already!!! Lots to look forward to but also lots of schoolwork coming up. Miss you all!♥ 

Classes!

So far I am in week 3 of classes here at Westminster, things have been going well, but it is very different from class at Stonehill! I'm taking four classes here that transfer back as five Stonehill classes. Each class here is split into a seminar and a lecture each that are an hour and a half long. Some of my classes have the seminar and lecture right in a row, whereas others are split up. The lecture is all the seminar sections combined with one teacher, even though we all have separate teachers for the seminars, depending on how many there are. Its weird having the same structure for each one of my classes here. Long powerpoint presentaions for the lecture and discussion questions in the seminars. Its not bad when its split up, but it gets a bit boring having the same structure for each class. All my classes only have two parts to our grade. "Coursework" which is one essay equal to 30% and a final which is either an essay test worth 70%. Very different from what I'm used to where you also have small assignments, participation as well as other grades.

The classes that I'm taking are The Economics of Financial Markets and Financial Reporting and Analysis, both which count for my major back at Stonehill, and then The London Economy and Work Psychology, both which count as electives. All of my classes here have lots of international students in them, which makes it interesting to meet a lot of new people from all around the world. My group for a project in The London Economy is myself, a girl from Japan, a girl from Atlanta, a girl from Germany, a boy from Spain and a boy from London so I'm getting to learn a lot about other places! Its hard to work in a group where there are many language barriers, but for the most part everyone here is very good at English.

Because Westminster is such a large University, the Professors are a lot different from Stonehill's. Though my London Economy Professor is very friendly and trying to get to know all of us, most of them aren't like that. A lot of work in the class is done independently so most of the Professors show up for the lectures and don't really stick around to be friendly or outgoing. Its a bit of getting used to from the small atmosphere of Stonehill, but hopefully it will help me to be more independent in my school work and be able to better research on my own.

I miss everyone so much but have been staying busy. Last Thursday, Nigel Barker from America's Next Top Model was at Selfridges, a large department store on Oxford Street. He was signing his new book called "The Beauty Equation." My girlfriends and I went to go meet him and ended up buying the book to get it signed. He was so sweet and took pictures and chatted with everyone that came to meet him. This weekend was our friend Larry's 21st birthday so we went out to see him at the Harrow campus (just outside of London) one night and he came into London the next night and we celebrated at a pub. This week is super busy as I'm trying to stay on top of all my reading (which is difficult when there is no work assigned) and Father Cregan is stopping in London on his way to Italy on Thursday and taking all of the London study abroad students to dinner. Friday morning at around 3 am Bobby and I are boarding a bus to Stansted airport and heading to Munich for the weekend! It's my first trip outside the UK so I can't wait. I will let you all know how it goes! 
♥
Here is a picture of my friend Ali and I with Nigel Last week...

Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath!

On Saturday, Bobby and I took a day trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. We went through a tour company called Evan Evans that does trips all over the UK. The day started off pretty early, as we had to wake up at 6:30 to get to our 8 am bus. As you all know I'm not much of an early morning girl but it was great to see the sunrise over London from my 7th floor window! I probably won't be seeing it too often but it was beautiful! We got on a bus that took us to Victoria coach station where we got on with our tour group for the day. Our tour guide Sheila, was very interesting and entertaining to listen to, she gave us information on the areas we drove through as well as the sights we would be seeing before we got there.

Windsor Castle was our first stop, It is where the Queen resides on weekends and is her favorite residence. It took us about 40 minutes to get there from London. The castle is located in a beautiful little part of the town with lots of shops and restaurants. The security to get in was extremely high, much like going through an airport, but because we were with a group we were able to get in a bit faster. We had just over an hour to walk around the castle which was perfect for Bobby and I, who aren't really into listening to the full fledged audio tours. Because the Queen is still in Scotland, the State Apartments were open for touring. The architechture is absolutly beautiful and there is so much incredible artwork and murrels. We also walked through the display of Queen Mary's Doll House, a doll house about the size of my entire room. As a girl who loved dollhouses it was cool to see the extremely elaborate house that once belonged to Queen Mary. We then had time to walk around outside the castle where there are many towers as well as St. Georges Chapel. Here are a few pictures of the outside of the castle and the chapel...

Next the bus took us to Stonehenge which was about an hour and a half from the castle. Stonehenge is essentially in the middle of no where, but I enjoyed driving through the country to see all the scenery. After being in the city for the past three weeks, it was nice to see some green and open land! Around Stonehenge threre were sheep, cows, and open fields everywhere you looked. Stonehenge was really interesting to see and learn about. But really, its exactly what you would picture it to be! We were there for about 40 minutes which is plenty of time. It was really cool, but once you walk around it theres not too much else to see.

 The day ended in Bath, a city about an hour and a half from Stonehenge. Bath is the only place in the UK to have a natural hot water spring, so the Romans built Baths there thinking the hot water had healing powers and it became a place for the wealthy to be seen. Jane Austen lived in Bath and a few of her novels were set there. Bobby and I toured the ancient bath and stuck our hands in the healing water. At the end of the tour you can buy a glass of the hot spring water which is supposed to heal you. It tasted awful but I drank my whole glass so hopefully itll be worth it! After that we had some time to walk around the city. Bath is absolutly gorgeous. It is a beautiful little city but surrounded by country, which makes the scenery really wonderful. It is only about 30 miles from Wales so as we were driving out of the city we were able to see over to Wales. Here are some photos of beautiful Bath!

This is my second week of classes, already the reading is piling up! They expect you to do a lot more on your own here so each Professor gives a reading list of about 10 "suggested books" and a core text...lots and lots of reading! I will try to post again soon :)

♥

Week 2!

This week was a lot different than being in the hotel. We started off Monday with another orientation type meeting, this one for the University. They talked to us about a lot of the same things I heard all last week, but we also found out about the Student's Union here, which is their form of student government. The Student's Union had a number of events this week for Fresher's week and lots going on at "Intermission," the bar on campus. The Marylebone campus that I live on is very different from being at Stonehill. Because its right in the middle of the city, it is basically a cluster of a few building surrounding a small courtyard with my dorm behind it. The buildings have a lot of classrooms, lecture halls, a library, a cafe, and a small bookstore. Its neat to be in the city for a change but I do miss that homey feel that the Stonehill campus has. Tuesday we were broken off into treasure hunt groups and given a series of questions to answer based on landmarks around London. My group was myself, a girl from Virginia, a girl from Germany, a girl from Denmark, and a girl from Sweden who had lived in London for several years before moving back to Sweden for University. It was nice to have her in our group because she knows London quite well. We got a nice tour around from her and then had a big dinner at an Italian restaurant near Covent Garden. Its interesting to meet so many people from around the world and hear about the different types of schooling that we are all used to. Thursday the university organized a boat trip on the Thames for all study abroad students. It was fun to see the sights of London from the river at night and there was a DJ on board as well. I'm very excited to start classes tomorrow and finally get into a routine here. Its been tiring trying to find everything that I need as well as sightsee and make friends all at once! I've enjoyed having time off to go out but I'm ready to start schoolwork...hard to believe I havn't taken classes since May! I will update you all to let you know how it goes! ♥

First week here

Its been so busy my first week here that I have barely had time to sit down at all let alone write a blog! But now that I have a minute I can catch you all up on how its been.

After leaving Logan with a slight delay, Bobby and I arrived at Heathrow last Monday morning and were able to find the rest of the kids from our program and get on a shuttle to the Thistle City Barbican Hotel where we stayed for the rest of the week. After not sleeping much on the plane, we were exhausted, but the people from Arcadia running our program encouraged us not to sleep until that night so that we could get better adjusted to the time change. Our first couple days here were very packed with meetings, a group scavenger hunt and a lot of walking around to get to know the area and the people in our program. We explored some cool local pubs near the hotel where we met some really nice British people. I've found that on the streets British people don't seem the friendliest, but get them into the pub and they open up right away! We had discussions ranging from American colleges, smart phones, beers and ciders to Jersey Shore and The Hills.

It wasn't until Thursday and Friday that we finally had some free time on our own to explore. Bobby and I broke off in a small group with some friends we made from our program to explore the area where University of Westminster is. We found our dorm, where classes are held, the gym, the students union and many other school buildings, none of which are too far from each other. We also explored Regent's Park which is very close to the dorm. It is an enormous park with incredible gardens, fountains, and even the London zoo. It definitely will be a great place to relax or study. As we were  walking through the park we saw lounge chairs that looked really cool so we decided to sit down. Little did we know they cost 1.50 per hour to sit in! Less than five minutes later a park worker came over and charged us, but thats London for you, everything is incredibly expensive!!

A group of us also found a club to go to called "Aquarium" it sounded incredible, being the only club in the UK to have a pool in it! However, when we arrived it was pretty much just one large room and towards the bathroom there was a room with a not so great YMCA looking pool haha not quite what we were expecting!

Saturday we moved into our dorm at Marylebone. We went to explore Oxford street to shop for some bedding. After that I will never again go near Oxford  street on a saturday! Primark, a large inexpensive department store was literally packed so tight you could barely move, with people grabbing at everything. I've never seen anything like it, the best way to describe it is Macy's around christmas time but about ten times more people all in one store.

These last few days have been more shopping for food and essentials while exploring the area and finding the best routes around. Its a lot of adjustment and getting used to but everyday I feel more and more comfortable. Classes don't start until next week so this week is called "Freshers Week" and is basically a week of events for all the incoming and international students. I will update you all soon and plenty of picture to come I promise!

♥

I'm Here!

I made it to London! We're staying in a hotel until Saturday when I will move into my dorm so I havn't had internet at all. Finally made it to a little cafe where I could get some wifi. The first few days have been great but super busy with orientation activities. I can't wait to settle into my own room on Saturday. I will update you all with a longer post when I have a little more time to be online! ♥

Two Weeks!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first blog :) I thought it would be a good way to keep you all updated on my experiences abroad!

I'll be leaving exactly two weeks from today flying direct from Boston to Heathrow.  I just found out my housing the other day and I will be living in a high rise dorm in the Marylebone area of London right across the street from Regent's Park. It was my first choice and is the dorm most conveinent to the University of Westminster campus so I can't wait!

It is going to be pretty tough to stuff four months into two suitcases so we'll see how it goes, I'm glad I have the next two weeks to finish preparing!

♥