Taylor Swift & Hogwarts.

I have a lot of catching up to do I know, but if you could not already tell by the title, I feel like the past week has been focused around Taylor Swift, Harry Potter and Hogwarts, which just so happen to be some of my favorite things.

Touring Parliament!

I'll rewind a bit to last weekend which I have not blogged about yet. Last Friday, we took another trip for our British Life & Culture class. We started the day by touring Parliament (the big government building attached to Big Ben)! It was incredible how old the building was and how they still make it all work in todays times. Every single room was absolutely beautiful! It was interesting to see the throne that the Queen sits in during the opening of Parliament. While we were touring we caught glimpses of some of the workers and even saw one of the queens 'door openers' who are always there and ready if the Queen should ever decide to visit. The system of government was also very interesting to learn about and I was surprised at some of the differences and similarities there were with our American government. For example, much like the President of the U.S, the Queen must sign and approve every Act of Parliament before it becomes a Law. But, no monarch has refused an Act for the past 300 years

After that we were given our own time for lunch. A group of us headed for an area called Borough Market and it was not what I expected, but I mean that in the best way possible. You could tell you were getting close by all the wonderful smells that filled the streets as we made our way to the Market. I was expecting a large building with maybe a couple different food stands and although my idea was on the right track, it was no where near what the Market really is. Borough Market is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London and offers food from just about every part of the world. There were countless stands with so many different types of breads, and chocolates, and just about any food you can think of! People were queuing (a queue is what they call a line) at every stand and it was quite busy, but It was by far the best food I have had so far in England.

The Globe Theatre!

After that we met up again with our class and toured Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The theatre still puts on performances today and hopefully I will be able to make it to one. Our tour guide was excellent and was full of many fun facts and even told us the story of the cliche "you stole my thunder" which happens to be a pretty funny story. The museum was filled with many interesting things as well from costumes to pages of Shakespeare's will! It was an awesome experience and the place was full of history, trap doors, and props.

After the globe we made our way across the famous Millennium Bridge shown in Harry Potter and ended up on the top floor of a shopping mall a few streets over and watched the sunset in London. It was an absolutely gorgeous view and a perfect way to end another awesome day.

Picasso's Painting

On Saturday, some friends and I went back into London to visit the Tate Museum. It is one of the more popular (and free) museums in London and is filled with mostly modern and contemporary art. It is by far the coolest museum I have been too. My personal favorite was a room filled with Picasso paintings! After that we headed to an area of London called Camden Market. Again it was not what I expected. It was not just a Market, it was basically an entire town with many markets and little tourist shops and countless booths. It was quite fun and we ended up finding some really good deals on souvenirs. It was easy to lose track of time there as we weaved in and out of shop after shop. After we had had enough, we headed back to the train station and headed home.

Shops in Camden Market

On Sunday I woke up to a beautiful sunny day and I thought to myself 'what a perfect day for a walk!' Over 10 miles later, I was not exactly thinking the same thing... I started out knowing exactly where I was going and it was truly beautiful. I walked all around the river and past some beautiful houses and then before I knew it I was entering Hampton Court Park. At first I thought It was somewhere maybe I wasn't supposed to be because there were open fields and woods as far as I could see! It was an escape from city life and it was not that far away! I wandered through and found park maps, so I knew I was in the right place.

Sail boat racing!

 I stumbled across a pond and noticed many small sailboats sailing across it. As I got closer I noticed that there was a group of old men with remote controls racing these sailboats across the pond! It was hysterical. As I got even closer I noticed all there wives sitting in lawn chairs watching. I started taking some pictures and a man who was racing ran by me and said the good action pictures could be taken at the finish line just at the end of the pond. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched him pass the sailboat in front of him to take the lead. After watching for a few more minutes I wandered off again, walking through fields and by some horses. The only time I felt uneasy was when I started to noticed that there were golf balls on the path and realized that I was walking into a driving range, and I quickly changed direction. I kept walking again along the river and shortly found myself in front of Hampton Palace! Out of the castles and palaces I have seen so far, this is the one that felt like one from a movie.

Fairy tale trees?

The trees and shrubs were oddly shaped and there were countless gardens, fountains, and statues. I wandered through a bit and heard people talk about how beautiful the place would be in a few weeks when the flowers were blooming. Since it was so close, I decided to just wander through parts of it and come back in a few weeks to see it all. I even walked by a giant maze you can walk through which I definitely plan on going back and doing. After I made my way out and headed back in what I thought the direction of my house was, I realized my phone was dead, I had no idea where I was, and I had no bus pass or had any source of help to me back home. I kept walking and asked a few people where 'Ditton Road' was along the way. Now, that would have been easier if my road was called anything else, but the thing about Ditton Road is that it is not the only Ditton Road! There is Ditton Thames Road, Ditton Hill Road, and many others. So many people were confused when I just wanted plain old Ditton Road, and every time someone knew where it was all they could tell me is that it was far... which after hours of walking wasn't the most comforting words to hear. Eventually, I made it back, still not sure how, but I did, and I was never more thankful to see the sign for Ditton Road.

Now we are at this past week.

On Monday, I booked my tickets to Poland! We plan on visiting Auschwitz and staying with a friends family that she has there at the beginning of Spring Break (which is 3 weeks long).

On Tuesday, I booked my tickets and hostel for Barcelona! I am extremely excited for this trip! I will also be traveling there over Spring Break.

Taylor Swift!!!!

On my way to Hogwarts!

On Wednesday, a couple friends and I decided to travel into London because we knew the BRIT Awards (music awards) were going on at the famous O2 arena and we thought we might be able to catch a glimpse of someone famous. Long story short, suddenly found ourselves standing by the red carpet and seeing countless famous people! We saw Ed Sheeran, FUN, Mumford & Sons, Muse, The Script, and many more including many British pop stars who we weren't familiar to us, but the teenage group of girls in front of us always would scream their names very loudly and we would just follow suit. And of course there was Taylor Swift. We saw her get out of a car across the carpet like every other person did but we were sad to not get a very good glimpse of her. A few minutes later we noticed everyone screaming at one end of the red carpet, and sure enough, Taylor Swift was making her way down autographing and taking pictures with whoever had their arm outstretched with a camera. While I was there, she was the only celebrity to walk down the red carpet and acknowledge everyone. It felt like a dream as she walked right by us smiling and autographing. She gave the girl in front of me a compliment and I swear the girl almost cried of happiness. As soon as she walked by us I looked at my phone and realized I had to leave to make it to the other side of London for a Harry Potter walk I had signed up for! I made it just in time and we were told to follow a lady who was frantically waving a wand above her head. She was quite funny and told us countless stories. We went to platform 9 3/4 and walked around places in London where the movie was filmed. I am very excited to watch the movies again and be able to pick out the places in the film that I have been! It was quite an exciting day and I fell into bed as soon as I got home, and questioned if it had all been a dream.

On Thursday I got my first grade back from a paper I had turned in. At first my heart completely stopped when I saw a 65 at the top of the paper. After having a minor heart attack I thankfully realized that a 65 is an A- here. And I quickly became much more fond of my grade.

Diagon Alley!

Brit Awards!

On Friday I was able to Skype with some of my best friends from school. Thank goodness for Skype and Facetime. It truly makes everything so much easier when with a click of your mouse, you can actually talk to someone and see them. It truly is a piece of technology I do not know what I would do without.

And now we are to this weekend.

The Great Hall

On Saturday we had yet another British Life & Culture field trip. This time the destination was Oxford! I can not imagine going to such a glorious school. There are 23 colleges within Oxford University alone! It was massive and absolutely gorgeous! The whole time I felt as if I was touring Hogwarts! We saw the library where the movie was filmed and Harry wore the invisible cloak, and the Great Hall which the one in Harry Potter was copied from. We saw students in suits and black cloaks and briefcases. We toured the cathedral which was breathtaking. As we walked in, there was a student orchestra rehearsing and they were of course, incredible. As we listened to the sound of violins we walked past the beautiful stained glass windows and monuments. It had us all dreaming of attending Oxford or Hogwarts on the whole trip back home.

Mummies at the British Museum

Today, a group of us went into London and visited two other museums. One was the Museum of London where we were hoping to attend an exhibit but once we got there, the line was 6-7 hours long so they were cutting off the line once we were there. We are hoping to go back on Tuesday to walk through what is known as the 'rain room', where apparently it rains, but when you walk through it, you do not get wet! After that plan failed, we headed to a gigantic conservatory held in the musem. It was gorgeous and it was nice to see a lot of trees, plants and flowers, especially when it was lightly snowing outside. After that we made our way to the British Museum where we toured the Egypt floor and saw countless mummies and even mummified cats!

All in all, it has been quite a busy, and surreal 5 weeks (wait, its already been 5 weeks?!)