This seems like a good idea!

Today was a good day. Something about getting to see the sun makes me want to experience new things, be a better (and more productive me), and apparently start a blog. After much urging from family and friends to record my study abroad experience and several failed attempts to keep a journal, I will try my best to document this incredible opportunity here.

First I want to say how thankful and truly lucky I am to be here. I went into this experience without preparation, knowledge or serious expectations for living and studying (ok to be fair a loose term) abroad. What I have seen and experienced thus far has opened my eyes to the incredible variation of lifestyle around the world. If I could talk to myself before I left I would say GET EXCITED - LIFE IS GOING TO GET SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING!

Alright here is the sparknotes version of what happened my first two months here. I arrived in London in January with the coat on my back and my letter of acceptance (as my luggage was lost), and thankfully met Jenny at the airport (among hundreds of wonderful qualities Jenny has saved me so many times on this trip!). We arrived at Queen Mary, set up our rooms, ate a supposedly traditional but perfectly dreadful british meal and luckily later that night met a great group of kids I have been lucky to spend my time with here. Fast forward past the frustration of having no means of communication, having to fight the university registration system and no luggage (ok just for two days I will let it go), the first couple weeks were a magical time of exploring the greatest tourist sites of London, realizing there was little class and even less work to do, and drinking. I learned that you have to stand on the right side of escalators, you are supposed to eat mayo on your chips (fries), and that I attend uni not college. I was able to see so much of London and I will try and post lots of pictures but what is amazing is that I feel like I have not even scratched the surface of possible things to experience in London.

Jenny, Julie and me on the Thames in front of Tower Bridge

BC kids having tea!

Jenny, Laura and me in the Docklands

Big Ben

St. Paul's Cathedral

The girls in front of Buckingham Palace

Also during this time I got to travel to Oxford, Amsterdam and Prague. I really enjoyed Oxford and its collegiate atmosphere. The city was small but charming and our tour guide had me convinced it was magical after he talked about secret underground passageways. I spent my 21st birthday in Amsterdam and I mean how many people can say they did that. There we saw the Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum, the red light district, did the Heineken experience, went to an authentic coffee shop and went on a pancake cruise (exactly what it sounds like). We then moved on to Prague, a city that is deceivingly hard to describe. After seeing Prague castle we visited the Jewish Museum, where contained in one synagogue were the drawings of children from a czech ghetto during WWII. I have to say I have been struck by the overwhelming presence of WWII in Europe. Its not something I think about back home in the US, but here it is impossible to ignore. Historic in the daytime, Prague was even more impressive at night. Besides being fairytale like, Prague had some of the coolest bars I have been to abroad. One night we went to a bar in an underground cave, another night to a bar that served specialty beers, and another night we went on a pub crawl that ended at a 5 story club.

Jenny, Charlie and me on a tour in Oxford in front of the Bridge of Sighs

Jenny and me in Amsterdam

One of the many views of the canals in Amsterdam

Everyone in front of the IAmAmsterdam sign

Everyone in front of the John Lennon Wall in Prague

The lock gate from the bachelorette in Prague - put on a lock for luck in love!

View of Prague at night

Church in Prague castle

The girls in Prague 

Spectacular view of Prague from the castle

Another pretty view of Prague

On return from this trip I actually had to (sort of) buckle down and be a student. The university system here is so bizarre compared to home in that I spent more time during the week out of class than in it and our final grade comes down to one or two assessments. Oh and now I have two months left to take 3 finals. I leave for Gdansk Poland tomorrow and then in a week, France and Switzerland. Here is to more adventures to come!!