Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Day 108

Almost close to the end! This morning I woke up early, grabbed breakfast for the first time this week, then headed to the British Library. I think I appreciated all the manuscripts a lot more, and there was even an exhibit on Alice and Wonderland that was specially going on during this time.  After that I went back to Richmond, and just had enough time to pack a little more before we had to meet for our walking tour. I missed both lunch and dinner, but we walked down to the Tube to get to Central London to meet our tour guide for a walk around Central London to see the Christmas Lights. It was pretty to see, but we had seen most of them already, but he told us a little bit about the history of them and why some decorations represented different things. It was really long though and total our trip was more than 4 hours. The coolest, coolest part of the night was that while we were walking around we ran into the Star Wars Premier. There was the red carpet, people dressed up, lightsabers everywhere, and I have a picture of Harrison Ford. Pretty awesome day. Afterwards we grabbed dinner at Tesco, the only place open at 10:30, and went back to campus. Tomorrow we are saying goodbye to Big Ben and central London.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Day 106

Saturday is coming really quickly. I slept in a lot today, after having stayed up to finally watch Pitch Perfect 2 and catch up on the Big Bang Theory. We all grabbed lunch together, then went to the Pound Store where I got some different kind of candy for Nat and Jonny to have. After we walking there since none of us wanted to use up our Oyster Cards, it was pretty much dinner time. They were serving 'tomato soup', so all of us got some, but soon realized it was literally tomato sauce. To put on pasta. Like from a jar. Anyways, after dinner we dressed up and met Hamakawa to walk to Richmond Theater to see Cinderella.  Now, he did not warn us at all that this was supposed to be a comedic version of Cinderella at all. The song "Celebration" started playing, and all of us knew this was going to be interesting. Some jokes were kind of funny, like mentioning the VW scandal, some we didn't understand because we're not from here, and some were just weird. They sang "Blurred Lines", an Ed Sheeran song, "Ghostbusters" and "Uptown Funk", and that's just some of the songs. Oh and they sang "All About that Bass". In Cinderella. It was really weird. I'm not sure if I liked it or hated it, to be honest. I liked the music, but I'm not sure I liked it for Cinderella. The interesting thing about the play though was that Hayley Mills was the fairy godmother and she was in Disney's The Parent Trap. It was really weird because I was just listening to a song from the Parent Trap on my phone yesterday at the gym and knew that name sounded familiar and then I found out why. The theater was nice and small, though, but no one missed on not seeing it. Ash definitely would have hated it.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Day 105

Well, I just got done taking my Accounting final. It was pretty hard, but I don't think I did terrible.  The rest of my grades for this semester are out, and I got a 4.0 GPA. Accounting only counts as a pass or fail class, so that grade doesn't count overall. Today I went to the gym, took a shower, ate lunch, then continued to clean the room.  All my pictures are off the walls and my shelves are bare. It's almost depressing. We studied again for Accounting, and finished our final reflection essay that we had to do for tomorrow. Finally, there is no more work to be done! Hamakawa planned a lot of things for us to do this week.  Tomorrow night we are seeing Cinderella, and tomorrow morning the five of us are going to see Big Ben for the last time and spend our time out. Wednesday we have a Christmas lights walking tour, Thursday a group reflection meeting, and Friday we are going to Hyde Park again. Five more days and I'll be home!

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Day 104

This morning was pretty relaxed. I woke up at 10, took a shower, grabbed brunch with everyone at 11:30, then headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I still swear that we visited it before, but it was absolutely huge with six floors. A lot of it was pieces of furniture and dresses from Napoleon's time and Louis XIV, but there was also Renaissance and Medieval stuff and artifacts from Asia and Africa as well. After the museum I grabbed a hot apple cider at Starbucks for a guilty pleasure, then went back to Richmond. I made it just in time for dinner pretty much, then after dinner we studied kind of for accounting and started cleaning out our stuff. Professor Hamakawa got the five of us tickets to see Cinderella on Richmond Stage which is super awesome and I'm excited. He's also taking us to see Hyde Park at Christmas again, which will be nice.  Tomorrow is my final exam, but not until 6:30 at night so I think I'll just do wash and start packing or something tomorrow morning.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Day 103

Today was our trip to Cambridge.  It started off pretty rough in the morning. We woke up early, and walked to the tube station, but the next tube didn't leave for another 25 minutes for some reason, and we did not plan on that happening. We grabbed breakfast in the Tube station, got on the Tube, then got off near the Kensington Campus. We then followed some other girls but they walked in the other direction and we ended up running to catch the bus. The bus ride was about two hours, and we got to Cambridge at around 11:30. We then took a walking tour which was basically a college tour. It was just the outside of different colleges that make up Cambridge University. We then had about an hour before our next activity, so we grabbed Subway and we went shopping. We then went punting, which is the popular thing to do in Cambridge.  It's pretty much like taking a gondola ride except in a flatter and wider boat. It was for 45 minutes and it was super fun but really cold. After that we got back on the bus and it took so long to get back. We then grabbed dinner in Richmond and got back to our campus at 8. Tomorrow I think I'm going to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Day 101-102

Sorry I forgot to post yesterday, I've been getting forgetful. Yesterday was a really good day, though.  It was our last Western New England class and we submitted our last homework. For lunch there was actual turkey to be put on sandwiches, and not just sliced turkey. After lunch I then noticed I had a package! This was the package Mom and Dad sent me in October and I just got now. I also got a camera charger which I ordered September 1, never got it, and Amazon resent it to me. So now I have 2 camera chargers. The Easy Mac was much needed, though, and I think the package came at the perfect time. Yesterday we didn't do much except walk into town and then walked by the River Thames. It's really getting to us that we are only here for about a week more. We then went back and celebrated our last class with a cake-brownie thing we split at Tesco. This morning we all went to Portobello Market because Dana was getting her friend something that she saw there earlier in the year. After that we ran into our teacher in town so we sat and talked with him and his wife. We saw them again at dinner and I really think he might think we're following him. Dinner seemed so good at first- pasta and chicken noodle soup. However, both were extremely spicy. They put jalapenos in the soup for some reason so literally all of us were dying and didn't end up eating anything because we were crying. After supper we started to unpack our backpacks and started studying for our Accounting final on Monday. Tomorrow Emelia and I have our day trip to Cambridge and we have to leave here at about 7:45 which will not be fun.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Day 100

It's officially Day 100! Today was the last homework we had for our WNE class, and it was mostly a review day for our Accounting final that's on Monday. We walked to town for the fun of it, and really didn't do much besides that. We just did homework and started studying for accounting. We had a meeting for our trip to Cambridge on Saturday. Tonight I'm staying up until 2 to watch the mid season finale of Supernatural because it is literally going to be the best.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Day 99

Today was a pretty fun day. I had eggs for breakfast, in case anyone was wondering or thought differently. During class I just finished the homework, but luckily there's only two more days left. So far I'm looking at a perfect GPA, so hopefully that holds true. After class the five of us decided to do some Christmas shopping at Camden Market and to get lunch there instead of those sandwiches since we didn't have Accounting. I got some souvenirs for Tam and Tien, and finally got my Cereal Killer Cafe meal. I got a bowl of cereal called Marshmallow Submarine which had a whole Twinkie at the bottom (hence submarine) and had a mixture of random cereals that I never heard of. I also got a hot chocolate that was literally the best thing I have ever eaten. It was the most beautiful work of art. So worth it. Anyways, we hung out there for a while, then made it back to Richmond. None of us really felt like eating supper, so we just finished homework and watched Christmas movies instead.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Day 98

Today was another boring day. We met our teacher's wife at breakfast, and she's adorable. She's this little Polish lady who loves to hug everyone and is so nice. Class was pretty boring though, and to be honest all of us were playing Words with Friends for the first half of the class when he just drones on. One girl in our group has missed 5 classes so far, so our teacher was upset about that when we only have 12 classes together. I got an A on my Accounting Quiz and this week we are just reviewing for the final on Monday. After class I did laundry and we all worked on our statistic homework until dinner.  After dinner we started studying for Accounting, and then pretty much did nothing but went to bed early since we all went to bed late yesterday.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Day 97

Today was a really lazy day. Dana and I went to the gym together this morning, then I took a shower and grabbed brunch with everyone. We then hunkered down and went to do all the homework we had to do. We have 5 page essay do the last week, and had two essays due tomorrow, so we got most of them out of the way. We then all sat and watched Christmas movies together for the rest of the day. Pretty unexciting day, but it was really fun and relaxed.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Day 96

Today was nothing else besides Harry Potter! I slept in to about ten, took a shower and waited for everyone else to wake up before heading down to brunch. After brunch we started on some school work, and then I left around 2:30 to find my way to Leavensden for the Harry Potter Tour. Emelia had gone there before but had taken a really complicated route that took her 3 hours. Luckily, I just took the Overground straight there with only one change, which took about an hour and a half. At the last stop, there was a bus for 2 pounds that would shuttle you to the Warner Brother Studios, and they played Harry Potter movies on the bus. It was pretty packed at the Studios because the sets and everything were all decorated for Christmas. You first watch this short film that's narrated by all the actors then they lead you through the actual Great Hall. The Studios was where the movies were actually filmed, so literally this place had everything. After the Great Hall it was a self-guided tour and took about 3 hours to see everything. There were demonstrations that showed how different effects were made and even had animatronics that moved from the films. But seriously, everything from the movies were there, costumes, wigs, masks, props, sets, the Hogwarts Express, etc. It was so amazing. The full sets for the Burrow, Gryffindor Common Room, Potions Room, Dumbledore's Office, Hagrid's Hut, and the Great Hall were all there. The coolest thing was a huge, huge scale model of Hogwarts that took up and entire room. Halfway through the tour there was a stop to get Butterbeer (which is only sold at 3 locations but Emelia and I can't figure out the 3rd one). After getting Butterbeer there was an outside section to see Number 4 Privet Drive, the Knight Bus, the Ford Anglia, and other outdoor props. It was seriously amazing. I even witnessed a proposal in the Great Hall. It was also really funny to listen to parents who were dragged by their kids pretend to know Harry Potter and getting all the information wrong. After the tour was over, I got a Hufflepuff long-sleeved shirt, and grabbed dinner to go at the cafe there since it was about 8:30. I had no trouble getting back, and I'm really glad I figured out a way to get there and actually went. Ashleigh should be jealous right now.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Day 95

Slept in this morning! I woke up at 9, which is sleeping in for here, took a shower then grabbed breakfast right before it closed at 10. I then caught up on Supernatural, where imaginary creatures were killing each other. I waited for Emelia to wake up, and then they grabbed lunch and we went out. Our first stop was back to Victoria's Secret because Dana and Emelia had free money to use there from the last time they went. After that we grabbed some good smoothies and headed to Sky Gardens. Mackenzie had gotten us reservations to this place, because it was free, and we went right in. Basically it's this huge skyscraper in the middle of central London with 35 floors. On the 35th floor is a garden with a restaurant and a balcony that people can visit and take pictures. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but we went at 4 so it was the perfect time to see the sunset and all the lights of London go on. We could see the London Eye, Tower Bridge, and pretty much everything else, which was really cool. We then unfortunately made it back to Richmond in time for dinner. My fingers are doing okay, still a little numb but I'm typing okay. Tomorrow is my trip to Harry Potter Studios!

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Day 93-94

Well I'm finally back from Manchester!
On Wednesday, we got up at 7 to make a 10:00 train in Euston. We got breakfast at the train station, then slept for the two hours.  When we got to the train station, we then walked about ten minutes to our hotel. Mackenzie and I shared a hotel room, and the hotel room looked weirdly like a hospital, very basic and clean with no wallpaper or paint or any pictures. The shower also completely flooded the bathroom anytime you took a shower because the floor was completely flat so the water wasn't leading to the drain. After we dropped our stuff in the hotel, we took a bus to the company Kalibrate. Basically, the company is run by a WNE alumni. The company sells a program to gas stations that allows the gas stations to see how they should price their fuel. We got there and they served us lunch, but it was just quarter sandwiches that weren't really good and chips and tea. But they gave us little goodie bags with food and soda made in Manchester, so we ate those. We also got a zip drive and pens and keychains saying Kalibrate. We then sat for about 3-4 hours listening to presentations. The company itself is kind of interesting with exactly what they do so it wasn't as bad as it sounds.  The last presenter was the man who actually created the formula that makes the predictions so he tried to show all the math out but it was impossible for us to follow so that one was pretty hard to sit through. It was actually pretty fun though. We then were given some time to walk to the Christmas Markets before dinner.  However, it was raining so we didn't stay there that long. Instead, we just walked to the restaurant called the Dog Bowl where we had already placed our order for the 3 course meal beforehand. Meanwhile, a girl in our group somehow got lost, and the president of WNE and our teacher seemed not to care. The president less so than our teacher. Her friends also literally did not even try looking for her and instead just starting ordering beer at the restaurant, which was annoying. Our group was more concerned for her and looked for her even though we aren't even friends. Eventually we found her, but it was just rude how her actual friends just gave up on her.  Supper was pretty bad, though. I was looking forward to the 3 course meal, but all the food was super, super spicy, and the dessert was terrible, so we all felt bad because none of us ate it. Afterwards we went bowling at the restaurant because they had lanes in the back, and that was pretty fun. We split up into teams, and the president had left at this point but our teacher played with us. We each played two rounds, and I learned that without bumpers I am terrible. The first round I didn't even score a 50. Wow. After bowling we went back to the bus stop, but we waited for about 30 minutes until we realized the buses had stopped running. The hotel wasn't that far away, so we started leading the way after turning maps on, but then the teacher decided to not trust us and called taxis. He didn't call enough taxis for 15 people though, so of course all the guys jumped in, and Mackenzie, Dana, Tatianna, and I, in our heels, were the ones to walk back. When we got to the hotel we had to buy dinner there because we were starving after not eating anything pretty much all day.

This morning we skipped breakfast and headed straight back to Kalibrate. This time was pretty pointless there but we got tea and sat down for more lectures. These lectures went through a day in the life of their clients and how to use the technology, but the two men who presented basically said the same thing. We then took a group picture, and headed back to the Christmas Markets. We grabbed lunch at the markets, then walked to meet the man for our walking tour. None of us at this point really wanted to do the walking tour because we had all our backpacks but we had to. The tour was called Crime in Manchester, which sounded interesting, but it turned out to be just really nasty and gruesome, so I wasn't really a fan. We didn't get to see any architecture or historical places and just walked to different random places to stop and talk. We did see where John Dalton (?) lived who, if I got that name right, created the Atomic Theory. He then walked us back to the train station and we took the ride back. We got back to Richmond too late to eat dinner at school, so I bought a sandwich from Paul's, then had to stop at Tesco for medical tape. Somehow my fingers got slammed in the door yesterday, but I'm fine, so don't worry. Three of them hurt, two have cuts on them, and one is swollen, but my friends patched me up and yesterday the hotel gave me frozen rice to put on them. I can move them so they're not broken, so, like I said, I'm fine. Just needed to bandage them up to prevent them from hurting more. Love you all~~

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Day 91-92

Sorry I forgot to post yesterday. I went to the gym and told myself I would write it after but I fell asleep. Anyways, yesterday wasn't that interesting. Our class was boring, I got an A on the Accounting Quiz that I didn't even know what it was on, and did more homework. I went to the gym, ate terrible cafeteria food and all my strawberries, and that's about it.  Today President Caprio from Western New England came to our class and just sat and watched the class. Of course he came on the day where the wifi didn't work at all, so our class was a real struggle because we need wifi to do everything. Our homework today took a long time, but afterwards we took a walk just down to town and back. I also bought tickets to the Harry Potter Tour for Saturday so that should be really fun. Tomorrow we are leaving for Manchester at 9:40, and we are getting each meal paid for and we are going bowling tomorrow night. The only downside is that we have to dress up, and then go straight to bowling, so we'll stand out.  It also means we have to get up a lot earlier. But we should be back on Thursday, but it will make this week go by super quick. It's already December 1! I'll be home soon~