My Learning Week in Review... I apologise in advance

I apologise in advance because this is going to be a long post, BUT I was gone for 7 days, so I'm allowed!

Monday March 12:
My flight left from Birmingham International Airport at 4:30 p.m. and arrived in Edinburgh at 5:40 p.m. I caught the 12:31 train to Birmingham International Airport from Worcester Forgate Street (which is right where I am). I actually had to change at Birmingham New Street, but was pretty easy. I arrived at the airport at about 1:40 p.m. at which time I proceceded to the check in counter and checked in. By the time I got done doing that it was 2 p.m. I still had 2 hours to kill before I could get board the freaking plane! So I wandered around for a little while, but I soon got bored and decided it might be time for a book. So I saw that I could get a book for half off and went for it. Sat around and read and realized by the time it was time to board that I had almost completed the book. So much for having it to read on the plane, but that's okay! We took off on time and without any problems as we were making our descent through the clouds I got my first glance of Scotland. It was beautiful, so green and the hills were massive! I wanted to take a picture, but couldn't get my camera out and really just tried to take it all in. It was one of the most beautiful things I think I've seen. So pretty. At any rate, we landed and were right on time. Unfortunately Katy's class had run late and it's about a 45 min-60 min drive to Edinburgh from Stirling. So she had me sit tight and was coming as fast as she could. When we finally got together it was great! I mean not seeing her in 2 years, it's been so long! We hopped back in the car and headed back to Stirling, catching up on everything and reminiscing about Cedar Point. We got back to her flat and I got to meet Emma, who is here best friend over here in Scotland and that's who she constantly talked about at CP, so it was good to put a face to a name and then she cooked dinner, which was crazy because at CP she didn't cook, so to see her cook now was just a sight! It was quite good though chicken with a sauce and vegetables. After just relaxing and watching a bit of TV, we went out and I got to meet several of her uni friends, it was a really nice time.

Tuesday March 13:
We woke up around 1 or so and then lounged around for a bit before Katy and I headed out to Edinburgh. Before heading out to Edinburgh though Katy took me around a few places in Stirling, like her uni for instance which is absolutely gorgeous. They have a golf course on campus because of the golf team, several different pitchs that when the uni students aren't practicing on them, professional teams come and practice on them. So it was really cool to see how spread out it was and how nice it was. After looking around for a bit we headed out and were on the road, about an hour later we arrived at Katy's house where I met her mum and dad. Both were extremely nice, though they had to head out for a few hours after we got there, they had fixed us dinner, well Katy's dad had fixed chicken and potatoes with broccoli. It was really good. So Katy and I hung out at the house and had some food then when her mum got back she took me out for a night tour of Edinburgh. It was pretty cool actually. I only got one photo from the night and it's from the castle, but it turned out pretty well, so I can't complain! On our way back we got some really good ice cream from a shop that Katy knew about and they put chocolate in their ice cream, so I followed suit and it really wasn't half bad! We got back early and turned in pretty early, because we wanted to get an early start in the morning.

Wednesday March 14:
Our wake up call was at 9 a.m. and we each got showers and got dressed. Katy's mum took us out on a tour of the town and let me see a few things in the daylight. She also showed me one of the huge british battle ships, which I'll post a photo of as well. Once done looking at the ship we went up this huge hill and there's a point that you can walk too as well which is the highest in the area and you can see the entire town and across the river to the other city as well. It was really pretty and I got a couple of shots, if I get the opportunity to go back I really want to climb it and take photos, I think those would be some great photos. At any rate, after we were done with that, she dropped us off and Katy and I went on a tour bus and sat up on the top in the cold, lol. But it was great and I got some pretty good photos. We got off at the National Museum of Scotland and went in to see an exhibit called 20 years of Pixar. It was really cool to see how a character first starts off, because more times than not, it does not look like the finished project. So it was really interesting and informative. After we looked around that exhibit, we walked around for a bit longer and then headed off to get something to eat and then caught the tour bus again to finish the tour of the town. After we were done with the tour, we walked around and went shopping for a bit. She took me to where she works which is Harvey Nichols and it's a really posh place, but I was able to get some makeup off of her discount, which she was nice enough to use on both of us, lol. We were going to go on an underground ghost walk, but missed the last time to go, because we forgot to pick up a time sheet... so we just headed to the candy bar for a nice dinner and drinks. Then it was back to the flat, because I had a 7 a.m. wake up call so I could catch my flight out.

Thursday March 15:
Wake up call came at 7 a.m. and we were ready to go by 7:20 a.m. We thought this would be okay, because the airport wasn't that far away from Katy's house, well unfortunately we got stuck in traffic and I got to the check in desk at 8 a.m. and I was quite worried that I wouldn't be allowed on the plane and that would not be a good thing, but all was good and I made it and actually my flight was supposed to leave at 8:40 a.m. but we didn't end up boarding until 8:45 a.m. and didn't take off until almost 9 a.m. So I arrived back in Birmingham at 10:05 which was 15 minutes later than we were supposed to be and by the time I got off the plane it was 10:10 and poor Belinda had been waiting for me, for over an hour, but she caught the early train in because she was afraid of missing me, lol. So we head up the escalator and take the tram over to the train station buy our tickets for London and headed off. It was about an hour and 40 minute journey to London and then we got off at London Euston and then bought our 7 day pass for the underground because you can't buy a 5 day one. So we got that hopped on the underground, got to Victoria and attempted to find the hotel that we had booked. Well we did and we decided that we would NOT be staying in that hotel, and walked back to Victoria, this time without our luggage, went to the booth entitled lastminute.com and the guy ended up finding us a really nice hotel and even put a 24 hour full refundable cancellation policy on it, in case we didn't like it. But we did and it ended up being great, so much better than the other place. At any rate, after we dropped our stuff off at our new place, we decided it was going to be junk food for lunch and so that's what we did, we had KFC and Krispy Kreme. Haha, it was great and it made us feel better after the crazy ordeal we had just gone through. We decided it was time to get out of Victoria and Belinda was quite adamant about that, so I suggested Piccadily Circus, since it has a fair amount to look at on the street. So off we headed, this was about 4 p.m. in the afternoon. So we get there and we're walking around and just hanging out and we see this big screen being put up with shields around it and blockades going up and a huge sign over the cinema for 300. We go around and look at the screen and it's showing the trailer to the movie and says the premiere is going to be at 6:30 p.m. I said we should stick around... of course neither of us have our coats on and we're just wearing sweaters and we still have to wait for over an hour, but we decide, yeah lets do it. So we get right along the gate and just stand there and then we see the media start to show up.. we were right across from the media and it was great Reuters, CNN International and several others, Belinda made a list. Then we watched as they rolled out the red carpet and soon the cars started pulling up and the stars started getting out. So Belinda and I were front row for the London Premiere of 300. It was soooo cool. There were the paparazzi as well at the other end of the carpet, so there were cameras everywhere. I've got loads of photos from that as well. Was really quite the event. After that exhilariting thrill and everybody went in, they started giving away the posters that were on the blockades. I asked one of the police officers that had been around Belinda and I during the event if he could grab us one, because she was going back to Australia and I was going back to the states and sure enough he did! So we now have this poster that at the end of the semester we have to figure out how we're going to share it! We went back to the hotel room, dropped our stuff off and then came back and had dinner in town and wandered for a bit longer then decided to call it a night, at which point we headed back to our room and put on the TV and then headed to bed early.

Friday March 16:
Wake up call was at 7 a.m. when both of our alarms went off, Belinda showered first, so I could sleep for just a bit longer and then I got in. We headed down to breakfast about 8 a.m. and it was soo good. We sat ourselves, then somebody came out and gave us a glass of orange juice and asked if we wanted tea or coffee (no I really haven't gotten into tea yet) and then asked if we wanted a full english breakfast, so of course we each got coffee, then said yes to the full english breakfast which included an egg, sausage, bacon, baked beans and toast. It was actually quite yummy. We came back upstairs and got our handbags together and then headed out for the day, it was the big day of course the London Eye day. We figured we would just hang out and sight see around the london eye until we actually had to be there, so we got off at the Waterloo station and wandered towards the eye and there it was. It was so huge, I mean you see it in the distance and you think oh yeah that's pretty big, I mean we can see that and Big Ben and Westminster from our window, but when you're standing right under it and realising you're going to be going up in it soon... it takes on a completely different meaning. It was at this point I kind of began my freak out session of "oh great my two favorite things, ferris wheels and heights!" We got the discovery tour, which meant that we got a guide in our car with us. Before I go any farther, I should probably explain that the cars are enclosed and can hold up to 25 people and you can also walk around in the capsule. We met at 12:15 and headed over to the eye at about 12:25 at which point we went through a security check point and got our tickets scanned. We finally got on it and I admit, when it first started I freaked out, but the higher we got the less afraid I became and the cooler everything looked, I mean you could see everything! It was the most incredible thing ever and I took so many photos. It was such a gorgeous, clear day that when we were at our peak we could see the Eiffel Tower. It was quite an exhilarating experience and one that I don't think I will soon forget, especially since we bought the photo that was taken of us as we were coming down. After the Eye, we grabbed some lunch at a noodle buffet still coming down from our London Eye high and then headed off to the London Aquarium, where Belinda saw her first shark and stingray. Not only did she get to see a stingray, BUT she got to pet one as well, because they had a petting area for the stingrays, it was pretty cool. The only other place I know of that does that is Sea World, haha. It was a good experience though and we got loads of photos of the fish. After leaving the aquarium, we went to the gift shop where some things were bought for other people and Belinda and I got matching Stingrays. After leaving the shop we headed over the bridge to Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster and took some photos and eventually came back to the room to drop off bags and went to Oxford Circus where we shopped and had a late dinner.

Saturday March 17:
Saint Patricks Day! We had heard of a parade that was going to be going on and I really wanted to see it.. so again we had our alarms set, only this time for 8 a.m. because we decided that we could miss out on breakfast one day. The parade didn't start until noon and I wasn't exactly sure where the street was that it started from, but I knew where it ended, so we decided that we would go to Harrods and see what we could find. We went and ended up getting a few things, ironically enough nothing for ourselves, and then headed over to Trafalgar Square. Well once we realised nothing was really happening we decided to look in the art musuem and then once we realised that there was nothing going on until the next day we decided to go to Camden Market and ended up spending loads of time there in the market and the shops along the market street. I ended up with a new coat that is lighter than my heavy coat, but still goes over my sweaters. I was a happy girl and Belinda got a few things as well. So we went back to the hotel, yay for the underground, dropped off our bags, went back to Camden Market and had dinner at the Ice Wharf and it was really quite a nice place and the food was excellent, in honour of St. Patricks Day we had a Green Lagoon. So while not beer, it was a green drink. Then we headed back to the underground, but heard Irish music come from the Princess of Wales Bar, so we had to check it out and headed in there watched the Irish do a jig, which was pretty cool, had a drink and then headed back via underground.

Sunday March 18:
Honestly was the last day in London so you would think that I would have loads to say, but unfortunately the weather was snowy and rainy so we were lazy the entire day and made it as far as Victoria station for food and then ran back in the rain back to our warm beds.

Monday March 19:
Our wake up call was at 7 a.m. again and we quickly hopped in the shower and went down to breakfast although it was only eggs and toast for this time and eggs, bacon and toast for Belinda. We had a quick breakfast and checked out of the hotel and then got the underground to Paddington, bought a train ticket from Paddington station to Worcester Forgate Street and finally made it back to the room.

After 7 days of exploring and traveling, I'm sure I've left something out. I managed to take 200 photos, but I won't post them all, as it's far to many, but I'll post quite a bit. This week, I'll be doing 3 essays that are due in April, because they're due right after spring break and I don't want them hanging over my head, while I'm away. So I'll be working on essays and planning my next big trip from March 30-April 13. Hope to have it worked out by the end of the week, then on March 29, I get to schedule for classes. The next 2 weeks, will be pretty chill, except that this Saturday I'm going to Warwick castle and Stratford-on-Avon. So that should be good, other than that, I plan on leaving my room for as little as possible! Hope you enjoyed the extremely long update, again sorry about that and enjoy the photos!