gotta tell someone

Coming at you from the airport! We've been here for almost 2.5 hours and we're resorting to using pay-as-you-go internet!

We should be boarding around 10ish so I'll see everyone at home soon!

Everyone was in a bad mood today. I'm not sure if it was because of the rain or what...but there was tension buzzing in the air all day!

No one fought (only a little) but we're pretty much ok now :)

Today we went to Tate Modern Art and saw a lot of....interesting pieces of art. They were almost all though provoking and very interesting. My favorite was called "The Painter's Family" and it was amazing. I also liked "Film Star". They were both amazing to look at. We walked over the Millenium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral and coimbed 530+ steps to get to the top and see the entire city of London. It was amazing and invigorating and I felt like I was King Kong or something!

It was a pretty cool day and I love getting to see a new side of London every time we drive through. We were on a little bus today..but of course it was a Mercedes! Dad-the cement mixers are Mercedes over here!

I've been reading everything but the book I should be reading for school! But I like the one that you gave me Mom. It's been pretty entertaining on long bus rides.

It's bed time now! I've been learning how to play Phantom of the Opera on the piano so it'll be ringing through my head while I sleep tonight!

I'll try to put up some pictures tomorrow!

Links to my favorite pieces of art:

The Painter's Family
http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/N/N05/N05976_9.jpg

Film Star
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/artandthe60s/images/filmstar_l.jpg

(those are real books! so cool!)

Once again...I only have 15 minutes on the computer so I'll have to write fast.

We went to France yesterday and it was fabulous. Although it was a long drive it was totally worth it. One thing that was really unique was the chunnel! We just drove our bus into a railway car and then 20 minutes later we were in France!

The landscape of France is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I think the pouring rain and dreary black clouds almost made it even prettier.

We went to a WWI memorial and it was gorgeous. It had the best view I've ever seen and the mixture of hydrengas and crosses along with the enormous memorial tower was breathtaking.

After that we went to a trench and it was moving and haunting at the same time. Although we spent most of our time looking down to avoid the sheep poop on the ground, it was awesome.

After that we visited the memorial for the Canadian soldiers and I would have stayed there all day if a hurricane hadn't ensued.

The drive home was nice because I got a good nap! Plus delicious Chinese food for dinner!

Today we're going to the Tate Modern Art museum so I'll let you know how it goes!

I'm working on letting anonymous people comment but it won't work!

Keep reading!

:)

 It seems as if the weather knew what we were doing today so it rained for the first time. It's been almost eerie with the rain and the wind. We went to the Imperial War Museum today. If you don't know what that is...it's a museum that compiles all of the wars since World War I. It was extremely sad and I am completely thankful for everything I have. The pictures that are captured in that museum are breathtaking and heartbreaking at the same time. When we got back to ACS we watched a movie on WWI that was also very sad. After that we talked about the one thing that affected us the most at the museum. For me it was the clock that showed how many people would die every 2 minutes if we were always in war. After that we talked about that we closed our eyes and went to a place that made us feel completely safe. For me it was my mom's bed where I go when there is a thunder storm. So thank you mom for providing the ultimate safe place for me.

Love everyone at home!

Hopefully I'll get to talk more later!

There isn't much time again tonight to post an update because the computers are acting weird again.

We went to Wales today and that was really fun. But the trip was long so we got back a little late. We're going to eat dinner soon so everyone wants to use the computers. I've been writing in my journal and taking lots of pictures so hopefully there will be a huge update tonight or tomorrow.

Hope everyone is still reading even though nothing is happening!

talk soon :)

<----The Horn Room   Big Ben

<-----A bench in the garden (boring) <---"French" guys on the street :)

MORE PICTURES LATER!

2nd day in London is done and it was pretty fun. We went to Henry VIII's house and it was HUGE. The gardens are beautiful. We went in a maze in the garden and I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland. We had lunch on the lawn and then made our way to the city. We sat in traffic forever because apparently someone threw themselves under a bus. :( After that we finally made it to the Parliament building. We were going to climb Big Ben but then I found out it was 345 narrow spiral steps and someone height-wary shouldn't go. So I stayed with Cristal and Mrs. T.C. and walked around the city.

Now I'm going to tell you some interesting people we've met so far.

1. Tom-the chef I already told you a little bit about.
2. Ron- our psycho bus driver! He's an adorable old man but he drives like a maniac through London. And what's funny is that he smiles like he's having the best time, but he'll just lay down on the horn for 10 seconds. He's weird but pretty nice.
*SIDE NOTE: our bus is manual (explains jerky journal writing) and it had no air conditioning. It just blows air from outside throughout the bus. So it's 92 degrees outside and about 98 degrees in the bus. GROSS. *

3. Tim-the man that carries the machine gun outside of parliament. When Mrs. T.C., Cristal and I were in the lobby we talked to him and he was very nice. Then we saw him again on the street when he got off of work. He was waiting for a friend so we talked to him for a while. Long story short he got Mrs. T.C. some parliament coffee and us a book mark. He was so nice. Also we found out that he just "purchased a flat" in Dubai. Holding the gun must pay well. :)

So when we got back we had a dinner fit for the King and Queen. (I was the King and my friend Catherine was the queen) We had ~Yorkshire pudding and this delicious tough meat. We had a meat and spinach pie and broccoli. The catch was that all the "regular people" didn't get silverware. Only the King got a fork and spoon. (yay!) For dessert we had a Tudor version of Jell-O called "jelly". After that we had yet another Shakespearean study session and I had SO many lines! But it was a lot of fun. After that we played ultimate frisbee and I wasn't completely terrible at it! My team slaughtered the other team 10-1. After frisbee it was e-mail time and after that a much-needed shower. I made my way into Erika and Brenda's room and we laughed out butts off. I should have gone back into the room before 12:15 but I had a lot of fun. Erika and I made up an awesome skit about Wal-mart that might be a little stereo-typical but I almost cried I was laughing so hard.

Erika also had a World War with the moth, mosquito and "earwig" colonies. She swears after she killed one of their "compadres" they're coming to kill her.

Well we're going to the Globe today so I'll put some pictures up and then I have to go get dressed!! :)

The situation here is that for some reason, there are only three computers working at the time, so when I get computer time it’s minimal and there are always 11 other people waiting behind me. I finally got smart and moved to a computer without internet so I’m just going to type up my blog updates and then post them later…that wasn’t really necessary information, but there it is.

First of all…the weather! Emma told me that if it got up to 85 degrees the British would be dropping like flies…It’s 93! All of the Texans were laughing in the British people’s face and even us from Charlotte thought it wasn’t that bad with a breeze. But the Tower of London prison chamber was a little bit toasty. We took an amazing boat ride right through the middle of London and basically saw everything. The tour guide was really funny and made it completely enjoyable!

We did scenes from As You Like It today. For those of you who don’t know…that’s a Shakespearean play. It was actually really fun. My acting side came out today and we did a pretty good job!

Here’s an awesome story for you…our Drama leader Mrs. T.C.’s first name is Rosalind and you wanna know why? Her parents were playing Rosalind and Adam in As You Like It on the stage (their characters fall in love and get married) and they fell in love and got engaged ON THE STAGE!! So they named their daughter Rosalind…awww ☺

Ok Mom…this part is for you!

The food is awesome. We have this adorable and amazing chef that makes food for us every morning and every night. We just had Mexican food! I tried curry yesterday and I almost threw up. He made this dish with chicken, apricots, and grapes covered in a neon yellow curry sauce. I tried it…and it was horrible!!! But I’m trying a lot of new foods. Tonight I had fried pineapple covered in sugar and whipped cream. Yumm ☺

Well I bought tons of post cards today so I’ll be writing those tonight and maybe you’ll get them soon!

We’re going to see Big Ben tomorrow so I’ll have some pictures up if I can get some computer time!

(that was yesterday so I'll have to put up some pictures of today tomorrow..we just played an INTENSE game of ultimate frisbee so I'm tired!)

I'm going to call the parents now!

Everyone reading...leave a comment! :)

 There's no time for an update right now because there are only three working computers at the moment...so I'm just going to put up some pictures! The last one isn't rotated but I don't know exactly how to work the Mac so you'll just have to turn your head! 
Thanks dad for the camera...because it's taking awesome pictures!!

Enjoy and please leave a comment!

Erika might have some that I don't so look at her blog too!

el_in_england 

It's been fun today! We started off early with Breakfast and then had some study sessions. I tried desperately not to fall asleep but I did anyway. We have to memorize these poems and I might just bomb them, but it's ok. I think we have another week to memorize them. Crossing my fingers!

We went to Winston Churchill's modest 3-story GIGANTIC house today. It was really cool and he was an AWESOME painter! I saw a million things in the gift shop for Grandma and Mom but they were all either too expensive or too big. I almost spent £250 on this AWESOME wooden bowl that I thought Mom and Grandma could share custody of but obviously too expensive and also a little to large for the suitcase. But I ended up getting Daddy a little trinket that reminded me of him. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect gift for Mackenzie but we're going to London tomorrow so there will probably be something there. I found out we're going to the British version of Broadway!! yessssssss.

Some basic facts you people at home might be wondering....My roommate is really nice. She's from Texas and her name is Erica. haha with a "C" not a "K". She's really nice and we get along pretty well. 

Everyone else is really nice too. The others are from Texas, Washington D.C. and Switzerland! And, of course, NORTH CAROLINA. :)

I had someone ask "are those your real eyes?"

wow.

We did Shakespearean Insults today.

Here's one for you to think about:
"Your virginity is like one of our French withered pears. It looks ill and eats drily."

snap.



So that's pretty much it for now. I took some awesome pictures and Erika is going to teach me how to put them up when we have more time so check back later! 

Dinner Time!