This past weekend I went on an overnight trip to York in northern England through the social program. York is a small town that is surrounded by medieval city walls which was

very interesting to see. Our group went to see the York Minster which was an absolute gorgeous building. I love how when our group goes on bus tours places they will take us to historic places and then we get a lot of free time as well to explore on our own. The York Minster was greatly known for their collection of stained glass. They had a choir singing songs in the main part of the Minster. I also had the opportunity to light a candle and next to all of the candles lit by visitors there was a sign that read, “Lighting a candle is a prayer. Response to beauty and goodness. Thought for others. Offering of oneself. Your candle burns as a sign to those who pass by.” I loved the meaning behind it and that I got to be apart of that there. After wandering around and taking photos myself and a few other girls explored the town a bit before we had to meet back at the coach. The next day we went to see Fountains Abbey which is Britain’s largest ruin and most complete abbey. It

was beautiful and I enjoyed exploring the abbey at our own pace. It was located in a national park so there was also a royal water garden which was nice to go walk around on a beautiful day. Our last stop was to Hardwick hall where we got to walk through the Elizabethan home of Bess of Hardwick. The house was surrounded by gardens and acres of green so we walked around outside as well. I ended my visit with a delicious scone with clotted cream and jam which was a something I had been looking forward to my whole trip there so I was glad I got to try one!

On Tuesday the social program took us to see Wicked which was a wonderful show. However, I did come to the realization that day thought that very few places in England or maybe just abroad have air conditioning. It’s going really hot here in London the past couple weeks to so that’s been an adjustment. Inside that theatre was so hot and I probably would have been able to enjoy the play more if I wasn’t distracted by that. My mom says I’m spoiled in the US with our air conditioning, but I’m okay with that! I don’t know how they do it here. I did learn in my photography class today though that Britain is obsessed with the weather because it is impossible to predict the weather here. It is unpredictable, but this July has been the hottest July here in 275 years. I don’t know how true that statement is exactly but one of my professors told me that and I was shocked. The weather has been in it’s high 80’s but there is hardly any wind here so that makes it worse.

Wednesday, my photography class took us on a class visit to the V&A museum and National History Museum to see photography exhibits. Each one was fascinated to see other photographers works and look deeper into their meaning. In the National History Museum exhibit there were photos taken in America of the Grand Canyon and such so it was kind of exciting to see pictures taking in the U.S. part of an exhibit here.

I had a good week in my photography class! I started my second project and I chose to focus on the history of tea throughout London. So I am photographing different aspects of tea in different tea rooms. There is a lot of history behind it here and I am excited to learn about all of its background so I can pair that with my photos. I began taking some photos this week and a couple have them turned out well so I am looking forward to completing my series next week!

I can’t believe I’m approaching only 1 more week left in London. I am going on a very exciting trip this weekend, my train actually leaves in 2 hours but I am going to leave where I am going a surprise! I look forward to telling you all about my adventure in a completely different culture when I get back!

I’ll begin this post with my day trip to Brighton! This was my first day trip that wasn’t through the social program, it was planned by some of the girls I live with and we went on our own! Brighton is on the South coast of England so we got to spend some time at the

beach! However, this beach was different than most, it had no sand, it was a rock beach. We walked down the pier where there were rides, games, and lots of food. We did not decide to eat there though we asked some locals where a good place was to try some fish and chips and went there! They were delicious I will add too! We spent most of day shopping and exploring the town and it was interesting to learn that everything in this town closes pretty early. We had tell 8:40pm tell our coach bus would take us back to London and a lot of places close in Brighton between 5pm and 7pm.  That was okay though because we went

and sat in the grass around the Royal Pavilion which was gorgeous as the sun began to set. This trip also made me realize that such a big part in getting to know different cultures, even if it’s only travelling within the country, is trying different kinds of food! I discovered during dinner that not everybody knows what ranch is because I asked for some and the waiter had no idea what I was talking about, he suggested sour cream but I told him no thank you.

On Sunday we had the session 2 meet and greet so that all the new students that just arrived could begin getting to know the students that have already been here for session 1. It’s been cool to meet some of the new people but I’m still missing some of those who left. The start of a new session also means the start of a new class though and I am really enjoying my class this session. I am taking photographing the city: London, it is a way more relaxed class compared to the class I took last session but I am really liking learning more about how to take better photos. We went on two walks this week during class where the teacher has a route mapped out for us and as a class we go on a walk with some stops so we have the opportunity to take lots of photos. Our first day we had a project assigned to take photos of a peer in the class, one portrait shot and one shot directed by them. Our second day we began our pilot project which is where we can takea series of photos of whatever we want in London. I chose to focus on women’s

accessories mainly on their hands, like their bracelets and rings. It’s been intimidating going up to strangers explaining how I am a photography student and asking if I take a picture of their accessories but I’m getting better at it! The picture to the left was the first photo I took and still stands as my favorite one. We have our review on Monday so I can hear some constructive criticism on the photos I have taken thus far. I  look forward to improving my photos during the course of this class.

Some new things I have learned culturally within this city is how reserved the people in London. Everybody I went up and asked to take their photo were all caught off guard that a stranger was coming up and talking to them. Once a conversation has begun they have always been really nice but they will usually never be the one to initiate the conversation. Also, they spell words here differently then we do like favorite is spelled favourite over here. I found that interesting as well!

On Tuesday I went on a East end art walking tour through the social program and this was  great because I was able to see more of London outside of the central part. I got to see

amazing pieces of artwork throughout the east end and I think it is great that it doesn’t get ruined by anybody. I took a lot of photos of all the artwork I got to see but this photo on the left was one of my favorite pieces throughout the tour. This piece was done just on the side of a building.

Anyways, this week was a good week! Although my time here is dwindling down I still got good things coming! I officially booked my trip this week for Paris! I’m going with two other girls in the program from July 18th-21st. I’m proud of myself for fully taking advantage of my time here and all amazing opportunities this trip has brought me.

A very overdue update on week 3, but all week it was crazy to think that after this week I’m already half way through my time here!

On Saturday June 29th the social program took us on a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath! Stonehenge was great and lucky for us we got to visit on a beautiful day! There were lots

of people but we were able to make it through the queue pretty quickly and then we were given free time to make our way around! Next we went to visit Bath which was this gorgeous little town about an hour away from Stonehenge. Here we had lunch, got to visit the Roman Baths and then were given a chance to explore the city. Baths was full of people and things going on, it was a great place to visit. After getting lunch at a little place called la baguette a group of us went to walk around and we came across a market. We got to tour the Roman baths

and at the end you were able to try the water which is suppose to be full of healthy minerals but the water was warm and tasted really gross. After the tour, Chelsea and I went to find ice cream and then walked down to the river where we found a park to relax for awhile. While sitting there, some British guys came up and chatted with us for awhile. It was funny because we were teaching them things about America, and they were from London so we asked them what was something we had to do their before we left from a locals point of view. They called themselves “horrible Londoners” because they didn’t know about any of the things to do there. We ended up teaching them about the Tower of London because we had went there last week so it was a funny to be able to have a conversation with people from here since we don’t get to very often.

Sunday Chelsea and I went to the Sea Life Aquarium in South bank! It’s a close walk away from where we are staying so it was a good day! After we treated ourself to a nice dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant and because it is starting to finally get nice here we were able to sit outside! Lastly, I went with a group of people to an arcade that is also in South Bank where we rode bumper cars, played games, and bowled! There bowling here is a little different then back at home because you play like you do other arcade games in a sense. You have to put a certain amount of pound coins in to play, there are no bowling shoes, and the lanes are a shorter than ours. It was a lot of fun though!

I have approached the last week of my session 1 course, online entertainment management, and overall I have enjoyed it. I created an idea for a mobile application and created a presentation for it, and wrote an academic report on back channeling using microblogging.  Although it was a challenge learning the structure for which they do things here I got to look deeper into our social media and why we do the things we do so I look back on it being a positive learning experience.

We end session 1 with a boat party along the Thames river that was put on by the school Thursday night and it was our last time to spend time and say goodbye to those who were only here for session 1. This also happened to be fourth of July for us Americans! So after a group of us went to this diner for milkshakes and it was decorated with american flags and red white and blue balloons with stars on them. I found it interesting how you could find places around London that celebrate fourth of July but it was a cool experience!

The top left picture are the group of girls that I’ve connected with and the top right picture i most everybody in our big group that live! Obviously this isn’t everybody in the International Summer school program but it’s our little family here that we formed in the beginning because we all live in International house! But Chelsea, the bottom picture, has by far been the girl I have grown closest with over these past 3 weeks and now she is gone because she was only here for session 1. I miss her so much, we had so much in common and made so many great memories together that it was hard to see her leave. Until next time though, she is from Pittsburgh but we plan on meeting up with each other within the next year!

 Hello Wales! We started our bus tour at this outdoor Roman amphitheatre which is the only fully excavated amphitheatre in Britain. It was amazing to begin seeing the country side of the UK and to explore throughout this very large ruin. Also at this stop we got to see the Roman Barracks ancient monument and stop at a Roman Legionary Museum. The museum was very interesting and because our group was only able to stay for a short period of time the owner allowed all of us to go into the outside part of the museum where they had people re-enacting what it was like back in the time of the Romans. Our next stop was to Caerphilly Castle, this is considered to be one of the

greatest medieval castles of Western Europe. This castle had not one but two motes and we got a chance to explore all of inside. We even got to witness the start of wedding occurring there! We stayed the night in Swansea and began day two at the Big Pit Mining Museum. This was an amazing experience, I got a tour of an actual mine 300 hundred feet underground. We put our hard hats on with our head lights attached to them and we were ready to go! Our tour guide was funny too which made the tour that much more enjoyable. I learned how they ventilate fresh air down in the mine, and how they used to have boys as young as six years old working down in the mines. At one part of the tour, our tour guide had us all of our lights off to experience true darkness as the little boys would when their candle got blown out. We got to see where they kept all of the horses and learned the origin of the word S.H.I.T.! It meant sit high in transit when lifting all of the horses manure out of the mine. Near the end our tour guide asked where we were visiting from and we told him London and he said, “London’s a dumb. The best part about London is the M4 on its way to Wales!” Our last stop was to Tintern Abbey which was a gorgeous ruin. We were able to explore around the abbey for awhile and before headed back our tour guide bought us all the best welsh cakes to try which were actually pretty good! I was thrown off by it looking like a pancake but tasting like a scone. Overall I had a great time in Wales, the welsh were very friendly but now it is time to say goodbye and head back to London.

Amongst this trip I have began adventuring around in London with a few friends I’ve made here! We found this amazing street food festival that is near the London eye on the weekends so that is something we look forward to now for their great authentic food! Also, I have began visiting some of the great royal parks here in London. I have been to the

Queen’s Rose garden and part of Kensington Gardens. Kensington Gardens is so big but I was able to see the peter pan statue and the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial which is where we are on the left! I plan to go back there again though to see Kensington Palace.

Other than that I have been doing well and my time here is going by much faster! I have made a list of places I still want to go and I look forward to being able to check some of them off this next week!

I have to say my first week here was an overwhelming and emotional one. I have my good days and my bad ones but my experience here has been far from what I expected it to be like.  The picture below is the very first picture I took since I landed in London. Trying to adapt to the city and new culture with people you do not know was a lot for me

to take in which caused me to miss home a lot and not want to be here.  The hardest part for me is feeling like I’m alone even though I have a ton of support, walking to and from class in this huge city makes me feel like I’m alone. The dorm living here is also a lot different then how I imagined it being like from the information I received about it. All of the students who came here through CISabroad were randomly placed in the hall I am in and so it isn’t as community based as I thought it would be. Also, I found on University of Westminster’s website that they rent their rooms commercially during the summer months.  I’ve met two girls who only stayed here for ten days, a girl who will be here for two years, and I’ve seen people of all ages which was all unexpected.  My hall is located outside of central London but is close to the London eye! There is also this authentic street food festival near the eye on the weekends which is absolutely delicious!

My main form of transportation that I have had to learn would be what they call the tube!

The tube is an underground train system and is the second largest in the world! Learning about this the first day was very intimidating and I was terrified of it because I was not used to using public transportation much at home. I had to get my oyster card which is what they use here to easily use the tube and buses but there are several ways to load money onto them. Everybody has to scan their card in order to get in and out of all train stations. After a week of practice I have become much more comfortable with it now and can even blend in with the locals by having to cram myself on when it’s busy! An interesting thing I’ve observed that has really stuck out is how few trash cans they have around the city but yet it’s pretty clean everywhere!  Every time I find myself with garbage because I had to eat to eat on the go or something I always find myself holding on to it for awhile before I come across a trash can.

Lastly, this week I had orientation at University of Westminster and began my class! This session I am taking Online Entertainment Management and I like my professor, she is pretty relaxed and understands that we stay busy outside of class exploring around! My class has 11 student in it including two local students surprisingly.

University of Westminster has four separate campuses divided by areas of study. Regent campus is the photo to the left and that is where we had orientation.  My class is at Cavendish campus this session which is a little bit of a walk from here but I will have my session 2 class at Regent campus. It has been interesting to learn about their how they do things because it is so different compared to how things are done in the states. Our entire grade in the class is made up of two modules, a in-module assessment and end-of-module assessment. Our assessments are graded by receiving marks and each gets marked three times. At the start I was very nervous for my class because I heard how many Americans will fail their classes here because of how different it is and not being disciplined enough but I feel much better now that my class has begun and I know my professor. I think I will enjoy it and do just fine! Everybody has class Monday-Thursday from 10:0am-1:00pm and on Thursdays my class gets to go on visits, which is what they call field trips. This Thursday we went to the Science Museum to see Google’s web lab exhibit which I actually really enjoyed. We got to participate in and observe four different experiments and a learned a lot from it as well.

Although this first week was extremely long and rough for me I have tried hard to stay strong and keep positive. I have been keeping in touch with my family which is nice because I miss them a lot but I have also gotten to know quite a bit of people here so far which keeps me distracted most of the time. I’m going on a trip to Wales this weekend through the social program at University of Westminster which should be fun so although rough, I still am trying to make the most of my time here!