Seminole Sisters' Adventures

Monday morning we returned to our normal class days. We got breakfast in the basement then headed to lecture. Class got out at 1pm so we went back to the room to eat lunch and rest. This was much needed after our busy weekend in Liverpool.

Tuesday was a looooong day. We went to The National Gallery with our class from 9am to 12pm. We looked at many different paintings and found the connections to our personality. Our assignment was to find art we didn’t like and art that we did like. We were supposed to use our personality to explain why we liked or didn’t like the art. The gallery was very large. We saw many different styles of paintings by many different artists. It was very cool. After we were done exploring the gallery we explored the square. The gallery is located in Trafalgar Square. It was a beautiful place with a lot of street art (paintings, performers, and musicians), fountains, and a statue. We decided to climb on the statue of the lions. This turned out to be more difficult than we thought. It took two people to push one person up because it was so high and so slippery. I was scared to jump down, but it was totally worth it. After our morning session, we met up in our classroom for lecture from 2pm to 5:30pm. We were all very tired, but the class was interesting. The thing that got us through the long lecture was the fact that it was pizza night. The PAs (program assistants) served Papa John’s pizza and sodas. We ended up taking a whole pizza back to the flat. At the flat we had some friends over and we all watched the live action of Beauty and the Beast (and of course it was a sing-along). After the movie we all went to bed!

Today (Wednesday) was excursion day to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Before we left for the excursion the flatmates and I went out to breakfast at Pomme de Pain, right next door to our flat. We all had delicious crepes and fresh pressed apple juice. Then we all boarded the iconic double decker red buses and headed to the cathedral. We went on a tour of the church where we learned about the process of building it and the famous monuments inside. Before this church there was a smaller church, but the Great Fire of London burned it down. The cathedral there now was built by Christopher Wren. He decided to put a dome on the top of the church, the first Anglican church to have a dome. Good thing he did because the top of the dome provides a beautiful view of the city of London. Both the Cathedral and the view were incredible. The details inside the church were stunning along with the ceiling work and stained glass windows. We were there for a part of service and partook in a moment of silence which was really cool. After touring the beautiful inside, we were able to climb to the top of the dome where the view was just as beautiful. However, we had to climb up 528 steps to get there. From the top we could see the Tower Bridge, the London Eye, and the beautiful modern London skyline. It was such a fun day! We were all so tired when we got home we made lunch, worked on homework, ate dinner, and relaxed. Tomorrow will be another exciting day as we are going to the British Museum. -SYD & SAM

Today was another class day, but instead of lecture we went to the Science Museum. Before heading to the Museum, we went to the basement for breakfast with the rest of our classmates. From there we all walked to the tube station. Once at the Science Museum we went to the exhibit called, “Who am I?” to complete an activity that will later tie into a paper we have to write. The exhibit addressed a lot of things relating to psychology, and specifically the class we are taking here. We looked at why people are afraid of certain things, individual genetic makeup, memory, hand prints, and personalities. It was a very neat exhibit. After we were dismissed, we decided to stay at the museum to explore the other 4 floors. It was a maze of a museum, but we saw some pretty cool exhibits. Some of our favorites being the space exhibit, the future exhibit, the flying exhibit, and the materials exhibit. After exploring the rest of the museum for a bit, we hopped back on the tube to head back to the flats.

Once home, we made lunch, worked on our paper, and relaxed for a while. At 5:30 we went back to the basement to attend a presentation on “Brexit” and were served cheese, other snack foods, and wine. The presentation explained the future of the UK since it is scheduled to leave the EU (they have been trying for some time to leave so who knows when it will actually happen). We then came home to pack for our trip to Liverpool this weekend. Overall, this was the most chill day we have had here, but it was still a lot of fun! -SYD & SAM

Today we had a lazy morning starting around 10am. We lounged around with our flatmates while making plans for the day. We took 3 different tube lines (and surprisingly we didn’t get lost even without a map) to visit the Natural History Museum to explore the Moon exhibit there. Little did we know the building was massive, consisting of dozens of exhibits and several floors. We ended up wandering around the museum for over 3 hours, and still didn’t look at every exhibit. We saw exhibits about dinosaur, amphibian, and marine animal fossils, planets, human evolution, stones, birds, bugs, jewels, and the moon. Every exhibit was super interesting and hands-on. The building itself was beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.

After the museum, we were all exhausted so we decided to come back to the flat and make chicken quesadillas for dinner. About an hour after dinner and resting our feet we headed out for a play at the Globe Theatre (not the true globe, but a replica). The play we saw was called The Merry Wives of Windsor. Unfortunately, we had standing tickets in the opening of the theatre. We were very close to the stage (so close that one of the actors spit his beer on us) but, it was pouring rain and about 55 degrees. On top of our feet being sore, our clothes and shoes were soaked. We appreciated the beauty of the theatre but, we were not able to follow the play very well. Shakespearian’s we are not. We are happy to have had the experience of going to the Globe Theatre, however.

Today was another busy and fun filled day. Tomorrow is our first day of class. We have class from 9:30am to 1:00pm. Thankfully, they give us breakfast! After class we plan to head to some shops to look for rain boots as it has rained here nearly everyday. Tomorrow will not be as exciting as our last few days but it will be a nice break from all the hustle and bustle of the city! -SYD & SAM

Today we set our alarms for 9:30am and had a relaxing morning. We headed out around 11am and had no place in mind to go. We just walked down a street that we had never been on before and we discovered a more “modern” side of London. It is really cool to see a 21st century building right next to 17th century buildings.

While wandering around, we stopped at a pub, called The Rising Sun, for lunch. Let me tell you, this was some of the best food we have ever had. We had mac n cheese and lasagna. Now before you make fun of us for not venturing out in the food department, it was way different than the pasta you can get in the States. The pub vibes, service, and food were so great that we want to go back.

After eating at the pub, I (being Sydney) had to stop at Superdrug, comparable to a CVS or Walgreens, for allergy medication. I was not expecting to have allergies here but they are pretty bad. I bought a familiar brand; however, they use different spelling and they have braille on the box (so cool!). We then stopped at Sainsbury’s to pick up more groceries for dinner and lunches. Update: we found deli meat! We also found bite-size brownies that are absolutely incredible. After these pit-stops we went to the room to meet up with some of our flatmates.

We, along with the flatmates went on a panoramic bus tour of the city. I (Samantha) was so excited to find out the bus had a foot rest that pulled down from the seat so my feet could actually touch the floor! We got to see St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and drove across the London Bridge. The architecture was so beautiful and different from the States. The streets looked like they were out of a movie set.

In the evening we took the Tube for the first time. It was an easier process than we thought. Although, I (again, being Sydney) almost did not get on in time. There was a beeping noise we heard so we all rushed on and I was in the back and got stuck between the doors. Thankfully I made it on. The reason we took the tube was to go to the Sky Garden. When we got there they told us we needed tickets, so that plan flopped. However, it was not a waste because we got to explore a nearly empty part of London called the Financial district. The buildings there seemed like something from a futuristic or dystopian world.

The last stops of the night were to a pub called the Flying Horse and McDonald’s. The pub was very cute and had a basement we all sat in while drinking our London Pride beer. After, we stopped at the McDonald’s next door to see if it tasted similar. We can confirm that the fries are indeed just as good as they are in the States.

Today was a long day. Writing all of this seems like we had a week packed into one day. It was super fun exploring more of London, trying food and drinks, and traveling with our flatmates. -SYD & SAM

Travel and Arrival (06/06-06/07)

We watched a bunch of movies on the plane and they served some good food. Only downside was that our seats were close to the restrooms (or washrooms as the Brits call it). It was a long eight hours and a long three hour bus ride to our flat (AKA apartment). Once we checked in we had our first meal in London at Pret, a cute, little and delicious sandwich shop just a few blocks from our flat. After being awake for over 24 hours all we wanted to do was sleep, but we had to beat the jet-lag and attend the welcome reception. Then we got settled in our rooms, took a shower, and fell asleep the minute our heads hit our pillows.

First day- (06/08)

Much too early after a full day of travel (8:00), our alarm went off to head to orientation. There, we had breakfast of British pastries, fruit, and coffee. Our orientation lasted for 7 hours with an hour break for lunch. We used this hour to venture into Soho and try Nando’s, a restaurant we have been wanting to try for years. We had chicken pitas and chips (fries). After orientation, we went to Covent Garden to fix the UK SIM cards for our phones. We got a little bit lost in both Soho and Covent Garden because we are still working on learning our way around the city. Getting lost has its perks because we found cute little shops and restaurants we now want to try throughout our stay. On the way back to the flat, we stopped to pick up groceries for dinner at Tesco, a popular grocery store in the UK. This is something we will be doing frequently because most of the food is fresh and goes bad a lot quicker than in the States (good thing there are about 3 grocery stores within walking distance from the flat). Even after an international flight, going through customs, being in a new country, moving into our rooms, and meeting new people, we found that grocery shopping was the most stressful. Between the different brands, pricing, and tons of people, it was very overwhelming. We spent half the time converting the price to dollars to make sure we were getting a good deal and the other half of the time looking for simple things like sliced deli meat. We discovered deli meat is not as common as it is in the States, so we changed our plans from sandwiches to spaghetti. Once back in our flat, our next task was to figure out how to use the stove to cook said spaghetti. This proved to be another challenge because it kept turning off and lowering the temperature. However, once it was finally cooked it felt nice to just sit in our quiet living room and eat dinner. After eating dinner we soon realized that we didn’t have containers to store our food. We walked down the block to go to another grocery store called Sainsbury’s to pick up containers. Unfortunately, one container was 9 Pounds so we bought cling film instead. On our journey to the store we heard music and followed the sound. We found that the music was coming from some street performers called The Street Cats! We spent about 10 minutes listening to them play. They had a whole production with amps, audio systems, drums, bass, and a guitar. This is not something you would typically see in the states. We concluded the night with some wine and terrible reality TV with our flatmates. Our first day here taught us a great deal about the city and we are falling love with it. -SYD & SAM