Just a Casual Afternoon Tea

My first cup of tea!

It's funny to me how something that seems so simple, every day, casual, normal to one person can mean SO much to someone else.  This weekend, I experienced a right of passage in England...I had my first cup of tea. I'm not talking a McAlester's sweet iced tea or a passion fruit green tea with boba from Tea Cafe.  This was a proper British cup of afternoon tea in all its glory.

Our afternoon tea...SO lovely

It was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. It was absolutely fabulous and I am so thankful to Calum for taking us to do that.  Maybe if I am feeling brave, I will try some fish and chips sometime soon.  I think I kind of have to sometime before I leave, despite how unappealing it looks. Maybe I will get lucky and actually love it like I did the tea!

Calum's hometown of Clevedon

I suppose I should back track a little bit and mention why I got such a treat.  This past weekend, our UK adventures continued and we traveled out to Bristol. Calum, one of our friends from Windsor 5.1, lives out there and was nice enough to take us to his hometown and show us around.

Pier in Clevedon...Kind of spooky in all the fog!

Calum's hometown of Clevedon is a beautiful Victorian seaside down.  The restaurant where we had our tea was cute little cafe right next to the pier.  We walked all over town and even went to the highest point in Clevedon.  It was a really cloudy day, so we really couldn't see much.  But what we could see was absolutely gorgeous.

The next day, we made the short trip to Bristol where we did a bunch of sightseeing.  Probably the coolest thing we saw was the Clifton Suspension Bridge. It crosses over the Avon Gorge and leads right into the city of Bristol. Like everything I have seen here...it was beautiful.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

We got our picture with Nemo!

We also went to the Bristol Aquarium where we might have been the oldest kids there but it was totally worth it.  We saw some really cool fish, had to fight some little kids for our picture with Nemo, and saw Sharks 3D where I attempted to dodge the jellyfish coming out of the screen.  

Bristol University building

We had a nice walk around Bristol to get some lunch and see the Bristol Cathderal, City Council, Bristol University, and Millennium Square. All of which were really awesome.  And Calum showed us where he went to school before coming to university.  I still can't believe that people go to what we would call "high school" in such absolutely gorgeous buildings.

SS Great Britain

One of my other favorite places we went in Bristol was the the SS Great Britain. The SS Great Britain is the world's first ocean liner that is now stationed in Bristol Harbor.  We learned so much about the fascinating history and got to walk around all sides of the ship.  We even got to walk underneath the ship which was really cool, because I don't think that I have honestly ever seen the underside of a boat before! (Well, besides a ski boat or something small like that of course.)  The SS Great Britain traveled over 1,000,000 miles in her 127 year life!

The mannequins looked so real and were incredibly creepy

We definitely turned the SS Great Britain into a different kind of adventure than intended.  On the lower decks of the boat, there were these mannequins that were super lifelike.  Nathan and Calum knew how much they creeped me out so they thought it would be a good idea to hide among them.  Just as I was telling Stacey how one of the "sleeping" mannequins really spooked me, Calum jumped out of the darkness and I let out one of the most honest and loud screams I have ever had.  I think every single person around us turned to look at me. It was incredibly embarrassing but made for a good laugh and a great story to bring back with us.

Bristol fun!

Overall, Bristol was an awesome trip.  We are still in the process of planning some more trips around the UK which I am really looking forward to.  I honestly feel like there is just not enough time here! This life just keeps getting better.

Happy One Month Anniversary! Oh Wait...Not You...

This past weekend, I celebrated one of the best one month anniversaries ever....One month of being in England!!  I really can't believe that a whole month has already flown by.  I wish time would just stop for a bit and let me make this trip last as long as I possibly can.

Maybe if I just hide out here, they will let me stay :)

To celebrate our first month of being here, we decided to take another trip to London.  There is just so much to do and see that you definitely can't do it in a day.  I'm sure we are still going to take a few trips back there.  It is such an amazing place.  And this time Ed, Lilidh, and Lilidh's lovely boyfriend Seb came with us so it was really great to have people from our hall along for all the fun.

Seb and Ed waiting for our train to arrive!

Our first stop on this trip was to St. Paul's Cathedral.  I think we intended on just looking around for about an hour or so, but we ended up spending the entire morning there.  Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside so it's just something you will have to take my word about...it is absolutely stunning.  It is one of those places that you walk into and it takes your breath away.

St. Paul's Cathedral from the outside

Personally, walking around inside the cathedral really hit home to me about what an awesome God we have.  St Paul's Cathedral is said to be "a lasting monument to the glory of God and a symbol of the hope, resilience, and strength of the city of London" and it proved to fall nothing short of just that.

My favorite picture of the day

As if being inside the cathedral wasn't enough, we discovered that we could actually climb up into the dome and then all the way to the top and outside to get some of the most amazing views of London.  It was such a beautiful sunny day and you could see pretty much the entire city.  I think it was at that moment that I truly fell in love with this city.

Beautiful London on a beautiful day :)

After our lunch in the park outside of the cathedral (which to me, was an absolute nightmare because of the disgusting amount of pigeons that were around), we made our way over to the London Natural History Museum.  At one of his five or six stops for a snack that day, Ed got some frozen yogurt...that he decided to eat with chopsticks...Good idea until it started melting...

Somehow Stacey captured this ridiculous act
Eating frozen yogurt with chopsticks

The museum was lots of fun but we were all so exhausted at this point, that we sat down like old people whenever possible.  Ed filled our brains with so many random facts about dinosaurs and all sorts of different things, that I am still wondering where he stores them all!

The London Natural History Museum
It was so beautiful...and completely free!

Our day ended with a trip to Harrod's and dinner in Covent Garden again.  Harrod's was quite the experience. It was a department store filled with everything that you could ever possibly want, but could never afford.  Stacey and I enjoyed going through the "fine jewelry" department were each piece of bling had it's own glass case.  It was uh-maze-ing.

The escalator inside Harrod's...
We couldn't take pictures of the actual stuff, that's just not classy haha

So needless to say, we celebrated our first month in style.  I still can't even believe this is real.  I think maybe somebody should pinch me soon to make sure it's not a dream :)

<3 LOVE <3

Please Let Us In...We Just Want to Meet the QUEEN!!!

The red phone booths of London...They are real!! :)

We finally made a trip out to LONDON!!! Considering we are only a 25 minute train ride away from the heart of downtown, I am really surprised it took us three weeks to make a trip out there. But it was well worth the wait!
I can't even begin to explain the excitement I had on the train ride into London.  I just knew that it was going to be a great day and I was going to fall in love with the amazing city that I have been hearing all about...and I most certainly did.

Kayley and I outside Buckingham Palace

Once we arrived in London, we hopped on a double decker bus to get to Buckingham Palace.  After getting a little turned around a couple times...we made it just in time to see the very end of the changing of the guards.  All of my dreams of trying to make the guards laugh quickly went out the door when I saw how far away we were from them. Nonetheless, we spent the morning admiring the beauty of Buckingham Palace and everything that came along with it..the gates, the guards, the parks, everything.

Buckingham Palace :)

After a beautiful stroll and a few family pictures later...we decided to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe London.  It was so great to see all of the memorabilia they had, especially the Beatles stuff! We enjoyed our meal of ranch dressing with a side of food and then continued on in our London adventure.

Crazy kids having lunch at Hard Rock Cafe London

There was only one bad thing about London...the birds! Now I know that many people enjoy strolling through the park feeding the ducks and admiring all of the beautiful variety of birds, but let me tell you something.  I am terrified of birds.  So our long stroll through St. James Park was definitely not my cup of tea.

Absolutely terrified

As uncomfortable as it was, I survived the park and we made it to Parliament Sqaure, home of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.  There were so many people out and about.  It was so busy and exciting, I absolutely loved it.  Apparently it was New Zealand's independence day, so there were tons of crazy people in ridiculous costumes running around and yelling things that I couldn't quite understand.  It was really a site to see.

Big Ben! So proud of my photography skills :)

Somehow, we lucked into getting a tour of Parliament, which they only do on Saturdays during the day. I have been to Washington DC a few times and seen plenty of government buildings in my life, so I really wasn't expecting much. But boy was I wrong! Inside Parliament was on of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen in my entire life.  Everything was so intricately made and full of history.  We even got to see the Queen's throne! I wish so badly that we were allowed to take pictures, but I know I will never forget the beauty of that place.  If you ever get a chance to go to London, definitely get a tour inside Parliament, it is totally worth it.

All of us in front of Big Ben...even prettier at night!

We spent most of the time that night just admiring the many sites of London along the River Thames and took a gazillion pictures of Big Ben and Parliament, which as so pretty at night time!
We finished off our adventure in London by having dinner in Covent Garden, a big shopping and entertainment center.  While we waited for our table to be ready, we watched some of the street performers and saw an absolutely adorable proposal!

OU all over the world! Even London!!

Our dinner was traditional English food and absolutely delicious.  I guess I should probably bite my tongue about dissing it earlier because my dinner was fantastic!
Although our night got cut a little short by some anxious boys wanting to get back to the university, it was really a wonderful day in London and I can't wait to go back!

Dinner at Sophie's Steakhouse in Covent Garden

Time is going by so strangely here...the relationships that I have with people here make me feel like I have been here forever because I am so close to them. But at the same time, the weeks are just flying by. I can't believe we have already been here for three weeks!! Slow down please, time!!

Please let us in...we just want to meet the QUEEN!!

Cheers, Mate!

Okay so I know I have said this before...but English English and American English are so ridiculously far from being the same language.  You would think that it is more or less the same thing, but after being here for three weeks now, I have come to realize that it definitely is not. After many heated debates about our strange emphasis on certain syllables and their lack of ability to pronounce the letter R...it all boils down to the fact that there is football and there is soccer...English and American.  And I'm okay with that :)

Playing our first game of beer pong in England...it has definitely caught on quickly!

One thing there is no debate over though is our American national sport that we introduced to our new British friends this week...Beer Pong. I am quite ashamed to admit that our all American team, Stacey and Nathan, as well as our 1.5 American team, me and Ed...got our butts kicked by Calum and Steve, the English newbies.  But hey, it must have just been beginners' luck!

Me, Stacey, and Nathan in front of Christ Church in Oxford

We also went out on our first weekend excursion last Saturday.  Stacey, Nathan, and I went to the beautiful town of Oxford. Although it was so bitterly cold, we really loved just walking all around town and seeing all of the different university buildings.  We braved the cold and went up to the top of Carfax Tower right in the heart of downtown.  It is amazing the views that we saw from up there (There is a video of it on my Facebook).  It was so strange to think that so many of the buildings were there before America even thought of being a country.

Nathan is going to kill me for this picture, but I absolutely love it.
And the random creeper on the side...No, we have no idea who he is! Haha

Writing this blog right now makes me realize that far too much has been happening in the past week, I really should write on here more often.  In the past week I have watched an American football game, gone to a gorgeous riverside town called Henley on Thames, celebrated a crazy fun friend's birthday, completely finished a course here, and so much more. I really do need to do a much better job of keeping up to date the nights we had out, the weekends we spent traveling, the classes we made it through, and the cute English boys we meet...or maybe just one in particular. :)

Me and Ed on a night out! :)

The epic snow storm that hit both Chicago and Norman does make me miss home a bit and wish I could experience all the snow days and fun with everyone.  Especially since I have been able to Skype with so many friends lately. But then I stop for a minute and think, "Wait, I am in England right now having the time of my life." And I then I don't feel so bad anymore. :)