Last days of tech london

This will bet hardest blog to write. I sit in my bed back home in Ruston about to write this blog about the amazing last two days of our time in London. It's hard to look back at all the fun times we had when I'm stuck back in middle- of-nowhere Ruston. Anyways here goes.
The last night that we were allowed to go out was the night after our trip to Canterbury.  Joie and I met up with Jordan ( if you recall we met him on the train to Dublin) and some of his friends. We went out to a bar and club called the zoo, which we thought according to Jordan's friend, was going to have live animals. Sadly this was not the case, but was ok since we still had an amazing time. It as fun to go out with people that weren't in our group. It gave us a completely different experience than going out with people in our group. Th next day we arrived to our final day in London.  We took a tour of St. Paul's cathedral with Brian, who was an amazing tour guide, and climbed to the top of St. Paul's to see the amazing view of London. I honestly wouldn't have had it end any other way. It was a perfect end to our group trips.
After leaving St. Paul's, Joie and I went on our way to check the last things we wanted to see off of our list. We made our way to Trafalgar Square and took pictures on the lions and had a nice lunch out on the fountains. Then we made out way into the national gallery to see the Van Gough exhibit. Wt made out way through the whole of the national gallery before finally coming to Van Gough's works. The first thing you saw was his famous painting of the sunflowers in a vase. It was amazing to be to be in front of a work of art that I have seen so many images of.  As I stood there admiring the painting I heard little sobs from behind me. Poor Joie was so overwhelmed that she had started to cry. Then it hit me. This was the last time that we'd be together exploring this amazing city. We then left the exhibit to go downstairs to see some of Michelanglo's unfinished paintings, which of course were amazing. We then left and headed back to Nido to do the thing we had most dreaded. Packing. Packing in itself wasn't hard, but clearing out closets and cabinets knowing we were never coming back was hard, especially for Joie and I who had been looking at possibilities of staying longer. For us London was a place that we fit in. A place, unlike America, where we felt at home and comfortable. After about two hours of packing we made it down to the farewell dinner which had amazing food. I honestly liked it better than the welcome dinner. After that mc, Sara, Joie, and I went to see Big Ben one last time. It was an amazing sight. We also walked along the bridge and looked over the Thames at the London eye.  We would've stayed longer if there had there not been sketchy people in Shrek masks making weird whistling noises at us.
I would just like to thank Dr Rufleth and Dr Hankins for giving us this amazing oppurtunity to see the world in a different light. I had an amazing time in London and would go back right now if I could afford it haha. But until then I will look back at all the memories I have made along with the new friends I have found with great fondness. I will miss all of y'all in the coming months! Long live king Lou!!!

Error with my computer

Just wanted to give y'all a heads up about my missing pictures. My computer has busted on me so the pictures will be added as soon as I get them all up on this one that I'm borrowing right now. Sorry for the delays!

The pilgrimage to Canterbury

Our last and final field trip on our amazing trip over the pond was to Canterbury cathedral. We took a short train over, and when we arrived, stepped out into the small town of Canterbury. You wouldn't know by just looking at the town and it's size that people made pilgrimages there. It's a quaint, small town with mostly tour groups wondering around making the same journey as you. When we arrived we met up with our tour guide, a women who was the kind of grandmother you expected to have as a child, who was very sweet and quiet. She led us around the small town showing us different aspects of the place as well as the cathedral. The cathedral its self was stunning. The way the architect designed and executed the building was spectacular.  Now, just a heads up, this was not my first time visiting this cathedral.  That being said, when we walked in, I was still in as much awe as I had been the first time. Nothing compares to the beauty that the cathedral holds within it.  We toured the cathedral and had time for lunch to roam around the town before meeting up to go into the Canterbury tales. Now this is where it got interesting and a bit scary. Upon walking into the Canterbury tales it is obvious that it is a tourist trap for people who want something more to do with the Canterbury tales other than the cathedral itself.  There are many scary figures in the tour that talk to you and weird smells that make your head hurt. Needless to say, my group and I had fun, but were also quite horrified. I think Chaucer would be rolling in his grave if he ever walked through that. I fell like his tales deserve much more respect than some crappy attraction that scares even people in their 20's. All in all I wish we had done Canterbury as one of our first field trips and left places like Stratford or Oxford for towards the end since they were much more enjoyable.

As the sun sets over Dublin

For the long weekend a group of 11 of us made the journey to Dublin Ireland. We took the train Thursday night, which was a very interesting experience to say the least.  We then hopped on a ferry which took us from holyhead Wales to Dublin.  The journey was long and tiresome but we made a few friends, who also happened to be from the states, along the way.  When we first landed in Dublin the sun was just starting to come up over the harbor.  It was really something spectacular to behold.  We then took a bus to the hostel where we dropped off our luggage.  Joie and I stayed behind and caught some sleep while everyone else went out on full day tours.
That night, Joie and I got to experience Dublin's pub and club scene through going on a pub crawl. We met loads of really awesome people including Anne, who was a bit crazy.  We lost her after the first pub, but found her later on with something strange.  She had gone to the toilets only to come back with a new hair cut! She let some women in the toilets cut her hair! Shockingly enough it actually turned out pretty good for getting a drunk hair cut.  We also met one of the tour guides, who's name was Neil.  He was about 3 years older than us.  He was a literary student who worked at the James Joyce center, which I was thrilled with since I, also shockingly enough, love James Joyce. The pub crawl was a lot of fun. We got to experience the stereotypical Dublin pub with an irish band that sang Irish songs song from Irish pub (Galway Girl). It was amazing! We also went to Wheeler, which is the pub in P.S. I Love You. Overall it was a very good night!
The next and last day of our trip to Dublin we made our way to the James Joyce center.  Neil gave us a tour and also showed us this amazing sandwich place that had the best veggie subs.  He then took us to a war monument park, were we ate and chatted about life.  We were all finished with our sandwiches and talking when he jumped up and decided to take us to the Dublin museum of art, which was down the street, to show us his favorite painting and Francis Bacon's studio.  Francis Bacon's studio was amazing! They had taken all of the stuff from his old studio and set it up exactly where he had left everything.  It was a giant mess, but the space also held something very creative about it.  We then left Neil to search for the Jameson distillery and a church, which supposedly let you rub the finger of a dead saint.  Sadly, the church ended up being closed (which was weird since it was a saturday). So we made our way to Jameson.  The distillery was very interesting, but honestly the best part was all the different Jameson's that we got to try. By the time we were done with that itwas time for us to head back to the hostel to pack up and catch our flight back to London since I had plans for the next day.  Overall I loved experiencing Dublin as a city through the eyes of a local, but I do wish we had done a tour through the country side. I guess there is always another visit! I will definitely be going back!

So I've finally gotten the chance to sit down and write since we got back from Stratford.  This wasn't my first visit to Stratford, but it was however my first visit to all the houses besides Shakespeare's birth place and Anne Hathaway's cottage. I absolutely loved the Nash house and the gardens surrounding it. They where so breathtaking that I felt like I was walking through the secret garden (which I read and loved as a child). We also had fun dressing up with the children's dress up clothes which ended up with some hilarious pictures.  I think the only downfall of this trip to Stratford was the play that we saw. Even with reading the summary of Henry IV part 1, I still couldn't understand what was going on. It also moved way to slow. I feel like Shakespeare would've killed our group since half of us were dozing off or completely asleep. I also really liked the hostel we stayed at. At first getting off the bus, I thought it was going to be really sketchy since we were starring at the back of buildings, but walking around to the front of the building it was a completely different view. I loved all the open room outdoors that allowed a group of children, who were staying for a field trip, to run around and play different sports and what not. We also had a room which had a window that opened up onto the roof. Joie and I got out onto the roof and it felt like we were party of the royal family because all the children kept waving at us. It also gave us an amazing view of the surrounding fields, which was brilliant. We also made friends with some of the children (thanks to Melissa) who helped us perfect our English accents and we got to heard their attempts at ours, which was very entertaining. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Stratford. It was nice to have everything revolve around Shakespeare, since I LOVE his plays (much to the disdain of my classmates in high school).  I hope to make another trip over there the next time I come back to England, so that I can have more time to wonder the streets that Shakespeare walked!

The making of Harry Potter

So two days ago I made the pilgrimage to warner brother studios leavsden to view all of the Harry Potter sets. Now, before I go into detail about my time there, I have to explain why this was such a big deal for me.
At the age of 7 my aunt gave me the first three books for my birthday. I loved them so much that I would have my mom read them to me at night over and over. Ever since then I have been a mad fan. I've gone to every midnight premier and book release, been to London just to see the places where they filmed the outdoor shots for the movies, and even had a Harry Potter themed 18 birthday party. Needless to say I was completely obsessed.
Now back to my journey to leavsden. I had been wanting to do this tour since I first heard that they were opening up the sets to the public. It had always been my dream as a kid to be a student at. Hogwarts or at least be in the movies. Walking into the main lobby was overwhelming. It was like I was 7 years old again making my mother read all those stories to me. But I had no idea that it was about to get a lot more intense. They had us all file into a cinema room to watch a short film about the studios and when the film ended the screen lifted up to revel the great hall doors. That's when the first tears hit. I was like I was a first year being brought in to be sorted. The man doing the first portion of the guided tour asked if it was anyone's birthday, to which I almost said it was, just so I could've opened the great hall doors.  When he had gotten all the people with birthdays up there, he counted to three and pushed the doors open. The great hall, to. My surprise, was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, but cool none the less. They had different houses costumes as well as teachers costumes, which were really cool to see.
Ok so fast forward to the end of the tour (I know you don't want to read about every detail of my trip). You have just walked through a model room that had tiny models of all the things he designers wanted to bring to life. It was cool, but nothing as impressive as what I saw next. You walk into this long hallway and turn and corner and then there it is. The giant model of Hogwarts that the filmmakers used as the actual castle. This was the defining moment of the whole tour. This is where I never wanted to leave. As I walked around the model the tears came. It was everything I had wanted and more. If I could've just stayed in that room forever, I would've. This was what I grew up on, this is what I have been dreaming of seeing my whole childhood. I was so into the model that when it was time to go I just couldn't. As I finally left the hallway leads you into the back of Olivander's with a

screen that has J.K Rowling's famous quote "Hogwarts will always be here to welcome you home". I thought that was a perfect end to my chapter of Harry Potter.

Titus Andronicus

We saw Titus Andronicus two says ago now (sorry it's taken me a while to write). I was so excited for the performance since it's one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, which is unusual, since it's one of his very early ones and is also regarded as his worst by most critics. I had been looking forward to this play for days before we went to see it based on all the reviews it had gotten about being very bloody, which I thought was going to be very entertaining. When the day arrived we headed down to the globe theater and had a full tour of it before hand. It was amazing to look at place that had the same exact look hundreds of years ago, and was also used for doctor who (I know lame thing to say). As the time drew closer to the start of the performance, some of my classmates and I gathered very close to the front of the stage, excited to see if we could get some fake blood splattered on us.  When the show started it took me by surprise of how good the actors where. I was expecting something less well done (sorry Shakespeare). Well as the play hit the end of the second act, lavina came out with her bloodied hands and gurgling mouth of blood, I started to feel the effects of the ahead of the crowd, lack of food, and lack of water. One minute I was standing up enjoying the play and the next thing I knew I was on the ground with people yelling my name at me. I had fainted and hit my head really hard on the side of the globe's stage. I don't remember much, but from what Joie and the rest of my friends told me, my knees had gone inward and the stage caught the fall of my head which caused me to fall onto my knees.  The cracking sound of my head was also loud enough for the whole globe to hear, and even horrid enough of a sound to temporarily stop the actors from their performance. I was mortified. Of course this would be something that happened to me of all people. When I came conscious I remember seeing Joie and Lou's horrified faces.  I apparently looked like I had died. My lips had gone purple and my face was white as a sheet. The poor older man in front of me also seemed to be freaking out. The next thing I knew the globe staff had hauled me into a wheel chair and rolled me to the first aid room where they became very concerned about the well being of my head (which had a lump the size of a golf ball). I ended up being fine, and thank god they didn't have to call the paramedics, which was pretty close.  About 5 minute later Morgan was rolled in, which made me feel a lot better, since I would now not be the only person for our group who had passed out. Joie stayed with me the whole rest of the time, poor thing. She was so worried that I was dying haha. I feel like all in all this is exactly what Shakespeare would've wanted. I think he was trying to get reactions like this from his audience, because the play's themes themselves where truly horrid. I feel like he would have loved the idea of a bunch of people fainting at what he wrote.  Thank you mr. Shakespeare for your amazing play that made me faint. Q