Farewell my 2013 summer love

July 26-28
The weekend I had been hoping that would never approach us once I fell in the love with a city I could never get bored of. As our classes came to an end, so did our adventure abroad in this wonderful city. Papers were turned in, books were donated to back to the school and our homes away from our seemingly luxurious apartments back at college were all moved out and packed back up in our suitcases. Even though we were happy to get out of those cell like dorms we were all sad to depart one by one from each other as some were going on to travel more of europe well others were headed back home or to school. As we said our goodbyes one by one soon before I knew it, it was just Tatum and I packing up our final things. It was now our time to say goodbye to international Hall and hello to our hotel for the last night in London. What were going to do for the last day and night in london, why go shop of course and get our last fish and chips meal. This of course had been my first and last time having fish in Chips in England for the next year or so. I could not have asked for a better way for my wonderful adventurous time in England to end. Until next time, which I hope is sooner than later, farewell my summer love.

The royal Baby is Here

July 22, 2013

Finally the royal baby was born Monday afternoon. But no one had known this until later this evening. So not knowing if Kate had giving birth or not a few of my friends and I went to Buckingham Palace to wait for the royal announcement on the gold plated easel that will display the announcement of the new baby Prince!

 After only camping out for two hours by the gates of Buckingham as we drank our ciders and enjoyed a warm summer night, we heard someone scream and run to the gates announcing "it's here!!" everyone ran to the gates of the Palace like there was no tomorrow!

I managed somehow to get to the very front of the main gates to the Palace, but little did I know that wasn't where the easel was going to be displayed, those british, always doing the most random, as my these two british ladies standing next to me had said as they awaited the arrival of the easel. It finally came out and trying to capture any photos was quite difficult with the madness of people pushing trying to get to the front or the fact that their was a huge pillar in my way.

Another hour goes by and I havent been able to see much but the madness of trying to get to the front to see anything continues, news crew everywhere, helicopters flying above the royal palace trying to capture how many people had been there to see the new announcement. The funny thing too is that my friends and I had noticed that the people who were being pushy and wanting to see this were not only British but a lot of Foreigners whether it being us Americans or others from around the world. It is a big deal since the last time this happened was when Prince Harry was born over 20 plus years, so to be here while Kate had given birth was quite a honor to be apart of, and I know it is something I will forever cherish and not forget. After waiting an hour more at the gate, my friend Kasey and I decided to leave and come back later that evening. 

As we were leaving I noticed one of the reporters who had been behind the gates earlier that evening so we decided to go up to him to ask him if he knew the baby's name yet and how long the announcement was going to up for. He told us he did not know the name and that the announcement would be up just for 24 hours, which was plenty of time since we wanted to come back in a couple of hours. After he proceeded to as if we were over the age of 18 and told us he was with the Associated Press and wanted to ask us a few questions about what we had witness and how it had been waiting. I started to fill with excitement because it had been ironic that we are here studying journalism and a British Journalist happen to want to interview us and ask us for your opinion, to top it off he was pretty cute too! I have felt pretty lucky to be apart of some of the most amazing history to happen to England recently, with Andy Murray winning the men's single in Wimbledon and being at the gates of Buckingham when the announcement of the new baby prince was announced. I can't believe I am now down to just a few more days in this amazing city, the time truly has flown by!

The city of love, its everything you ever expected and more; Paris

July 22, 2013
wow what a week it has been! I can't believe I have not been able to blog for over a week now. Well last week was a little busy with going to the prom, no like a ball gown date or long dress but an orchestra of musicians playing stunning music. It was such a great experience. On friday the 19th I experienced my first Cricket game at the oval stadium. It reminded me of a baseball game back in the states only not as intense because the British are just not that competitive when it comes to sports and everyone was either there to socialize or had been cheering for both teams, which all of us americans had found odd. It was a great experience though and the cider was just the perfect topping to add to a fun game.
July 20th 2013:
Saturday morning a few of us were up and out of london early headed toward the city of love, Paris. Wow. What a beautiful place. I knew it would be a beautiful place but it was everything I had imagined and more. I was in amazement the entire 36 hours I think it was that we were there. There was so much to see in such a short amount of time but I was able to see just about everything that we wanted to see. We had our picnic in the park by the Eiffel Tower, went shopping on the famous strip,  Avenue des Champs-Élysées where we went into Louis Vuitton and many more fun stores. we then headed down to find longchamp so Kasey and I could get our backpacks that we had been wanted the last 4 weeks, found them and we were happy girls. we then finally checked into our hostel which had an early 2000's vibe to the room, it was fine for the most part pretty clean and we hardly spent anytime there so it was fine. We then got dinner at a cute little place called the square near the eiffel tower so we could then go see it at night time where it lights up for a solid 5 minutes. What a sight. Pictures do not do it justice it was beautiful. Kasey Maddie and I decided to go to the second floor of it. Another breath taking view of the city. We did not realize how large the city was until it twinkled in the sky at night. we spent a little over an hour up there just enjoying the view from each side before heading back to our hostel.

Sunday July 21, 2013. Another bright and early morning after a night of sleepless tossing and turning we were at it again headed towards one of the most famous museums, the Louvre. Those of you who may not be familiar with it, it is where the Mona Lisa is displayed. That was our first stop in the museum. Behind a thick and long piece of glass with ropes surrounding I was still able to get a good look at the painting as well as a few photos. it is not as big as you may think it is but it is still a beautiful painting to look at and here about the history and thoughts to who this mysterious woman was. 
next stop of the day was one of the things I had been dying to try and find. famous for the red bottom soles, I was determined to find Christian Louboutin original store. Spotted with gates over it, my heart saddened as the fact that I was there in front of it and unable to go in because most stores are closed on Sundays, even though I couldnt go in I was still happy we were able to look at it from outside. After working up an appetite we all went to lunch at some cute little cafe on a street or two over. With full bellys we headed off to Lover's lockbridge where a few of us put locks on for family, lovers, and friends. It was one my favorite moments on the trip because we knew how many people had been here and to see how much love had been on that bridge had been was amazing we all felt corny but at the same time brought us all back to reality to what the important things in life are; family ,love, friendships. It was a great experience. But thats not where it ends we then headed to Montmartre which has this beautiful church and cute little street shopping after a few hours there we headed back to the hostel to get our luggage and head back to the train station where our time in Paris would come to an end. It was one of the best weekends while studying abroad and  I am so glad I had the opportunity to visit such a beautiful city with so much to see and history to it. Merci Paris for a great weekend!

The Royal Family Sightings

Sunday July 14,

Off with another warm, sunny, beautiful day a few of us decided to head out to Kensington to see the Palace and royal clothing. Of course it would not be a standard adventure if we did not get loss, which we did not exactly do, we just happened to over shoot it and walk around the entire palace without even knowing it. I guess you could say we were all delirious still from the concert last night. We approached the palace and began the self guided tour. It was beautiful to see but I wish we would have had a guide so I could know what each room was used for, but it was an overall good tourist attraction to see on a nice sunny day. As the day comes to an end we decided to go to Hyde Park tonight to sit near the pond and enjoy some yummy meats, cheese, grapes and bread as we soak up the 80 degree weather in the early evening. This weather has been absolutely perfect, everything you would hope to feel in the summertime. The only problem is I am now running out of clothing because I did not think it would be this warm! I guess just an excuse to go shopping! Which is perfect since we are headed to Paris this coming Saturday! I can not wait, but for now I am going to soak up the sun in Hyde Park till the sunsets. I've realized I have become more of a hopeless romantic as well with all these parks around me and love stories. haha 

Kensington Palace from afar 

front fountain leading into the Palace

entering a part of the Palace 

Princess Dianna's Gowns 

Fashion displayed as we left the Gardens 

Kensington Garden's

The one the only, BBC; THE HOUSE OF BROADCASTING.

Saturday, 13 of July

If there is one way to describe the way I was feeling this morning as we headed in the BBC building was the way a child gets excited going into a candy shop, taking it all in and not knowing where to go first. Of course I did not have that exact option since many areas are off limits within the BBC since it is a guided tour. But I felt as though I was dreaming as I looked around the biggest broadcasting house in the United Kingdom, the place where every journalist hopes to work one day. The tour began with looking at a huge tv screen with many different camera views of studios within the two buildings, new and old, and what they were used for; since BBC is not just United Kingdom but international as well. After that we headed to a radio room, because they as well do radio broadcasting at BBC. I was able to speak into the microphone as seven of us, spoke out a little skit on the radio station and were able to hear it be played back in the room. The feeling I got of doing that was the feeling I use to get on Christmas morning, I couldn't believe that we had just been able to do that and see how their radio host act out as they talk so their viewers get the full picture over air. We then headed down to where they have performers come and give free concerts to gain more publicity. As the tour came to an end we went to a fake set of what a news studio would look like and had three people be news and weather anchors, I was about to do it since no one had volunteered until he said no since I had already gotten to participate... bummer.. But I made sure to be able to get photos of me sitting in the seat and on camera. It was such an amazing and thrilling feeling. It gave me so much more motivation to accomplish my dreams of being able to one day be in front of that camera, for real. This tour has been the best yet because it gave many of us inspiring journalist the inspiration to continue to push and reach our goals and one day be on BBC or any other broadcast company.