Becca's Adventures

Friday, September 10, 2010

The Monument...and homework?

April 19th,

This morning I wanted to cross something off of my 'to do in London' list. So, I decided I would go to The Monument, the Great Fire Monument that is. The Great Fire occurred in 1666, it started in a bakery on Pudding Lane. If you have heard of man by the name of Pepys, he wrote in his journal about it. Very fascinating. I headed there, paid my few pounds and headed up to the top, of course it was a spiral staircase. On those types of stairs I'm always afraid I might get dizzy and just fall down, of course killing myself along the way, at the worst, or just being very injured. At the top is a gate, so no jumping off! It's not that big at the top, but you do get some spectacular views of London. It was a tad cloudy when I was up there, but only far away was it a little cloudy.

Tower Bridge

London :)

London views, amazing

Cranes and St. Paul's Cathedral

London Eye, and Big Ben back to the left, it's a little unrecognizable

I Love London

The gate around the top

Spiral stairs down, beautiful ;)

After I was done at the monument I headed up to London Metropolitan University so I could borrow some books from the library. That was an experience. The library is a few stories high, with books on pretty much every level. I waited for a computer to see if that would help me at all. I eventually asked a worker where my books could possibly be. He told me to head to the 3rd floor and look towards the back. When entering the 3rd floor there are a bunch of tables and computers, with students on pretty much each one of them studying and typing away. I eventually found the books I needed, after hunting through each one. I went downstairs with my books, not sure how to check out. I saw a line for people to return books and realized you get check them out there too. Once up to the computer you scan your card, then you place your book so it is open and so a machine can scan the bar code, then off you are with the book! Goodness gracious! I headed back to the room and ate lunch, a late lunch. I went through the books the rest of the day, trying to figure out what I could use from them. That is what I did with the rest of my day, yippie. Oh the life of a study abroad college student, caring about their classes.

Study Study Study

April 18th,

It's Sunday, another beautiful day out. What am I doing? Trying to write a paper that is due in a few days. Woo-Hoo!

Random picture

This is the tube stop I used quite frequently

I do love a sunny day

April 17th,

Today was London's Holland festival :) I had asked Carissa if her and Allison would like to go. She said that they probably would and then invited me to go to the Portobello Road Market with them, I definitely said yes. I was not sure what the weather was going to be like, as it is a little bipolar in London, so I wore a long sleeve shirt and possibly my jacket. As it was chilly in the morning, as the afternoon went on it was getting warmer and much nicer. We walked along Portobello Road, it's fascinating. We saw a man who had his dog just standing on his upper back by his neck. I didn't get a picture, but it sure was a sight to see! After we were done wandering around the market we headed to Trafalgar Square. Honestly, I had no idea the color orange is part of the Holland flag, but it is, and that was the color to wear to this festival. Allison and I purchased some mini pancakes, poffertjes. Quite delicious, though pricey. We spent maybe 20-30 minutes just sitting there then we decided to head back. We walked back to Vandon House through St. James Park, lovely by the way! When we got back to Vandon House we went our separate ways, or I went mine and they went to the same room. I hung out in my afternoon the rest of the afternoon. Yes, I know it was a Beautiful day out, but I was tired ;) I did have my blinds open while I napped though. Later after I got up, I figured out what my Victorian London paper was going to be on, it only took me a couple weeks to figure it out!

Something that did tick me off a little was later when I found out that the girls had gone to Regents Park, and then went to Primrose Hill to watch the sunset. Something I had told them earlier in the day that I wanted to do. Why wasn't I invited? I know I'm not best friends, and we are only slightly friends but it still hurts knowing that you did exactly what I wanted to do.

The rest of my day was spent trying to figure out what to write now and then just hanging out in my room.