One more update...

So we just need everyone to know that there was a very amusing moment about 10 minutes after our last post. We were transferring tube lines at at Leicester Square station, just one stop away from our final destination. As we got to the track, the train was there and so we tried to get on. Mel got into the train, but her baggage got stuck and Jess was outside of the train and helped her lift it in. Problem was, as soon as Mel's baggage was in the train, the doors closed and Jess was left outside!! We both just shrugged and waved goodbye as everyone around us snickered a bit. Mel was nice and waited for Jess to get off at the next stop. We both got really awkward looks though when we were each hysterically laughing by ourselves!!

Yes, they actually wear kilts in Scotland!

Hello from Peterburough!

No, I have absolutely no idea where that is. Jess and I are currently on a train from Edinburgh to London and that was just the last station we passed through. Yes, there is free WiFi on the trains here! It's quite wonderful :-) The two of us are sitting here with our iPods on, both listening to Christina Aguilera (thank you Richard). I'm sure Jess will chime in here and there, but she's half asleep at the moment despite coffee fix number two of the day. We're thinking we might have to cut back on the coffee a bit considering we haven't had less than 2 cups a day since we've been here, and yesterday we didn't have any and both felt sleepier than we should have...

Anyway, on to the things you all actually care about. I believe the last time we wrote we left off telling you we were heading to Camden the next day. Camden was awesome!! Just completely filled with market after market, all selling crazy clothing, jewelry, and a ton of vintage stuff. There's a huge punk/goth/fashion movement going on there, and it was so much fun to shop. Nothing too expensive either which was really nice. Best part of the experience though had to be the Rasterfarian at the back of one the markets who was just standing outside smoking a joint. As Jess said, we saw it and smelt it, so were pretty sure that it was there. I also saw a cop walk by a few minutes later, but as far as we could tell, he didn't seem to care!

Don't think much else happened that day. Tuesday was classes. Our theatre class was a lot of fun. We gave short presentations on different aspects of the history of theatre, and then learned about speaking as a chorus. British Experience was next. Bernie let the entire class go an hour into the class period so that we could all get back to our flats to watch the inauguration. Watching Barack Obama bring sworn in on BBC was pretty cool. It's really amazing how politically aware and involved everyone is here. We've seen Obama's face on more newspapers and magazines here than in America. Jess and I are both doing our best to stay informed about what's going on at home, mostly so that we don't feel like idiots attempting to discuss our own politics in a country full of people who seem to know more about our current state than we do. We've realized that Americans don't always understand how much what we do affects the rest of the world. Or how much people across the ocean look down on us sometimes. It's hard sometimes hearing the animosity that has developed towards our country. We took the position of leader of the free world, and then we don't really lead it. Hopefully with the election of a leader who has actual plans to lead will help change some of that. People over here are just as excited, if not more so, than we are about the coming of Obama. Watching him being sworn in brought tears to my eyes, and it's a nice joining factor knowing that we are all so excited to see what he brings to our country and to our world. 

On to wednesday. Wilson Briscoe, our wonderful architecture professor, took us on a 3 hour walking tour of the south side of the Thames. He was really amazing; he must be in his 80s and the class was keeping up with him as he rattled off fact after fact about every building we passed. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we both got some great pictures of the city. Check them out on facebook, there are wonderful ones of St. Paul's and Parliament. 

On thursday, Jess and I found our happy place; HARRODS! Let's just say, it actually topped Disney for where I would like to spend eternity! We went to the food department to start (we would) and sat down for the most amazing ice cream sundae ever!!! It was roughly $15 converted and came in a huge martini glass!! Again, check facebook for a picture of this marvel! After the ice cream, we ventured through a room full of diamonds, and then into the bag department. Three rooms full of Gucci, Prada, Hermes, Chloe, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Dolce and Gabbana, Chanel, Dior, Valentino, Ferregamo, the works! We almost cried. I'm serious, teared up just as much as I did at the inauguration! Upstairs then was each of the above mentioned brands' clothing!! Private sections for each, we were waited on hand and foot (thanks to my Burberry scarf and bag I had with me that day) as we tried on  thousands of dollars worth of dresses. Then went to the shoe department to try on some Jimmy Choos, Ferregamo, and other ridiculously overpriced footwear. Felt a little bad for the guy who waited on us the whole time though, since we knew we weren't actually buying anything and he ran around to get us all of the shoes! At one point, Jess had a pair of $500 shoes on her feet which were BEAUTIFUL and when she said aloud that it was either the shoes or a trip to Paris, a woman turned around and went "Oh honey, get the shoes!" It was wonderful! We found our heaven :-)

Ok, now for our trip to Scotland. We woke up on Friday morning at 4am. We left the flat at 4:40, walked to the bus stop, caught a bus to Victoria station, caught another bus to Stansted airport, got on a plane for a whopping 45 minutes, then got a bus from the airport to our hotel in Edinburgh, all by 10am! Castle Rock Hostel was just what it said it was, really nice and sitting right beneath the castle! Very clean, very friendly, and great views!! Everyone should be extremely proud of your two little Long Island Japs staying at a hostel decorated like a medieval castle full of piercings and tattoos! Everyone was so nice though, and we actually had some really great conversations with people in the bathroom!

Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful!!! It was a gorgeous day out and so we spent a lot of time just walking around, and then headed to the National Gallery of Scotland. The gallery had so many amazing pieces of work! Titian, Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Bernini, Suerat. I have an entire list of paintings I couldn't believe I saw! We then met up with Naomi and Lauren and they took us to lunch at the Elephant House, ie. where JK Rowling used to do a lot of her writing. The food, desert, and coffee were all amazing. The best moment though was when I came back from the bathroom to proclaim that "my ass shared a toilet seat with JK Rowling's ass!" Come on, that's pretty cool!

After walking around a bit more, Naomi and Lauren showed us the Edinburgh University Student Center, which thanks to the 18 drinking age has a really nice bar in it. They then took us to their respectable flats so they could change, and then we went to dinner. Really great Italian place that cost us about $6 each for a really good dinner! Then went back to the hostel to change and head out for the night. We went to a bar called Revolution and had a lot of fun dancing until about 1am. Had a few sketchy boys hit on us, but overall it was a blast! Best part was when "Just Can't Get Enough" came on in the club. For those of you who weren't a 10 year old girl in the 90s, this song is featured in the Mary Kate and Ashley movie, Winning London, and so of course Jess and I went crazy!! Yes, we were those girls, and we didn't care! We finally got to bed at around 2am after being awake for 22 hours straight!

The next day, Jess and I got up and checked out of the Hostel by 1030. We then made our way down to grab breakfast at a great cafe and then checked out the Farmer's Market. The Market is only there on Saturdays and they had the most amazing hot chocolate you will ever taste!!! That, and being situated right under the castle on a beautiful, sunny day made it really nice to see. We continued to wander around the city until we came to the Meadows. Basically, the Meadows are a park in the middle of the city and really beautiful. There were a lot of people out there playing football and rugby, and even more cycling along the paths or walking their dogs. We sat down on a bench to rest for a bit in the sun when a dog went running by us. The dog's owner walked by and told Jess and I that the dog was eating mud! She then called her dog over to have it say hi, and we found out her name was Daisy! Of course, the first dog we're formally introduced to thousands of miles from home has the same name as my puppy. The owner also told us that she was usually really aloof, and since she was a Tibetan Terrior and we got to pet her that we would have good luck for the day! Everyone in the city was just as nice as this woman by the way. Seriously, wonderful conversations with complete strangers who genuinely wanted to know where we were from and how we liked the city. 

After sitting in the Meadows, we met up with Naomi again and she took us shopping. There are so many wonderful thrift stores in the city! I bought a great bag for 4 pounds in a Cancer Research UK shop that uses its profits to give shoes to homeless people. Yes, I'm kidding, just didn't want to sound redundant! We then went for coffee before heading back to the hostel to hang out in the common room while we waited for Richard to arrive. When Richard got there, he took us back to his sister's beautiful apartment to put our stuff down before heading out to dinner. We went to another really nice Italian restaurant with really good food and wine. It's been nice being able to just have a drink with dinner here. After dinner, he took us to two different bars. They were mostly older crowds, but played great music and we had fun just hanging out and talking the three of us.

Sunday morning we slept in, and then headed out to Richard's parent's house which is in Fife, about 45 minutes out of Edinburgh. We stopped on the way at a great little cafe on the water right by two famous bridges, one is a car bridge and the other a railbridge. There will be pictures of these up shortly. After lunch, we headed into Fife to his town of Windygates. It was a wonderful car ride as we rocked out to Christina Aguilera the whole way (hence the current addiction) and the landscape was all really nice! We got to his house and met his parents, who were completely wonderful, so lovely to talk to and took impecable care of us! Their house is beautiful as well, over a hundred years old and has wonderful views of town! Richard then took us into a town called St. Andrews a little while over to show us around. We walked on the first golf course in the world, and saw the ruins of a cathedral and a castle!! Richard then took us to the number one fish and chips in Scotland! The food was delicious!! And following it with ice cream made it perfect! We then drove a little bit more to see the ruins of MacDuff castle (yes, as in Macbeth). Everything was beautiful, even in the dark at that point!!

When we came back to his house, his parents had some friends over and we had a really great discussion with them about the world, politics, Scotland's view of America and vice versa. Not going to go into too many details at the moment, but feel free to ask about it. 

This morning, we slept in a little bit and when we woke up Richard had already left for work and his mom had left a whole spread of food for us for breakfast! It was really sweet, and good fresh fruit! We called his mom and she came back to give us a ride to the train station to get back to Edinburgh. We killed a few hours back in the city before getting on the train we're on now. Speaking of, we're about to arrive back in London, so I'm signing off. Sorry for the big delay in posting, but as you can see, we've been really busy!! More to come soon, we're going to The Globe tomorrow, so they'll be plenty to write about we're sure.

Miss and Love you all!!!

I loved you in Growing Pains!

Hello Again! Sorry about the delay between entries, we've been rather busy here! This is Mel writing, Jess is sitting next to me singing and interjecting every so often. I asked Jess what we should write about tonight. She replied "We went to the Tower of London. If you want to know about it, look at the Tower of London website, we saw all of that. That's what we saw. Really it is. There was lots of jewels, and the jewel kiosk sold candy. We didn't eat any. And umm... we saw the largest diamond ever found! It's going to be mine someday, it's going to go on my crown, I mean, my scepter. Because when I'm queen of England (because I'm English and part of the royal family and next on the line of royals) I'm going to carry it with me everywhere! Even the supermarkets! I'm going to have to switch off hands so one arm doesn't get bulkier than the other because I'm going to get super buff!"

Thanks Jess, now for my update on behalf of both of us (she'll interject more I promise, she has a lot to say). So, let's start with yesterday! We went to the Tower of London! It was our first ride on the bus, and Jess enjoyed it very much (possibly more than the tower itself). 

First off, I should have you all know that my days as a summer camp counselor have completely paid off!! We went to the Tower as a group of 17, and I somehow wound up running the day, keeping track of us all getting to the bus and finding our way there. I then took the initiative to speak with the ticket salesman about a group rate and, with Gem's help, gathered all of the money, paid him, and dispersed the tickets and guidebooks to everyone before telling them to use the bathroom before the tour and leading them all to the entrance! Thanks for the wonderful training Sue!

The Tower was AMAZING!!!! I still can't believe that I stood at the spot where Anne Boleyn was buried!!! Jess would have you all know that she felt the same way and you shouldn't think it was all me. She thinks she's being presented in a negative light in this particular entry and is worried what future employees will think. Back to Anne Boleyn. We saw the Tower Green as well and saw the plaque to Anne Boleyn, Jane Grey, Katherine Howard, and all of the others who lost their heads. We made sure to keep a good watch on ours!! Jess and I would like to thank everyone for making that joke, because, well.. everybody did!

Other highlights of the Tower:

Really really good hot chocolate!!! (It was Cadbury, Jess drank two of them!)

The Crown Jewels- absolutely amazing to look at. The detail and condition in which they have been kept for hundreds of years is incredible! Jess wanted to steal them (ok, we both did), but our jackets weren't big enough!

There was a cell we were able to visit which still contained on the walls graffiti carvings from the prisoners who were kept in there. A lot of it was really intricate and actually pretty impressive. The room overlooked the Tower Green, and from their window they could hear the scaffolds being built for those who would perish upon it. They could also see the bodies of those executed publicly being brought back for burial as they sat awaiting their own similar demise.

The stairs were all pretty crazy.

We saw the portrait of Henry VIII... he really doesn't look like Eric Bana. Good job casting Hollywood!

Ok, done with the Tower for now. As Jess said, if you're interested in knowing more, check out the website. Now we must touch upon the bus ride back. We sat on the top of a double decker bus (so cool!) and there was a girl sitting next to us who basically made Gem ashamed of being from England! She was the most obnoxious person we have ever seen in our entire lives! She was screaming to begin with, and most of what she was saying was curse words and things you need to be at least 17 to see in a movie theater!! Around children too!!!! She made fun of a baby who was crying!!!! 

Anyway, we ended the night by coming home and making dinner in the flat and all just hanging around half talking, half watching TV for the rest of the night. We were too knackered to do anything else!

Today, Jess, Gem, and I all woke up late and we went to have a Sunday roast at a pub. The pub we went to was called Lamb, and it's famous for having often served Charles Dickens!!! Unfortunately, they ran out of roast, so we had other food, which was fine. Gemma's Nana will hopefully make us a home cooked one when we visit her in 2 weeks! Oh, on our way to the pub we passed the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is the children's hospital to which J.M. Barrie left all of the rights to Peter Pan! There is a gorgeous Peter Pan statue and plaque donated to him right outside of it.

After dropping Gemma off at her train, Jess, Dustin and I headed to Leicester Square for the Revolutionary Road premiere!!!!! We stood out in the cold for about 2 hours (don't worry Donna, Arnie and Stan, we bundled!) and it was completely worth it! Surrounded by hundreds of screaming fans, we we able to see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet from about 8 feet away!! It was awesome!!! Check out facebook for some cool pictures.

Jess, Dustin and I then headed back to the flat and Jess made pancakes!!! I decided I wanted chocolate chip pancakes, but we couldn't find chocolate chips at the store. Instead, we bought a Cadbury bar and I sat at the table with a knife and made my own!!! While this did produce sufficient "chocolate chips," it also produced a significant mess and a bruise on my finger. The pancakes were delectable though!!!

Since then, we've been hanging out, posting pictures, catching up with friends, etc. Don't think there's much else to tell. Heading to sleep soon, planning on hitting Camden Town tomorrow! Hope everything is good at home, we miss you all! Oh! We're also really excited because we're heading to Scotland this weekend!!!! 3 1/2 days in Edinburgh with Naomi, Lauren, and Richard!!!!! You'll hear more about that soon :-)

Love and Crumpets,

Mel and Jess

Did you know Glinda was British?

Melissa, Jess and Gemma here!!! Sam yelled at us to update, so we're giving a quick hi before passing out!

Quick day recap: Jess and Mel met up with Dustin this morning to go pick up the wonderful Gemma at the Euston Train Station. After only one wrong turn, we found our way to Euston Street and with a half hour to kill went for some coffee. We then attempted to go meet Gem at her train, but alas, we couldn't find the proper entrance to the station. Eventually, we found Gem wandering the streets of London. As she put it, at least we were in England!

Went back to the flat to drop Gem's luggage and get changed and headed out to Leicester Square to find theatre tickets. We took a few wrong turns (thanks to the Brit) but eventually were able to find our way and score some wonderful tickets for Wicked! Starving, we went for a bite to eat, then parted ways with Dustin at the tube station. Jess and Mel had their first ride on the underground today! It's much narrower and soooo much cleaner than the subway! Oh, and Mom (Donna) and Sam, there was no annoying "mind the gap" lady in any of the tube stations we went to!

Ok, skip to the show. British theatre... soo different! First off, we get to the theatre, no line, and we can just go in. We get to our seats and the theater is incredibly sloped!! We're talking old opera house style. Our seats were Circle (balcony) row T, and with the slope of the theatre, it was like being last row at Jones Beach! Luckily, in very strange fashion, about 1 minute before show time there were a ton of empty seats lower down and suddenly everyone in the theater moved down! So, we wound up in about row 3 balcony dead center! 

The show itself was wonderful! Strangely though, they all had British accents! Melissa had seen Wicked 3 times prior (Gem and Jess were "virgins" and as Jess said, I "popped their Wicked cherries"), and so she was very thrown off by this fact! Other than that, the show was fantastic!! So happy we went! :-)

When we arrived home it was really too late to go out seeing as pubs close at 11 during the week, so we went back to the flat and watched Coyote Ugly. Apparently, the Brits have no mind to time their commercials properly. Seriously, mid scene, sentence even, cut to commercial break! Very strange. Funny commercials though!

Ok, that's all for now, as we said short catch up. We have to go do the sleep thing so we can get up and have a day tomorrow. But we love you all and will fill you in more soon :-)

My Humps!

Jess and Melissa here! Today we did a lot of things. First, Jess's alarm went off this morning and she realized that it was on her bottom bunk, while she was on the top. But, she was a trooper and got out of bed and turned it off! We're very proud of her :-)

So after pulling ourselves from bed (and Jess's scolding dribble shower), we headed off to our first Modern British Theater class! Our professor, Jeanine, is a trip! Let's just say, she started ranting about how there are only so many parts for the fat, funny lady, and started belting out Master of the House! She was actually amazing, we were thoroughly impressed, and are not sure if it would be appropriate to ask her to perform the entire song next week... Either way, the class seems like it's going to be a ton of fun, and we can't wait to see what she has in store!

After lunch in the flat and a brief community meeting, we had our second class, The British Experience. Our Professor, Bernie Rosenthal, is like a lovable grandpa and we want to adopt him with Suze! After spending an hour or so talking about the class, we were sent down the block to The British Museum. Bernie asked us to meet him at the Elgin Marbles. We thought these were going to be marbles. Turns out, the marble he was referring to was actually the marble taken from the pediment and frieze of the Parthenon!!! It was amazing to see! Melissa of course was awestruck, and Jess kept asking about missing body parts... 

Oh, almost forgot, on the way into the exhibit we saw The Rosetta Stone!!!!!! Jess was able to decode it right away; very impressive! (It's why she goes to the Harvard of the SUNYs, regular Harvard would have been too mainstream for her!) We also passed through a multitude of rooms devoted to ancient Egypt and Melissa was quite disappointed that she had no sightings of Anubis! Jess continued to ask about missing "body parts!" However, she did find the influence for Keats's "Ode On A Greecian Urn" on a sculpture from the Parthenon, which she was very excited about!

After leaving the museum, we decided to take a walk and look for somewhere to get coffee that wasn't Starbucks (I told you Mackett!) We were very good explorers and found a little cafe a few blocks away and sat down for Carmelattes and Tiramisu! We had a nice little breathing time to sit and talk and enjoy our surroundings. 

We headed back to the flat to change and get ready for Edward Scissorhands... the Dance! (Yes, we are completely serious) We met with some friends to walk to the theater and find somewhere to eat dinner before the show. Unfortunately, we missed a turn at some point, and while we did find our way easily after, we reached the area in which to eat about 45 minutes before show time! As we began to look for a restaurant, we first tried a local pub. When we walked in, it was full of creepy old men and a cat, so we left. We walked to the next pub, but they didn't serve food, they were only a bar. We continued to the next pub, but there was no where to sit! So, we finally settled, a half hour to show, on the next place we found which was a vegan chinese buffet. Jessica did not realize it was vegan and was extremely startled when she bit into her "chicken!" Everyone was startled actually because it was that putrid! We managed to keep down a little bit of it, but we were starving by the time we got back and so just finished some tea and crumpets!

Back to the show... Edward Scissorhands, the Dance! First off, we had to show our tickets walking in, as per usual. Jess accidently grabbed out and showed a 20 pound bill to the usher. He let her in! She didn't realize until she went to put it away when we were at our seats! Even funnier though was watching a man with scissors for hands dance ballet! Now, don't get us wrong, it was really good. Costumes, lighting, set, choreography, etc was fantastic! However, those of you who have seen the film, just translate the strangeness. For those of you who haven't, picture Johnny Depp being directed by Tim Burton. Now turn that into a ballet! Yes ladies and gentlemen... it was quite the interesting theatrical performance! It was sold out though, and apparently has been for a while now. Not an empty seat in the house! Gotta love the British interpretation of the modern American film! Do us a favor, next time, don't attempt to make it more artistic. News Flash! It already was, just not by your "proper" definition!

Oh, Jess still thinks we saw Sweeny Todd. It's Johnny Depp with scissors, how is she supposed to know the difference?!

By the way, you may have noticed the strange title of this entry. If you look on Mel's facebook pictures, you will see a sign that says "Humps --->" and a little picture of a bump! While we're sure this is referring to traffic, well, it's funnier the American way! Oh, and for those of you planning to travel our way, avoid using the word "fanny" while here. As our new professor Jeanine said "Girls, it means your Punani, your Snatch! I don't know how Americans got it to the other side. Not that I'm caught up on my American anatomy!" She also gave us a list of different names for food, so we won't have another eggplant/aubergine disaster!

We think that's all for now. It's been a long day, we're quite tired. Go check Melissa's facebook for more pictures. If anyone reading this is not her friend, please send a request so you can track our journey! (Unless you're a creepier-Jess)

Love Always,

Melissa and Jess!

They don't know what Eggplant is in England!!!!

Jess decided today that she really wanted to make eggplant parm for dinner. So we took a nice trip to Toscos to get the supplies. We looked and looked and couldn't find eggplant. Finally, Jess went over to a guy and asked where we could find it. He seemed really confused at the word eggplant, and even more so when we tried to explain it. After walking over to another worker, he muttered something in what sounded like French, and low and behold found us some of the smallest eggplants we have ever seen!! It then took us 20 minutes to find a very small can of breadcrumbs, and tiny disposable baking pans. Don't worry though, we did make the eggplant parm; it's finishing cooking right now!

Today wasn't too interesting. Jess and I woke up early so we could go find notebooks for our classes. After wandering the streets near us for about a half hour, we found a stationary store around the corner from where we started! We then got Brunch at The Bloomsbury Deli, and went to a meeting about health, safety, rules, travel, all that jazz. 

After our meeting, we met up with our new friend Kristine to take a walk to Piccadilly Circus. Using my handy dandy fold out map from Gemma, we actually found our way completely on our own!! Upon arrival at Piccadilly Circus, we took some pictures by the Eros statue, and then looked around to realize that if we weren't shopping, eating, or going to the theater, there wasn't really much to do aside from say you've been there. We decided to leave then to go food shopping, and you're caught up from there.

NEWS FLASH!! Jess just took the eggplant out of the oven and apparently the oven rack wasn't secure and the eggplant flew out across the kitchen. We lost about a quarter of it, but there's still plenty to eat!

Ok, time to go eat and relax. Classes start tomorrow morning. Modern British Theater followed by a community meeting and then The British Experience. Art and Architecture starts on wednesday. 

Oh, and I found my Honey Nut Cheerios!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melissa and Jessica are Hungry.. but the food store is closed!

'Ello Chaps!

Jess thinks Chaps only refers to boys... so for the women, 'Ello Dearies! We are both laying on Jess's top bunk (!) and writing this. Jess realized today that you can get away with saying some things only if you have a British accent. Our tour guide, Suze Bower, (we want her to be our grandmother, shes sooo cute!) can say things like "that's rubbish deary, now run along!" That wouldn't sound ok if we said it. 

We are trying to decide what to eat for dinner. We wanted to cook, however it seems that everything closes early on Sunday! So we might go to Wagamama which is a chain (cheap) Japanese restaurant. It has a funny name, so of course we're likely to try it!

Today was awesome! We went on a 3 hour bus tour of London with Suze :-) She told us all about chinese food and then realized that we probably know all about chinese food already. She also seemed to have a strange obsession with Krispy Kreme! They just got one a few years ago and she said that even though it was a pound and a half per donut, people still got them because they were excited! Here is a list of some of the cool things we saw:

Australia House- the building that Gringotts was filmed in!

Trafalgar Square

Picadily Circus (no clowns though)

Buckingham Palace

Parliament (Charles Barry and AWN Pugin!)

The London Eye

Big Ben

Tower of London (watch your head!)

London Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral (Mel cried a little)

Hyde Park

Harrods (don't worry Arnie and Stan, we'll just window shop!)

Jess would like to let you know that we also saw a lot of Pigeons! You can see some yourself on her facebook shortly (if her pictures ever upload successfully!)

We are still scared of the traffic. Mel swore a woman was going to lose her head earlier when our bus passed her by! Also, we have yet to get left behind, but are pretty sure it will probably happen at some point. We were told what pub Prince Harry's regiment goes to so that we can go meet some English horsemen! We'll definitely be checking that out! Speaking of Harry... he's quite the talk of the town right now, as he has offended the public yet again. We saw cameras waiting for him to come out of a building today. Thank G-d he has an older brother to take the crown! Jess would also like to let you know that she saw the lion and the unicorn from Alice in Wonderland on the gates of Hyde Park today. She couldn't get good picture but plans on getting one next time!

Everything is going really well. Steve, Aberdeen, and Cuddles are all settling in quite wonderfully! Beds are really comfy, shower is still kinda crappy, however Jess had a little bit of a better one today. The sink is weird. The hot water comes out of one hole of the faucet and the cold out of the other, so when you want warm water its more like burning hot hitting one part of your palm, and ice cold on the other part! Quite strange. But then again, so are the Brits. Lovely!

There is a palm tree here because they are trying to plant trees that use less water. We think it's awfully strange to see a palm tree in the middle of London!

Ok, we're getting hungry so it's time to go for now. Love and miss everyone back home in the states! Check out pictures on facebook, it's too annoying to upload them here. 

(Multi Grain) Cheerio! (The only kind they had in Sainsbury's)

A Few Pictures

 Jess in our room!!!

Look who I found!

 Fish and Chips!!!

  Amanda, Mel, Jess, and Adrienne at The Rising Sun pub!

London- Day 1

Cheerio!

Melissa here! It's about 1045am Sunday Morning. I woke up about 45 min ago and Jess is still fast asleep, so I'm starting this off for the two of us. We'll try to post as often as possible to keep everyone updated on our lives over here.

So far, London feels just like any other big city, especially at night. Lots of lights and big crowds of people. We live right on the West End, and walking past a theater last night as it was letting out felt just like trying to walk down 45th at 11pm. Honestly, the biggest differences so far are the water pressure (HORRIBLE!) and the traffic (soooooo scary!). Everyone in our flat tried to shower at relatively the same time last night, I was only the second one in and, as I said to Jess, I could have drooled on my head and gotten the shampoo out faster! The traffic is even scarier than everyone said! Thank G-d the corners actually tell you "Look Right" or "Look Left!" You should see us trying to cross the street! There are almost no lights, so crossing is really hard to do. And London drivers... worse than NY! It's going to be a long semester of hopping backwards!

Aside from the bad shower and scary traffic though, we had a really good (exhausting) first day! The flight wasn't too bad. I slept about 5 broken hours, Jess slept about 2 1/2 maybe (an hour of which I was her pillow). The plane food was gross. I only had breakfast, but I heard about dinner from Jess ( I slept through it. I also slept through take off!). Anyway, we landed at Heathrow at about 8:15am, so 3:15 NY time. Customs took about 2 seconds and our luggage came right away! Seriously, we were ready to leave faster than we would have been landing in NY after a Jet Blue flight from Orlando!

So, we met up with our program advisor, Emily (who Marley, if you're reading this, looks just like your mom!) and another man, Ryan (I still don't remember what his job is), and they took us by coach to our flats. Didn't really see anything on the way, the most English thing we spotted from the window was Harrods which, ok, was really exciting! Our flat is really nice! Jess and I are sharing a room, but we somehow got placed in one that was supposed to be a triple, so I have the single bed near the window, and she's sleeping on the top bunk of a pair of bunk beds (she's very excited about this having not have been allowed them as a child!). Best thing about 2 people in a room meant for three? More Closet Room!!!!  We have three closets and three sets of drawers for the 2 of us, thank G-d! Aside from that, there is a triple room for our 3 roommates, Amanda, Adrienne, and Sarah. There are 2 bathrooms, each with a sink, toilet, and tiny, horrible shower. The living room has 2 couches, a TV and a big kitchen table, and is connected to the kitchen. The kitchen isn't too bad, has all of the essentials, it's just old, but perfectly usable. The building by the way is really nice, but really narrow so each flat is on a different floor. Luckily, we're in flat 1, so there's only one flight of stairs to ours (you should have seen the girls in flat 6 get their luggage to their rooms!). 

The area is really nice here. As I said, we're right on the West End, so lots of theaters around us. Emily and Ryan took us on a short walking tour of the neighborhood (which felt really lond because we were starving!), and we have a pretty good sense already of where things are. There's a Sainsbury's market and a Boots where we were able to get all of our food and toiletrees yesterday. Also, the phone store is right on the corner basically so I can "top up" my phone! There are pubs on every corner, and a lot of other little restaurants, as well as small shops, including an umbrella store that's been here since like 1730 or something!

After our walking tour, Emily and Ryan took us all out for lunch at a place called Pizza Express which would not have ever been labeled "express" in America. The service was really good and fast, but it was not fast food! Basically everyone had individual, fresh made pizzas, and they were delicious! I was thoroughly impressed! We then came back for a brief safety orientation and were let on our own for the rest of the day. 

All of the girls in our flat decided to go out for the essentials- phones, straightening iron, shower stuff, and food- and then came back to unpack and shower. We then met up with about 12 other people and went out to the pub! Jess and I had our first Fish and Chips and Beers in England! It was wonderful just ordering a beer and not even being ID'd! She had a Cronenberg(sp?) and I had a Stella. The fish and chips were amazing! And the Pub atmosphere is so much better than Sports Bar! Oh, and of course I look up halfway through dinner to see Dustin on the other side of the pub! Of all of the pubs in London, we wound up in the same one last night!

So at around 11 we all made our way back to the flats completely exhausted and all passed out! That's basically where things end for today. Jess just woke up, she say's "'ello!" Ok, fine, I said that for her, but if she were at speaking capacity yet I'm sure she would! We've got the morning to kill and then are heading out at around 1:45 for a bus tour of the city!! I can't wait to see everything!!! Please feel free to call or write, all of my contact information is in facebook notes.

 

Love to everyone!!