Apr

A Whirlwind

I am less than THREE WEEKS from returning to the great state of Minnesota and, first of all, I just now figured out how to put pictures on! (See below) But more importantly, I am not sure how I am feeling. For the first time I actually I am a little homesick. So, sometimes I am excited to return home, but then the next minute I am ready to cry because I’m going to miss everyone so much and I don’t want to go back to the “real world” and this is such a great experience and I want to keep traveling forever and London has come to feel like another home and what if I never make it back here and did I see everything I wanted to see and I’m just not ready to leave. Something along the lines of that has been RAMBLING through my head the past week… I hope my flat mates do not think I am a basket case! After talking with some of the girls though I think thoughts like this are running through a lot of minds. And the plus side of our program ending early? Getting to go to Mifflin.

It has been great having a break from traveling and just hanging out in London. The G20 Summit was here, as most of you know. We were told not to go downtown because of all the riots, it got pretty wild down there. We kept seeing dark cars go by with police motorcycles surrounding them. We would always check to see if it was Obama. One person in our program did sight him! And how about that whole Michelle Obama and the Queen business? People went crazy when she hugged the Queen, some were not happy because it is not “formal royal procedure” to touch her, which I thought was nuts. However, apparently the Queen wants to stay in touch with her and for the most part England seems to have fallen in love with Michelle, as if everyone here didn’t love Obama already – exciting!

We went to Stonehenge last weekend. As Emily said “It ROCKED!” (get it?) It was cool, but a little weird. It literally is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a lot of grass and sheep. This past week we went out for a very fancy tea outing at a five-star hotel. They served us fine teas in nice china along with little sandwiches, scones, and desserts. They informed us that high class ladies used to have tea outings every evening waiting for their husbands to get home from parliament – not a bad deal for them, I found it quite fun!

This is me and Emily in TWO different hemispheres – we made a trip to the Prime Meridian

Our program took us to see the musical Billy Elliot and it was fantastic!! Billy was an amazing ballet and tap dancer! We all were in love with him! It has really warmed up here, it has been 60 degrees and sunny the past week. I don’t know what all that talk about rainy, gloomy London is! All of us have been outside running, playing soccer, hanging out, etc. in Hyde Park. I also made trip to Regent’s Park, which is beautiful! It has a little river running through it, with bright flowers blooming all around, and black swans. Cool.

I’m off to my last travel destination (tear) this Wednesday through Sunday: Barcelona! We have always traveled in groups before but this time Emily and I are traveling on our own. I’m wondering if the Easter bunny will come on Saturday night. Wish us luck!

Here are some more pictures that I DIDN’T post earlier… I’ll try and add some to my previous blogs too:)

St. Patrick’s Day!I think this explains Santorini…