Update and Exams

Hey guys,

So I've been super busy traveling (Which I'll make a few posts about in about a week or so) I have exams next week and they're kicking my butt! I much prefer the way the states has have their exams. Where we're tested every three or so weeks on the material we've learned followed by a final. Then you have drive all year to study. I didn't realize just how much information I had to learn just for this one big exam until now, when it's kind of too late.

I'll do my best though! I don't actually believe this part of my required course work and by that my grade given the fact that this was an option we chose to take and not a requirement by our tutor. Martin has been an angel helping us through the year and I'm really happy he was our personal tutor at St. Anne's.

In other news, I can quickly write about London MCM. London MCM is a Comic Convention in London (Obviously.) in late May. It's a pretty big convention and I'm really excited to show off the costumes I've been making while here! Some of the friends I've made while hre are going with me as well so it will be a whole group of us!

So far I've only finished one. But everything is handmade except the sweater base, the socks, and shoes. The skirt and shooting star were self sewn! And I made the pattern for the skirt all by myself!

I'll be going one of the three days as Mabel from Gravity Falls.

Anyways! I better get back to studying, Just an update that I am alive barely and well....(after two weeks of sickness).

Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts !!!!

This isn't much about my academic experience at Oxford but it is worthy to note that I have been officially adopted into a society here. During Freshers week ( Where you go around and collect about a million trees worth of paper from all the different societies who want you to join them ) the Harry Potter society caught my eye. Of course, as a huge fan and being the brightest witch of my age, I decided to join. Immediately they welcomed me in. By the end of Michaelmus term I had gained a position on the Committee as Artiste!

I'm involved with all the meetings, and decisions, and also planning crafts events! It's a really great experience and the fact that they were okay with me only being here for a year was great.

Anyways we took a trip to Leavesden Studios - or in common terms. The Harry Potter Studios tour. It was amazing. I literally teared up.

But most importantly - I learned to duel!

Pretty cool right?! The gift shop was even cooler - though my wallet doesn't seem to think so...
My next entry will probably be in a few days because we ( My friends Reem, Brian, Steven, and Bernard ) leave for Greece! I'm super excited!!!

But I can't believe Hilary term is already coming to an end.

I'm just going to choose to ignore that for now....

As far as I'm concerned this year will never end!!

Oops...

I haven't posted since the start of my trip....oops.
I'm going to have updates of everything that's happened over the last 5+ months soon!
I've just been so busy!!!
Updates on both my college life as well as travels is soon to come I promise!

Market Wednesday !

nothing much happend again except for jo and i sleeping till one again...but we went to camden market which was pretty cool! lots of vendors and food from ALL over the world ! we walked all the way though { and it was a bit longer than we expected } so we took the tube back.

then we got dinner at the hostel and went to see the eye at night. because she hadn't seen it and it is just too beautiful to miss! { however i think i make that picture of big ben a lot less beautiful. boy do i look awkward. oops? }

Beautiful Blues

as you might think. i was EXHAUSTED after monday's adventures -- and well...waking up proved to be a bit of a funny event.

jo { the american girl in my hostel room who said she'd go site seeing with me } woke me up by hitting the railing of my bunk lightly and going, "liz, liz we are such lazy american's get up. liz we're so lazy it's 1:00 PM let's go do something"

of course i laughed and rolled out of bed and within the hour we were out and about walking. jo navigated because i still don't have a phone and she'd gone walking the day before and knew the area better.

we walked alllll through the west end and down and around the river again. the weather was SO nice! blue sky's with a few clouds and just cool enough to be warm in a light sweater.

{ left: one of the streets in the west end, right: big ben }

from there we went more towards the mall { which is more of an area/street than an actual 'mall' } to get there we passed through a nice park area where a woman was feeding a squirrel. so naturally, i asked if she had any more peanuts. which she did. she gave me two -- one for now and one for later. and what did i do with those peanuts? i fed a squirrel. two actually and they both jumped up on my leg crawled up to my hand and took it right from me. jo got videos and a picture but i haven't been able to get them from her yet.

but when i do i'll be sure to share ! it was so awesome !

when we exited the park we were right by buckingham palace, and jo taught me that the queen actually doesn't live there. she lives in windsor palace. so i did not get to see the corgi's and i am sad about it. 

after that we walked back to the hostel, and relaxed until cara came to meet up with us so we could go get drinks and talk to some new people upstairs. it was a good first 'real' day in the city.

Monday Madness

okay. so. a lot has happened this week and just. this is an overview of what happened on monday. i got here to london and they almost lost my luggage. it was terrifying. and i didn't get much sleep on the plane so i was exhausted.

i took heathrow express and then the train to follow the directions to my hostel. except. i couldn't find my hostel. and it turned out { despite all the wonderful reviews } to be in a sketchy part of town and i was not going to stay there. it was terrifying. i didn't have wifi, i didn't have 3g all i had was the directions back to the airport and my luggage { which was so heavy by that point } it was horrible.

so i lugged it all back trying to keep cool. allllll the way back to paddington station where i took a cab to the nearest hostel.

called the generator { 10/10 would definitely recommend and stay here again }.

except they didn't have any rooms.

that was until the front desk guy realized i didn't have a place to stay and told me he'd make it work. and he did !

he got me a room and i met two friends there { cara and jo } jo is from america too and we did a lot of sightseeing together, which i'll tell you about later.

after that i passed out for a few hours { because i hadn't slept in almost two days } and when i woke up i was able to meet up with an internet friend of mine alyssa who is also studying abroad here in london!

she took me out to a local pub called king charles I. it was quaint and adorable in the mix and match table and chair/cut and paste random things on the walls sort of way. this is where she bought me my first pint across the pond! then we went to another little pub, skinners arms, i think? and we had fish and chips.

after that we took the tube down to the river and walked around. the eye and big ben at night are so pretty! i also got to see westminster abby.

 then we said our goodbye's and i navigated the underground back to the hostel all by myself!!! it was a really great feeling after a day of totally messing everything up.

i learned a lot about traveling on my first day abroad. and i mean a l o t. i think this year i'm going to learn a whole lot about myself....but i'm proud of myself for the way i handled everything and that's a great feeling.

Liz Vs. The Layover: Round 2

okay ! so i've made it to canada ! and let me tell you guys something. the canada airport is crazy. like i've never been so confused by an airport in my life. i thought i'd just have to go through to my next gate like you do in the states but you actually have to go alllll the way through customs. AND THEN when i treid to check in at one gate they said i hae to go to gate 5 so i did. BUT THEN gate 5 was like " no this is for china and taiwan rn. " and i was kinda confused by that but they told me i could check in at 2 pm. so i'm sitting in the swiss chalet dining area charging my electronics for the big pond hop. also i'm eating cheese pierogies.

pierogies are my life.

if you don't know what a pierogi is, it's kind of like ravioli { they're usually stuffed with cheese and sometimes bacon } but then instead of a flour/pasta based casing it's a potatoe casing. sooooo imagine cheese stuffed french fries in ravioli shapes.



side note: the best thing about airports is getting streetpasses from around the world ! it's pretty cool.