Paris Trip!

Hello all,

  Here are some pictures from my trip to Paris. I am now in Barcelona and it is sunny and beautiful. The food is great, too! The first night in Paris we decided to take the long bus ride to Trocadero and see the Eiffel Tower (duh!). Tip: don't climb the tower if you're not used to exercising like me! I almost die haha. The view form the tower is Magnifique!

   Then we had dinner at a very nice Piano Bar and the poor waitress had to explain the whole menu to us. Food was great though. Next day we went to the Louvre and it was amazing. All the paintings and sculptures were great to see and very inspiring. It was funny to see so many people in front of the Monna Lisa, which is sorta small.  The Nutella crepes are delicious. God bless Europe, they put Nutella on everything!

 View from our hotel room

 Yum!

 View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

 Arc de triomphe

 Ms. Monna Lisa

 pretty carousel

the tower at night

Bonjour!

Bonjour!

      For our second long weekend we decided to make a lil trip to Paris and I'm glad we did because it's unbelievable. Many a waiter we have asked to translate the whole menu for us. I'll upload some pictures soon.

     Here are some pictures I took while visiting the Queen's House, the Royal Naval College, and the Royal Maritime Museum. They are beautiful buildings with a lot of meaning and it was very interesting to see how navigation could have impacted a country's history in the way these did.

 The Two matching buildings were intended to appear as two cats were staring at each other.

 The group!

 The Two main buildings of the College

 Queen's House

 Some of the many navigation-related paintings at Queen's House

 Details of the ceiling at the Queen's House

The Tulip Stairs

 Dining room tables and chandeliers at the Painted Hall

 Detail of the columns at the Painted Hall

 Ceiling of the Painted Hall

 Painted Hall Ceiling

 Chapel ceiling

Chapel

St. Paul's Cathedral Pictures!

Hello all,

   These are some pictures I took during my visit to St. Paul's Cathedral. Hope you enjoy them! Sorry, but it was not possible to take pictures inside the cathedral :(

 Beautiful Dome

 ACM Students and Professor Andrew Kennedy!

 Close Up to the statues and elaborate details

Visit to St. Paul's Cathedral

Hi all,

    Today we got the opportunity to visit the amazing St. Paul's Cathedral. The outside of the building is very beautiful as its architecture draws from various styles such as classic and Gothic . My favorite part will always be the statues and the amazing detail put into them. The inside of the cathedral reminded me of Westminster Abbey and it was just gorgeous. Everywhere I looked there would be a statue, a memorial, or colorful panels of art. It truly was a memorable experience.

      Unfortunately, I could not get pictures from inside the church. We then proceeded to go upstairs (234 steps, i counted)  and get a closer view of the art on the dome which is very interesting since it stands out from everything else.  It stands out because it is not very colorful at all. All the paintings around it are very colorful and the yellow paint sparkles when the light reflects on it. But the dome itself is very opaque and has sepia colors to it instead of a rainbow of colors one would expect from the inside of a  dome.

The dome!

I will post some of the pictures I took of the outside of the dome soon! ~Rebecca S.

Week 1 In London!

Greetings from beautiful London!

        I have been here for two weeks now and I have done so many things already it's unbelievable. This is a recount of my first week here in London. Classes started with a walk throughout London in which we visited London Bridge, the Big Ben, and Tower Hill. We also had the opportunity of seeing two plays: "Twelfth Night" and "Di and Viv and Rose", both of which rendered excellent performances.

        Before Twelfth Night started we got the chance to see the actors dressing up on stage and I thought that was unique. This performance had male actors on the female roles, just like in Shakespearean times and they were absolutely wonderful. We also got a tour at the Tower of London and I had the opportunity of seeing the crown jewels (I was not allowed to take pics of the jewels). Tower Hill is very beautiful and worth a visit if you're ever in the area. Our tour guide was absolutely hilarious and we got a chance to go into the Chapel, which is still functioning nowadays.

The beautiful London Bridge

 King Henry VIII. We learned about the Kings of England, the purpose of the Tower and how it served as a prison and even torture chamber back in the days.

 Me in front of Tower Hill. Very windy day.

 A magnificent dragon made out of coins, newspaper, armor, jewels, guns, etc.

 Tower Hill

Guards marching.
                 
         People in London are absolutely wonderful and are very helpful (though they may push you on the tube!)  I will post more details on my visits to Westminster Abbey, the Big Ben, and The Globe Theater later on.

Best,
Rebecca S.
       

London, Day 1!

Hi all,

         After about 16 hours of traveling, delayed flights, and turbulence, I have finally arrived in London! First thing that I noticed was how ethnically diverse the city was. Second thing was how different the driving and crossing the street is from the U.S.! It is wild. So if you're thinking about visiting London, be very careful crossing the street.

         We are living at Earls Court Rd. and it is so beautiful here. Across the street we have The Blackbird Restaurant (their pies are amazing) and you can hear ambulances every five minutes. It is a very dynamic city and i have noticed that people . Day 1 in London was spent meeting with the program coordinators who are very nice people and getting to know the other students in the program. We went to Tesco, a supermarket, and I am just fascinating by the difference between the products here and back home. For example, eggs are not refrigerated (and I don't think they need to be).

Lays!

I will post more about our day yesterday visiting London Bridge and other things!

Rebecca S.

Packing!

Hello there again,

      Two days until London! I am exhausted from packing but it is done! And I'm pretty sure I managed to pack everything I will need there so yay to me.

      Not gonna lie, packing was tough and at some point I was like "What am I doing? I don't wanna go". I guess I'm feeling overwhelmed and very nervous about this new experience. I know I'm not the only one that feels a bit scared about this whole new atmosphere we will be in for fifteen weeks. I remember how difficult yet exciting moving to the United States was. Doing it all again will be a challenge but I am ready for it. I guess the hardest part is saying goodbye to my family, my boyfriend, and my friends. Knowing I can't randomly call my mom to help me in a situation is scary (I depend on others quite a bit given my clumsy nature). So being more independent would be super awesome. And I need to learn how to take care of myself better.

     I can't wait for my Italiano lessons and living with a host family, looking forward to that. Our weekend trips to Venice and Rome will be legendary I'm sure. I'm planning on visiting France (fo' sure) and maybe Spain or Germany or all of them. Maybe Greece? I want to visit every country lol. Don't know yet but wherever I choose would be amazing. What's not to love about Europe and the UK?