This is my last post and will probably be a very long as it has been quite a while since my last one, apologies for that. I have been so busy recently!

School stuff is finished. I turned in two big assignments at the end of April, one in particular for my creative intensive writing class took a lot of work and I was very stressed about. This third term, called summer term is for turning in final assignments/assessments for some, exams for others. May has been a month of doing last minute things before leaving uni. I spent some time with my family near in London, went to Isle of Wight where my cousin lives. I  have babysat quite a bit, which is always good and I recently went to Switzerland.

An American friend here who goes to Chapman Uni in California wanted to go to another country before leaving as did I and she had always wanted to go to Switzerland so that’s what we did. We went to the French speaking part (as opposed to the German) and stayed in a city called Lausanne which is on Lake Geneva and close to the city of Geneva. It was an interesting experience. I got to speak some French which was satisfying having taken French all year. Switzerland is a very expensive country which is a nuisance but we did eat good food and see some cool sights. We were near the Swiss Alps so we went up a mountain that was 6,000 odd feet and covered in snow. I don’t think I am in a rush to go back to Switzerland but it is always good to add another country to the list of ones you’ve been to.

This is Lausanne with Lake Geneva in the background.

Lake Geneva and the Alps

Up in the Alps, Rochers de Naye

This week has some Uni events, Saturday’s being the biggest all year. It is called Summer Ball and it is an all day and all night affair. It is somewhat like a festival, drinks, music and in the evening a fireworks show and Tinie Tempah is performing this year which many are very excited about. It is tomorrow and then many are leaving to go home for the summer. I am off to Edinburgh, Scotland on the 27th to see my godmother who is currently doing a tour of Scotland. I will be there for 4 nights with her and am really looking forward to it. Last time I was in Edinburgh was almost 8 years ago and I loved it so am very excited to go back. It was also be lovely to see my godmother of course.

Then on the 2nd of June, my aunties will collect me from uni and I will spend most of the remainder of my time here in Sutton which I have called home whilst being here. I hope to go visit my best friend here for two nights or so before leaving as well. I spent a week with her and her family at the end of our Easter holiday and it was lovely.

I leave for Seattle on the 14th of June, and really have mixed feelings about it. I am not ready to leave England but of course want to see my family and friends in Seattle and I actually really miss driving.

I knew I had to come for a year to see if I could actually live in London or England in general and I have learned that I definitely can so when I graduate in two years (bloody primary ed degree) I will be back in England and this time for good.

I have loved every second of living in London and cannot wait to be back

Again sorry for the late posts and maybe not as many as there should have been, blogging was honestly harder than I thought!

Cheers xxx

Apologies for another late post!

It is the 15th of March and last week of classes. I have a French exam next week then two papers for my other modules due at the end of April.

Things are getting busier as this term is coming to an end, but luckily I am still able to go into Central.

A few weeks ago, my best friend here, Hannah, and I wanted to explore new areas we hadn’t been to so we got on the tube, took a look at the map and picked a place to start. There is a British murder mystery show called Whitechapel and the cases are about copycat murders of Jack the Ripper and the Kray brothers. The Kray’s were famous east end gangsters. We took the tube to Whitechapel and went to a pub where Ronnie Kray went in, shot a rival gang member then walked out. The pub is called the Blind Beggar and there is still a bullet hole in the wall by the bar where George Cornell was sat when he was shot. Not a overly nice place so we didn’t stay to eat. We got on the tube again and decided to get off at Kings Cross St. Pancras and we found a pub in that area for lunch. The pub is called the Skinner’s Arms and it was amazing. It was a lovely pub with good space, nice atmosphere and delicious food. We were there for three hours, eating a drinking and it was so nice 🙂

Hannah and the bar of the pub 🙂

The following weekend I went home to Sutton, as it was English Mother’s Day, I spent Saturday with just my aunties then on Sunday, had a lovely lunch with my aunties, family friend who I live with and one of her sons.

It was a somewhat busy week starting on the 7th. I have a 3,500 word portfolio due at the end of April for the creative writing class and it is a piece of innovative fiction, something that until now, I was not familiar with. I had a tutorial with my professor for the project then the class which is 3 hours long. That night it was Grand, the club in Clapham Junction. On Wednesday there was Southlands College dinner which was so cute. It was the awards dinner,and we all got dressed up and had really good food. I love that each college in the Uni have these dinners because it really feels like a community and they are so cute!

This last weekend was nice because Hannah and I went to Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street Cafe, as part of a package by parents got me for my 21st birthday. It was lovely, we had a three course meal and prosecco and we felt well posh. After, we went for a walk, crossed the river and made our way towards the City. We were headed to a little shopping centre when we saw people on top of a roof taking pictures so we went that way and turns out they were on the roof of the shopping centre we were going to. I love discovering not only new places but new viewpoints. If I could go to every viewpoint of London, I would. It was amazing.

Last night I had dinner with a Seattle friend who I have known since we were about 6, at elementary school. She is interning here in London and as we have known each other so long and both happen to be 5,000 miles away from Seattle and in the same city we thought it would be nice to meet up. It was so nice, we had dinner in Covent Garden and it was so nice to catch up.

This week needs to be productive, I have a test next week then we have Easter break for three weeks. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to catch you all up!

Cheers for now xx

Classy loo selfie in Gordon Ramsay’s

St. Paul’s Cathedral from below

Hiya!

Just had Reading week which means if you have a book for your module you don’t have class, it is a week for catching up on reading. I had one of my three modules which isn’t bad. Did not too much with that time unfortunately. On Wednesday I went home to Sutton to have lunch with Kath and my aunties which was lovely. I took the train both ways because it is two buses to get home and I have to say I am getting tired of buses. I bus so much more here in London than in Seattle but I suppose that is because I drive in Seattle. I also find busing more tolerable here in London because the buses are much cleaner. But I have to say I love taking the train and the tube. I know they are not always on time and are not always reliable but (touch wood) I have never had much trouble with them. I just find the journey more enjoyable on the train.

The 12th of February was my friend Jess’s birthday and to celebrate, rather than going to Bop on campus as usual, we went to a club in central London. It was so much fun. There were about 15 of us and we Ubered to Piccadilly Circus where the club Tiger Tiger is. It was so fun actually being out in central late, especially in Piccadilly which is always buzzing let alone on a Friday night. I definitely hope to go to a few more clubs  in central before going to back to Seattle.

Next week I will be meeting up with a girl I have known since elementary school. We also went to the same high school. We hadn’t really spoken in three years but when I saw she was in London at the same time as me and we’ve known each other for as long as we have I thought it would be lovely to meet up.

Nothing else much going on so cheers for now xx

This is Piccadilly Circus at night

Always harder than I think it will be to write a blog post every week, sorry!!

It is currently the fifth week of lessons, time is flying by!! My modules are slightly more interesting than last term like I said in a previous post. They are definitely more time consuming and I am a bit worried about my writing intensive module because I have to write 15-20 pages of fiction by the end of the term. I haven’t written fiction since I was probably 11 so this will be challenging.

Since my friend from Seattle left I haven’t gone into central London as much. I babysit for a family in Fulham which is quite close to Uni luckily and closer to central. The other day I went in with my good friend and flatmate Hannah. We went to Camden Town which is probably the quirkiest neighbourhood in London, very very strange. It’s hard to describe but it’s not like anything I have seen before in any other neighbourhood. We then went to Oxford Street to do a bit of window shopping. Oxford Street is the street to go to for shopping, it is always extremely busy.

It is our friend Jess’s birthday on Friday and we will be going to a club in central London which I am super excited for as we have only really gone to the clubs Roehampton has deals with like Fez and Grand.

We are already talking about Spring break which comes after the term finishes on the 24th of March. It is a three week break which is crazy! We are hoping for a little girls holiday somewhere on the continent maybe and if not I might go somewhere. I have friends in Sweden and one of them wanted us to go to Berlin together which would be amazing so thinking about that.

Not much else to report so until next week!

Cheers xx

A picture of some of the buildings in Camden Town

My Christmas holiday was four weeks long so after my parents left, I was with my really good friend Brittney, from Seattle. She had never been to Europe before so I showed her around London and we also went to Northern Ireland for three nights and I had never been there before.

The Shard is the tallest building in Western Europe that you can go up and since being here I had been obsessed with going. For my birthday as it was my 21st, my parents got me two vouchers to go up so naturally I thought taking Brittney up would make her first London experience even better. It was amazing and I was soo excited 🙂

One of my favourite pictures I took up there

The next day we flew to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. Were were there for basically three full days. We saw most if not all of Belfast but also most of Northern Ireland itself. We did a bus tour which took us along the coastline and had stops along the way. We saw Dunluce Castle remains, went to a whisky distillery, Giants Causeway (the main destination of the tour) and an actual rope bridge. It was a spectacular day, the weather was good and the places and views we saw were out of this world.

Giants Causeway is said to be the 8th wonder of the world

Crossing the terrifying Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge

Belfast’s City Hall probably beats everyone else’s city hall

I then had to get back to reality and start my lessons. Brittney went to Amsterdam for a few days and I started my lessons. I have two new modules, a writing intensive one and Sociology of Childhood. They will be more time consuming than last term modules but should also be more interesting for me.

Until next post!

Hello, long time no blog! I had a friend from Seattle staying with me so things have been busy but I am ready to catch you up on life in England.

As I am here for a year, my family came for Christmas so I could stay in England but we could still be together. It was our first Christmas in England together. We were in the London area for a bit so my family could see London at this time of year and my dad had memories of places he particularly liked at Christmas when he was growing up here. We also spent time with family and friends in the area.

We then made our way towards Gloucester where we would be spending Christmas with friends. Gloucester is in SW England but is further NW from London. On the way there we stopped off at a couple of places. Our first stop was Bath, a beautiful city famous for its Roman baths. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and we stayed at a lovely pub inn.

Bath Abbey

Just a lovely picture from a bridge in Bath 🙂

We then moved onto Glastonbury which in June is the location of the famous music festival appropriately called Glastonbury. Not as much to it as Bath but a lovely place nonetheless. We spent a night there and then slowly made our ways to Gloucester that day stopping in Wells, another adorable village that we had been to when I was about 6 and my sister 2. Then we went to two of the Cotswolds villages for a little bit.

Christmas was lovely, we were with a couple who my dad has known since we was 16 when he worked with one of them. They have two frown kids and every day we were there we spent time with their daughter and her husband and two children. It was great and very relaxing.

All of us at our friends’ house for Christmas 🙂

The day after Boxing Day we left Gloucester and went to the Isle of Wight, an island south of London. My dad’s sister, her husband and my cousins live there. We were there for four nights spending time with the family and going on lovely but very blustery walks.

A view from one of our walks

We returned to the London area on New Years Eve, picked up my friend Brittney who was visiting me from Seattle and spend New Years Eve at my aunties, my family left the next day.

It was an amazing holiday and I feel so lucky that my family came to spend Christmas with me here in England.

Just finished week 10 and am on the mend but I was ill for the third time this week. Another virus that was pretty bad and when I wasn’t in class, I was in bed. My immune system has been very sensitive since being here at Roehampton I have to say. I wasn’t ill at all last year, let alone three times in the space of 10 weeks! I love going out and being around people but my body must not be too used to it. The medical centre is starting to get me really well, I’m sure 😉

Only two weeks left of this semester which is crazy!! Time has gone by so quickly and I am so unbelievably happy I am here for another term. My parents and sister are coming here for Christmas and I cannot wait. This will be my first Christmas in England and words cannot describe how happy I am that it is finally happening.

Just got back from meeting a family that I will start babysitting for which is great. London is obviously way more expensive than Monmouth and there is way to more to tempt one to spend money than in Monmouth so making some money will be good. Their house is in Fulham, which is a nice neighbourhood in London and it is a pretty straightforward commute from here.

This week is the week to really get cracking on studying for exams and writing for papers due in the next two weeks. This part of Uni isn’t too different from in the states!

Cheers xx

Hello!!

So sorry for the lateness of this post, this one will encompass week 8 and week 9 of being here at Roehampton.

Firstly though, in week 7 we had a fireworks show here on Campus and actually at my college, Southlands celebrating Guy Fawkes night and there were other fireworks shows going on for the rest of the week! It was really nice and obviously in the states, we don’t celebrate this so it was new to experience and really cool.

The weekend before week 8, I went into Central with some friends and we went to the Southbank Centre Food Market that it there every weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There were all kinds of cuisine there and everything looked so good!! After that we made our way to Oxford St. and went to Topshop so one of the girls could get an ear piercing. I love going into Central and doing something different each time,

Enjoying our chicken, flatbread wraps 🙂

The school week was fine, getting a bit harder each week but nothing new there. Monday was also Grand, which is when Roehampton rents out the club Grand in Clapham Junction and about half of my flat went which was lovely.

My 21st birthday was on Monday the 16th and though it’s not quite as big a deal here as in America, it is still a bigger birthday. I had never spent a birthday with my aunties or cousin so as a surprise birthday present, they took me to Dublin, Ireland!! It was amazing. None of us had ever been there before so it was great to experience it together. Our hotel was lovely and the city was decorated for Christmas and we were there for the switching on of the lights. The city is really cute, different from London which is massive and full of huge sky scrapers. Nothing is particularly big in Dublin and the streets are smaller. There is a smaller river that leads to the Irish Sea which you could take from Dublin and get to Liverpool, England. On Sunday night, we went to a traditional Irish pub with live music and it was amazing, I could have stayed there for hours.

Came back to Uni on my birthday and my lovely flatmates had decorated my door with balloons and most of us went out for a meal and cocktails and it was so much fun 🙂

Along the river in Dublin 🙂

With a few of my friends at a cocktail bar, Be At One

Cheers for now! xx

Hello!

It is the beginning of week 7 and Reading week for me, meaning I don’t have most of my classes this week!

Thought  I would put up a somewhat mid-term post and put some photos up because all of my other posts have been without pictures. Apologies for that!

Just went home to Sutton for the weekend which was lovely. I live with a family friend when I am not on campus and I met up with my Aunties too which is always really nice. Sutton is just outside London and on the bus, about 45-50 minutes away so not bad. Went to Kingston a neighboring borough actually not far from Roehampton and it is always fun going there because there is really good shopping! Also it is looking very Christmas-y so would recommend it to other students here in London!

Here are some photos around London and Surrey that I have taken since being here. 🙂

A lovely park in Surrey, a suburb just outside London

One of the views from the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral. One of my favourite places in London and if you haven’t been I would recommend it!

The Albert Bridge in Chelsea. I have been watching the reality tv show Made in Chelsea for over two years and walking around Chelsea, a very posh neighbourhood in London was amazing 🙂

Most of my lovely flat mates that I love to bits 🙂

More to come later, I promise I will be a better blogger in the future 🙂

Cheers, xx

Late again, sorry!! I was ill again during week 5 and forgot! I must be susceptible to European bugs!

Rough start to the week, what with being ill but had a lovely weekend. Went into Central both on Saturday and Sunday and it was great. I feel like I am really seeing more of London. I always go from our local station of Barnes to Waterloo because from there you can go wherever! Had to get my glasses from Specsavers so did the route that I now know very well, across Waterloo Bridge to the Strand. I then headed to the City via the North Bank, this was new for me because I usually walk places on the South Bank of the river, The City is where the financial district is and also St. Paul’s Cathedral which I love. I had lunch in one of my favourite food chain eateries, Pret a Manger. They do sandwiches and soups and coffee etc. It is good and it is cheap. Close to the Cathedral is a small shopping centre and I went there next to look around and I got a couple of things.

It was nice having a ‘me day’ in central and I feel so comfortable even in parts of London I don’t know as well.

I went in again on Sunday because I have Swedish friends who were in London for the weekend and we met up for dinner and a catch up. I went in early and walked from Waterloo to the Tower Bridge, which is quite a walk. I just walked along the South Bank and when I got to the Bridge I just sat for a bit and relaxed. I made my way to Piccadilly to meet my friends and we went to a lovely pub and they paid for me 🙂

Classes were fine during the week, wasn’t feeling ideal but not too bad. I haven’t said before, but my friend and I are in the kickboxing group together and it is great. It isn’t easy but I already feel fitter and I know that doing this the whole year is a great way to stay in shape. It is on Thursday’s and Sunday’s.

Cheers for now x