my bags are packed, i'm ready to go...

My time here in London is coming to an end in just 30 hours, and it is definitely a bittersweet moment. I am going to miss so much about my time here. My amazing friends that have made this journey so much fun, the wonderful food and interesting new things that are always there to try, the insane shopping (harrods will miss me, I'm sure), and the beautiful weather (when it's not raining) to name just a few.

This experience has taught me so much about life and different cultures and I feel like I've really grown-up a lot over these past few months. I don't even know how to describe how I've changed, all I know is it's been for the better. I think I am a much more understand person when it comes to others, I've learned to go with the flow and that not everything is in my control. I think this mostly comes from being dependent on others so much, like the public transportation for instance. It has taught me that the world will not come to an end if I'm a little bit late somewhere because of something I couldn't controls, like the tube isn't running on time or whatever it may be.

I've come to appreciate even more how amazingly fortunate I am to live in the United States and appreciate our freedoms and form of government, even though I've also become a bit afraid of what we might become if the current government gets its way with things like socialized healthcare, like they have here in the UK. I've decided that I need to start paying more attention to what is going on in the world, not just in the states. That is something I definitely noticed about Europeans - they seem to know a little bit about most countries generally form of government. Even though generally I find their opinions of the US government to be skewed (you've never seen so many people in LOVE with Barack Obama) to me it does say something that they know about our government. Seriously, how many Americans can name the British Prime Minister. Maybe this has to do with the fact that all of these smaller European Nations are joined through the EU, therefore they learn more about each other - I'm not really sure. All I am sure of is I wish I had learned more in high school about global history/politics than I did.

University here in London (which, you might remember, is the reason I came here) was a completely new and interesting learning experience, that's for sure. The teachers and students here were...interesting to say the least. Compared to college in the states it was definitely easier, which was a nice break and just added to my amazing experience abroad.

I guess the thing I will miss most about my time here in London are the people I've met. I know it seems weird, I've only known these girls since February 1st when we met in the cafe of Nido Student Living, however I've come to treasure my friendships with some of them so much. Sally left a week ago, but it seems like longer. I am so happy that we will be able to see each other back in Texas, she is such a sweet girl and I don't know what I would have don't without her while I was here to talk about the things we missed about home and go on adventures around the world together. Natalie has taught me to appreciate living alone and having my own space. Not that I didn't have fun having a roommate, and Nat and I got along really well, nothing bad ever happened, but it really makes you thankful that you don't have to worry about making too much noise or bothering someone else all the time. My closest friend during my time here has probably been Lindsey. For some reason right from the start we just kind of clicked. We're basically opposites, which is probably why we get along so well, and she reminds me SO much of Amanda and my Mom in her sweet, giving, and generous personality - another reason we became such good friends I am sure. I am going to miss being able to walk down the hall to her room, or suddenly decide to adventure off to Harrods or some other random locale in London with her SO much. I can't wait to be back in the states to go visit her and have her visit me, and of course to travel with her in the future. It's strange how much someone you've only known for such a short amount of time can impact your life so much, I know we are going to remain friends for a long time to come - for that I am so grateful.

Tomorrow I leave for Paris to meet up with my Mom and Ashley, I can't wait to see them and experience the City of Lights with my two favorite people in the world. Thanks to all of you who have read this blog, it's been so much fun writing it and I can't wait to go back and read all of my posts to reflect on the wonderful times I've had this past semester. I wouldn't have changed anything that's happened since January 25 when I arrived in Europe, I hope you've all enjoyed reading my blog and I can't wait to see you all when I'm back stateside! Love you all!

-audrey

So I officially have less than one week left in London before heading to Paris to meet up with my two favorite people in the world: Ashley and my Mom. Words can not describe how excited and ready I am to see them - it is so weird to go so long without seeing the people who mean the most to you in the world.

However, as excited as I am to see them, I am making myself enjoy my last full week in London as much as possible. This all started on Friday, my first official day to be finished with school. Lindsey and I wandered all day and had a ton of fun - we went to Portobello and Borough Markets and it was super entertaining. The markets around London are some of the best places to people watch, and since Lindsey had some summer school reading to catch up on I got some magazines and we hung out reading and people watching for a good portion of our day. I've been so tired and just worn out lately, I'm assuming from the stress of final exams and being ready to be home, that I was so EXHAUSTED Friday night that I went to bed at 730pm. That's right folks, the sun was still out and so was I. Of course, this led to me getting an insane amount of sleep seeing as to how I didn't even wake up until after 11am when Lindsey called and woke my butt up so we could go play :]

Saturday was absolutely disgusting here in London - in the mid 50s and raining and humid - so all together not the best day to walk around. This is when Lindsey had the brilliant idea for us to go see 'Sex and the City 2', because what better to do on a rainy day then head to the cinemas?  We both enjoyed the movie and thought it was hilarious, all together a successful day I think.

That leads us to today, Sunday. Its 1:20pm and I'm still in my pj's trying to decided if I want to do anything. I know I said I would enjoy London as much as possible during my last week here, but this is enjoyable to me (staying in my pj's all day and doing nothing)...so I really need to decided something soon so I don't waste away the rest of my day.

I'll try to blog at least 2 more times before I leave for Paris on Saturday, until then, love you all!

-audrey

Finals are consuming my life, sorry for the non-posting lately, but between studying, taking my exams, watching the season finale of greys anatomy, seeing my friends, and sleeping/eating I just haven't had much time to write in this thing. I only have to finals left, one tomorrow and one Thursday, then I'm free until the end of August. Today was supposed to be spent studying, however I recently discovered the amazingness that is 'Alias'.

This all happened because I watched the movie 'Valentine's Day', which has Bradley Cooper. Naturally, after I finished watching the movie I went to imdb.com and looked up what else Bradley Cooper has been in, because he is super cute, and I discovered he was on Alias. Now, I already knew that Michael Vartan (from 'Never Been Kissed') was on Alias, so I thought about it for a second and thought to myself, 'Maybe I should watch Alias and see the two super hot guys act with Jennifer Garner who I also think is just adorable and seems like such a normal person. As stalkerish and weird as this all sounds, thank god I am a HUGE dork because this show is super good. Now, back to why this is affecting my studying. You see, when given the option of watching Alias, which I describe as a mix between 24 and Lost (AMAZING) or studying for my biological bases of behaviour final it is pretty obvious which one wins out. Therefore, I spent all day Saturday studying, gave myself today off, will study tomorrow before my final, and everything will be just dandy.

Another super fun thing I did today was go to dinner with Monique and Danielle (my cousins in case anyone that reads this isn't related to me..doubtful). I don't get to see the too often and even though we didn't see each other very much when we were younger I just love these girls (and TOTALLY missed Alise who was at home with my GORGEOUS new baby cousin Natalie and adorable cousin Spencer). I am so happy that as we're getting older we are keeping in touch more, because they're my only girl cousins (1st cousins) and we have a lot in common it seems and they are just so nice and I have so much fun when I get to see them, so that is going to need to happen more often I've decided. They're on vacation with some friends for a week here in London and Paris. We had a great dinner and I got to show them around Piccadilly Circus a bit, it was a great night. Next time we better make sure Alise and Ashley are there though, because that would make it a million times better.

Anywho, I should probably go to sleep because I'm supposedly wakening up in 6 hours to study for my final, but I am so not tired and kind of want to watch another episode of Alias. Oh the decisions I must make in my life, it's great to be me :]]

Until Friday (at the earliest because of my finals, lost series finale, 24 series finale, and my newly required obsession with alias) I'll talk to yall later.

-audrey

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I hope you have a fabulous day in New Orleans with Dad, Ashley, Aunt Marie and family! I love you so much and can not wait to see you in 3 weeks and 1 day! I promise that next year I'll be there to celebrate with you.

As this week is coming to an end I still can't believe that in 3 weeks time I will be packing up and getting ready to leave London, its nuts! While I am SO excited to go to Paris with Ashley and my Mom its kind of bittersweet, because I also have so much fun to look forward to once I get back home I wish I could just go straight home from London. I get to sign my apartment lease and start to buy stuff to decorate it with - which I can NOT wait to do, not to mention the trips I have planed for this summer AND I get to see Scout. I've been looking online at furniture and what style I want to decorate my apartment in - at first I decided that I wanted it to be fairly modern, color pallet of silvers/grey/black/white, sleek and sophisticated and clean lines and contemporary - COMPLETELY different from how my room at home is decorated. Now however, I've been thinking that maybe I should just do something more traditional, something that will last a long time and not go out of style, and I want a big comfy couch and lots of fluffy pillows, more along the lines of a Pottery Barn catalogue...so yeah, who knows how my apartment is going to turn out. I couldn't be trying to decide between 2 more different styles of decoration - I just want to LOVE what I pick to decorate my first apartment, no regrets. I'm seriously considering going with what I call the 'Pottery Barn' look, simply because I think I'll regret my choices with that less. Hmm, we'll see, I still have time (like a month and a half).

Anyways, I'm going to read 'True Believer' by Nicholas Sparks today and tomorrow, then its time for this girl to start studying for finals. I normally don't take my finals at UH because I exempt out of them, so this should be interesting. These grades I make will affect my GPA at UH so hopefully I don't screw up too badly - I think I'll be ok but you just never know.

Alrighty, I'm off to look at more websites for home decor ideas.

-audrey

So I'm finally finished with school, with the exception of finals that is. I have two next week (the 17th and 21st) and two the following week (the 24th and 27th). I should be spending most of my free time studying - of course that isn't happening just yet. I did succeed in reading two Nicholas Sparks books yesterday though - 'A Bend in The Road' and 'Nights in Rodanthe.' They were good, you should read them. Today I'm going to read 'The Wedding' and maybe get some studying done, we'll see.

British Airways is driving me crazy. So my mom and ashley are supposed to fly out on June 4 to arrive in Paris June 5 and I'm going to meet them there. Well, BA Cabin Crew just announced that they will be striking from May 30 - June 3 and June 5 - June 9. Now, this might not affect my mom and ashley's flight, but I'm scheduled to fly from London to Paris on June 5...PROBLEM. I mean, I can always take the eurostar or another airline, its just a huge hassle. UGH, annoying.

Alright, thats enough of me complaining, I'm off to watch last nights episode of 24.

-audrey

I went and saw 'The Las Song' with Sally today. It was so so good! I read the book, and loved it, but I was a little worried about the movie, mostly because it stars Miley Cyrus. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am NOT a Miley fan, or I wasn't until I saw this movie. As much as I didn't want to admit it, she did a really good job in this movie. I think the method of first writing the screenplay then writing the book really helped make the two match up much much better - making me a very happy camper. I always hate it when you read a book that is super good and then the movie is terrible. I understand that not ever part of a book translates well into a movie, but this is probably the best Nicholas Sparks book that has been made into a movie, other than the Notebook maybe. Anywho, I loved the movie and yall should all go see it  :]

Since the movie of course takes place in the south it made me want to be home, but I know that I only have few weeks left here in London with all of my friends. Now all I have to do is finish my finals exams and get ready to see my family! My cousins Danielle and Monique are going to be in London at the end of May so I can NOT wait to see them - I don't get to see them too often back home either but I just love getting to see them so I'm sure I'll have a great time showing them around London. After they leave I only have a week left in London until I met Ashley and my Mom in Paris - so that will be a super exciting few weeks. Anyways, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the movie since I enjoyed it so much, I'm off to do something fun!

-audrey