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

I've been neglecting this again, sorry about that! I think as my time in London is winding down I am forgetting more and more about writing in this - I'll try to be better about it, I know how much my mom enjoys reading it (hi mom). I went to Barcelona this past weekend with Natalie - we had a wonderful time walking around the city, seeing all of the tourist sites, and eating way to much tapas.

We arrived late of Friday night after our flight was delayed, and quickly checked into our hotel, ordered room service and put on a movie. We both miss having a TV so we took full advantage of it during the weekend.

On Saturday we met up at Park Guel with some of our friends from London who also happened to be in Barcelona - it was an absolutely gorgeous park that gave us amazing views of the city - even if I did have to climb a freaking mountain to see it. After we decided to head over to Las Ramblas for some last lunch and sight-seeing. From there we all wanted to head back to the hotel - however non of us knew what bus we needed to take, the metro didn't go to that part of the city, and all 5 of us couldn't ride in one cab. Since no one wanted to pay for a taxi (i offered but i didn't want to pay for 2 cabs and no one would pay for the second) we started walking. We walked, and walked, and walked for over 2 hours, well over 5 miles I'm sure along the beach until we reached our hotel. So basically, on Saturday, I climbed a mountain and walked forever - not my idea of a fun vacation. Oh well, i earned my ice cream that night :]

On Sunday I basically slept the day away, until 4pm, before deciding to wake up and go out with everybody for food. This time I decided to pay for our taxi's back to the hotel because 3 of our friends needed to get to the airport, and even though they weren't willing to pay for their own cabs to get their stuff and make it to the airport on time, there was NO WAY I was walking home again and I didn't feel comfortable taking a taxi alone. Long story short, I paid for 2 taxis to take us to our hotel, my friends left, and Natalie and I decided to stay in for the rest of the night and watch TV - exciting stuff I know.

We had all day Monday since our flight didn't leave until 10:55pm so we were wanting to finish up our sight-seeing and go over to the shoe store that Lindsey had told me about (it was closed on Saturday for May Day and closed Sunday, since it was Sunday). Well, fyi, its not open on Monday's either - bummer! So sadly, I did not accomplish my goal of buying super cute flats in Barcelona, it just wasn't meant to be. Rain however, was meant to be. It rained from the moment we woke up until the moment our plane took off that night, NOT fun. We ended up walking around a shopping mall for a few hours. This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip because I saw an ADORABLE westie in H&M named lupe that was 3 months old and SO SO SO CUTE. It made me miss Scout way too much, but I pet it and gave it kisses anyways - LOVE IT. After that it was only 3:30 and we still had 5 hours of nothing to do, so we went back to the hotel which was holding our bags and planted ourselves on the couches in the lobby bar. I ended up taking a nap, natalie used their gym for a shower, and I kept ordering diet coke so they wouldn't ask us to leave. That is where we stayed until we left for the airport. We finally made it home around 1:30am that night and went straight to bed, we were SO tired.

Today I got to hang around Nido not doing much until I met up with Chelsey for dinner at Benihana's - it was delish. In other exciting news, my cousin Alise had a BEAUTIFUL baby girl today named Natalie Gayle Hagan, 7 lbs 7 oz, 20 inches long. Both baby, mother, daddy, and big brother Spencer are doing great. I can't wait to go home this summer and meet them - she is GORGEOUS. CONGRATULATIONS ALISE & KEVIN, i love yall!

Other than that I just have to go to class tomorrow, Friday, and Monday then I'm finished with the exception of final examinations. Hopefully i'll be able to update this sometime soon!

-audrey

So how many of you are as shocked as I am that it's almost MAY. I don't know where April went but I'm excited for the remainder of it. I only have 2 weeks of 'regular' class left, then final examinations, but those don't start until May 17 so I can't wait to play around london, and study of course. I actually accomplished things today, I get Lindsey's birthday gift (even though her birthday is in July, I just couldn't wait to get it once I knew what I wanted to get her), I got my Mom's mothers day/birthday gift (i hate to only get her one thing for both days, but I know she's going to love the gift I picked so I don't feel too bad about it) and I got my laundry done. Now I have the rest of the day to read my new Chelsea Handler book, its hilarious.

Tomorrow Donah is coming into town to see Chelsey. Chelsey is in Barcelona until tomorrow afternoon though so I'm going to go meet Donah at Heathrow and say Hi and get some things from her in the morning, then I have to turn in my paper, go to class, and pack for BARCELONA - I leave Friday afternoon. I'm a little bummed because Barcelona has had the most amazing weather for the past week and a half and on Friday its supposed to start raining, and continue to rain for the ENTIRE time I'm there. It's kind of disappointing, but I'm sure Natalie and I will make the most of our time there, heck, if all else fails I can always just shop :]

I get back from Barcelona on Monday really late/early Tuesday since we have off from school on Monday. Next week I only need to write one last paper that is due May 10 and go to my last revisions lectures and I'll be all done until my final exams. I am so OVER school, I can't wait to be home and go to Escondido and play on the lake and see Scout.

I'm so excited to see all of my friends, and my Mom and Dad and Ashley, and go to physical therapy and see Christy and Suzanne, and stop by the office and say hi to Dr. Pat, Mary, Patricia, Tracy, Tracie, Margaret, and Cherissa --- I have a lot to do when I get home. Not to mention moving into my new apartment, going to Las Vegas with my parents, going to Oklahoma to visit Allison, going to Louisiana to see my new baby cousins, AND going to Disney World with Ashley, all before mid August (and I don't get home until june 12). Ok wow, thats a lot when I list it off like that. But I'm so excited, I cant wait!

OH, I also wan to take some sort of cooking class/cake decorating class sometime this summer or maybe this fall - I took one in high school, but I don't really remember what I learned (if you don't use it you lose it) and I really want to get some skills and get a job in a bakery of some sort. Hmm, I guess we'll see what happens.

Alrighty, I'm off to enjoy my new book - have a wonderful Wednesday everybody!

-audrey

So the study abroad program at my school occasionally gets all of the study abroad kids tickets to see shows and throws random shindigs for us - normally I never partake in these events for reasons even unknown to me. HOWEVER. Last night, we went and saw Wicked. I love wicked, it was my fourth time to see it, I just can't get enough. Now let me start off by saying, the fist time I saw it was on Broadway, with most of the original cast - so my standards are very high. Not to mention I listen to the soundtrack a lot, therefore I am used to the amazing original cast members singing all of my favorite show tunes. Now, last nights experience.

For starters, they all spoke with their British accents (except for The Wizard who sounded like he was from New York). Now I know you're all thinking, Audrey, you're in London, what do you expect, so let me tell you. I expect American accents. That is how it originated, that is how I like it - it was just weird to hear some of the songs in British accents, not to mention some of the dialogue changes to "british" words - I just really didn't like that about the show.

Next complaint - the actress who played Glinda was EXTREMELY annoying. I'll admit, her singing didn't suck, not at all, but compared to some of the other Glindas I've seen I wasn't too impressed by her. Elphaba was played by some girl from Northern Ireland, she's only been doing the show for 1 month and considering that she did a great job. Her voice cracked a few times during some of the songs but overall she was pretty good. When she and Fiyero sand As Long As You're Mine she sounded amazing, but my favorite song she sang was No Good Dead - she killed it. Fiyero, well the actor had blond hair, was really tall and thin, and just way too different from anyone else I have ever seen play the role, but he was pretty good.

Now the worst part for me was the orchestra. I don't know if it was smaller than normal or they were missing some players or they changed the music up a bit or what the hell was going on, but you could BARELY hear them. Like, I don't know how to describe it, it just sounded incomplete - just not all there. So, that was way disappointing. Hell, maybe it was because our seats were in the balcony level and I'm not used to being that far away from the orchestra, maybe it always sounds like that from up there, but I don't think so.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining a lot about the show, but I actually enjoyed it - other than those critiques. Maybe I'm too hard to impress - I don't think I am, I just don't think this was as good as any other production I've seen of Wicked. I would have been majorly upset if I had to pay for the ticket, but considering it was free (well it was probably "included in tuition") I can't really complain too much more.

Other than that the major news over here in Londontown is that there are PLANES flying. Not MY plane that was supposed to take me to Dublin, which was cancelled, but other planes to everywhere else in Europe (it's a long story basically ending in RyanAir being stupid losers). Another big deal here: the weather.

It has been SO BEAUTIFUL here in London for like, the past 2 weeks. I don't know what's going on, maybe the lovely volcanic ash cloud is keeping the bad weather away, but it's kind of freakishly nice weather here (not that any of us are complaining). This entire week it's supposed to get up in the 60s, and I don't just mean like 62 -- on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of this coming weekend/week it's supposed to be 67 degrees or higher. I can't wait!

Other than that I've just got a TON of school work to do, we only have a few weeks of class left until final exams start, but a lot of my professors have alternative final assignments for study abroad students (i.e. extra papers to write instead of taking the exam) so I have been and will be one busy girl for the next two weeks are so, not to mention my trip to Barcelona next weekend. I'll try to keep yall updated :]]

-audrey

Well its a gorgeous day in London, a bit colder than last week but still nice out. I am so ready for summer time in Texas though, I've been listening to all of the music I grew up listening to in the summer: the big chill soundtrack, dan fogelberg, wilson phillips, ect. I can't wait to be out on the lake.

Our trip to Dublin is officially cancelled. Natalie applied for a refund for our flight and I just cancelled our hostel - I guess I just wasn't meant to ever stay in a hostel (haha YAYY). While I'm bummed I wont be able to see Ireland, which I hear is beautiful, I must admit I'm a little relieved that we aren't going. I have so much coursework to do and a test to study for so I know I'll be busy this weekend. Next week we have Barcelona - now I will be VERY upset if I don't get to go on that trip, keep your fingers crossed that this stupid volcanic ash doesn't come back!

Alrighty, well I'm off to watch last nights episode of 24 and get my laundry done, and when I saw get my laundry done I mean go sit downstairs for the guy to pick it up and wash it for me. I can't believe my time in London is ending in less than two months, it flew by.

-audrey

So I'm supposed to be traveling to Dublin this Thursday - but I'm starting to doubt that will happen thanks to the lovely volcanic ash fluttering about. Honestly, I'll be bummed if I don't get to go, but I'll be even more upset if I have to miss out on Barcelona the week after, there is this shoe store in Barcelona that I REALLY need to go to and this whole no flying thing is not helping me acquire some new shoes.

In other news, I hate feeling sick. This past week I've been feeling like such crap, headaches, stomach ache, my hip/back/neck are killing me and my right shoulder hasn't hurt this bad since I had surgery on it. I'm sure everything is ok, I probably just have some little bug or something, but damn it I wish I could be home and Christy (my amazing physical therapist friend) could jut tape up my shoulder - I know exactly what I need done, just have no idea where I could go to get it done :[

I think Im just all of a sudden homesick, probably cause I don't feel well, but I just wan to go home and sleep in my own bed with Scout and wake up and go to PT and then go home and just hang out with Ashley. And I want mexican food. I had a dream about it last night, it was a bad dream thou. I dreamt that my Mom wasn't going to allow me to eat any when I got home since I gained weight while here - the weird thing is I know she would never do that and I haven't really gained weight here...

Anyways..I just woke up from a nap, its 10:00pm, I still have an appetite, but I know I shouldn't eat anything (as if I have any food in my room), but I can't go to sleep now. Annoying. Anywho, I think I'm going to go pout in bed while watching Dirty Dancing, that always makes things better.

-audrey

I'll be adding more pictures to my webshots account finally, so those of you who aren't of facebook can see everything I've been up to. The only thing is, that website takes FOREVER to upload pictures, and I've got a lot to upload, so you're going  to have to be patient. Once I'm done I'll post the link again. I'm so happy its Friday, all I have to do is go to Developmental Psychology and I'm free until Monday. I really want to go to Cameden Market this weekend since I haven't been for a really long time - hopefully I can make that happen!

Well, I'm off to get ready for class, its an absolutely beautiful day here in London, I can't wait to go out and enjoy it. Hope everyone has a great day back in the states!

-audrey

Im about to go grab dinner at the yummy italian restaurant literally outside my front door with Lindsey and just felt like blogging a bit. I've been looking online and stuff for my apartment and I am getting SO excited about moving home and being able to decorate. On another note, my cousins Joe and Andre' are competing in a the New Orleans Ironman competition on Sunday which includes some crazy amount of swimming, biking, and running - everybody wish them luck and hope that no one ends up injured! I've got to go now, love you!

-audrey

Im back to school this week and getting right into work - I have a paper due this week, Im going to Dublin next week, the day I get back from Dublin I have a test, 2 days later I have another paper due, then the next day I leave for Barcelona. Its going to be a crazy few weeks, thats for sure. Today will be spent doing homework - not my idea of fun, especially when all I really want to do is look online and find some concerts to go to this summer, no luck so far.

I cant believe that I only have 6 weeks left in London, followed by 1 week in Paris then home - in 7 short weeks I'll be back in Spring. While Im excited to be home, obviously, I am still having such a good time here in London. I have already decided the first thing Im doing when I get home though - on the way home from the airport Im making my parents take me to Pappacitos - its not debatable.

Alright, well I just wanted to update and let yall know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, Im just busy with school. Until later...

-audrey

Sorry its been a million years since I last wrote in this thing, I've been really busy traveling around the world (jealous, I know). Last week and this week is my Easter Break from school and I've been making the most of it!

Last week I went to the Atlantis in Dubai with Lindsey and Sally. We had such an amazing time! While the Atlantis there is only 1/2 the size of the one in the Bahamas it is very pretty and being brand new just helped that. I must say, I like the one in the Bahamas better, maybe that's just because that is what I'm used to, but the hotel in Dubai was still amazing. All I did was lay out by the beach, sleep-in, go to the spa, read, play in the "lazy" river and go to the most amazing mall EVER. The Mall of Dubai is probably the largest mall in the world at 51 million square feet. We spent 3 hours there and I know we didn't see the majority of it. I got an adorable new bag and wallet so overall my shopping trip was successful :]] After arriving back in London on Saturday I spent the afternoon unpacking, cleaning my dusty room, and re-packing for Scotland, which is where I jetted off to Easter Sunday.

Sally and I wanted to take a short trip somewhere else over our break, and Edinburgh was the perfect place for a quick getaway. The city, while small, is absolutely gorgeous and full of history. We visited Edinburgh Castle, The Palace of Hollyroodhouse, The Royal Mile, and today we took a day trip up to St. Andrews. I fell in love with the tiny seaside town of St. Andrews! We went to the British Museum of Golf where I got to see the REAL Claret Jug as well as a lot of really cool old and new golf memorabilia. After that we took a few pictures by the beach before walking along the 18th hole of The Old Course. I saw the famous bridge over the Swilcan Burn and got to putt on one of their links-style greens. Of course I bought some souvenirs, especially since that is where the British Open is being held this summer.

After I bored Sally to death with golf stuff for about an hour we headed up towards St. Andrews Castle and St. Andrews Cathedral, both of which are now basically ruins. Beautifully landscaped on the cost we saw tons of sea gulls and got some great photos before my camera died :[[

Tomorrow we plan to finish up some of the sights here in Edinburgh before flying back to London last Wednesday night. Natalie's birthday is Thursday so I cant wait to celebrate that with her and her family who are in town, AND Lindsey's wonderful mom is in town and I CAN NOT wait to meet her. I feel like I already know and love her, she even brought me some grape jelly (which they don't sell anywhere in London). I can't wait to be back in beautiful London to see my friends, meet new friends, and sleep in my own bed! Until later, love you!

--audrey

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was super busy with my last week of school before easter break and getting ready to go on holiday that I just didn't have time to sit down and write it all out.

On Wednesday Caitlin and I did a day trip to Stonehenge, Bath, The Cotswalds, and Stratford-Upon-Avon. We had such a great time, but the day was very long and by the time we got home we were both ready for bed. My favorite part of the trip was the town of Bath, I wish I had more time to see it all, maybe I'll go back one day.

I had a paper due on Friday and TONS of errands to run to get ready for holiday so Thursday kept me very busy and way too stressed. I finished my paper Thursday night after running all of my errands earlier in the day but ended up staying up super late to pack my bags.

Friday morning was hectic, I had to go turn in my paper at school and print off all of my confirmation emails for our trip. At 4:00 Sally, Lindsey, and I got picked up to go to Heathrow for our flight to Dubai.

It will come as no surprise to any of you that I like nice things, I'm used to nice things and am completely set in my ways. You'll be interested to hear that for our 7 HOUR flight to Dubai I flew coach. It was only the worst thing I've ever done, I am so not looking forward to the flight home on Saturday. We landed in Dubai at 8:30am today and quickly made our way off the plane, thru passport control, luggage collection, and customs with no problems. It was actually MUCH easier than entering the US and I was a bit surprised.

Our car was there and waiting for us to go to The Atlantis. We arrived around 10am, but of course our room wasn't ready. We walked around a bit before finding The Shore Restaurant and grabbing some lunch. After that we stumbled upon a henna tattoo station, sat down, and got our beautiful designs. I got a floral design on my inner wrist, Sally got hers done on her foot, and Lindsey got a gorgeous design on her hand. Over all I would saw we had a successful henna session. Our room was finally ready around 1pm so we went up, unpacked, and got settled. I hadn't slept much on the plane so while I napped Lindsey and Sally headed down to hang out by the beach for a few hours.

Dinner tonight was AMAZING. We ate at Ossiana, a gorgeous restaurant that served a delicious meal. Little did we know when we sat down that we were about to embark on a 3 hour, 12 course meal, but that is exactly what happened. The quality and preparation of the food was exquisite and we had the cutest waiter from Spain. I had veal for my main course, a chocolate sponge cake with vanilla ice cream and molten chocolate inside among many other dishes. We were SO full when we left that we just came right back to the room and got ready for bed.

Tomorrow will be spent exploring the property, laying out by the beach/pool, and enjoying the warm temperatures of Dubai. Until Later, love you!

-audrey

Sorry I haven't written in a few days, honestly I haven't been doing too much and didn't really have anything interesting to tell yall!

Yesterday I met up with Lindsey and her friend Adriana (from home) at Borough Market. There were food stalls with every imaginable produce/meat/ethnic food you could imagine, and even a few exotic meat stalls (ostrich anyone)? My favorite part about the market wasn't any of the food, but an ADORABLE dog that we saw. When i first spotted it it reminded me SO much of a westie, but it was black, which made me confused. We walked by at first, and I just kept turning around to look at this adorable little thing, he looked so playful and cute and I wanted to go hug him. So I turned around, walked over the the owner, said hi, pet the puppy and asked what kind of dog it was. Get this. It was a poodle WESTIE mix. I was right. It was maybe the cutest thing I've seen since I got to London. I want one for Scout to play with, I would have a matching set, one in each color!

Once I tore myself away from the little guy we decided that we had had enough of the market and it was time to head over the my favorite place in London, that's right, we went to Harrods. It was around 2:30 now and I hadn't have anything to eat all day so by the time we got there I made a beeline for the food hall and we were quickly seated in the cafe above the produce section. I had a delicious bowl of cheese ravioli with a creamy chicken sauce -- AMAZING. Adriana had never been to Harrods before so we showed her around, took her to the pet kingdom, watched the puppies playing, before we decided she had seen enough and we wanted to continue our shopping adventure over in Covent Garden.

I have something to admit. So, I leave for Dubai this Friday, and lately, whenever we go shopping, if I see anything I want it is automatically "so perfect for Dubai", and I buy it. It's becoming a problem. I was being good, only having bought some cute westie items in Harrods, that's it, until we got to this store called karen miller. I crumbled.

There was this FABULOUS dress, bedazzled and gorgeous and so cool, I had to have it. I ran over, found my size, and quickly made my way to the fitting room. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes, I fall in love with clothes that just don't look very good on my/my body type, and not to sound arrogant or anything, but this dress looked really good. Like fit me perfectly. And then the sales lady brought me these heels that match. Im not always one to go for matchy-matchy but come on, the amazing shoes that match the amazing dress, it was an easy sale. I cant wait to wear my new outfit to dinner in Dubai, I'll make sure to get pictures for everyone :]]

After that we walked around a bit more, but I was super tired for some reason, so I left Lindsey and Adriana at the tube station and headed back home for a easy night in. I really need to write a paper that I have due on Monday, and for some reason I woke up today at 6:00, so maybe I'll do the paper today..who knows. Until later, love you!

-audrey

Yesterday Sally and I went to Brighton for the day. This adorable seaside town was the perfect way to start my weekend.

Brighton was only a 40 minute train ride away and we got there nice and early, around 9:30am. We walked down towards the beach but quickly got sidetracked by a mall. There aren't shopping malls in England, not like the ones back home, so when we saw this one we had to go inside, plus it was so cold outside we needed to be in the heat.

I got a cute top from H&M and once again we were on our way to find the beach.

Most of the shops on and around the pier didn't open until 11:00 so we just walked along the beach (its made up of pebbles, not sand) taking pictures of all of the seagulls and the beautiful clear water. Once the pier opened Sally and I got some cotton-candy to much on while we tried to find a place for lunch. Most of the restaurants and pubs around here don't start serving food until noon, but we were welcome to sit in the bar and wait, and that's just what we did.

After lunch we wandered up to the Brighton Pavilion, a royal house built by King George IV. The entire thing was built in an Asian and Indian theme and the interior decorations were completely different from any of the other building I've seen yet. It was beautiful and fun to visit, but the best part of the entire thing was the fact that we were able to get inside and out of the cold.

We decided to walk down to the marina, which was entirely across the town. It took us a good 35-40 minutes to walk there, and at first all I did was complain about being cold, but we quickly warmed up a bit and enjoyed the leisurely stroll along the beach. Down by the marina there is a bowling alley, cinema (movie theatre), restaurants, shopping, and obviously, the marina. The shopping was nothing special and most of the stores were closed actually. Once we stopped walking we were both so cold and had a lot of time to kill so we decided to go see a movie, if only to stay out of the cold.

It turned out that the only show we could catch was the new Matt Damon movie 'The Green Zone.' I didn't know what it was about but I love Matt Damon, so we decided that we should give it a go. The movie, while entertaining and suspenseful, was defiantly not something I would have chosen to see had I known what it was about. Basically, it's about a soldier, Matt Damon, who is in charge of finding WMD's in Iraq during the beginning of the war in 2003. Damon's character quickly becomes questioning of where the intelligence of these WMDs is coming from, and from there the movie moves on the criticize the Bush administration's reasoning for entering into the war, in not so many words. Like I said, the movie was entertaining and a good way to stay out of the cold, but it was a bit too much for me to watch and try to completely ignore the lies put forth by the screenplay writers.

The film ended around 7:00 so Sally and I decided to stick around the marina and grab some dinner. Afterwords we hopped in a taxi and went our separate ways, Sally back to the pier and me to the train station to grab a magazine and wait for the train, which didn't leave for another hour and a half. I basically froze to death waiting, and when we were finally able to get aboard the train at around 9:30pm I wanted nothing more than to be home in my warm bed. We got back into London around 10:40 and got back to Nido a little after 11. It had been such a fun-filled busy day that I went straight to bed and slept soundly until noon today.

London doesn't participate in Day Light Savings Time, so luckily I didn't loose any hours of sleep :]] I only have class on Monday this week because for my other classes I have a "reading week." Basically its a day off from class that allows students to catch up on any homework, yeah right. I plan on sightseeing and enjoying the supposedly warmer temperatures (it should be in the low 50s this week!)

-audrey

that was the summer of 1963, when everybody called me baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind...

I saw 'Dirty Dancing' last night. It was amazingly cheesy and completely fantastic.

Let me start off by explaining to you how much I love the movie Dirty Dancing. Everything about that movie is fantastic and so entertaining, I remember the first time I saw it, I was like 8 or 9 and it was on TV and I watched it with Amanda Williams. It was an edited version obviously, and I had no idea what anything was about, but I loved it.

When I found out that there was a stage version of the show playing here in London I knew I just had to see it, and thats exactly what I did. Natalie, Caitlin and I had seats in the stalls (that's the main floor area) three rows from the back, our view was a bit obstructed from the overhang of the balcony above, and it was completely fine with me. I seriously was just happy to be there. Line for line the show followed the script of the movie, for the most part. There were bits of information thrown in about what exactly a freedom ride was and what was happening in the US during the 1960s (I assume this was since we're in England, and the people here might not have learned that in history class).

As much as I loved the show I was a bit disappointed with the acting. It was obvious they looked for dancers first and actors second, but with a show like Dirty Dancing I don't think it could have been done any other way. I must say, I love all of the music from that time, I probably should have lived in the 1960s.

I dont really know what else to say about it, other than I absolutely loved it and I kind of want to go see it again...dorky I know, especially because it was really cheesy, it actually kind of reminded me of a high school play, but I just loved it. The next show I want to see is 'Love Never Dies'. It's the sequel to 'The Phantom of The Opera' and it just premiered 2 nights ago. I SO want to see it, hopefully I can make that happen.

Well I'm off to eat a quick lunch and go to school, I have a paper to turn in and no idea where the room I turn it into is, wish me luck!

-audrey