Trip Updates...

Here is what I have booked so far...

Tomorrow...Bath

February 6th to the 8th (next weekend).....Madrid

February 20th- 22nd...The Netherlands

March 6th- 15th (Spring Break)...Barcelona...Rome...Venice

March 20th- 22nd...Wales

March 27th-29th...Scotland

April 3rd-5th...Prague

April 16th-19th... Brussels

Paris will find its way on it the list

Cheers,

Paul

Platform 9 and 3/4

Today we found what we really came to London for...Platform 9 and 3/4 of Harry Potter Fame. We couldn't get through though, I guess it looks like were going to have to take Mr. Weasley's Flying Car. I hope no muggles see us. I guess the Knight Bus is always a valid option...

Cheers,

Paul

St. Paul's Cathedral

Today, Corey, Sarah, Steve, Ryan and I took a trip to St. Paul's Cathedral which sits in London's oldest part known simply as "The City." It is part of the Church of England and modeled after the Sistine Chapel. The current building to the dates back to the 17th Century and is home to the tombs of Admiral Nelson and The Duke of Wellington (I certainly did not know who these people were but a quick wikipedia search will tell you) It was a very beautiful site to witness. You were not allowed to take pictures in the cathedral, but were able to snap a few. The picture is of the ceiling which depicts the life of St. Paul. The other is from the upper balcony (seemed like the largest spiral staircase ever we were so tired) When then walked up a few more flights of spiral stairs and went outside that it was the most amazing view. You might be able to see the London Eye from the top one. Overall it was another fantastic day in London.

Cheers,

Paul

P.S. I'm putting up pictures from today as well as many others to the photo sharing website site called Flickr. Here is the link... http://flickr.com/photos/34202187@N03/

P.P.S. I did laundry for the first time today, and somehow the dryer broker or I did not put enough coins in it, so I had to make a clothes line in my room. I'll give you one guess as to who brought rope on the trip (this is for the John Carroll kids...Grandparents, Relatives etc. might not understand)

Another Weekend in the greatest city in the world...

Thursday we went out to a place called O'Neils which was a three story bar near Piccadilly. They had a live band that played cover songs. Bonus: we did not get lost coming home (finally) On Friday, Zack's friend from high school flew in around 11 and we took the tube to the Tower of London. The Tower of London is one of the oldest buildings in London built around 1050. It was very interesting, they had pieces of armor and old swords that were used in battle. The Tower of London also is home to the crown jewels (Also the most protected area of London). This is really interesting to see, I just wished that I had known more about the British Monarchy. We were literally standing inches from millions of dollars of jewelry and crowns. This was also the first time that we witnessed the famous "Coldstream Guards" which are the guards that show no emotion and stand guard 24 hours a day. What was funny about this is that it mnust have been one of the guards first day of the job because we saw some off duty guards poking fun of him and taking pictures of him. Pretty funny. After the Tower of London it was a hop, skip, and jump to the Tower Bridge (self proclaimed most famous bridge in the world) We walked across and then went to a pub. We took the tube back and I ended up just staying at Regent's and I learned how to play Rummy.

On Saturday, we woke up to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Probably the most touristy thing we have done so far, Buckingham Palace was packed with people and they were ALL tourists (tons of Asians taking pictures) It was cool to see the guards and it was good to witness all the history that the guards represent. After finding our way through the maze that was the crowd in front of Buckingham Palace, we went back to Big Ben and Wesminster Abbey. We went inside the Abbey and it was really beautiful. We crossed the river and went undernearth the Eye of London (Huge Ferris Wheel near the River Thames) There were street preformers and a lot of tourists but the London eye is spectacular. We walked across the Millennium Bridge (AKA the Wobley Bridge) and witnessed a man proposing to his girlfriend on the bridge with Big Ben and The Eye of London in the background. One of the coolest things that I have seen here (the girl that we were with almost started crying). We took their picture for them and e-mailed it to them later that night. After crossing the bridge, we went back to Gordon's Wine bar (see previous post for explaination) and had a glass of wine. We walked to Trfalgar Square and went to the National Gallery Museum. There we saw hundreds of paintings including Picasso, Michaelangelo, Rafael, and Van Goths. We went to pub because we had heard that around 4 there was going to be a political demonstration at Trafalger Square. We got to see the tail end of the rally in which we heard chants of "Free Gaza." It was interesting to see, and really safe (tons of bobbies) but it was not our style. We took the tube to the grocery store and then went back to campus. That night we went to Piccadilly again and had fun.

Today (Sunday) I walked down to Oxford Street and looked around shops and people watched. There are all types of people everywhere.

Until next time,

Paul

P.S. We have booked trips to Prague, The Netherlands, and Scotland with many more to come

Regent's College...

Here is a little glimpse at our school, Regent's College. It's a bit like high school from the fact that all of the buildings are connected together so you do not have to go outside to get to class. We live on the ground floor of the residential building, Reid Hall. The ground floor is probably not the ideal floor to live on due to that fact they the walls are very thin and Americans are very loud especially when coming back from the pubs. So we hear people every single night coming back.

The school is very nice and very advanced in terms of technology. They keep the grounds up and the campus buildings have an old look to them. When we tell people that we are from the Regent's area they ask us if we are wealthy. The cafeteria has great food for every meal, and their is a pub on campus (but if you were wondering you cannot use your card to buy beer at the pub) I'm sure I will get a comment about this from my mother.

London weather is very interesting, as it is about 40 degrees here almost everyday. I also believe that it has rained everyday and has been very cloudy. I can confirm the rumors that England's weather is cloudy is case anyone is wondering.

I hope everything is going well back in the States- we all watched the inauguration in our Marketing class and it appears that everyone is just as excited about Obama as the US.

All the best wherever you are reading this,

Paul

Back to reality...classes start

Classes started yesterday...they do not seem too bad, mostly all of the professors have said that they wanted us to study but also realize that we are here to experience the world.

Last night we went to a place called Primark which is a similar to Target in the States, but nicer. The girls that I went with were fascinated and I'm sure they could have spent hours in that store. Then guess what happened...we got lost AGAIN.

Right now I'm off to the wax museum close to campus because today is free for all American students because they just unveiled Barack Obama

Cheers,

Paul

Harrod's, Piccadilly Sports Cafe, Gordon's, and Abbey Road.

On Saturday, we were told by Frank to meet him at the Carphone Warehouse where in which we would obtain our mobile phones.  Due to Anti-Terrorism laws here in the UK, you are only able to purchase one phone at a time so when we got there they did not have enough for the group.  We took the tube from Baker Street to what I think was Kensington Park.  We walked around with the whole group and eventually ended up at a large department store called Harrod's.  A lot of group went in and said that it was a larger scale of Macy's, though they sold golf clubs and other items that are not sold at Macy's.  Nick, Cory, and I went to get a bite to eat and ended meeting back up with the group.  We finally obtained our phones and it was interesting to hear that it cost .04 pounds per minute to call the States, but about .15 pounds to call each other in the UK.  So this means that all of our phone conversations have been under a minute.  Nick, Cory, and I went up with Zack at a local pub and had a few pints while we set up our phone.  I had not slept very well the night before so after a few hours, Zack and I went back to the dorm and went to sleep.  Nick and Corey continued to find pubs.  I woke up around 8 and Zack and I went to Subway for dinner. The Subways here are similar to the ones in the states, but have not at good of a selection on the menu.  Zack and I ended up meeting up with Nick and Corey.  To make a long story short, Nick decided to stay at the dorm while Corey Zack and I went to meet up with the rest of the group at what was called the Sports Cafe Night club in Piccadilly Circus.  Upon our arrival, the bouncers overheard Corey making fun of them and subsequently would not let him into the club.  After several minutes of arguing with the bouncers we came to the conclusion that we were going to bribe them with tuna sandwiches.  This idea worked and we were able to have a fun night.  It was Palange's 21st birthday and I think that he had a very fun time.  I met some people from France and Poland and they had really interesting takes on Americans, but I can already tell that people in Europe think that Americans are not intelligent.  I was helping the French learn some American terms such as "Thats what I'm talking about" or "Thats Awesome" so that was pretty amusing.  Zack and I were the last to leave and that meant that we had to figure out how to get home.  The tubes stop running at around midnight so that can only mean one way to travel- double decker bus.  We found that what we thought was the right line, but we overshot our estimates and ended up having to walk about 20 minutes (you will see the common theme about getting lost) 

We slept a lot on Sunday, waking up around 12:30.  Nick and I bummed around after eating lunch and took the tube to the Embankment stop near Trafalgar Square.  We walked a  a long time and ended up going to a Pub called Wellingtons.  After this we went to a place known as Covent Gardens which was one of the coolest places that I have seen here.  It was kind of a fashion district near Trafalgar Square, they had several old pubs that just are the best places ever.  Nick and I called Corey and he and Rock came and met up with us.  While they were at a pub, I decided that it was a good idea to get a quick bite to eat, but once again I got lost walking around London (hmmm you would think that we would have learned) haha I ended up finding where I was going.  The group went to Trafalger Square and it was very beautiful at night.  Nick took us to a place known as Gordon's wine bar.  Gordon's is known because when the River Thames flooded, it was the first place for the ships to stop off.  The bar was underground in sort of a cave and was candlelit.  One of the coolest places I have seen here.  We left and walked by St. James Park (near Buckingham Palace) to get to Piccadilly because we were going back to the Sports Cafe to watch the American football games.  We also met Zack there.  The place was packed and it was full of Philadelphia fans, being the loud obnoxious people that they are.  It was weird seeing so many Americans in one spot after being here for a few days.  When Philly lost, all of the fans were a little angry to say the least.  Rock, Nick and I decided to leave a little bit after the Pittsburgh game started and what would you know we got lost...again.  This time we had gone way too far north west.  This story does have a happy ending because we found Abbey Road and the site of the very famous Beatles album cover.  Apparently they have a live webcam set on it and Rock called his parents to tell them that we were there.  It was hilarious.  We found our way back and went to sleep.  

Now today is the first day of class...

Cheers, 

Paul 

The first few days...

Our first day in London was very filled with activities. Since we were up from the night before, we decided that instead of sleeping we were just going to find a pub and have our first beer in London. Cory, Nick, Newcomb and I went to a pub called The Globe really close to campus on Baker Street. After a few beers, we ended up meeting back up with the group so that Frank (JCU rep that is staying til Monday) could show us around the "neighborhood." This tour of the neighborhood was really unorganized and what ended up happening was everyone splitting up and doing their own thing. Nick and I took the situation by the horns and went to another pub with a few girls that we really didn't know that well. After returning to Regent's, we went to our floor meeting with our RA and decided to wait and see what everyone else in the group was doing. I ended up finding a pub with a fellow JCU student Matt. This bar was called the Metropolitian and was a large, two story pub that a lot of Americans were. After a few pints the rest of the group met up with us. I began talking with a Londoner named Sam and I probably had one of the most interesting discussion about American politics that I hae ever had. The UK take on Barak Obama was interesting indeed. I belive I ended up talking with Sam for over and hour from evertything from politics to sport. Nick and I were the last to leave the pub and on the way home from the pub, got lost in Regent's Park. Apparently on the first day I was bad at directions...one of many freshman mistakes ha ha.

After a good, long sleep we woke up and started the day at around noon (Friday, London time) Nick and I met up with my brother Ben's friend Jack's sister who was also studying in London. I had to give her contact lens and other odds and ends. She is staying relatively close and were able to meet her with relative ease. When we got back to school, Nick, Cory, and I decided that we were going to take the "Tube" somewhere. We went to very touristy locations of the London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and St. James Park. All of these places were just simply amazing and the pictures do not do them justice. Traveling with Nick is hilarious, since he has been he has been here before I just follow his path and know that were are going the right way. What is the funniest part about it is that he knows London better than our adivsers from John Carroll.

At 4 PM we met up with the rest of the students from Carroll and we all took the tube to the British Museum. The Museum was a very beautiful place and we had fun there, I just wished that I appreciated it more. We got there around 4:45 and we were supposed to stay until 8:00. Wellll this is a long time for a group of college students, on a Friday night. Most of us just looked around for an hour and a half and went to a pub close by. We met up with the group and went out to dinner at a nearby eatery. The group split up after dinner with about half of us taking the tube to the famous Piccadilly Circus. This place was very similar to what I'm assuming Times Square in New York City. Very commercial, very Americanized, but still very eye popping. It was interesting to see the amount of American influence (Burger King, McDonald's, Starbucks, Ripley's Believe it or not museum etc.) but don't get me wrong there was plenty of UKness to go around. The group decided to find a pub and did we find a pub. It was around 10:30 at this time and little did we know that some local pubs close relatively early at 11 o'clock. There was literally no one in the place where we went except for two women who we immediately became close with. One of women (who were old enough to be our mothers) named Pam told us of so many local hot spots and at closing time at the bar, she tok us to one of the coolest places but I am failing to remember the name of it. She actually is having us over for dinner some night too. After all of this, I was ready to hit the hay.

Until tomorrow,

Paul

WE MADE IT!!!! The plane ride was a little rough...apparently I was very excited because the 4 Tylenol PM's that I took did not work at all for the 6 hour plane ride. We got in today at 6 AM London time and we took a bus to the school. It is in a very nice area though we have only had a little time to look around. Later today we have a tour of the neighborhood. We have met many students already from America i.e. University of South Carolina (they said that London was cold) as well as Drury University in Springfield, MO.


Tonight is the Sorting Hat ceremony followed by a welcome speech by Albus Dumledore. Hopefully the Hogwarts Express is running.

Cheers,

Paul

p.s. colour, neighbourhood, theatre, tyer, centre hopeully our teachers will not take off for out spelling errors

p.p.s I don't like carrying around coins that are worth more than paper money

We leave today...

We leave today... Here is an example of how excited we are

My next post will be from London Town 

CBCya! 

Paul

We Leave Tomorrow...

Hello there users of the internet. Today is Tuesday, January 13th 2009 the day before we leave on an epic journey to London, England or is it Britain of is it the Untited Kingdom? Who knows we probably need to look into this before we embark. Tomorrow we become MEN.

On a more serious note, we all are experiencing pretrip jitters and uncertainty, but we all know that this will be the trip of our lives. We are very fortunate and are very excited.

We leave tomorrow from Cleveland at 2:55 to Newark. We then have a brief layover and leave around 7 arriving in London at 6:45 AM on the 15th.

Cheers,

Paul