Spring is Finally Here!!!

As you can tell by my title, spring has arrived :).  Be prepared to see a lot of photos of flowers blooming and leaves growing!  Last time I left you, I just got back from Germany, wow was that already two weeks ago?!?  As the time is coming closer to the day I depart to come back to the States, it is going faster and faster.  I wish it would just take a pause, or I wish I could go back to when we first got here.  It's funny, I was talking with Ashley this week and we were discussing how we should all plan trip next summer to come back here after we graduate.  We haven't even left yet, but we all know that we are going to miss it so much.  Anyways, let me share with you how the last couple of weeks have been.

After coming back sleep deprived from Germany, I of course had a long day of work and classes; it was about an eleven hour day...  For my internship I started a SketchUp model of an exterior of a building that they are building an addition to.  I have never really created the outside of a building, so it was beneficial to learn this and I also learned little tips and tricks along the way.  As for my British Art and Architecture class, we visited Kenwood House which is in Hampstead, London.  The landscape of the house was absolutely gorgeous.  At the back of the house is a giant hill, and if you look really close, you can see the skyline of the city.  As for my Shakespeare class, we read Macbeth.  I had already read this in High school, so it was a review for me, just like a couple of the other plays we have read. 

To take a little relaxing break before our Shakespeare class on Thursday, Taylor and I decided to go take a walk through Regents Park, since it is literally our "backyard."  I have been wanting to walk through this park, but every time I want to it is either rainy or chilly.  This morning was perfect; it was warm and the sun was shining.  The park is so beautiful and their are birds everywhere!!! There is so much to see here.  For lunch we decided to try the market that we always pass walking through Birkbeck University.  We both got a hog roll that had apple sauce and stuffing, it was so delicious!

 

 

 At after this very long week, it was finally a much needed weekend.  On Friday a group of us went to get brunch at a place called the Riding House Café.  I had found this the day before, and the pancakes I got were some of the best pancakes I had ever eaten.  We are deciding to make this a thing and get brunch at a new place every Friday morning.  It will help us discover more of the city before we leave.

  

 

 

On Saturday we left early to go see the changing of the guards.  When we got there, there were so many people and we ended up leaving, because there was no way we were going to see anything anyways.  We then had a nice relaxing day.  We walked through Hyde Park, saw where Ashley interned, and then Ashley and I went to go see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.  As soon as we walked in, it was like we were kids again.  One of the first things we saw was a three-horn, and then there was a little model next to it.  Both Ashley and I said to each other, "look it's a baby!"  As we were walking away we heard a little girl say the same thing we did, and then her father corrected her and said "no honey, it is just a model of how the dinosaur would look with it's skin on."  Both of us then looked at each other again and said, "Oooh" at about the same time.  The dad then looked at us and laughed, it was pretty funny.  There were a lot of cool things in this exhibit and it was definitely worth waiting in line.  Before going to the museum, we also went to Café Vienna again and I got spinach dumplings in a mushroom sauce with a apple pie for dessert.  So good!  And then before heading home we got ice cream at a neat little ice cream truck.  The ice cream must have been some kind of traditional English ice cream, because it was very think and rich; interesting, but still good.  After a long day of walking, we headed home.

On Sunday, we decided to go explore Covent Garden Market.  It was located in a neat building that had a lot of shops and restaurants.  Our first mission was to find a place that had brunch.  We happened to find a creperie, I think we ware a little obsessed with crepes haha.  Anyways I got a crepe called 'Rumble in the Crumple,' it had apples with cinnamon crumble and I also got a berry smoothie.  it was so good and definitely satisfied our hunger.  Then we deiced to walk around the market.  As we were about to leave I saw a group of guys that were all starting to put on bright yellow blazers.  I joking said to Ashley and Taylor that they look like an acapella group, and sure enough they were!  And to make it even better they were from Rochester, New York!  What are the odds???  They are called the Yellow Jackets.  They were very entertaining and of course we had to stop and watch.  That was a very good end to a good day.

Monday marked another beginning to another week and we were going to go visit the Somerset House for our British Art and Architecture class.  I was excited to go here, because I had written my essay on it, and just like the photos it was beautiful.  For Shakespeare we read the Tempest, and I actually really enjoyed this play.  It had to do a lot with magic and was 'cooky' as Taylor would say.  As for my internship, I continued to work in SketchUp and I learned how to make windows very easily.  I will for sure be using the techniques I learned for projects I do in the future.

Thursday, we took another adventure before class, but this time we went to the British Museum.  We of course had to go here to see the iconic lobby.  It was so pretty.  We also had to go and see the mummies.  Again, we got lunch at the little market, I got a venison burger for the first time, and I really enjoyed it!  We also got brownie sundaes before heading to class.

As for the weekend, on Friday we went to get our weekly brunch at a place called the diner.  It kind of reminded me of George Webbs and I loved it!  I got banana pancakes with butterscotch syrup and a coconut and pistachio shake.  We all looked at each other, and said we should definitely come back before we leave.

On Saturday we took another trip to Spitalfields Market and ate at a cute little Mexican restaurant.  We split nachos, fish tacos, and turkey empanadas and for dessert we got churros with a dulce de leche dipping sauce.  After we were finish looking around for about an hour or two, we went to Patisserie Valerie to get a slice of cake.  I of course had to get the tiramisu that also had chocolate mousse in the middle; very good.  We then sat down and tried to find something else to do for the rest of the day.  We ended up going to the Museum of London and on the way we happened to see the old wall of London.  At the museum it was interesting see all of London's history and on the way out we popped into a room, because it had dim lighting and we were curious as to what was in there.  It turned out to be the cauldron that was at the 2012 Summer Olympics.  It was very large and very beautiful.

At finally I will tell you what I was up to today.  In London they celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  We went to the parade that was held near Trafalgar Square.  It was very cold and all throughout the parade we were waiting for it to rain, it finally did start to pour near the end.  The parade was kind of cool, I still think we have better parades in the States.  But I liked seeing all of the people dressed up and in cheery moods.  For lunch...we got Chinese haha.  It was very good, I do kind of wish we got Irish food, but oh well, we can get some on the 17th.

Wow, okay I believe I am done with this post.  We are almost at the one month left mark, I don't want to leave.  Don't get me wrong, I do want to see everyone, but I sure will miss being able to do something different everyday.  As for next weekend I am going to Amsterdam!  I am very excited and I cant wait to eat some traditional Dutch food.  Until then, cheers! -Heather