Midterms are here!

This week, it was nice to have time to catch up on studying and assignments before midterms started! I had one midterm tonight, and another on Thursday. The assignments started to pile up last week, so luckily I didn't plan a trip for this past weekend!

On Thursday, our foreign study program planned a karaoke night at school. It was really fun to have everyone together with our advisors outside of class. There is karaoke every Thursday night at school, so we might make this a more common thing. I woke up early on Friday expecting to have a full day of touristing around town. Starting at Piccadilly Circus (the Times Square of London), Ashley and I had a few errands to run and then were going to go sight-seeing. We got slightly side tracked by the shopping and ended up on Oxford Street for the day. I actually hadn't been shopping on Oxford Street yet, so it was bound to happen soon! Saturday, I went to Portabello Market again, because a few friends hadn't been there yet. I saw a lot of things I hadn't seen the first time, and was really glad I went. When leaving, I decided it would be a good time to check something off of my "Must see while in London List". Danny told me about a bridge that rolls up when a boat is going through, according to him, it was something I had to see while over here. I decided Saturday would be a good time to do it, and after getting on the bus in the wrong direction and having to walk at least a mile, we finally found it. The Rolling Bridge was a bit of a disappointment. Turns out, it is only about 20 feet long and we couldn't figure out how to make it roll up. It also is not over the river, only a small part of water that boats can't even go through. It was quite an adventure finding the bridge, but I would not recommend going to see it.

Piccadilly Circus 

Burberry store on Oxford Street

Piccadilly Circus at night

Portabello Market

Since I have two midterms and a quiz this week, yesterday was packed with studying. I studied for the majority of the day, and met up with friends down the road to study as well. It comes in handy that we all take the same classes, makes studying more enjoyable. Today, I had to do a presentation while volunteering. They wanted to hear what life is like in the U.S. and what my family is like, along with where I am from. I also told them about differences I have noticed in living here versus the U.S. The ladies asked so many questions that my presentation lasted about 50 minutes. It was fun to see how much they were interested and enjoyed hearing what I had to say.

The Abbey Centre - Where I volunteer

I have been really busy in the past week trying to get everything ready for midterm break. I actually just bought the final flight for the trip, from Rome to Dusseldorf. This is what my break looks like: Leaving Friday the 19th for Venice. Our flight is at 6am and the tubes don't start running until 5, so I might be staying Thursday night at the airport! I will be in Venice until Sunday the 21st, when I leave for Rome. I'll be exploring the city of Rome until Wednesday, when I leave for Germany. I'll be spending the remainder of my break in Germany with the Werner family for Milena's birthday, arriving back in London on Sunday. It will be a busy week, and I can't wait! Now I just have to pack and plan what to do in those cities!