TWENTY-ONE

October 22, 2013 was a lovely day. It was the day I turned 21. And also the day I met Chris Hemsworth.. I can't decide which one I'm more excited about! The first part of my birthday was spent at school (yuck). Right after, a group of us headed over to the Odeon Theater in Leicester Square to scope out the celebs at the Thor world premiere! We made friends with a kind security guard who gave us PRIME spots to see all of them, it was so cool!! We were right by the doors to the theater so we got to see all of them walk in. I may have been a tad bit more excited about seeing Natalie Portman than anyone else... She's a freaking babe right?? Gosh, can I be her? Unfortunately she was one of the only ones that didn't come over by us... darn. But hey we still got some sweet pics! Afterwards we went home and had cake that one of my adorable roommates made me. Goodness, it was a night to remember.

The next day we went over to Covent Gardens for dinner at Shake Shack a.k.a. the MOST DELICIOUS place EVER. Gosh I haven't had a burger, fries, and shake in the longest time and man, it was just so good.  That right there is a Concrete Jungle: vanilla custard with bananas, peanut butter, and marshmallow cream. Hello! Best thing I've ever put in my mouth. I'm going back 10 times before I leave. After, we went to see Phantom of the Opera, which just happens to be my favorite musical. I've seen the movie at least 20 times so it was so cool to finally see it live. The second the music started, I got chills. The actors were unbelievable and their voices were amazing. All I have to say is that this year was a DANG good birthday!! I am so blessed.

P.S. Sorry the pictures are not of the highest quality.. The big camera stayed at home this time so the phone camera was all I had. But hey, I think they still capture the moment don't you?

PORTOBELLO MARKET

Saturday Morning a few friends and I headed over to Portobello Market to see what all the fuss was about. And yeah, there's talk about this place for good reason! It's amazing! I have to say I liked it a lot better than Camden Market. There were such beautiful antiques everywhere! Not to mention the adorable colored houses that line the streets on the way there. I was absolutely gushing. I wanted to buy everything I saw. Unfortunately, most of the stuff I wanted I would have no idea how to get it home... I especially wanted one of those vintage cameras. Ugh, stupid suitcase, I wish you were bigger!

I need to bring my mom and sisters back here one day, because I just know they would be dying over all of it. I did end up picking up a new phone case as well as an antique book from a cute little bookstore on the way home. Oh and don't forget about that donut that I snagged too! I've been craving a donut for weeks now and lets just say I was most definitely satisfied. I will definitely have to head back to Portobello before I leave! 

STRATFORD AND OXFORD

Yesterday we adventured over to Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace) and Oxford. Both are beautiful little towns and it was an absolutely lovely day. We found a cute little kitten at Anne Hathaways' cottage, who was kind enough to allow me to take pictures of her. It rained incredibly hard while we were in Stratford so a few of us ducked in to a cute little restaurant for  a little afternoon tea and scones! Yummmm. I also found Cadbury Eggs while I was there....in the middle of October....so yeah that alone made the day pretty dang awesome. 

Oxford was where many of the Harry Potter movies were filmed but, unfortunately we didn't go inside any of the buildings (sad face). Oxford is an incredibly charming town though, so it was just as fun to just walk around! To end on a high note, on the way home we watched the third Harry Potter on the bus. So all in all, it was a pretty magical day!

EUROPE VS. THE USA

Before coming here, I didn't realize how different Europe was from the US! I just figured, ya know, we're all on the same planet and we're both developed countries, how different can they REALLY be?? Ha! How naive I was. Cause I'll tell you, they're a lot different. Here are just a few of the things I've learned since being over here:

~ Nothing is free. And I mean nothing. The water, the bread on the table, sitting down in a restaurant, the bathrooms, the plastic bags at the grocery store.... yeah, we Americans are so spoiled because we don't have to pay for any of this stuff! 

~Men of all ages are not afraid to cat call you, make kissy faces at you, or even follow you in attempts to hopefully pick you up.

~Italy and France don't believe in peanut butter.. Oh sure, you can find one million brands of Nutella, but no peanut butter. Coming back to the UK and seeing that peanut butter on the grocery store shelf was one of the happiest moments of my life. Those French and Italians are CRAZY.

~The exchange rate sucks. Plain and simple. I'll pick up a shirt and say, "Oh my this shirt is only £50!" Except oh, wait thats $80... *sadly puts shirt back and sulks away*.

~Grocery stores do not have everything you need. For example: notebooks....Sharpies....superglue. Also the pharmacy is a completely different thing altogether. Like where the heck is Target when you need it??

~These people really don't believe in ice. I mean like, it's fine.. but honestly sometimes you really just need a diet coke with some big fat ice cubes. Is that too much to ask Europe? Is it??

~There is no tax! I'm so used to rounding up the price on everything, but here, when you look at a candy bar and it says £1, that actually means JUST £1! It's brilliant.

~The candy (chocolate) is sooooo much better here. Get ready to roll me off the plane people! I'm going to be a whale after all this deliciousness. Sorry Hershey's... you kind of aren't that good. No offense, I mean I know you're working really hard to be chocolate but you're just not quite there...

~The cars are definitely smaller. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a pick up truck. Well, actually it was probably the last time I was in America. 

~Europe is probably prettier than the US. Am I a traitor for saying that?? Well, I don't care, it's true. The English countryside has stolen my heart. Will I ever come back..? We shall see :)

THE ONE WHERE WE ALL GO TO TEA

Top Row: (left to right) Rachel, Kelsey, Melissa, Brynn, Lauren. Bottom Row: (left to right) Jade, Sarah, Me, Jayne, Olivia. (Not pictured: Logan, she was kind enough to be the photographer)

To celebrate the lovely Jayne's birthday, we ventured over to The Orangery in Kensington Gardens for some breakfast and tea. It was such a fun experience to actually have tea time in London! And that french toast? Utterly DIVINE. Why isn't all french toast made with croissants?? Yeah well I'm mandating that from now on it should be. All of us left with smiles on our faces and making plans to go back. Are we properly British yet?? I think yes.

P.S. I discovered that there is a Bill's restaurant in London so basically I can die happy now. I'm going there at least once a week. Someone try to stop me (I'm obsessed).

CAMDEN MARKET

This week a few of us ventured over to Camden Market on our free-day, and man, that place is neat! There are so many treasures and for so cheap! I was squealing inside. Because of this, I was having such a hard time narrowing down what exactly I wanted to buy... They have everything from, clothes to shoes, bags, electronic cases, jewelry, artwork, FOOD. I did pick up a few souvenirs for some friends and family back home and I'm pretty excited about what I picked up (sorry no pictures of those, they're going to be Christmas presents ;) 

I saw so many interesting people while I was there, including a sharp looking fella with tattoos all over his face.. Nothing says commitment like a tattoo on your face! And nothing says 'i'm kind of scary' like that either.. There was quite the mix of people there, lemme tell ya! 

We ended the day right by picking up a DELICIOUS Brazilian Churro. Basically it's just a churro with hot chocolate sauce or carmel in the middle... So basically its just heaven. I'm definitely going to have to make a trip back before I head home!

I'M MOVING TO BATH

Bill's: the most adorable restaurant on planet earth

Our hostel that we stayed in. Like how cute is that?

So can I just tell you how great this weekend was?? I'm sure by the looks of the above pictures, you can probably tell.... 

Friday morning, bright and early (I'm talking 6:45 kind of early..yuck) we got on a bus and headed to Stonehenge. It was sooo cool! I'm telling you, those rocks were put there by aliens. I'm convinced. The site is under archeological excavation right now so you can't go up to the rocks and touch them (sigh) but we did get to marvel at them from a short distance and that was almost just as good!

Next we headed to Stourhead where scenes from the most recent Pride and Prejudice are filmed. Yeah, you know that scene where Elizabeth runs through the rain and Mr. Darcy professes his love to her?? Yeah that's the part I'm talking about. That little temple tucked back there in the trees is where it takes place. So as if all of us girls weren't already dying about the fact that we were there, enjoying the beauty (cause guys that place is sooo beautiful) it started pouring rain! It was like we were living the movie!! It was just a dream. 

So, as if I the weekend couldn't get any better, we went to Bath. I could go on for dayyysss about Bath. As if you can't tell by the title of this post... I pretty much am in LOVE with the place. The city is SOO charming. From the multi-colored doors for all the apartments, to streets named Darlington... it is seriously just so cute!! Oh, and not to mention I went to the most AMAZING restaurant. Bill's was it's name. And it was the cutest CUTEST restaurant I'd ever been to. I'm obsessed with it. I'm trying to figure out a way that I can pack that whole place in my suitcase and take it home. Huh.. oh man.. If you take everything I love and my entire personal style, then add it all up, it would basically come out looking like Bath. Which is why I just loved it so much! Even our hostel was charming! It was down this cute little country road and looked like an old house (it's pictured there above). Besides melting over it's amazingness, we did tour a bit. We went to the Roman Baths (duh, how can you not) and also to the Bath Fashion Museum, which I loved because, ya know, I'm just obsessed with fashion. We also made a stop at the Jane Austen memorial, since Jane lived there for a short period of time. And then, of course, we shopped until we couldn't shop anymore. 

We were only in Bath for one and a half days and man, I wish I could've stayed longer. It was such a beautiful weekend and I'm already making plans for when I can go back and visit that little city! London is only 3 hours away... I think I'll come up with some way...