Dublin-Ireland

Okay, so I went to Dublin, and I promise I will write all about it and post new pictures soon! I took over 1000 pictures, so it might take a while. Also since I will be traveling a lot coming up, I really need to get work done on my projects! Sorry, but coming soon :)

PS this was kinda lame sorry!

You Know You Are Studying Abroad When...

1) You get homesick for London whenever you leave it.
2) You spend more time blogging, and uploading photos than working on your school work.
3) 50% of the time you spend on your computer is on Skype.
4) You get asked for directions all the time, and can actually help.
5) You realize that everyone can speak another language but you.
6) You know your way around London better than the largest city near your home town (for me, San Francisco)
7) You finally look the right directions when crossing the street without hesitating.
8) You see tourists and realize that you are no longer one of them.
9) You get asked where you are from, and hesitate because you don't know whether to respond with where you are currently living (North London), originally from (Bay Area), or where you go to school back at home (The OC).
10) You Finally have your UK number, postal code, UK and Europe clothing & shoe size memorized
11) When you stop trying to calculating £ to $ in your head.
12) When you start to use the metric system and understand it without needing to calculate it in your head (sometimes).

Windsor Castle

Sunday a few of my friends and I decided to go to Windsor Castle for the day. This was the third castle I have seen in England since I have been here. Several weeks ago, we visited Hampton Court Palace which was the home of King Henry VIII. I have also been to the Tower of London, which is right next to the iconic Tower Bridge in London. It amazes me how different each castle is. Windsor is the only castle we have visited which is still used as a royal residence. When we got off the train, we were so excited to see the royal standard flying. This is the flag which signals that the Queen is currently residing inside. The security was unbelievable to get inside. Much like when I went on a tour of the Parliament building, we had to go through metal detectors, bag scanners, and the occasional pat down. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the Queen, but we could definitely feel the tension among the guards and security.

Bath & Stonehenge

Last weekend Julia and I went to Bath for a few days. #1 rule of travel: it is a very bad idea to both fall asleep on the train. Neither of us remember falling asleep, but next thing I know, the train is stopped. I looked outside the window, and saw the sign for Bath Spa, which was our stop. I yelled at Julia, and we jumped up, grabbed our luggage, and jumped off the train just in time before it started moving again!
Bath is such a cute little town! Though I have been there before (about 5 years ago), I still did all the touristy stuff. We went to Bath Abbey, which is where the 1st King of all England (Edgar) was crowned. We took a tour, which took us up over 200 steps on a tight, stone spiral staircase, to the top tower which overlooked all of Bath. It was beautiful! After, we went to the Roman Baths, which are preserved Roman baths used for public bathing. The Romans dedicated this sacred springs to their Goddess Minerva, the Goddess of medicine. They believed these baths had healing powers due to the "unexplainable" heat, and surplus of minerals in the water. At the end of the tour, we were able to try a sample of the water, so I thought why not give it a try?! It tasted like liquid metal, and I only got in two sips before giving up. After the Roman Baths, we walked around the town for a while, and just explored the city.
The next morning we went to Stonehenge, which I had also been to before, but it is such an amazing sight, I could never get enough of it! Fortunately we went during the right time of the year, because during the Winter and early Spring months, there are a lot less tourists, which is nice!