It's a Girl!!!

So it has now been over 5 and a 1/2 months since I was last in England and oh how I miss it! I have now finished my first semester back in High Point! So much has gone on in the past month at here in the United States but every once in a while I can't help to think about how much I miss my awesome adventures! 

Especially today since it has just been announced the Royal baby was born at 8:34 this morning! If you follow me on Twitter I am sure you have noticed my excitement as I have been retweeting about it all day! (For all of my fellow Harry Potter nerds, the Royal Baby was born on the anniversary of the Hogwarts battle!!)

Hopefully I will make it back to the beautiful land of England but for now I will just celebrate the birth of the new Royal from afar! 

England is lighting up pink for the new baby!

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well this may be my last blog post, at least for a while. It is sad leaving this wonderful trip and words can not express how amazing and life changing it is. For now, here is a video of how I'm feeling sitting at the Heathrow airport after saying goodbye to all my new friends:

And because I am so thankful for everyone who has supported me on this trip and everyone who has been keeping up with my adventures, this is a video I made to show you my semester:

Leaving London

Yesterday was my last final exam, hooray!!! To celebrate my friend Sarah and I were off to London for the afternoon to do a few last things before saying goodbye. We started off at the Winter Wonderland and grabbed some food and looked at all the shops! 

Next it was off to our favorite monument/ tourist site, Big Ben! When we got there it was just starting to get dark and we were able to watch the lights come on at parliament and the London Eye. The views across the water were so beautiful and are probably the spots I will miss the most! 

After a long goodbye with Big Ben we were off to Harrods, surprisingly not to shop! At Harrods we got probably our last round of cream tea at the Disney Cafe! It was so cute and so tasty too! 

After Harrods it was one last trip to the Winter Wonderland to ride some rides and get a bite to eat before leaving to go back home. What a long day! Though a very enjoyable and unforgettable day too! 

Today it was back to London for the last time. I think I'm actually going to miss the 1.5 hour bus ride. It is strangely relaxing! And I know for sure I am going to miss being so close to the city and taking day trips to just wander around London! First up for today was of course, more shopping!!! Sally, my flatmate Sophie, and I went and visited Selfridges and Harrods, two giant department stores in London. 

Afterwards we met up with another one of my flatmates, Lindsey and went over to Westminster and got a yummy lunch at a pub, my last pub visit :(. After we went to Borough Market and looked at all the Christmas decorations before grabbing coffee at a famous coffee house, Monmouth Coffee, and continued down the river towards Millennium Bridge and the Globe Theater. 

I finally got to see the Globe theater, well sort of, we walked around the bottom floor and peeked in the gift shop. Thankfully the weather outside was beautiful and so we made sure to take lots of pictures of the river bank! 

After our quick photo session it was off to the next Christmas Market and Millennium Bridge outside the Tate Modern. This was one of the top Christmas Market in London, though it did not vary much from the one at Winter Wonderland. 

It was then off to Trafalgar Square to see the big Christmas Tree and get my last cream tea :( It was delicious though! 

We then headed back to Oxford for a long night, Sally, Sarah and i are staying up all night to get ready to leave and pack! I can not believe that I am already leaving. These past 3 months have flown by and have been one of the most amazing experiences in my life so far! 

One Last Adventure in Oxford

Well my time in England is coming to a close. Today I took my last trip to the city center to pick up some last minute Christmas gifts.  The city was as beautiful as ever and everything was decorated for Christmas! There is even a small Christmas market outside on one of the main roads. 

I did make sure that for my last day I got all my favorite treats, even if that treat is a milkshake and it is fairly cold outside!

 

In just over 2 days I will be in my way home!

Final Week

Well I am down to the wire. It is finals week here and it is very similar to finals week in the United States. Lots of stress and studying at all hours. There are quite a few differences though. For one, on both of my classes and many of the other classes the final exam is the only grade you get in the entire class! Talk about stressful! Though many of my flat mates and fellow High Point students didn't have any final exams and had a final paper instead so they have been finished for about a week now! The exam procedures are also a bit different. It is almost like taking an AP test or standardized test. Every sits in the gym and it could be more than just your class. The testing conditions instructions are then read off by a computer. There are testing moderators and it is very strict and official. The exams are also anonymous so that the instructors cannot see who's exam is who's and grade based on the name. Though it is super regulated and before you hand in your exam you must seal the part that says your name and student number. 

I have two exams this semester which should be interesting, it is also a bit strange how the exam will be graded. In England a 40% is passing, as opposed to the 60% in the US. An A would also be a 70% where it is 90% in the US. Hopefully this week will go well and I pass all of my exams!