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!

England in a Day

Today Mark and I were up super early to head out for a 14 hour tour that pretty much took us all over England! We started off leaving from London and heading to Windsor Castle and getting there right when it opened to visitors, not to mention the Queen was there! Though we did not get to see her. Windsor castle is beautiful and I can see why it is the Queen's favorite residence. They do not allow pictures inside so I only have a few photos from the outside. Pretty much the gist of Windsor Castle is that the Royal family owns a lot of stuff from all over the world. They also own enormous palaces that go pretty much unused... I think I found the solution to world hunger, get the Queen to sell some of the stuff she doesn't use...

(So obviously I did not take this picture but it showed up on twitter while we were there. Look how cute Prince George is!!)

After Windsor Castle we were finally off to Stonehenge (the one place Mark actually wanted to go to). It was much warmer than I had expected and the sun came out while we were there which was amazing! Since the last time I was there in the beginning of the semester, the path around the stones was moved closer so you are about 5 feet from the outer rocks!

After Stonehenge we stopped at Lacock for lunch. Lacock is a little village that has been preserved to look like the original state. There are no electrical wires out or tv antenna. The city/ village is a common spot for filming! Harry Potter was filmed there and we got to walk the path that Harry and Dumbledore walk in Godrics Hollow!!!! 

Our last stop of the day was Bath. Unfortunately the Roman Baths were closed by the time we got there so we spent some time looking at the Christmas Market before grabbing some Hot Chocolate at the extravagant starbucks. 

By the time we got back we were so exhausted from our day and we have to get up early tomorrow to get Mark to the airport so it was bedtime for us! It seems like the weekend went by so quickly but I will be back home in less than a week and will get to see everyone again!