Back to London!

So this week was a good week for recovery of our jam packed week in Greece.  Most of our classes were good about easing us back into the flow of things.  Mostly handing back our mid-terms.  Surprisingly I didn't have a heart attack with each test that came back so I am really starting to love the London program even more.  This weekend I went to Oxford.  It was so beautiful! I was thinking I should have applied there. It is such a quaint little college town. Although there are a million different colleges there so it is a little bigger.  The college that I walked through was Christ Church.  Some of the scenes from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone were filmed there.  In the United Kingdom it is called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.  Everyone in the house is obsessed with Harry Potter so I also bought my ticket to new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie this weekend.  So although I wasn't a huge Harry Potter fan before I feel like the people in this house will make me one.  There were a few students from the Florence program that stayed in the house this weekend so on Saturday we did tourist stuff.  We took them to all the sites that we saw during our orientation.  It's funny to see people snapping pictures of stuff I get to see so often, I guess I have become accustomed to my surroundings.  I still absolutely love London and I can't believe how time flies, finals start in six weeks, ahhhhh!

Beautiful

Oxford- Christ Church

Courtyard (parts of Harry Potter filmed here)

Stairs where Harry Potter was filmed

Inspiration for the hall in Harry Potter

It's All Greek to Me!

Parthenon By Night

This week was our EFT, or educational field trip to Athens, Greece.  We stayed at a hotel under the Acropolis and if you visited the roof you could see the Parthenon.  We got in on Monday afternoon after a long morning.  We had to leave the house at 5am so thankfully Monday afternoon was spent relaxing in the hotel or exploring the Plaka, the shopping square nearby.  Tuesday was our day at the Acropolis.  We were very thankful that it was even open because there were protests going on by the guards and I know that if we went any other day that week it probably would have been closed.  The day we were visiting was a special Greek celebration of the liberation of Greece from the Germans in World War II.  We watched the guards in dresses march up the Acropolis.  Because it was a special day the guards could not strike and therefore we were able to visit.  We then visited the Acropolis Museum next door to our hotel.  Apparently it is a new addition to Greece, being there only since 2009.  It was really cool to see the missing puzzle pieces of the Parthenon.  There was no photography allowed so I don't have any pictures.

Tuesday was a long day.  We went to Delphi where the oracle used to be in ancient Greek times.  It was a four hour bus ride out of Athens.  We saw a lot of Greek ruins! Thursday was our island day.  We took a hydrofoil boat from the port of Piraeus to Aegina, one of the many Greek islands.  We toured some more ruins and then had a bunch of free time on the island.  Some people went swimming but I just dipped my feet in.  It had started out as a pretty nice day yet just about an hour later a storm rolled in.  Thankfully I had found cover in a little restaurant but there was lightning and thunder and at one point some of the lights flickered on and off.  I was thinking we were gonna have a Gilligan's Island experience.  Friday was our last day in Athens.  We went over to the Corinth Canal where 23 people from our group decided to bungee jump.  I think they were crazy!  We then had lunch and explored even more ruins, and then headed back to the airport.  Overall it was a great trip, but I did miss London!

Greek Guards in Dresses!

Parthenon

Corinth

Lunch at Hard Rock Cafe Athens!

Delphi

Color Accent on the Beautiful Corinth Canal!

The Water in Greece is so pretty!

On the beach at Aegina

Room 9!

A Weekend of Relaxation and Celebration!

Well this past week was very stressful for the whole house...it was MID TERMS! Thankfully everyone has survived and we had a wonderful weekend.  Friday was very relaxing, just did laundry in preparation for our Greece week and went over to the Natural History Museum across the street.  I don't know how often I say this, probably a lot, but it is really cool to live so close to so many museums. On Saturday we explored Portobello Road.  I spent only 4.50 pounds and got some postcards as well as a sandwich and two muffins, very thrifty if you ask me.  Portobello Road is basically like a swap meet all crammed into a narrow street.  Although it was mostly antique type stuff, vintage clothing, and a lot of really delicious street food.  It was really interesting and I plan on going back soon.  Sunday morning I went to our local church Holy Trinity Brompton and the children sang, it was the cutest service!  Sunday afternoon we decided to walk around near the Thames River and we saw the London Eye as well as Big Ben.  We also discovered a really cool arcade with air hockey, bumper cars, and bowling...the child in me wants to go back! Well now I need to pack for Greece, I am not bringing a computer so I won't be able to easily contact anyone, I'll be back on Friday night though.

Room 9 at the Thames!

Portobello Road