What has she been up to?

As promised, I will start with my backlog of info about my trip!

Day Zero- NYC -> London
     Has anyone ever traveled to JFK airport? It has a layout that seemingly runs counter to all common sense. Go up these stairs, catch the airbus, get your new boarding pass. Eventually (after asking a couple people), I met up with the rest of the IFSA crew. The plane-ride out was nice though. We flew on Virgin Atlantic. I enjoyed being called "love" by the stewardesses. The flight was surprisingly empty. I had two seats to myself, luxury of luxuries.

Day One- London

Phonebooths in the snow

     We arrived around 6:20 am in London and headed straight to the hotel. The Bristol and Cardiff programs roomed in the same place. I roomed with a girl named Kirsten from MN. We wanted to see Big Ben, so we traveled there by the Tube.

Bayswater station, I believe. Look at the snow!

We struggled figuring out how to navigate it, but eventually we made it to Westminster station. We arrived around one, so we only got to hear Big Ben chime once. It was really cool, but I would've loved to visit at 12 or something. All that effort for one chime!

London Eye

Big Ben!

I bought a two-way ticket for Bayswater-Westminster, but the ticket reading machine didn't eat the ticket at the end. I choose to believe that the ticket is magical and will keep it with me indefinitely. Kirsten and I took a well-deserved nap upon our return. The IFSA reps took us out to dinner at a place called Côte Brasserie, which was French-inspired cuisine. I had Kir (Chardonnay and Creme de Cassis) as an aperitif. Dinner was Steak Frites. Dessert was creme brulee.

Fun Fact: the concierge at the hotel thought that Kirsten and I were sisters!

Day Two- London -> Cardiff

     The Cardiff Crew (Six in total, including myself) woke up early to catch the train at Paddington Station. I was worried that the trains here would be like the TGV, where you only have three minutes to get on before it leaves! Luckily this wasn't the case.

On the train, I spied the day's headline "Life in the Freezer". How sensational! It wasn't even that much snow! Once we got to Cardiff, we went to Cardiff University's International Student Centre. We had some talks about the differences between the US and UK educational systems. UK is less memorization and more essay-based and defending your opinion (at least for Humanities classes). I moved into my flat! I met two of my flatmates, Nicole and Rachel. They are both from southern England. I answered a bunch of questions about the States, and they answered some questions about Britain.

We didn't have any internet because we needed to register for classes (and get our usernames). We found a Starbucks and warmed up there.

The Cardiff Crew wanted Fish and Chips for dinner, so we got a taxi into the city centre. We ended up at this Irish Restaurant called O'Neills.

Fish and Chips (and mushy peas) and a Rock Shandy (Sparkling Orange and Sparkling Lemon sodas).

That's all for now! I'll write some more soon, but now I am off to a Welsh History/Language class.

Cheers!