No Business like Show Business!

Well, on Wednesday we finally got to sleep in! We headed out for a little brunch at a place called "The Breakfast Club" then got ready for a tour of Wembley stadium! The stadium was interesting, but sort of redundant, thank goodness it was our last one! We came home and got ready for "Peter Pan" that evening! The show was in Kensington Garden, in a circus style tent! It was soooo goood! We loved it! They did an amazing job on theatre tech, and thought of very interesting ways to use the space! It wasn't a very big area, so we had great seats! Afterwards we headed home [in the rain!] and called it an evening! On Thursday we had class in the morning, then ventured to a London BBQ place called Bodean's. We are trying to eat at new places all this week, so we get the most of the city! We came home and had a paper to write about the Tour de France, it took us a while, but we managed to pull through! We had a quick Italian dinner, then went to a pub close by called White Hart for our professor's birthday! There were about 10 kids from our program there, and we celebrated Dr. Heere's birthday in style! On Friday we got to sleep in again! It has been a glorious week! We had breakfast at the deli across the street, then worked on homework for a while! We, on a whim, decided to head to "Dirty Dancing: The Musical" to see if we could snag student tickets to the matinee. And we did! Two shows in Three days! It was a really good show, with of course, excellent dancing! Afterwards we came home and got ready for dinner, we went to a restaurant called The Real Greek. It was greek style tapas, and was of course delicious! We discovered the Covent Garden area was quite close to us, and we have been obsessed ever since! [Where all these things are!] We walked around the neighborhood a little, then decided to do a pub crawl! Our roommate, Dylan, has been dying to do one, so we decided to try it! You have to go to 5 pubs on the map, purchase something, and then get your map stamped. At the end, you trade in your map for a "free" t-shirt!
On Saturday (how is it already August!?!) we worked on homework some more, [see...we really are in school!] then attempted to make a cake for our roommate kevin's birthday! They don't really do baked goods here the same way we do in the States, and our apartment has very few dishes. It was sort of a fiasco, but managed to make a pretty good cake! We had a late lunch at a Portuguese chicken place called Nando's, it was so delicious! We worked around the apartment, and celebrated Kevin's birthday, then headed out to dinner. Jordan and I met up with some of her brother's friends from NYC, Lana and Adair, for dinner in Mayfair at a place called Automat. It is a brasserie, with a combonation of London and New York, and was absolutely delicious! Afterwards we left and met our friends in soho for a night at the Soho Club! It was a great atmosphere and we had a wonderful night! On Sunday we worked on homework some more (this is starting to get old!) then we cooked lunch at the flat, and did some laundry! We decided to try Brazilian food for dinner, and ate at Guavabara. It was so delicious! They host dance lessons earlier in the evening, and the whole restaurant was centered around the dancefloor! We had a delicious dinner and great evening, before retiring home early! We have presentations in the morning, and another busy day planned! We will be home soon! We are excited, but very very sad to leave!! We love it here! anna and jordan.

Another Race!

Sunday, in Paris, was the Tour De France! We didn't really know what to expect, but we were excited! All the Texas girls (and Dr. Heere, our professor from home) wore burnt orange to show out support for Lance, and I brought the trusty Texas Flag so people would really know who we were supporting! We got to the Champs Elysees around noon, and managed to walk along the route up to the Arc de Triumph, which was really cool! There were lots of souvenier merchants, and lots of different people supporting many different riders! After we finished walking the Champs, we headed to the Place de Concord where our group was stationed. We had nice seats that we a little higher in the air, so you could see more, but we weren't very close to the riders, which was a bit dissapointing! We ate a picnic lunch that we had brought with us and got ready to see the race. And then we waited, and waited, and waiter! It took a very long time for the riders to finally come, but when they did it was so exciting! They made 8 laps around us as the finale of the event! They were lead by police officers and EMTs and some team cars, and then the 3 leaders (lance, of course!) came whizzing by! Then there was a gap, more police and race cars, and the huge group of the rest of the riders would come by! After the 6th lap, we ran down into the park behind us, and managed to get on the garden fence, right on the street where they were riding! So we had a close up view for the last two laps! It was so cool! Boy do they go fast!! After the race was over, we walked through the garden and up to the Lourve for some pictures, and a less crowded metro station! We headed to Notre Dame, to make the most of our time, and managed to get in at the last minute! The security guard shut the gate right behind us! Mass was already going on, so we only got to walk through the back and admire the church as a whole, but WOW. It was very pretty, and so large! It is hard to imagine all of this stuff being built so long ago! Afterwards we headed home, rested up, and went out for a traditional French dinner. We ate at a sidewalk restaurant and had a 3 course meal. Jordan had fish, and I had a pepper steak, and we had sorbet and chocolate mousse for dessert! yum! Afterwards we headed home and called it a night! On Monday, our goal was to get up early and go to Versailles, but sadly, we found out that Versailles is closed on Monday. Needless to say we were dissappointed, but we were glad because there were still lots of things for us to do! We headed to Lourve, and actually went inside! (I, anna, skipped the Lourve this time around because My mom and I are going again in 2 weeks, didn't want to spoil it!) So Jordan tacled the Lourve, and I shopped! She saw the Mona Lisa, and many other famous works, but said that it was very crowded, and super hot! She was sweating when she came outside! I mainly stayed in the shops under the musuem, and found lots of interesting things! It started to look like rain, so we walked down through the garden, through the Place de Concord, en route to the Champs again. It did start to rain, and we had to seek shelter under a tree and in a phone booth! We were not prepared for rain! It let up enough, and we made our way to a restaurant on the Champs where we dried off for a while and had some delicious pizza! After that we strolled the shops on the Champs, and lusted after all the amazing designers! wow! We then decided it was time for an afternoon snack, and tried a crepe! Wow again! We had nutella (our new favorite spread) and banana, and it was soooo good! I don't understand how the French are so skinny with all this good food! We then headed to the Sacre Cour area, where we climbed the steep steps, and saw the beautiful church at Montemarte! The area was fabulous, lots of little cafes and street artistis, it was like a scene from a movie! After dancing down the stairs (A little Chorus Line reprise) we headed to the Moulin Rouge, to see the famous windmill theatre! It was awesome! It made us want to watch the movie all over again (and wish we had the money to see the fabulous show!) We got to peek through the windows and see all the fancy tables set up, and saw the box office getting ready for that night's performance! We headed home, rested up again, ran to the grocery store, and got ready for the Eiffel Tower! We got the tower at dusk, and had a picnic in the park while watching the sun set and the tower light up! It was fantastic, and soooo pretty! We then tackled the insane long lines to go to the top! We took 3 elevators, but managed to make it around 11:15 or so, and saw the City of Lights all light up! It was beautiful and breathtaking, and really cool to think about how old the Tower actually is! Amazing! We made the long journey down then headed home and called it a night! The next morning we checked out of the hotel and stowed our luggage, and headed out to Roland Garros Tennis stadium. The stadium is the home of the French open, and it was interesting to see another venue of a different type! We enjoyed the tour, especially getting to sit at Centre Court! We headed back to our hotel area and had "Indiana Tex Mex" that, although it sounds strange, was pretty good and managed to hit the spot! We had delicious gelato afterwards, then headed to the train station! The Eurostar was a quick trip and we managed to make it home pretty early in the evening! We came home and got ourselves together a bit, then headed to dinner at Ultimate Burger, an American style burger place! Very good food; we left full and tired, came home and spent the evening in! This afternoon we have a tour of Wembley stadium, and then Peter Pan tonight! Exciting! love, anna and jordan!

And They're Off!

On Friday morning, we went to the races! On Thursday we had a very long tour of Lord's Cricket ground! It was very interesting (considering we know squat about cricket) and we enjoyed the tour! After that we headed home, and had lunch at a local place called Wagamama, very good Japanese food! After a quick nap, that afternoon we ventured out of London a ways to visit a hat shop, where we rented fabulous hats for the races the next day! On Friday we got up and got ready and took about an hour long train ride out to Ascot. The weather was sort of rainy, and we were not happy about that! But we paid for the nicer seats, Premiere seating, so that we could be under a cover! The rain cleared out about an hour after being there, so it all worked out! The races and racecourse were absolutely fabulous! Lots of older British couples, and young wealthy ones as well! We really felt like we could get used to that type of event! We got to see 6 races that day, and even managed to figure out how to bet on the horses! Jordan ended up making about 1.20 i believe, and I ended up only spending about 4.00 so that seemed like a good effort to us! On Friday evening, we decided since we were already dressed up, that we would find a nice place for dinner! We headed to Leicester square, and found a place called La Tasca that was Spanish tapas. It was soooo goood! We definitely got our fill, and even enjoyed a fancy dessert! We then had to rush home and get ready for Paris! We left EARLY the next morning around 5:30am in order to catch the bus and get to the train station. We took the EuroStar train to Paris, which goes through the chunnel! (Although I imagined a glass tunnel in which I could see all the sea creatures swimming around me, it was still impressive!) We got to Paris and got checked into our hotel, then headed for an adventure! We soon found out that the map scale in Paris is much different from that of London or Rome. The seemingly tiny streets on the map are in fact very long, so we walked a lot!! We had lunch at a sidewalk bistro and we tried the traditional Croux Monsieur and Croux Madame. They are cheese and ham sandwiches, but the Madame has an egg on top like a hat! They were absolutely delicious! We then walked to a busy shopping area and strolled along the street! After having a French Truffle for dessert we headed to the Paris Galleries and Printemps, the Paris version of Harrod's! Never in my life have I seen so many people! There were people everywhere!! It was fun to walk around and see all the fabulous clothing and accessories, but just like Harrod's, things were pretty pricey! Afterwards we headed home, rested, then headed out for an adventurous dinner! We went to the more artistic area of Paris, around the Montemarte, and had dinner at Le Refuge de Fondue. A traditional French fondue restaurant where the wine is served in baby bottles! Strange! The fondue was to die for, lots and lots of cheese! We had fruit for dessert and left very full and happy! The first day of Paris was a success!

[the pictures are: Jordan and I at the cricket grounds, dinner for Jordan's birthday, and the group of girls at the races]

Cornwall and everywhere in between!

Hello from London, at least for a short time. We were traveling again this weekend. On Friday we were in London for the day. We went and saw Harry Potter, which was fantastic. The theater was huge and conveniently it was the premier theater. That night we went to this Cuban restarante called Floridita. The food was wonderful and the traditional Cuban band was festive. Saturday morning we headed off to Cornwall on the way there our first stop was Stonehenge. The rocks are much smaller that you think, but it was still a great sight to see. Next, we headed to Bath. It was a cute city where we had lunch in the cathedral's square then toured the roman baths. We really enjoyed this and we even tasted the pure water from the baths hhmm not so good. That night we stayed in a town called Cheddar yes where all the Cheddar cheese is made. Our crazy Scottish tour guide named Fergie told us we were going on a "wee walk" uumm not exactly. We climbed up a gorge that overlooked the whole city and more. It was a magnificent view, but that walk was a little rough since we were not prepared for that. We then headed to the only pub that was open in the town to celebrate our flat mate Dylan's birthday. We had a good time and managed to give him a good birthday in the smallest town imaginable. Sunday we got up and drove to Tintagle and explored by St. Materianas's church on the coast and ventured into the coastal caves. It was raining like crazy so we did not make it to the top of the hill to overlook the whole coast, but we really enjoyed the caves. The English coast is magnificent! The views and high rock structures are breathtaking and much different than any coast we have ever been too. For a break from the rain we had lunch and enjoyed a traditional Cornish Pasty, which was very good. We then headed to Newquay to the beach, which is a surfer's paradise. It was pretty chilly but we rented wet suits and boogy boards and tackled the waves, it was a blast! Then we took a short stop at St. Michael's Mount to look at the sea-bound castle, it was a great sight to see when the sun was setting. We finally arrived in Cornwall and just went to dinner at a local pub then went to sleep in our oohh so cozy hostel. Monday we got up and went to Land's End the westernmost tip of Britain, once again the view was breathtaking. Then we headed off to the Eden Project, which is a huge garden with biomes. We ventured into the Mediterranean and rainforest domes they were so cool. We saw everything from banana trees to olive trees. The domes were the exact climate that the region actually is needles to say we decided living in the rainforest would not be a good idea. This was a really cool place and we had a great lunch here made of all the Eden Project's home grown foods. That night we went to the Minack Theatre where the stage and the seats are carved into a ocean-top cliff. We saw A Midsummer Night's Dream, the play was wonderful! This was one of the most unique things we had ever seen, we really enjoyed this besides the fact that it was pouring down rain for the first act of they play. Tuesday JULY 21 my 21 Birthday!!! We needless to say spent the entire day in a bus. We attempted to go see a few sights but the rain was so intense we barely got off of the bus. We then got stuck in a huge traffic jam. We detoured and ate in Whales and took at picture where we are in two places at once! We finally got home around 9:30 and spent the night just catching up on things at the flat. Anna was wonderful and made it a good birthday even tho it was spent in a bus. Cornwall was great and we got to do a lot of thing we would had never had the opportunity to do. We decided to re-do the birthday on Wednesday. Our flat mate Garrett got us breakfast burritos from this place called the Breakfast Club, they were wonderful. We had class then went and ran some errands and had a leisurely lunch in Soho Square. That night we went to this great mexican food place called the Crazy Homies. We really enjoyed that dinner. We then ventured to a club in Soho and preceded to have an appropriate birthday celebration, we had a great time! After all the birthday ended up being a wonderful success, there is nothing like good friends! We are off the the races tomorrow! We are going to the Ascot horse races, we will blog again after that and Paris. Much love from London-anna and jordan

FORE!! the british open!

hello all! sorry for the lapse in updates, we have just been so busy! On Wednesday we headed up to Glasgow, Scotland for the British Open (known just as "the open" here!) we had to take a combination of the subway, a 5 hour train, and a cab ride, but we managed to get there! We stayed in a youth hostel at Glasgow University. It was very nice, because it was their normal dorm rooms that they just rent out in the summer! We managed to grab some lunch in between the normal Scotland rain, but didn't get to see much of the city! We then headed to try and see the new Harry Potter movie, but it was unfortunately sold out! So, a large group of us decided to try out some of the Scottish pubs around the school! We spent most of the evening in an pub that was located in an old church! It was really cool, and had very interesting decor! When we walked in there was a man with a TV camera, and a female reporter. They approached us and asked if they could video us for the background of a BBC report on pubs. Of course, we obliged, and became European TV stars....well, not really, but we were on the news! It was a very exciting night!
We got up realllly early in the morning the next morning, we had to leave at 5:30 am to head out to The Open! We took another hour train ride, and a bus out to Turnberry. Once we got there we had to check out phones and cameras, because they aren't allowed on the course! It was sort of strange, and very hard to part with our cameras! We got inside and grabbed some breakfast, then headed to the first hole to see Tiger Woods tee off! It was very cool to get to see a legend, especially up close! We followed Tiger's group for a couple of holes, then we headed to hole seventeen's grandstands. We got there right as the first group came through, so we managed to see a fair amount of the players! We saw Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, Greg Norman, Adam Scott, Tom Watson, and Lee Westwood. Needless to say it was an amazing experience! We left hole 17 in time to grab some lunch and souveniers, then headed over to hole 18 to see Tiger's group finish! We were very sad that we couldn't have our cameras, but loved the experience! We had a very long train ride home, and didn't get back until really late on Thursday night! Overall it was a quick trip, but definitely worth it! We loved it! Tomorrow we will blog about our weekend in Cornwall! love from london! anna and jordan!

Best Week Ever??

We may be on our way to the best week ever! On Monday we had early morning class full of chapter reviews and sport organization presentations. Exciting stuff, let us tell you! Afterwards we had a short break then headed out to tour the new Emirates stadium, where Arsenal football club plays. The stadium was amazing, more like an American stadium, and the tour was wonderful! We got to go into the president's club area, and their most exclusive seats in the stadium. Then we went into the locker rooms, through the players tunnel, and out onto the team's bench. The final thing we did was go into the press room and got to see their whole setup of a press desk, tv stations, and news stations. It was interesting to see another football stadium, and we are excited to see what the rest of them will be like! On Tuesday we got up early and had to travel a ways to get out to an architecture firm called Populous. It was reallly interesting, and really cool to see their offices. They were in charge of designing Wembley Stadium, the new Miami Dolphins stadium, the new London 2012 Olympic stadium, and the O2 Arena in London. Afterwards we headed to Kings Cross station to take a picture at "Platform 9 3/4s" from the Harry Potter movies, in honor of the new movie coming out! Then we headed to Harrods!!!! Do we even need to explain why this was amazing!? We had lunch at Cafe Harrods, then spent time wandering through all the fabulous clothes and shoes and purses! Then we went to the Chocolate Bar, and had dark chocolate fondue and some Harrod's Champagne! It was to die for! After lusting over beautiful clothes we headed home and got ready to go to the theatre!
We had tickets for a new musical called "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" which was all in drag! It was soooo fun and so funny! We absolutely loved it, and danced all the way home! Now we are packing for Scotland tomorrow! We get to Scotland tomorrow, and then have the British Open on Thursday! We will have lots to report after the Scotland trip!

We Need A Different Excuse!

Well, we need a different excuse than "time flies when you are having fun!" sorry its been so long since we have updated! Last time we checked in we were headed of to Rome for the weekend! We made it to the airport pretty easily and, for once, our flight left on time! We managed to find our hotel, Hotel Imperio, very easily and called a night so that we would be ready for the morning! On Friday we struck out to explore the city! We bought a 2 day bus pass for a double-decker sightseeing bus so that we could make sure we hit all the stops during our weekend! That day we managed to see the Colessuem, the Palantino, the Roman Forum, Piazza Novona and the Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps. Needless to say, we had a busy day! We took an afternoon nap and then tried a precious outdoor cafe near the Colesseum. It served more traditional Roman food, so that was a change, and we tried some of their local fare! We called it a night and planned to explore the Vatican and more of the city.
On Saturday morning however, Anna got really sick with some sort of 24 hour stomach virus. She felt alright, so we decided to head to the Vatican. We got there pretty early in the morning and managed to miss most of the lines, which was really nice! First we headed to the Cupola, the very highest dome of the Basilica. We paid 7 euro, 5 on entrance and an extra 2 to take the elevator, to cut the trek down to 330 steps. It was a very narrow passageway but once we got to the top, the view was breath-taking! We could see all of Rome, and way off into the distance as well! After that we journeyed down and toured around St. Peter's Basilica. At that point it was getting very crowded and hot, so we decided to skip the Papal Tombs and head to the Sistine Chapel. The chapel is in the Vatican museums, so we had a long walk to get there. Once we were there we were sort of hearded like cattle (so many people!) through the exhibits and passageways. Once we entered into the chapel though, breath-taking again. It was so impressive and hard to believe it had been there for so long! Afterwards, we were very tired and hot, and Anna still wasn't feeling well so we headed back to the hotel. Then Jordan took very very good care of me (Anna :) and went and got food and medicine and just let me sleep! I felt a little better around dinner time, so we headed to Trevi Fountain to see one last sight! The fountain was gorgeous and there were so many people there! We grabbed some dinner and gelato and then headed home to call it an early night! We slept in on Sunday, checked out of the hotel, then had some breakfast! After that we had to spend some time in an internet point to work on a paper and presentation that was due on Monday. After that we did a little shopping in the neighborhood, then headed to the airport to head home! It was a successful trip, but would have been much better if I hadn't gotten sick! Ciao Bella! anna and jordan.

Time Flies When you are Having Fun!!!

This week has been really busy and we can't believe it is already the weekend! On Monday we had class in the morning and then took a tour of the Chelsea FBC stadium. It was cool, we got to see the locker rooms and stand right next to the field. It was a lot different from stadiums in the states as far as how nice the locker rooms are and how in the states you would never be able to go that close to the field or sit on the home teams bench. Monday night we had to some some school work and wrote out first papers about Wimbledon. 

Tuesday, we had a speaker from IMG World. He was very interesting and impressive to hear how much they own and manage and how the company is involved in every aspect of the sports world. That afternoon we went to the Tower of London and looked at the Crown Jewels. The jewels were stunning, but the rest of the tower was slightly unimpressive. The weather has been rainy and in the low 60s so we had to call it a day because it started to rain a lot. The temperature change has been wonderful and we are for once comfortable in out flat.  That night we went to this restaurant called The Texas Embassy Cantina! We tried to hold out on finding a mexican place, but we could not take it any more. The place we really cute and it was good food, nothing compared to Austin Mexican food but it got the job done. 

Wednesday we took a day trip to Canterbury and Leeds Castle. We went to the cathedral in Canterbury and it was huge. The detail of the architecture in the cathedral was amazing. It was a great sight to see. The Leeds Castle was wonderful. To get there we walked through this huge park that was so green and beautiful. In the park they had all sorts of wildlife including black and white swans and peacocks. The castle its self was just what you would imagine one to look like. The inside was massive and beautifully decorated. The grounds of the castle were wonderful. We also went through a maze on the grounds which was fun, it took us a while but we made it haha That night we just stayed in and did laundry and planned our trip to Rome. 

This morning (Thursday) we had a speak from the British Olympic Association. He was very informative, had a lot of great stories and good insight on how things work and why they happen that way. Today we are just packing, working on a paper and then leaving for Rome this afternoon. Things are going well here in London and time is flying by and we are busy every second, but we love and miss yall! 

Ciao! We will blog when we get back form Rome! 

XOXO 

Anna and Jordan 

Deutschland!!

We will are back from Germany in one piece, very very tired, but we made it! We left central London around 2:30 on Thursday afternoon and had to ride the tube to a different train station to buy a train ticket out to the airport. It is sort of strange how far away from the city the airports are here! Our flight was late leaving by almost an hour, and we had possibly the worst behaved children in the history of the world sitting behind us! So, needless to say, it was an interesting flight! We got into Munich and passed customs no problem, and got train tickets into the city again! We had a little trouble finding out hotel, but thanks to a nice English-speaking woman with a map, we found it an got checked in! Originally it was just Jordan and myself planning to go to Munich, but last week our friend Tayler decided to join us too! We definitely liked having another traveling companion, but our double room made our hotel stay a little interesting!
On Friday morning we got out, and after a little trouble getting a train pass, managed to travel to Dachau concentration camp. It was very interesting to see, and of course a very sombering place to visit. There were lots of people there and the weather was very hot. On our way home the sky turned very dark and it began to rain while we were waiting for our train home! We didn't plan our afternoon according to rain, so we scratched our planned bike tour and headed to Hofbrauhaus the famous beer garden in Munich. We were amazed at the size of the place, no restaurant in America is that big! In Europe you seat yourself most of the time, and just have to find a place, but it has been interesting because you share space with people and we have gotten to meet and talk to a lot of different people! At Hofbrauhaus we ate pretzels and beer, and tried their traditional "Radler" a lager beer mixed with lemonade! Jordan is a good traveler and always eats the traditional food, so she had bratwurst and saurkrat, I tried a beef noodle dish and Tayler had a roast with potatoes. We noticed that they add meat to pretty much any dish they serve, lots of protein! There was a live oompa band, and a table full of locals dressed in the tradtional Lederhosen near us and we really enjoyed watching all the tourists interrupting their meal to take pictures of them! (We did too of course!)
Everyone we talked to told us that Austria was their favorite place they saw or visited while in Europe, so after a long debate, we decided to take advantage of our close proximity to Austria. On Saturday morning we got up and took a day trip to Salzburg, and we loved it! Our tour took a 2 hour train ride over, and we had a guided walking tour that lasted about 2 hours. Then we had another 2 hours of free time, which we really enjoyed, it unfortunately started raining about halfway through our trip, but we still got to see all the sights! It was fun to see the places where they filmed "The Sound of Music" and to see Mozart's home and birthplace. There were even locals dressed in traditional garb singing in the park we visited! We tried some wonderful pretzels and to-die-for desserts! We have had nothing but good food since we have been traveling, lucky us!
On Saturday night we decided to visit the infamous German night club scene, and we were overwhelmed! They know how to party there, and spend a lot of time doing so! The clubs didn't open until about midnight, and didn't close until 8am (don't worry, we didn't wait around to make sure that was true!) They had sort of an amusement park of clubs, bars, and lounges and you could just wander from place to place. We chose a dance club called "Rafael" which played mostly 80s music, and we loved it! We definitely need a place like that in Austin!
On Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel, and were ready for a beautiful day. We headed to the main train station to put our luggage in lockers, and when we came out it was pouring down rain! So we sat in the station for about 2 hours talking and people watching, and the rain started to clear up! We headed to Marienplatz, the main shopping area and city square, where we on a whim decided to do a double-decker bus tour! After a few minutes the sun was out and they opened the top of the bus and we had a great view and tour of the city! We were really glad we had a chance to see the sights we had missed. We were very sad though because we left our shopping until Sunday, and apparently everything shuts down on Sundays! No stores were open, and even some restaurants were closed! We ate a long lunch at an outdoor cafe in the center of the square, and even had the chance to check up on the Wimbledon match on a TV inside! After lunch we headed out to Olympic Park because there was supposed to be a festival going on...well we never found the festival, but got to have a look around the old Olympic facilites from the 1972 games! We also visited the BMW facility, skipped the musuem, but got to see their fabulous showroom of cars! We can dream, right!?! From there we headed back to the train station and started our long journey home! It took a long time, another delayed flight, but we managed to get home safe and sound and made it to class this morning too! This afternoon we are touring Chelsea Football Club stadium, and we begin our real schoolwork, we have a paper due tomorrow! We aren't too crazy about that for sure! We will write more soon, love anna and jordan!

'alo again!

Hello all! We are back safe and sound from a weekend in Munich, Germany! All we have to say is....that place is crazy!! We didn't have very good weather, rain everyday, but still managed to have a good time! andd surprise, we took a daytrip to Salzburg, Austria! It was beautiful!!! We will write more later, don't worry, but now we need to hit the hay since we have class in 6 hours! ahhh!! love love!

Heat Wave!

Picking up where we left off on Sunday night we went to eat with our friend Meredith and her family. We went to an Argentine steak house called Gauchos and it was absolutely fabulous! It was very nicely decorated with cow hides and modern black decor. It was a really nice treat to get to go to a nice restaurant with her family. 

On Monday we had our first day of class at 9 a.m. It was informative about the events we will be attending and how many papers we have to write. We have quite a few papers, but we can handle it. After class we went shopping on Oxford street with our friend Tayler and our roommate Garett. That night we took the tube to Victoria station and attended the show Wicked.  We both really enjoyed the show and were very impressed but the singing and the set of the show. The only downfall was they don't do air-conditioning very well in London and it was pretty warm in the theater. 

Tuesday, we went to the 2012 Olympic Park! There was a lot of walking involved and we had a tour guide who was very informative about the history of that area and how it is going to improve the city as a whole. They had started construction on the main arena and the aquatic center, we can tell it is going to be a very impressive site. After that we went with our roommates to the National Gallery of Art and Trafalger Square. We saw many famous artist's paintings. We had a really good afternoon. We then met up with Meredith for the last time at a pub called The Three Greyhounds. We tried the famous english drink called Pimm's Cup, we all really liked it. The drink is really refreshing especially in this hot weather. Right now in London they are having an extreme heat wave. We are having temperatures up to 90 degrease, which is really really hot here especially since there are hardly any places with air-conditioning and the tube gets very very hot during the day. 

Wednesday (today) we woke up at 4:45 a.m. to queue for Wimbledon, it was really hard to wake up that early especially since we didn't sleep very well last night because we were so hot in our flat. We took the subway to the grounds then we waited in line until the grounds opened at 10:30. We then walked around for a while, saw Court number one and of course visited the gift shop. We finally found a spot to sit and watch the matches on a hill call the Murray Mound where there is a big screen T.V. that they show all the center court matches on. That was fun to be in the middle of all the commotion, but it was SO HOT! We all got sunburned, but it was nice to be soaking up the sun. We had the famous strawberries and cream, which were actually just strawberries with half and half type cream over the top. They were good, but nothing too special all the hype did not seam necessary. It was a really long day but it was so exciting to actually be there! We just came back from dinner now we are just getting our things together for our trip to Munich tomorrow. We have a speaker tomorrow then we are off to Germany for the weekend we will tell yall about it when we get back on Monday! 

With Much Love for London, 

Anna and Jordan 

Send More Money we are Never Coming Home!

Here is our weekend report! Friday we spent the morning in meetings and in the afternoon we had a walking tour of our neighborhood, the area is so cute and there is so much to do around us. We were really impressed with Soho, so we decided to go back there for dinner. We went with our new friends Tayler, Guy, and Patrick. We ventured into a Moroccan restaurant which we were not sure about at first, but we ended up really enjoying our meal. We then headed out to The Dog and Duck pub and stood outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Once we learned pubs closed at midnight we were on our way back to the flats and got once again sucked into the Moroccan restaurant to their downstairs bar. That was so much fun they played everything from Moroccan music to Brittany Spears, so we danced up a storm. Every place we go they have been playing MJ tributes, which is great for us since we are such fans! 

Saturday we slept late then we got up and went to the British Museum that is right down the street from us. It was a really impressive museum, we will have to go back several more times just to see everything it is so big. We then ventured to Bloomsbury and Russell square, they were both so pretty with their big tress, bright flowers and green grass. Russell Square was our favorite, it had a little cafe and was much larger then the previous square, we will for sure be enjoying a few meals there. For lunch we had English hotdogs, which taste like sausage they were good! That night we had dinner at this small pizza place on South Hampton street, which we think will become one of our favorite streets. Then we headed out to meet up with a few friends from Austin. OH what a night! We went to this upscale club called Taman Gang where celebs have been seen before, we felt like life styles of the rich and famous. This will not be a continuous activity because it is so expensive, but it was worth it to see how the rich and famous do it in Mayfair the riches neighborhood in London. 

Today, Sunday we had an early morning coach tour of all the sights in London. We got to see the changing out the guards at Buckingham Palace, which was really cool. It was a three hour tour so we pretty much saw everything. We will be going back to a lot of these places to give them a closer look. We are now headed out to eat with our friend from Austin, Meredith and her family in Piccadilly square. 

Love, 

A&J 

Helloooo LONDON!!

well, WE MADE IT!!!!
We arrived on Thursday morning and were met by our study centre staff in the airport. From there we took a 2 hour busride through the country side where we arrived in downtown London. The traffic was really bad, and even at 10 am there were lots of tourists and people already out and about.
Our flat is very nice, on the top floor, but still very nice! We have about 8 flights of stairs to go up before we reach our flat (including a very steep set inside our actual flat) but that is the price we pay for living in a 300 year old building! We also don't have air conditioning, but have kept pretty cool with 70 degree weather and a small oscillating fan!
After we got settled in, we struck out walking to buy groceries and other such things! There is a nice sized super market about a block away, and we managed to get what we needed! Our neighboorhood is very nice, and last night we went to a small pub called "The Old Crown" where we had some fish & chips and a pint of beer! Afterwards we called it a night, and turned in early to get some much needed sleep! This morning we have an orientation meeting, a security meeting, and walking tour of our neighboorhood to help us get better acquainted with our area! So far we are loving it, and we will post pictures of everything next time!!!
From London with Love,
Anna and Jordan

Well, we are officially 24 days away from the start of our adventure! Last night we booked flights to Munich and Rome for our weekend trips, and we are really excited to book a place to stay and plan everything for those weekends!!! Other than that, we are just trying to figure out what to pack and how everything will fit in two suitcases!!!

It is the beginning of May, and I am attempting to set up the blog for our summer abroad! So far we have booked flights, and....that's about it! We have lots of ideas as to where we would like to go during our free weekends, but haven't made too much progress! We are hoping to sit down during dead days, before finals, and figure some things out!