The whole family came before leaving for Cardiff. Jillian got to spend a few days with me in London and we did a bucketlist of things I had yet to check off.
1. Went ice skating in canary wharf
2. Went to the ice bar
3. Had tea
4. Went to abbey road and took a picture... Or a few
5. Had Indian food.
6. Went to winter wonderland when it's not crowded.
7. Went to The Harry Potter Warner Brothers studio tour
The amazing thing about the Eurostar is how high the prices climb over the weekend. During the week they have this amazing deal where you can buy round trip tickets for 66 pounds. My friend, Rebecca, a student at Northeastern and a fellow Biology major like me had the awesome idea to go to Brussels for the day. It just so happens that the two of us have 2 biology classes together and no classes on wednesdays. We decided to head to Brussels, Belgium for the day along with our other friend, Annie, who you've met previously.
I had no idea what to expect from Brussels and the three of us had no idea what to do once we got there. We arrived at the station and had to buy a map because we had no idea where to go. Luckily in the famous Grand Place we came across my best friends, New Europe and decided to take a 3 hour walking tour with them. It was an easy way for us to get our bearings and learn things we wouldn't have otherwise. My favorite part of the tour was the peeing statues that appear everywhere. The most famous peeing boy was dressed up in an elaborate costume. My least favorite part of the tour was the weather. Brussels was extremely cold and despite having socks on and my UGG moccasins I was freezing. Rebecca and I had to zip into Foot Locker and buy another pair of socks because our feet felt like they were going to fall off.
After the tour we got quick bite to eat and headed inside the cathedral, that surprisingly looks a lot like Notre Dame. Then, we had to stop into a chocolate shop. I bought these amazing Cappuccino chocolates. They've been helping keep me awake during finals week. We also stopped and shared a Belgian waffle. We were all too stuffed after sampling too many chocolates to each have one. The waffles in Belgium are baked with sugar in the batter, so that it carmelizes once baked. It was super delicious.
We ended our day by heading back to London on the Eurostar. It was a great little day trip from London and I'm happy I had the opportunity to go!
The second to last weekend in November Chelsea and I set off for Rome. Rome was one of those places that was on my bucket list to see and I was elated that I had the chance to go. We made sure to buy tickets for the Vatican in advance because we had heard of the horribly long lines from friends who had visited. We also researched various hostels and found this really cute little budget hotel/hostel run by an American couple. It was called The Beehive and was a short walk away from Termini Station, meaning we had quick and easy access to all the historical sites.
Unfortunately for us it down-poured the entire time we were there. And rain in Rome is prime time for the Roma people to come out and try to sell you umbrellas. Even if you have an umbrella in your hand they will come up to you and try to sell you another one. The one time it stopped raining while we were there was when we were by the Trevi Fountain. We were able to get a nice picture there and the Trevi Fountain, is in my opinion the prettiest fountain I have ever seen.
I'll leave some pictures to explain the rest for you, but I can assure you I had my fill of gelato, pizza, and pasta!
As is pretty obvious from the title, I recently had the chance to go and see Wicked. My study abroad program, IFSA-Butler organized the night, so that if we wanted to we were able to purchase discounted tickets. I hadn't seen Wicked since it first came out. I saw it on my 13th birthday, but didn't recall a lot from the show.
Chelsea purchased tickets, so that herself, her two friends from home and I could all sit together. It was such a fun night! We started out by introducing her friends to our favorite pub food, steak and ale pie. I'm going to miss it so much when I go home. We also got Christmassy drinks. I ordered a delightfully warm winter cider that was delicious.
After the pub we walked over to the theatre. IFSA had held a block of seats, so we sat by two Davidson students, who had snuck chocolate into the snow. Sneaky sneaky. Then, the play started. It was amazing and so fun. All the songs came back to me and Chelsea and I had to refrain ourselves from singing "Popular" when it was performed.
The night ended with the 4 of us taking a picture in front of the theatre and singing "Popular" on the walk back from mile end station to campus.
Saturday night Chelsea and I went to Genesis cinema, which is right down the road from our campus. We saw Catching Fire and it was amazing. I haven't had popcorn since coming to London and that mixed with Liam Hemsworth on screen was icing on the cake.
A while back we had the opportunity to go see the Hunger Games: Catching Fire Premiere in London at the Odeon Theatre. The premiere started at 5 and we were only able to get there at 2 because of classes. Myself, Jessica, Rachel, Annie, and Chelsea all went together. We didn't have our hopes up too high because we were getting there only a little bit before it started, however we were pleasantly surprised. Some people had been there the night before, but we were able to make friends with the two Irish girls in front of us and get right in front!!
The premiere started with a radio announcer pumping everyone up and giving out mockingjay pens. He had everyone in the crowd chanting, "Catching Fire!" or "Catching Fiyah!" if you're British. Next, came a TV announcer who told us all the celebrities that would be there that night. We were super stoked that all the main actors were going to be there. Walking the red carpet before the celebrities came were various reporters and people working for CoverGirl, who was partnered to host the premiere. During this time I met Tanya Burr, who is one of my favorite people on YouTube, and her friend took a picture of us together. She was so sweet and I was in shock after I met her I didn't know what to say. However, that didn't nearly prepare me for what would happen next.
The first actress to arrive was Willow Shields, who plays Primrose Everdeen. She was wearing a really pretty yellow dress with skyhigh heels. Then arrived... Jennifer Lawrence, Conor Maynard, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Josh Hutcherson, Union J, Ellie Goulding and... Liam Hemsworth. Jennifer Lawrence would not take any photos with people. She only signed autographs, which the two Irish girls next to us got. When Conor Maynard came around Chelsea asked him, "Who are you? Are you in a band?" He told her he was a solo artist and to check him out on YouTube. He was so down to earth and nice. Then, there were celebrities that walked right past, like Ellie Goulding. People were waving at her, but she made a beeline right for the theatre. Chelsea and I also met some of the members from Union J. They were on XFactor a couple of seasons back. We got a selfie with Jaymi Hensley. He was so patient and waited for me to get the camera positioned so that all 3 of us could get in the photo.
The highlight of the night occurred when Liam Hemsworth walked by us. Chelsea and I both got a picture with him! It was beyond amazing and he's even better looking in person :)
To keep a memento from the night I may have taken a movie poster with me that is now residing in my room. It was a little tricky getting it back on the tube and I did get a few weird stares, but I'm going to try to bring it home with me so that we can have it framed.
I'll leave the pictures to explain the magnificence of the night.
xx, Francesca
Liam Hemworth and I
Chelsea and I with Jaymi from Union J
If you haven't heard of them check out their song
"Beautiful Life"
Conor Maynard. If you haven't heard of him check out his
amazing cover of "wrecking ball"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es30FScjEbk
