A Weekend in Review

This Saturday, the University of Portland London Business & Nursing Programs all went to Windsor Castle!
We got up at 8am and assembled outside our flats at 9:45 to get on the tube and head to Waterloo Station! Once there, we waited for the other group to board our train. We finally arrived at Windsor at around noon, and got to skip a very long line and go straight into the receiving ticket and  metal detector process. I think we can all say it was definitely worth the wait!

UP Business & Nursing Students

First Sightings of The Castle

Megan and I in front of Windsor Castle

St George's Chapel

We toured the castle beginning with St. George's Chapel, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was a cool Chapel and really interesting to tour and hear the background of. 

Next, we toured the inside of the castle, which included Queen Mary's Dollhouse, the Royal Gallery, and the State Apartments. No pictures were allowed to be taken inside, but it was absolutely gorgeous and hearing about the fire that broke out in 1997 and how they rebuilt it was very cool!

With the Royal Guard! (Everyone seems to be obsessed with them...)

 After we toured the State Apartments, we hung around and took some pictures before heading out to the City of Windsor looking for food before going back to our flats. 

Even Little Boom had to get a picture at the Castle!

 Megan and I decided to head back on the train at that point to go back to our flats and get some homework done. However, we decided to go shopping instead and spent a couple of hours hanging out and having a great time! :) 

Spectacular view from the train!

 After we got back, I hung out in the flat for the next couple of hours and got some homework done before going to bed.

On Sunday, we all slept in and had a relaxing day. Larisa and I went shopping, and I was able to visit the London Disney Store! I was super excited and I got a cute T-Shirt!

I got the Grey Shirt with the Minnie Bow on it. :) I may go back for the white one though... they are all so cute!!

Then we came back, hung out and did more homework for awhile, before heading out to dinner at 7 and coming back for our weekly group meeting and dessert at 9. It was a relaxing day but I am looking forward to the week ahead! On Monday we are visiting King's Cross Station, on Tuesday we're visiting Costco over here to have a presentation, Wednesday we are seeing The Tempest at the Globe Theater, Thursday we are visiting Westminster Abbey, and Friday we are going to tour the Inns of Court.

Looks like a fun and jam packed week! 

Until next time!

Jenny

The First Week of Adventures

Our week of fun started on Tuesday, and we have been going and going till now! We started with our walking tour of London led by Dr. Seal on Tuesday Night (see my other blog post for pictures!) where we saw Big Ben, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace to name a few. On Wednesday we had our first day of class! We all took the tube (Underground) together to the stop closest to the building our classroom is in, and then walked the rest of the way. We are in a cute little flat turned school. After Class, Dr. Reed and 9 of us girls got a bite to eat and ate at this lovely garden:

 

It was an old church bombed during one of the World Wars, and it was absolutely lovely! (and a great place to eat your foreign subway...) After that, the 10 of us headed over to the Museum of London to learn some new things about this great city.

The Museum was very interesting and had lots of cool information about London's history! We all had a good time, plus there was WIFI! (Although I managed to forget to take pictures...)

Next was Thursday, a day full of delayed buses. Dr. Reed told us all about her quick bus ride the day before, and 75% of the class decided to take her advice and get on the bus....
Which was not a good idea! There was a LOT of traffic on Oxford Street, and it delayed us quite a bit. We finally got to class at 2:30 (class starts at either 10am or 2pm), so my group was 30 minutes late after we left at 1:15 or so, and there was still one more group behind us.

Little Boom and I enjoying class.

After our first class, Dr. Reed, who was supposed to teach our second class, didn't make it (also due to bus delays...) so Dr. Seal taught us more about the European Union and then some of us headed back to the flats to get ready for the Philharmonia Orchestra that evening!

 

It was held in the Royal Festival Hall, which was an incredibly beautiful building! Our seats were in the choir section, which were above where the Orchestra played: 

They played some beautiful music and it was a great experience!

On Friday, we began our day with class at 10am with Dr. Seal, and 11:30 with Dr. Reed. After class was over, a large group of us headed to the British Museum to find an artifact that was probably stolen, that we would write a report on. It was a huge Museum with so much to see, and I know I plan on going back at some point!

The rest of today consisted of grocery shopping and hanging out in the flat. I'm excited for visiting Windsor Castle tomorrow with all of the UP students that are here in London, and then for shopping afterwards! And my first night out on the town will be fun as well!

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about my week! It has been a fun start to my London Adventure!

Our First Introduction to London

Yesterday, we began our program with a walking tour all over London. I believe it was 2 or 3 hours in total, and we walked all over.

We began by taking a bus to UK's Parliament building and of course - Big Ben!

 Next we walked over the bridge, walked past the London Eye, and on to another bridge.

The London Eye with Big Ben in the background. So pretty!

 Then we walked around to the National Gallery, and then on to Buckingham Palace!

The National Gallery of Art

Buckingham Palace

This was rather uneventful, so after what seemed like quite a bit of time we headed back to our flats and were all super tired. It was a really fun walk and I'm excited to continue exploring London!

Flat Sweet Flat

View from my room

Living Room

Kitchen

View from the Living Room

My Bedroom

Yesterday, we got settled into our flats and had our "Orientation" about them. They are little apartments and ours has a great view! There are three other girls in my flat - Larissa, who I'm sharing a room with, Kelly, and Lauren. Today we are going to get some food for our flat and start eating dinners and such together!
It's going to be lots of fun!

Airports, Airports, and More Airports

Hi from London!

First sightings of land after a long flight.

I left from Portland yesterday afternoon and arrived a few hours ago! We arrived in Heathrow around 11 or so, and had to go through the UK Border/Customs before picking up our bags, riding the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, and then getting on the tube from there to Edgewater road - where we then had to walk all the way to our flats! Needless to say, it was an adventure, and I hope I don't have to pull my suitcase up and down 3 flights of stairs again anytime soon.

Paddington Station

I just got to my flat and our 'Orientation' begins at 6, leaving me with a couple of hours to unpack and get settled in! I was the first one to get here, so I had the first pick of rooms and beds!

My room has a spectacular view though, and I'm really excited to get to see London on our walking tour tonight! (although I'm not excited about the walk...)

Just as a reminder to friends, my phone is shut off so you can only reach me through email (jennchipman@aol.com) or Facebook messages. I will let you know if I have a London number that is free to text within the next few days.

See you all in August!