London with a taste of Texas

posted by: Katie

However expensive London is, it is totally worth it. My friends and I, this weekend, did some great touring around England, spending perhaps too much money than we needed to. Saturday night we went to the Texas Embassy, which is a Texan restaurant, frankly because, we were sick of English food. Thankfully, England is packed with restaurants of the world, and when I mean of the world, I mean places like Zimbabwee have restaurants and such. Then a bunch of us walked to Trafalgar Square, which is so pretty at night! When it's warm out, people go swimming in the fountain, and even though it was cold, people were doing it then too! But all we did was look and hang out in the square, the lights were so brilliant at night.

Sunday, a group of us went on a trip that a place called STA travel offers for a low price, 15 pounds, which is around 25 US dollars, and that takes us, on a coach bus, to three places in England, 2 hours away. First we went to Stonehenge, which we had to do, we were in England! Although we couldn't touch the rocks or get very close to them, there was a roped off trail around it, it was amazing to see 4000 years of history before us, the mystery of it was really cool. You don't see things like that in America. Afterward we went to a small town called Devizes and ate at what we thought was a real English inn called the Black Swan dating back to the 1600's.

Our last location that day was Avebury, which is another rock formation, and a town is located in the center of it. The rocks are not like Stonehenge, so it's now as famous, because the rocks are just any large size and shape, several yards from others, in the shape of a circle. There was also a huge ditch built around the rocks thousands of years ago, and that was where I probably had the most fun. There were children rolling down the ditch, it was so steep and deep! And then two older parents did it, so then I had to do it. I rolled down the ditch several times with small British children, and we had a blast. Afterwards, we went to the center of the town, and went to an English pub. When you think of English pubs, this is it. We couldn't believe how quaint it was! It had outside plaster walls and a thatched roof.

My classes are going well, and I really enjoy them. I thought that in a metropolitan city like London I wouldn't get the same 'homeyness' that I get at Rider but my professors are like that at Rider, very helpful when you need them for your work. Although, I can't wait until spring break! My friends and I are going to the Canary Islands, which is off the coast of Spain. Then I fly back here and my boyfriend (who is also from Rider) comes to visit and then we fly to Salzburg, Austria. I can't wait!

Katie