What a welcome home!

posted by: Katie

I'm back in the United States of America! It was nice being a "British citizen" for awhile, but it's nice to be home. I loved coming back to Rider especially, and when I entered my sorority house, everyone was screaming that I was back. It felt so good. I love telling everyone about the crazy funny stories I had while in London, and in the rest of Europe. It's nice to finally be home.


I guess, even though I am home, I do miss London and the rest of Europe. I loved living in a different country, where I had to get along by myself. I loved "jet-setting" around the world, like going to France, Spain and Austria, from England. I feel like I really grew up from this experience, and I can do anything, especially fly around the world, it's really not that hard to do...

The best thing about being back actually, is that my boyfriend proposed to me when I came home! So now from this experience I have a worldly knowledge, and a fiance, and it's awesome. I can't wait to bring my friends back to England though...

Katie

A visit from home

posted by: Katie

My younger sister came to visit for a week and a half, and after going to Paris for Easter break, I tried to show her all the attractions and tours that London has to offer. I've been on most of them, and blogged about most of them, but there were a few things that I really wanted to do, and was excited that my sister wanted to go too, that we could share the experience together.
After being busy with a lot of touring, we went to the Globe Theater and Hampton Court Palace.

The Globe Theater, the current one, was actually built in 1996, since the original one of Shakespeare's caught fire and was never rebuilt. This theater though is built according to all the specifications that the original theater was built in, even down to the goat and horse hair in the plaster, as well as wooden nails! You could almost picture yourself in the late 1500's while inside, and the tour guides explained what it was like to see a performance there. There are even performances in the theater, but by the time the shows begin, I will already be home. It was so pretty and interesting to see the traditional theater.

Then my sister and I went to Hampton Court Palace. The palace was built in the early 1500's, and was lived in by King Henry VIII. It also was built upon until the late 1700's, in the Georgian era. The Palace was huge, and the gardens were so beautiful, full of flowers and colors. It was nice to see that spring finally arrived in London. The tour for the palace was so interesting! The tour guides
wore costumes from the period they were from, and also performed! They acted as if they were part of the time period they dressed from. For example, while we got a tour of the King's apartments, the tour guide was "looking" for prince Edward. We learned a great deal of the history, and got some great pictures with the tour guides/characters. The palace was also so interactive! There was a huge maze, and you were even able to go through the medieval kitchens, and see how meals were prepared for up to a thousand guests per day.

What I realized I love most about London, is that you are having fun on these tours, but learning so much in the process. It is truly a great
experience to do both.

~Katie