Pub Club

The pub culture is so much different here than bar culture in America. Some friends and I have been to a few, and what still strikes me as strange is how many families are there. Kids and babies. People playing board games. Business people relaxing on their way home from work. Everyone is friendly and controlled. 

Last night, Arcadia took about twenty of us out to Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, a pub originally built in 1593. It was rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire of 1666 (but still. That's old!). Charles Dickens spend a lot of time in this pub, and apparently it is alluded to in "A Tale of Two Cities". The building itself was fascinating too, but I couldn't take many pictures because the hallways were narrow and it was pretty crowded.

Left: Outside of building, Middle: Professor Morgan giving us a history lesson, Right: Lennon in the cellar

 After several staircases and rooms, we made it to the cellar where the tour finished and Arcadia staff opened a tab for us to help ourselves. (Definitely something that would not have happened in America!):

#whenyourschoolpaysforyourdrinks (Me, Amanda, Kat, Lennon)

And then we stayed a bit and ended up ordering very expensive food.

Fried goat cheese = amazing taste

Six People in One Bedroom is Too Many

After several hours, a few tears, too many clicks, and an entire Halloween candy bag, we finally booked our trip(s). 

Barcelona, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Paris, Edinburgh and Sweden, here we come!!

[This girl is lucky to have a four day weekend every weekend!!] 

This kinda inbox makes me happy :)

"Home is not a place, it is a feeling." (Part 1)

My daddy came to visit last weekend. 

And after he left, I was way more homesick than I was before. 

Here's some pictures of the very special weekend:

It took awhile for me to find the hotel, mainly because I only had this screenshot 

(left) to go by...I have no cellular data so I couldn't sync Google Maps! I came up behind the hotel and only realized I was in the right place when I saw a very familiar green "Hockanum Valley" shirt through the window. He just happened to walk out of the elevator on the main floor in front of the window! I made my way to the front entrance and there he was :) Unfortunately, he had a phone meeting several minutes later, so I relaxed outside the hotel room and enjoyed the view (middle). Then he took my to the sky garden cafe on the top floor of the hotel. It was by far the best view I've had of the city so far! (left). Here's my fancy-dancy still water (why it has to be in this type of bottle I have no idea). 

After eating appetizers at the sky garden and catching up about E-Town and my classes, we went downstairs to the executive lounge for some free food :) [the appetizers, as delicious as they were, did not cut it!] Once it got pretty late, I headed back home (only turning the wrong way once). 

On Friday, I arrived at his office in a more timely manner. I met two Cunningham Lindsey employees who are very excited to show me around and take me out to dinner...something I will gladly take them up on! This is the ridiculous view from his desk (he won't brag about it so I will!):

He finished up a few things there and then I took him all the way to my house to see my neighborhood and meet my friends (who were quite excited to meet him because he was taking us out for dinner!). We settled on this Italian place and it was dee-lish-ous:

Everything in Europe is under construction. 

Dad, Me, Marisa, Anna, Melanie, Nick

We stayed for several hours and it was really really nice. My friends were all trying to be polite and not order dessert and stuff, but once we got stuff to share we all devoured it :) Melanie got this picture of us walking home. [I may or may not have asked her to....one of us thrives on taking photos and one of us does not - as you can tell by the above photo :)] But anyway, she took these photos and I was being silly but I decided I like them quite a lot:

And that was my wonderful Friday! Part Two: Saturday and Sunday

Olympicalicious Day

Today a few of us visited Olympic Park...from when London hosted in 2012. A few photos and fun facts before I forget:

Claire and Abriel cheesing it up. We were the only three from Arcadia.  

Waiting to get into the Olympic pool.

The 9-billion-pound budget to build the Olympic Park was justified by the mayor because it was used regenerate and build-up the entire area for after the Olympics. For example, the Olympic pool shown above has been converted into a community pool. The blue windows that are there today were added after...(there used to be two extra wings of stands). Some serious planning was involved to create an Olympic park that could be converted into a functioning area afterwards...one thing I learned about London today that I admire. 

After leaving the pool stadium, we walked through an overgrown area to a 9/11 monument. The sculpture used a piece of the framework from one of the towers. It was a really impressive piece, but seemed a little out of place hidden in some bushes and shoved to the side of the stadium. Then again, the monument is in London, not New York. 

The structure on the right was renovated to become the world's longest tunnel slide. More on how this came to be later...because Claire and I plan to come back soon and buy tickets!

And speaking of Claire, here's some pictures of her attempting to climb onto the rings (we were told that even though it's technically not allowed, we can pull the "tourist card" and do it anyway).

           
              

And here's a group picture:

After the tour ended, Claire and I hung around the mall area and stopped for an early dinner. I know I'm weird, but the bathroom was so uniquely beautiful I couldn't not take a picture ;)

And then we went window-shopping...yes, this is a bridal store:

These dresses cost more than me. 

And that was my day... I am procrastinating on posting about this weekend with Dad because that involves too many emotions and excitement and entertainment. So until then, adios. 

Oh wait, speaking of my IronMan, this was pretty neat:

Imagine 112 miles of cycling on this track, Dad? ;)

And now I'm off for reals. Forty minute presentation tomorrow, yippee!