1st attempt at making queso

So I've been having major queso withdrawls since arriving in London. No one here has ever even heard of queso. In fact everyone here looks at me with puzzle looks and says "Isn't that just cheese?" Fail. My queso was a half-fail. It tasted ok, but the recipe definitely needs some tweaking. It was a little grainy and needed less sour cream. But my co-worker Meg was recently in the states and brought me back some Velveeta so we can make some real queso!

Red Nose Day!

Friday March 18th was Red Nose Day in the UK! The whole country gets involved to do "something funny for money." There is a telethon all day and comedians and celebrities get involved to help raise money. Even elementary schools get involved! All money raised goes to charities to help kids in the UK and Africa. The local grocery store sells red noses and some stores sell T-shirts. The Study Centre decided to do a walk from Embankment Pier to the Tower of London. Of course we wore our noses to whole time!

St. Patrick's Day

So I wasn't very good at taking pictures on St. Patrick's Day, but I did remember to take a few. It was a pretty fun night, but celebrated very different than in the States.
1. No one wears green or has heard of being pinched if you don't.
2. No green dye in beer
3. No one really dresses up in hats, shamrocks, or green anything.
It's kind of just a normal night out at the pubs except it's packed because it's a holiday. After walking in and out of 3 different pubs we finally found one where we could get a drink. Had a drink and then went and met some of my friends (pictured below). I met James in Austin when he was on holiday with some of his other Irish lads. Luckily they all live in London! So at least I got to spend St. Paddy's Day with the Irish!

James and I

Diarmuid and James with their friend (in the middle)

First Taste of Indian Food!

Tonight some of us from the Study Centre went to Brick Lane for some Indian Food. "curry in a hurry" as one of my local friends called it. Sadly, I don't like curry, but I found another good option on the menu! A good experience fort first taste! So far I've had Belgian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Greek and Indian food. Plus English and American of course. I'm slowly making my way around the world!

Stratford-upon-Avon

My first day trip that I worked was to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's Birthplace. We visited his house growing up and his burial place. We ended the night with the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of King Lear which was really good! No one got lost, but one girl did get attended to by the paramedics because she wasn't feeling well. Never really off work :) All together it was a great day, but really long! I may also need to find something so that I don't get so sick on the coach ride.

Shakespeare's House

His school- it's still in operation today and still an all boy's school

Burial place in the church- he's surrounded by family members

Lake next to the church

Gravestones lining the way to the church

New RSC theatre- opened 2 weeks ago

My First Soccer Match!

The day I attended my first soccer match! It wasn't a big team or anything, but it was rowdy and it was fun! The Queen's Park Rangers (QPR) played Crystal Palace. Our team won 2-1 and we had pretty good seats. We have plans to go back to another QPR game, plus we are also going to the England vs. Ghana game later this month.

I found it funny that people sit during the game, but stand all through half time. Everything really is backwards here!


The crazy Crystal Palace fans. They stood and chanted and yelled at us the whole game. It was kind of awesome.

London 2012

Get ready for the Olympics!!! This past weekend we took all the International Programs Directors on a tour of the Olympic Area. I also did this tour when I was studying here in 2009 so it was cool to see the progress they've made. It doesn't look like much in the pictures, but trust me they've come a long way. The top pictures are the recent ones and the bottom ones are from 2009. Since then they've added and turned on the lights in the main arena, halfway built viewing tower (the red thing), built the olympic village, basketball arena, aquatic center, and the cycling arena. They've also started on a lot of the landscape. Everything is on time to have it all finished by this July... a year early! We'll tour the area again when the other students arrive for the summer so we'll see what happens.


Me in 2011 in front of the main arena for opening and closing ceremonies/ the viewing tower and the aquatic center.


Me in 2009 in front of the main arena/ construction area that will become all the olympic buildings :)

BBC Studios

One of the perks of my job is getting to go on different organized trips. This particular class trip was to tour the BBC Studios. I took 8 students to White City for our tour! Here are some pictures of the tour. (except in the coolest parts we weren't allowed to take pictures :(

Me and the students

The studio is shaped like a question mark. This fountain is in the middle, although they turned it off because the area echo's a lot and they eventually realized it was making everyone have to pee all day long. They turned it off and productivity increased! *There is also only 3 people who have ever driven around this area- The Queen, a guy from Top Gear, and J-Lo (because she refused to walk 50 ft from her car to the studio door)

A Studio before anything is put in it- there were soooo many lights!

One of our guides showing us how the weather on a blue screen works

Ta Da!

Then we got to play some games! I read the news at the table on the left and the girls had to watch a video and answer questions about what they remembered. Overall, it was pretty fun! Although we all felt a little stupid for not knowing much about BBC productions or the news.... o well! It's not like we watch much TV here :)

Date Change

As you may have noticed I have changed the format of the date. I was getting confused yesterday making my posts so I decided to make the format the same as in the UK. It is as follow day/month/year. This is mostly for my sanity when making posts. I look and say dates so often that the UK way has now become really comfortable and familiar. Sorry if this confuses anyone. Today's post was not in Novemember, but rather in March :)

Cheers! x

A Stroll Through the City

One day last wknd I decided to go on a little walk to get my bearing of the city. I started at the Study Centre and walked to Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, then Parliament, through the West End and then back to the study centre. It was a great day! A little cloudy, but no rain! Enjoy some of the sights London has to offer :)

The London Eye (behind some building)

A Memorial for the women of WW2- It was in the middle of the street. I thought it was cool and had never seen it before.

Big Ben Clock
The House of Parliament

A really pretty lake/pond in a park. You can see Buckingham Palace in the background. I think this might be part of the Royal Gardens or an extension to them.

Another Memorial in the same park. I don't remember what it's for.

You wouldn't know him, he lives in Texas!

So this isn't a very good picture, but I went to this awesome play on Saturday. We walked into a party with wine and snacks before we got to meet lizzy's bf in Austin via skype! It was a lot of fun and the actors did a really great job. 2 of my friends thought it was real, even after! And I got to see some of my friends in Austin, which was awesome! The picture is of lizzy calling her bf, Ryan, in Austin. There are 2 more performances left. Check it out!

Living in London

I made it to London with no problem! In fact, I had an empty seat next to me on the plane which allowed me to lay down! Getting through the airport, train station, and taxi ride was no problem. I was definitely glad I didn't bring bigger suitcases. I started working as soon as I arrived. This week was the student's spring break so I did little things around the office, opened my bank account, and got everything lined up for my 6 months here! I've had a lot of fun so far and everything seems normal and comfortable. I've been surprised how easily everything has come back to me. I forgot how much I loved London! Anyway, here are some pictures of where I live and work :)

99 Great Russell! This is the outside of the main building. FSU technically owns the building to the right and 3 to the left. That's where everyone lives and takes classes. 99 is the reception and Admin building where I work. If you walk 2 minutes to the right you'll hit the British Museum!
The office and the GC's desk. I decorated the front for Red Nose Day on 18 March, 2011. It's a day in which the country does "something funny for money" and raises money for charity.

Another view of the office

Some people I work with (L-R): Dr. Paul (director), Natalie (GC), Meg (Admin), Mark (professor), Luke (GC). Lindsey (GC) and Lisa (asst. director) weren't there this day.

The kitchen area in our flat


The living area

My room- although i haven't decorated yet :)


I share the flat with Lindsey and Luke. We each have our own room and Luke and I share the upstairs! Natalie lives in a different flat, but she usually hangs out in ours as well as her boyfriend, Martyn, who she met when she studied here 4 years ago.
I haven't been taking very many pictures, but will have another update soon!