Best Wedding Ever!! (Until mine of course)

"The early bird gets the worm" as they say or at least a good spot in front of the TV. Natalie, Claire, and I headed to Hyde Park at 6:30 to start the wedding festivities! We set up camp, ate some croissants with nutella, and bought our souvenir programs and flags. The morning was a little chilly, but began to warm up around 11 when the wedding started. The crowd really started growing around 9:30 or so. And in the end there were around 120,000 people enjoying the wedding at Hyde park. We had a blast and felt a part of the wedding the entire time.

Natalie, Me, and Claire waiting for the coverage to start. It didn't stay this empty for long.

The guests arriving.... Wish they would've showed them longer! David looked amazing :)

 The crowds beginning to gather

William arriving at the church.

and Harry! Everyone cheered loudly for him all day long :)

And of course the Queen! Everyone stood up and cheered loudly for her arrival.

Getting excited for Kate's arrival!

She looked beautiful and did a wonderful job. I can't imagine how stressful the service was for her.

Celebratory confetti and of course our Union Jacks!

The famous balcony appearance of the newlyweds.

The Flyover. It came right over our heads just as if we were there! (although Hyde Park isn't that far from the palace)

Enjoying the live music and celebration in the park afterwards. Of course we already finished our champagne and had moved on to the wine!

Overall it was a great morning/afternoon. We left with some souvenirs and had a great party. The sun even came out a little and warmed up the day. The rest of the night and the next day were a little anti-climactic, but attending the wedding was some of the best fun I've had in London! Maybe I can convince Harry to marry me :)

The Calm Before the Bride

Since so many of you were asking me what it was like around here I decided to head down to Buckingham Palace the day before the wedding to take some pictures. There were media tents everywhere and much of the area was blocked off with the fences. Not to mention all the tourists who were about taking pictures. Needless to say it was hectic, but the buzz and the excitement didn't really start until the next day.

Media area. Whoever you watched on TV was probably in this area.

The other side where media set up and the tourists standing around.

New Guards headed to the palace.

Old Guards headed into Clarence House which is the home of Charles, Camilla, William, Harry, and now Catherine.

There were Union Jacks on every pole to celebrate the occasion.

Statues on the Mall of George VI and the late Queen Elizabeth. Flowers laid at the bottom to remember her.

Carvings in the wall by the statues. I think it's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

The set-up at Trafalgar Square.

Camden Market

Right now at the Study Centre there are very few people around. Not only has the summer session not started yet, but England has a lot of bank holidays. They get the Good Friday and Easter Monday off. The Royal Wedding is counting as another bank holiday on Friday and then the following Monday is another Bank Holiday. That's two 4 day wknds in a row which means a lot of people are taking advantage and traveling. Including Luke and one of the students, Nick. They are in Croatia for the week which  leaves Lindsey, Natalie, me, and 2 First Year Abroad Students.We took a day this week to head to Camden Market. This was my first time there and I have to say it was pretty interesting.....

 There are statues and sculptures everywhere!

 This is Claire one of the first year abroad students who will also be here through the summer!

 This is the one of the weirdest/coolest places I've ever been. It's a clothing store that is all futuristic. It's like Tron meets Star Trek meets a Rave.

This is Wes, another of the first year abroad (FYA) students. Although he's leaving us this week to head to Valencia for the summer! He's clearly leading the horses through the market.

Bubbles and Mustaches

Oh the randomness of college students! It's part of what makes college so much fun. All the students left last Friday morning, but we had some fun the night before. We received free tickets to Legally Blonde (oh my god, oh my god. you guuuuys it's so good), went for some drinks which has it's own interesting story.... and then decided to have a mustache party! One of the girls had found them at poundland (like the dollar store, but everything is actually a pound) and conjured up this idea. Well it had been awhile and no mustache party had happened so why not their last night? The bubbles came later in the night while everyone was hanging out in our flat. Someone pulled them out of their purse and said their mom had sent them! 

Rebecca and Morgan (scarily Morgan's looks kinda real)

Luke put the full face on and was really good at keeping a straight face which made it even scarier! (Emily is on the ground laughing)

I joined in on the fun too! Although I'm pretty sure both of mine might be upside-down :)

 Who doesn't like bubbles?

Tea Time!

Our farewell event to the students was touring Kensington Palace and having afternoon tea and champagne at the Orangery. My job is pretty awesome! I get free theatre tickets, nice afternoon teas, and day trips all over London. Although, don't let me fool you, I do a lot of work! It was another beautiful day in London and hot! I know not as hot as Texas, but seriously what is going on here? I've missed all the cold weather. Good news was we all got to show off our summer dresses :)

Kensington Palace Gates

Kensington Gardens

The throne of power!

The Orangery

A real English Tea... Champagne, Tea, Cucumber Sandwhiches, Scones with clotted cream and jam! Delicious! We also had sweets served right after this.

Of course they have mini orange trees on the tables at the Orangery

Another view of the Kensington Gardens

Leeds Castle

Our next stop after Canterbury was Leeds Castle. It was a great day to visit the castle. The last person who lived there took a lot of time to renovate it and bring in exotic animals. Again, just like Canterbury the day was beautiful and we had a great time. I was least looking forward to this trip, but it turned out to be really fun and relaxing. Which after my wknd in Valencia and my 2 day sickness it was much needed!

 

The gardens here were beautiful as well. And all the flowers were in bloom.

There is also a golf course across the moat from the Castle.

The castle with the golf course in the background

The original fire place

Look at this gorgeous day!

The human maze! I made it out!