Cricket vs Baseball

Growing up in good old Centralia I didn't learn to play soccer, let alone cricket.

But between spending my weekends watching Chan, or pretending to study while watching the Cardinals, I'd say I know the ins and outs of the wonderful sport of baseball.

During my time here in Manchester I have seen cricket on in a few pubs. At first I didn't know exactly what it was. For some reason Coach Finlay didn't have cricket in our freshman year P.E. game rotation. Automatically while watching I just always tried to compare what was happening to the closest baseball ideal and went with that. I was satisfied with my own conclusions.

Then I met a guy who plays a bit of cricket. Turns out when you play a lot of cricket, you also watch a lot of cricket.

So when New Zealand came to England and the first test match came around (look at me using cricket vocabulary and everything), I watched a good little bit of it on TV with him. After laughing at my knowledge of the sport (zero percent) and answering my millions of questions, I caught on a little bit.

Side-note: My favorite cricket moment so far is from a little English kid at a museum in Liverpool. There was a display in the sports section that had numerous balls from different sports that allowed you to compare them to each other in size and texture and whatnot. Well this hilarious little kid went down the line saying them out loud and knew every single ball, even a tennis ball, but called the cricket ball a bouncy ball. I laughed for probably five minutes but Marty didn't find it quite as funny.

Back to my cricket education.

Then the second test match between New Zealand and England came around and this time we attended a day of it. Yes, I said a day, because cricket test matches are FIVE DAYS LONG. They play all day, too. I'm not sure that I could play one game/one team for five days straight. That's a lot of dedication.

So now since very few of you back home are like me and didn't know anything about cricket/how it is played, I will compare everything from the day to a day at a ballpark.

1. The Field
- Baseball = shaped like a diamond, four bases, quite symmetrical
- Cricket = huge, the pitch (pretty sure I'm using the right word here) is in the middle, a wicket on each end, no bases - have to run past a line

2. Pitching/Bowling
- Baseball = stands in the middle of the field and pitches the ball to the batter, pitcher bends their arm while throwing
- Cricket = bowler runs about half a mile before throwing the ball (I'm curious as to their total distance running by the end of a 5 day match), bowler does not bend their arm while throwing, two types of bowlers - fast and spin (that's pretty much all I know on that topic)

3. Batting
- Baseball = one batter at home, if you haven't hit the ball after 3 strikes you're out
- Cricket = two batters (one at each wicket), one person hits at a time but they both run back and forth, the rest is too complicated for me to try to put into words - basically you can't strike out but if you miss the ball and it hits the wicket and the bails fall off then you're out

4. Outs to Finish an Inning
- Baseball = 3 outs
- Cricket = 10 wickets aka 10 outs

5. Environment
- Baseball = pretty chill, occasional drunk group, quite a huge stadium, lots of video board time
- Cricket = when we went one side was very calm, then we went to the other side where it was a mad house - people were very drunk and yelling crazy comments/chants, they also stacked all of their beer cups and chanted "feed the snake and it will grow" and security ended up breaking it up twice

6. Runs
- Baseball = usually a pretty low scoring game
- Cricket = lol they score hundreds of runs in a test match

Those are pretty much the main differences that I noticed. Oh besides the fact that you don't wear a glove in cricket. Seriously. It makes my hands hurt just thinking about it.

There are way more rules in cricket it seems. It's quite confusing. There are also way more differences than what I listed, I just have my last exam in 2.5 hours that I still haven't studied for.

In conclusion, cricket is actually pretty cool and watching it in person was a great, but long, day. I've enjoyed learning about it but I will be happy to go back to my comfort zone of baseball in a couple of weeks.

Soccer and cricket all in one semester. I don't even know who I am anymore.

Marty says that America probably won't take me back.

Please let me come home, guys. I miss my dog and cat. Also I don't think I would survive without Mizzou football this fall.

Finally....an update on my schedule for the next few weeks:
- Thursday I leave for Thailand. 16+ hours of travel ahead that I am not exactly looking forward to. I would really appreciate good vibes/prayers.
- June 16 I leave from Bangkok and get back to Manchester early in the morning on June 17.
- June 18 I fly back to the US of A! Quite bittersweet, but I'm very excited to see all of y'all again. I'll be back in STL around 6 pm and I'm quite ready for a bit of Mexican food and a good margarita!

Peace and love.

O.W.L.s (aka Manchester exams)

It's exam time in Manchester and the best way I can explain this experience is by comparing it to taking the O.W.L.s in Harry Potter.

Not kidding.

They sit you down in giant rooms where everybody has their own desk and the proctor is at the front and talks on a microphone. The only thing missing is a magical clock.

My second exam had over 500 people. That is over 500 individual desks. It was a bit intimidating.

I'm feeling a bit cheated because I still haven't received my letter. Still not a muggle though so I'll stop you there before you even say those hateful words, RACHEL ETZLER.

I have a total of 3 exams and I have taken the first two. I'm also officially throwing in the towel and not caring about my last one on June 2nd. HELLO SUMMER.

Here's a secret for all of you thinking about studying abroad in the future. Only do it if your classes transfer back as pass/fail. Just kidding you should definitely do it even if they don't. But if they don't....I'm sorry but good luck.

My first exam was "British Society in a Globalising World". I even just spelled that the British way so I should get an A. It was worth 100% of my grade. Yes, 100%. Who does that? Shout-out to Mizzou for being the real MVP and not putting me through that kind of stress and only requiring me to pass the class. To be quite honest this class could be cutting it close on the whole passing thing. The only thing I have in my corner is being an exchange student so maybe they'll take it easy on me.

My second exam was "Geographies of Sustainability". This one was also 100% of my final grade. Luckily I enjoyed this class more and found it much easier. So I decided to spend the day before the exam day drinking with Annie because she was leaving and didn't really study much. I definitely passed the exam/class, but I'm not hopeful for a high mark. But I didn't come here to get good grades. I came here to slack off for a semester and do things that I can't get away with at home where I actually have responsibilities.

Now I have 11 days until my final exam here in Manchester. I just finished Breaking Bad today. Not sure what I am going to do with all of this free time! You won't hear me complaining though.

Know what's even more exciting than being done with exams? Only 15 days until I am reunited with my most favorite CHASE E. BARNES in THAILAND. Holy guacamole. So excited. So many (safe and responsible lol) shenanigans ahead.

Know what's pretty bittersweet? Only 28 more days until I'm home in Missouri. Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited to see all of you back in God's country, I'm just not ready to leave. This has been the best 5 months of my life and I have met the greatest people.

However, I have so many things to look forward to this summer. One of those happens to be standing with a best friend while she gets married. Now that's going to be a party. Also a great celebration of God bringing two wonderful people together. But mostly a super fun party. :)

Okay I'm going to try and find a new Netflix show to watch now. If you have any suggestions, you know where to find me.

Until Thailand!

Peace and love.

Mother's Day

First of all, shout out to all the super rad moms out there. You guys rock and deserve more than one day a year to be celebrated.

Second, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of the wonderful mothers in my life. Grandmas, aunts, cousins, friends, all of you. I'm blessed to have you in my life and today is a day to celebrate YOU. I love you all.

Third, my wonderful mom. You're the bomb.com.

Seriously.

You have taken over every roll in our family (quite flawlessly) and with no (okay maybe a few) complaints. Remember when we were younger and you said we were going to send you to the loony bin? LOL sorry.

To this day I still don't know how you have done it. Where most families have two parents to split activities and commitments, you did it all. Very rarely did you miss anything for the three of us. Between baseball, volleyball, cross country, basketball (3 separate teams), summer softball, football, track, FFA (I know how much you enjoyed those events), choir concerts, driving us around, and so much more, I honestly am amazed.

At the time all of these events were happening I selfishly didn't think anything of it. It's just the way we were used to things. Just looking at that list gives me a headache and you took everything like a champ. I ran those cross country meets, I know how awful they were (especially when it rained). You didn't know much about FFA, but you sat through an entire day of Ag Issues presentations at state just to watch my team. Countless summers filled with baseball and softball tournaments. During the school year you juggled three kids all in different sports and only missed something of ours to go to somebody else's game.

No wonder you used to get mad at me when I would wake you up from a nap to ask you a question.

Sometimes I get annoyed when you are constantly worrying about whatever it is I'm doing. But I understand why you do it and I am happy that you care.

You support me no matter what, even when I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life.

You pretend to be okay with my crazy gap year ideas before grad school.

You put up with Chan and Alex, and let's face it, they're ridiculous and I'm really your favorite.

You flew all the way to England to spend a week with me (and I guess see some cool places, too).

You have moved me, Alex and Chan in and out of apartments a ridiculous amount of times.

You do it all.

You are truly so great and we are lucky that God decided to pick you to be our mother. I know dad is thankful for you and proud of you. We're lucky to have such a great guardian angel watching over us.

Thank you for being you and I'm sorry that I can't be home this year. But I promise you'll be tired of me by the time I move back to Columbia in August.

See you in 40 days! I love you.

Realizations While Abroad

Everybody told me that I would grow up a lot while abroad for an entire semester. They said that I would discover myself. I was told that I would come back a new person. 

Well guess what, they were right in some ways. In other ways they have never been more wrong.

There are three areas that I really feel like I have matured and evolved in since being across the pond. They are independence, career and faith.

Independence.

I've always been a social person who prefers to be in the company of others. That hasn't changed. But you know what has? My views in how I want to live my life. When I started college I had my entire life planned out. Seriously. I think that mentality I had stemmed from growing up in a small town. Now don't get me wrong, I will always love my hometown and be forever grateful for the woman that Centralia molded me to be. However, I had entered college with the stereotypical "small town mentality". Through my years at Mizzou I realized that I didn't want most of the same things anymore. Being abroad has shown me that I'm not meant to stay in one place. Being abroad has taught me that I have the ability to be on my own. It's taught me that I'm good at being on my own. My family used to always tease me about being scared to talk to people that I didn't know. Well when you live on your own in another country you don't really have an option. Also after having to call and speak with a United States Embassy you get over that fear pretty quick. The best way to sum up what I am trying to say about how I have grown in my ability to be independent comes from the ridiculous Coach Bennett. I can't believe I'm about to quote this phrase. Nothing infuriated me more in high school than when he would get under my skin by saying this so I would shave a bit more time off my 800. The countless times he has told me "you don't need no man" using this phrase. Or if I ever made a comment about not being able to do something. I am woman, hear me roar. Okay after typing that I realize it still makes my skin crawl. Old habits die hard. But I admit that when something has been difficult this semester, Coach Bennett on his dumb old megaphone rang through my head and I remember that I am capable and I can do anything.

Career.

Lol. How many times have I changed my major while in college? Pretty sure my adviser has put a cap on me. Everybody told me that I would find clarity in what I wanted to do with my life while being abroad. LOL AT ALL OF YOU. I knew that wouldn't happen and I'm still right. However, studying abroad has shown be that there are so many opportunities out there for me along with an entire world. After you see just a fraction of this beautiful place we get to live, how can you ever go back to being satisfied with working 9-5 at an office? The answer here is you can't. And that is what I have realized. I know that I am called to help others. I know that I want to see the world. I know that I'm not meant to be cooped up in one place. I know that to me, college is a joke. The fact that I am paying an absurd amount of money to get a degree so I can sit in a building for 40 hours a week until I retire makes my head want to explode. I don't want that. I want to make a difference. A real difference. How am I supposed to do that? I honestly have no idea. But I am now accepting any and all ideas to the cause. 

Faith. 

I have grown up as a Christian. Even when I didn't want him, Christ was always there and I knew it. I ended up joining a Christian sorority which saved my life and was the best decision I have ever made. When I went alumnae this past semester to come abroad, I thought I had the whole relationship with Christ thing on lock. I mean, I'd grown a lot through my time in Phi Lamb. However, being abroad has brought all sorts of challenges that I have never had to face before. I haven't been close to Centralia where my home church family is. I'm not at my university surrounded by campus ministries and my sisters in Christ. I'm in a whole new country that is quite different than what I am used to. After the first couple of weeks it was a daily struggle for me to connect with God because I hadn't been to church or any activities where God was the center. I even had a conversation with a man at a clothing store where I was personally verbally attacked for being a Christian. The idea of being attacked because of my faith was something I had never considered, and it was really difficult for me to come to terms with. I was angry and confused why somebody would do such a thing. Then I realized that other people have had it way worse than the minor incident that I experienced. It really made my heart hurt for others. But it also made me grow. It made me realize that faith isn't something that is just there. It's something that I have to put effort into daily. The problem with my college experience so far is that Phi Lamb made faith convenient for me. Coming abroad made me really work for my faith on my own for the first time, and it has made me understand just how much I NEED Christ in my life. 

I'm reading this book called "All The Places To Go" about the open doors that God places in our lives. Coming abroad was definitely an open door placed in my life from the Big Guy. It has been scary, but also amazing. A complete mess, but also beautiful. Full of mistakes, but also many breakthroughs. I've met so many people who have changed my life for the better. I still have about six weeks left and I can't wait to see what else I'll experience. 

Also, I've almost finished my Jiff peanut butter my mom brought me. If anybody feels like helping a sista out I would be forever in your debt. 

Also also, I actually have to do some homework and studying in these upcoming weeks so pray for me that my brain remembers how to actually do work. 

Peace and love, dudes. 

Europe Trip Part 2

What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been! I'm still in shock of the amazing experiences I have been able to have. I'm a lucky girl.

The last time you heard from me, I was riding on a bus through Italy's beautiful countryside. It was gorgeous and I couldn't bring my eyes to look away from my window.

Here's a little summary of the rest of my trip through Italy, Denmark and then a wonderful week with my family in London and Paris!

Venice - We were only here for an afternoon and I fell in love. I may have mentioned this stop in my last post but I don't remember. It's worth a second comment anyways. We spent our afternoon on a gondala ride, eating delicious pizza, sitting by the canal eating amazing gelato and drinking wine outside at a local cafe. Basically my heart belongs in this fantastic city. I can't wait to go back someday and spend some more time here. I loved it so much.

Florence - This was a crazy day and a half. Our bus dropped us off on the side of a highway about 30 minutes by bus outside of the main city area of Florence. AKA we were in the middle of nowhere and not quite sure where we were going. We found a bus and made our way to a train station where we would sprint like crazy to catch our train to our hostel. I may have had an asthma attack and Grace had a bum ankle. We were a sight, I'm sure. We treated ourselves to wine and pasta that evening and all was well. We spent the next day wandering all around the city. I had the best sandwich of my life, climbed up God knows how many steps to see a beautiful view of the city, went to a few markets, and other cool shenanigans like that.

Aarhus - I was lucky enough that the wonderful Emma hosted me for a few days at her apartment. For those of you who don't know Emma, she was a foreign exchange student who attended good ole' CHS where we became good friends. After 4 years we were finally reunited and it was a fabulous time! She showed me some wonderful sites in her college city including a super cool museum, Old Town, the beach, and a little forest where deer are kept safe...aka no hunting. And people feed the deer. They didn't like me. It was so great to catch up with Emma and her friends were so welcoming and cooked me a delicious Danish meal! I'm so thankful for friendship.

London - FINALLY met up with my family. Which was fantastic. When I got off the elevator at our hotel, mom was running down the hallway to meet me. No surprise there. It was so good to see everybody. We spent our few days here on a tour bus hopping on and off to see the sights. We also saw the changing of the guards which was cool but took a really long time. I took them to Camden Market, my favorite market, and they loved it! We had some good food and bought a few things. Everybody had some good fish and chips along with meat pie. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a One Direction store for Maya.

Paris - Paris was fantastic. Most of the people we met were friendly. Some were quite rude, but oh well. We saw all of the wonderful classic sites and took a boat cruise down the river at sunset. Saw the Eiffel Tower both during the day and at night. When it sparkles it is so cool. We ate some delicious pizza at an Italian restaurant....twice. So good. Attached a lock to a bridge. Saw Notre Dame. Went to the Louvre where it took us longer to find the Mona Lisa than it did for us to get to the very front of the line. We went at the absolute perfect time and I got in for free. Score. We also had this amazing pastry place right down the road from our hotel where we went each morning. It was delicious. Also I love crepes. No surprise there.

My favorite part was just being with my family. I've always known how important family was to me, but I never realized how important until I have been away from everybody for an extended period of time. When the opportunity to take a short drive to visit is taken away, it makes you much more thankful for the time you get with them.

All in all traveling has taught me a lot. Most importantly, it reminded me how terrible my immune system is because I have been sick for 4 days since I have been back in Manchester. So not fun. I have learned a lot about myself and just how tired I can get. I would say I am much more cultured and trying new things isn't hard for me anymore.

This trip has opened up a new longing to travel for me. I've been given a taste as to what this world has to offer and I don't want to stop experiencing it now. There is just so much to see and so many things to experience! I can't imagine going home in June and never traveling again. It just isn't an option for me. I need to see the rest of this crazy, beautiful world that God has given us.

Week 1: Prague, Munich and Salzburg

I want to start this off by mentioning that I am writing this as I watch the sun set over Italy's countryside. Talk about seeing God. This is too beautiful to take pictures.

So here's the update of my first week of traveling! I am absolutely in love with this world we get to live on.

First stop was Prague. This is a really low cost place to visit.....aka it was fabulous. We visited the castle and toured it. We went to the top of a tower and looked out over a beautiful view. We went through a mirror maze. Drank some beer brewed by monks - real good. Went to an ice bar - real cold. Then I lost my phone and ID. Classic. I have chatted with many police officers and embassies, and I officially will get these back....someday....somehow...I have no idea.

Then we went on over to Munich. We drank a lot of beer here...duh. We toured the city on bikes here and it was so fun! And easier. And faster. I am a fan of bikes. We saw: the palace, the Olympic grounds, a German market - SO MUCH FANTASTIC FOOD...and beer - and finally the English Gardens. We also ate at some good restaurants. The last stop in Germany was a visit to a concentration camp. I don't really have much that I can put into words about this experience. You learn about this in school, but seeing where tragedy like this happened in person is just too much to explain. It was overwhelming. Such an awful period in history that I can't understand how humans can take part in such evil.

Finally, we visited Salzburg. What a beautiful city!!! The mountains are absolutely breathtaking. We took a cable car to the top of a mountain and hiked the rest of the way up. I stood in two countries at once. No big deal. We also visited: the catacombs, the fortress, the Salzburg museum and Mozart's birthplace. We also toured Stiegl brewery. Got some tasting drinks. Good day. Then we relaxed and laid by the river on a slope for a few hours while the sun started to go down.

We took a night train from Austria to Italy. That was a neat experience. Unfortunately, a train has still not taken me to Hogwarts. I don't get it.

I am learning so much and loving every second of this crazy trip. I can't wait to see Emma and my family in the next two weeks!

But for now, time to go eat some pasta and drink some wine in Italy. I am in Heaven. :)

The Calm Before The Storm

So you might be asking what I'm doing since I'm not posting.

The answer is not much.

I've been exploring and going fun places here, but I haven't really traveled for the past few weeks.

The most exciting event in the past few weeks was definitely traveling to York, England with my friend Annie and her two friends from back home. They came to visit for their spring break.

Anyways, when we went to York we took a free guided tour and like usual I got to chatting with her. When I say like usual I mean that once the Blackwell trait of talking is passed on to you, you really don't stand a chance. So we were chatting about war reenactments (don't ask) and I started talking about Centralia and how we do one every year. Well previously we had made the connection that she had been to Missouri before, so she knew which state I was from. ANYWAYS. When I brought up Centralia SHE KNEW WHERE IT WAS. How neat is that?! It was so cool making a connection like that all the way across the ocean.

Besides that I have been hanging out around my dorm area with friends and exploring into the city. I haven't been traveling because I'm saving money for my Easter Break trip that I leave for this Friday. I'm so so SO excited! It's going to be exhausting but such an experience.

So here's the trip I have planned:
- Prague
- Munich
- Salzburg
- Venice
- Florence
-- all of these places I will be traveling with some of my exchange friends that I have made here
- Denmark
-- this is when I'll meet up with Emma and it's going to be super fun
- London
- Paris
-- I'll finish up the trip with Mom, Aunt Karla, Anna, Tara and Maya and I could not be more excited to see them! It's going to be a blast.

After this trip I come back and have a few more weeks of school. Then they give about a month for "exam period" where anywhere in that month I could have my 3 exams. So basically I'm going to take a few more trips. I have one trip to Ireland already booked but we've also discussed going to Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Greece. We'll see!

Since I don't have much exciting news to share, I'll just say some of the random things that I like to do in my free time here.

1. Netflix. Currently watching The Office. It's not as good as Parks and Recreation but it is quite hilarious.
2. Procrastinate. Annie told me tonight that I'm really good at procrastinating. I've perfected the art while I've been here. Seriously. When I got back from supper tonight I wasted an hour and a half and I honestly can't even tell you what I did during that time....because even I don't know what I did.
3. Not running because the air here is awful. Seriously. If you have asthma and enjoy running probably don't come to a big city that smokes a lot and has pollution because your lungs won't allow it. I do pinterest workouts in my room though. So I'm sorry to the person who lives below me.
4. Eating good food. There are lots of great places to eat here, you just have to find them. It's like a college version of hide and seek. The other night I went to a place called Home Sweet Home and got a brisket sandwich with macaroni and cheese. HELLO to my two favorite things, amiright?! Speaking of food....
5. Two words. GOURMET MONDAYS. Every Monday I skip on the dining hall and Becca, Jake, Annie and I make a great meal. Today is Monday so we made it Mexican Monday. We made 7 layer bean dip and guacamole and had chicken burritos. Guys we're chefs. Seriously.
6. Sometimes we go to clubs. Sankeys may have asked me to be a rep. I politely didn't respond.
7. There are some good pubs in the area. Just sayin'.
8. To everybody's disbelief, I do in fact attend class while I'm here. I can actually honestly say that I enjoy my classes and enjoy what I'm learning. All of my professors here are also really cool and way less intimidating than they are at Mizzou. Maybe that's because my opening line here when I talk to them is, "sup I'm Andi and I'm a foreigner so plz help" and they're really cool about things. Maybe I'll pretend to be British when I go home and see if my professors at home notice.
9. I like to go to Primark. It's the world's best place for low price low quality clothing and I have spent entirely too much money there. Oh well.
10. Trying every Cadbury candy bar flavor in existence. Guys I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to come home. I honestly have debated leaving my clothes behind and packing 50 lbs of Cadbury in my suitcase. I wish I was kidding.
11. Going to Archie's on Sundays with Becca to get food.
12. Texting Annie about never getting any of my work done but being on season 6 of The Office already.
13. Making lists like this when I have a paper to write and important things to get done before I have to leave on Friday.

Okay I'll end there because 13 is my lucky/favorite number.

So as you can see, the life of Andi is absolutely thrilling.

But really I have made some really great friends here in my flat as well as my exchange people. I don't like thinking about coming home in June.

But I am excited to see all of you kids again.

And my dog and cat. And Alex's cat. I can't wait to annoy that fur-ball again.

I promise to TRY and post at the end of each day these next few weeks (depending on internet) to let y'all know of my travels.

Peace and love.

 Meat pie from a place called Pies and Ales. Real tasty.

 Saw a dragon parade during Chinese New Year. Super cool. Really cold and rainy outside.

 One of the best cheeseburgers I have ever had....honestly. In York.

 Classic night out at Sankeys.

 Kebab. King.

Casual night in.

Manchester -> Belgium -> Bath -> STONEHENGE

Before I left for study abroad everybody was saying how fast this semester would fly by and I just didn't believe them. Well here I am a month later and I don't understand how four weeks could just disappear like they have.

I have had SO much fun and I absolutely love it here. I have met some pretty great people and it I don't even want to think about having to come home in June. Except I will be excited to see my people back home again. They're pretty cool, too, I suppose. (I added that sentence for Chloe and Rach because I know how much they can't handle life without me.)

So now for the updating.

I went to a soccer game. And I loved it. I can't conform to society over here and call it football though. That just feels wrong. But seriously. The game was awesome. I saw Manchester United vs. Cambridge. I bought a tourist scarf. I took lots of pictures. I pretended I understood what was going on the whole time. It's so weird being the person who knows nothing about a sport when I have grown up so involved in sports. So as much as I hate to say it....I think Centralia should have taught us a little bit about soccer growing up. Okay now I'll go back to my Centralia football ways and never blog about soccer again.

I took a long weekend trip to Belgium. HOLY GUACAMOLE THE WAFFLES. Seriously. I don't know that I will ever be able to eat a waffle again because nothing can ever compare. Okay jk I'll eat waffles all the time still because they are delicious. Leslie Knope forever. We arrived in Bruge Thursday night at about midnight. The bus literally dropped us off in a dark parking lot in the middle of nowhere and we had no idea how to get to our hostel. That was fun. Luckily we met a lovely couple who were going to the same hostel and they had data. Thanks again, guys. We spent Friday being tourists and wandering the streets. Had some frites. I can't even call them fries because they are better than fries. They're frites. Drank some beer made by monks. For all of you that have doubted my amazing sense of direction throughout life.....guess who nailed navigation of Bruge?? THAT'S RIGHT. Boss status. Then we caught a train to Brussels. This place was pretty but I probably wouldn't go back. We ate more waffles and frites (with the best sauce in the world by the way) and drank more beer. Took some cool touristy pictures. We tried to go on a pub crawl our first night but that turned into a disaster. People in Brussels really hated our American crew for some reason. We didn't really sleep Sunday night and we flew home Monday morning. Monday was brutal. I made it to class though which is weird because I have more motivation to go to class here than I ever have at home. Sorry, Mizzou.

This past weekend I went to Bath and Stonehenge. This trip was epic. Spent Valentine's Day with some real cool people while exploring the ancient Roman baths. We walked the entire city of Bath. It was awesome. We took a scenic route through some housing areas and then walked through a park. Unfortunately my FitBit was dead so that was a real bummer because it would have been cool to see how far we actually walked that day. Sunday we visited Stonehenge and the child in me was in Heaven. GUYS I WAS AT STONEHENGE. Unreal. Major bucket list item is now checked off. If you don't think that Stonehenge is legendary then I just don't understand you. I may or may not have been a ridiculous kid in a candy shop on the walk up to the amazing formation of rocks.

I've also done a lot of cool things in Manchester, too. Classes are actually really interesting to me because it's cool hearing things from a different perspective. My sociology class likes to ask me about life in small town Missouri. Also nobody here knows where Missouri is. They also don't have a clue what the major Health Science is. Basically I am a total alien here and everybody asks me if I'm going to be a doctor. LOL no. They have so many cool bars here, too. I went to a 1920s themed bar and it was fantastic. I really wished that Gina was there with me because I needed somebody to appreciate how amazing the 20s were with me.

I'm currently in the planning stages for Spring Break. We've got a pretty good trip lined up and we're going to start booking things pretty soon. I think I'm most excited to visit the lovely Emma Gertsen in Denmark. It has been TOO long. :) Oh and I'm pretty pumped to finish the time off with my family in London and Paris. That will be epic.

The most important fact that I can leave you with is that I FINALLY got a pizza last night. Life is good.

First Days in Manchester, England

Hello, world!

It's super weird to be writing and realizing that most of the people who will read this are so far away now instead of places like the room right next to me.

I'm finally pretty much settled in here in my dorm at Manchester. So far I'm LOVING it here. I figured since I'm finally at a relaxed point I would fill you in on my adventures so far.

Day 1: Traveling - I woke up and left for STL to catch my first flight. Saying bye to everybody was sad, but I know I won't be gone for that long. I had to switch planes in Chicago and then from there I headed to Newark. Once I was there I met up with some of the other Mizzou students who were coming here so that was nice. I exchanged all of my US currency here and got a cash card that I can load from my bank account. I'm really happy that I did this because it has made paying for things here so much easier and faster. The flight from Newark to Manchester was pretty smooth sailing. It was only about 6.5 hours or so. I wasn't able to really sleep on the flight so that was a bit rough. I sat next to a very interesting lady though! She is a nursing professor at some college near her home in southern England. Her one goal in life is to visit 60 countries by the time she turns 60. So far she is at 45! She visits such interesting places and had so many amazing stories to share with me. However, she has not yet visited the US. She really wants to see Yellowstone but she says that traveling to the US would be too difficult for her because it costs so much to travel around and takes too much time when she only has one week to see as much as she can. Either way, she was great. 

Day 2: Arriving - Our plane landed in Manchester around 7:00 am their time but 1:00 am Missouri time. The time thing is odd to me. Talking to friends and family back home is weird because when I go to bed it's supper time there and when I get up it's the middle of the night. ANYWAYS. When we got off the plane we had to wait in line to get our visas. That was WAY easier than I was expecting. Then we got our bags, luckily none of us had a bag get lost. We found a table and hung out at the airport for probably close to two hours because check in at our dorms was at 10:00 am. We took a private hire cab to our living district called Fallowfield. The currency switch for me has also been a challenge. They use a LOT of coins. They're all different shapes and sizes which takes some getting used to. After all of us got settled in to our dorm room we met back up and went for a tour around Fallowfield. Basically in Fallowfield there is our residence hall district. There are lots of dorms in the district. Then there is a long road that has tons of places to eat and pubs. Everything that I need is in walking distance, technically. The road that goes through Fallowfield runs directly straight all the way to campus and then into the city. After the short tour we went to a pub and got a drink. All of us were pretty tired at this point but we all were trying to stay busy so we would stay up until it was time to go to bed here. The pub we went to used to be a church! That was interesting. I came back after that and unpacked a little. I also gave in and took a short nap because my head hurt really bad from the jet lag. I finished off my first day in this new place by taking a walk and exploring the main road then ate at a place called Yo Yo Noodles with a few friends. You can pretty much get any type of food you want here so that is awesome. Yo Yo Noodles had the equivalent to the Lo Mein at China King in Centralia. I'm trying to not eat too much similar food to what I'm used to. I want to branch out some. FINALLY, when I got home it was late enough that I went to bed at 10:00 pm after being awake for 34 hours.

Day 3: First day of orientation - We took the bus into campus which cost 1 pound. I'll end up buying a semester bus pass later this week. Monday's orientation was pretty uneventful. I almost fell asleep during it. Jet lag is real, people. Basically they just talked about the school and whatnot. Nothing too crazy. Also, they are really into fire procedures here. We haven't been able to figure out if they have a lot of fires or something, but it's seriously odd. The lady started orientation explaining what to do if we had to evacuate during our orientation meeting. Next Wednesday we have to attend a fire safety lecture. Seriously. I don't get it. After orientation our rather large group of friends walked to Curry Mile. This is a portion of road between Fallowfield and Uni (they call campus Uni - short for university) that is pretty much nothing but food of different types. We went to a place called Kobeda and it was amazing. They also gave us so much food. Then we went to a few stores to get some necessities. I came home and took a nap again. That evening we went to an international student meet and greet. That was pretty awkward but we met some cool people and went to a bar with them. We finished off the night by going to a few pubs in our area. It was pretty fun but drinks can be expensive here. Apparently they haven't heard of $0.75 triple wells like at Big 12. Weird. 

Day 4: Today....more orientation - Today I walked to campus with one of my friends who goes to school in Maryland. It took us about 30 minutes to get there. It really was a nice walk though. We were able to really see all of the buildings on the way and just look around. All of the buildings here are super old which really adds a lot of character to the city. It's beautiful! Today's orientation session was slightly more interesting. We went over more class stuff and got our packets of course information and such. I was lucky and my course schedule doesn't have any problems so far. A lot of people had time conflicts and have to do a lot of work to change their schedule. After orientation we continued our walk and went into the city. We probably walked another 30 minutes but I didn't keep track that time. We had lunch at a place in the city. The way you order food here is way cooler than how you order in the US. You walk up to the counter and order and pay at the same time and they bring you your food when it's ready. It's really neat and you don't have to wait for your check at the end of the meal. I like it. We kept walking and went to a HUGE department store called Primark. Basically it has everything and is really really cheap. Typically everything here is so expensive. However, this store is even cheaper than in the US. I bought 2 shirts, 10 hangers, a large blanket, a shower caddy, and an arm band for your iPod while running all for about 30 US dollars. Basically we found a place EVEN BETTER than Target. We took the bus home instead of walking this time. That would have been a really long walk, but at some point in my stay here I'm going to do it. It's just really nice to see the sights you just can't see on the bus. Since I got back to my dorm I haven't left. I finished unpacking my room completely and decorated it with my pictures and cards. I also met two of my flat mates and talked with them for awhile. The tutor (RA for the dorm) came down and also introduced himself to me and talked for awhile/asked if I needed anything. Everybody here is so welcoming and kind. It's fantastic! It's 10:30 pm here now so I'll probably just stay in the rest of the night and catch up on some sleep. 

It's finals week here for the students finishing their fall semester. They do their semesters differently than we do back home. So pretty much my flat is dead right now and I haven't been able to meet very many of them. The ones I have met have been very nice though. 

So that's what I've been up to the past few days! Obviously I'm not going to post a day-by-day schedule like this all semester. That's too much for me. 

All in all, I'm absolutely loving it here. This city has SO MUCH TO DO. Seriously. I don't even know where to begin. I can't wait to start exploring and traveling. Also, I've met exchange students from all over the world and our rather large friend group is quite diverse. The US to other countries ratio is kinda crazy though. There are so many students from the US here. 

Later.