If April Showers Bring May Flowers....

...then come May I don't know WHAT London is going to do with all the flowers it's bound to have from all the rain we've had for the last several days.
That's not to say the sun hasn't shown up for parts of the day but this picture here shows just one storm that has blown through here today! Anyways, I guess since I need to be forced indoors to focus on my school work it's not all bad to have this weather around and the sound of the rain is quite soothing. So all in all it's not bad for anything except my mood.
Yesterday, however, I was lucky enough to go on a tour of the Palace of Westminster.  The Palada is most commonly called Parliament around here and I was actually unaware of the fact that it was considered a palace and used to be used as a palace, until booking this tour! It was obviously a very historical tour so I was enthralled for all 75 of the very quickly spoken, nearly running to keep up with the guide, minutes of it! With the State Opening of Parliament coming up on May 9th we were walked the route that the Queen will be walking when she comes to give her speech. No, it is not written by her and it is apparently only 10-20 minutes long now (I'm sure much to the relief of most people in attendance) and it's not even guaranteed she'll know what she's saying but HEY! she is the QUEEN! Anyways. We walked through both the House of Commons and House of Lords though we were not allowed to sit down on the seats. That is a privilege you must earn and I'm glad that even the children respected that. I so badly we had been allowed to take pictures but...alas, respect for the age of the building and security and all that.
Did you know that for (insert long time period here) years no royalty has crossed the bar into the house of commons from the house of lords because that is a sacred space for "the people" and when the Queen wishes to speak with the Commons she must send someone to knock on the door (which is previously slammed in his face as he approaches) and say something along the lines of "The Queen demands your attendance..." I feel like she should ask more politely instead of demanding but hey, tradition is tradition and if something's been done for hundreds of years...well you don't mess with it.
There are so many more interesting facts that of course I just can't remember off the top of my head to share with you...darn I should have snuck in a recorder! Ah oh well.

Included in my tour I was also allowed to go see the Jewel Tower which was/is part of the palace though no longer connected to the palace building. There is not much to see but it used to be quite a big deal! It was where stones were weighed and measured and money was kept and it is one of the last remaining parts of the ORIGINAL palace built like a million years ago or sometime in that time frame.
These scales here were actual scales used in the tower when it was still in use. The tower was actually still used until around 1941 (whoa! how did I remember that?!) when it was finally deemed too small for the needs and purposes it was designed for. I can't tell you where everything was moved to now, probably somewhere inside the palace or somewhere important nearby.
On an exciting note as well I got a haircut yesterday! Now I haven't trusted someone to cut my bangs (fringe as they insist on calling it here...what am I a table cloth?!) but it was time as they had finally grown past my chin and were more like a silly looking layer than bangs. So I went to a place near one of the Starbucks I was doing work at the other day and the nice lady who cut my hair was very patient and understanding of the fact that I wanted to keep all the length on my hair and that she had to be VERY careful not to mess up my bangs. I left feeling VERY happy with how it turned out and for the first time in several hair cutting experiences I haven't left crying. I suppose that's the difference when you pay for a decent hair cut as opposed to walking in to a chop shop ;)

Love from London,
Kristin

Blessings

I woke up early this morning and couldn't actually believe that Easter was already here. Time is moving so quickly and I can't believe that it's over a week in to April and not only have I completed another term and turned in my essays for both classes but I have begun research for my dissertation. I'm starting to get excited about it because it will be on a topic I get to pick all on my own! On this Easter evening however I'd like to reflect and share with you all why I feel so blessed in life. (Warning: this could get sappy). 

In my life I have always been surrounded by a strong support system. My family always told me I could do whatever I put my mind to. Encouraging me to play sports I wasn't good at (ha!), helping me move to California to live near the beach and now helping me pursue my dream of living abroad and exploring new things on my own. I've always been a daredevil and I'm grateful that even when I scare them half to death they never try to hold me back. 

Then I have the most amazing friends I could ever ask for. From Arizona to California you all have been my cheerleaders and I feel so incredibly lucky that we manage to stay close no matter the distance that separates us. Encouraging emails, texts, and letters that make me laugh and able to carry on when I want to give up. 

Then of course I have been blessed with the most amazing boyfriend in the world who always takes care of me. From making sure I'm eating properly to taking my medicine when I'm sick to making me laugh when I've had an extra grumpy day of reading. He always loves me no matter my mood, no matter how un-put-together I seem to always be. 

I feel like I could go on forever about how blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life! The last 7 months of this journey here in London has not always been easy but I have been so blessed with people who are going to get me through it! Being here is a blessing in itself and I am fully aware of the fact that I need to take advantage of all the opportunities I have out here and trust me, when it comes to travel and exploring...I AM! I have loved all the new places I've seen and experienced and I'm so excited to continue all of that! 

I know this has been a scattered post but I guess the point is that I am BLESSED. The lent season passed quickly and in some ways I feel like I forgot about the season altogether. It's disappointing but at the same time I'm pretty excited that time seems to be moving. For anyone that was wondering about how I spent my Easter day I went to church at the Brompton Oratory (sorry I forgot my camera :(  so sad. But click on the link to look at pictures!) which is a beaaautiful church in South Kensington. I went with Caitlin, Mariel, and Pete so it was lovely being there with friends! We walked in right at the end of the Latin mass because it was running quite late so we waited to get good seats right up at the front. Then our mass started right after and let me tell you, the priest sped read through the readings and gospel and gave a 5 minute homily that would have made certain members of my family very happy. (cough cough daddy cough cough). There was also no music at this mass which saddened me a lot but within 45 quick minutes the mass was over and it was off  to breakfast with Caitlin where we got to catch up on the last few weeks of our lives. After losing track of time we said our goodbyes and I then came home, went for a run, worked out a bit in my living room since the gym is closed (everywhere shuts down here for Easter- Friday-Monday a lot of places are closed. I appreciate that this country celebrates and enforces religious holidays haha but I'm not used to it.) And then I got to skype with my loving family back home! After I finish this update I'm going to try and get a little school work done before I watch a movie and crawl in to bed. So I leave you with the Di Marco 2012 Easter photo! 

Easter Family Photo 2012

Love from London,

Kristin

Reflections

The rain outside tonight is reflecting my current mood as Lisa has officially taken off from London and it's back to reality for both of us. After some brief (okay not so brief) and embarrassing tears on my run and at the gym this afternoon I decided that tonight will be devoted to updating you all on the last couple days and getting as many pictures up as I can so that you can really follow our journey (if you have access to Facebook. If not...well, what century do you live in anyways?!) if you so desire. If I ramble or seem distracted I apologize. Just accept it and look at the pictures ;)

For the past 3 or 4 days Lisa and I have been making sure to hit all the last main touristy sites we may have missed before Spain. We were finally able to climb to the top of St Paul's Cathedral after our third attempt. First time the whole church was closed for a fancy event, second time we were informed the top two outside views did not open until April 2nd so we finally went Monday and loved it! It beats the view from the London Eye for SURE. Well maybe it doesn't beat it but it sure does compete with it. The climb up is over 500 stairs though and gets very narrow and very steep so we were dizzy and minorly scared for a bit there but it was more than worth it.
The picture above is where we went to tea! It was in a very pretty hotel next to Kensington Gardens and the movie Nottinghill was filmed in one of their gardens. I can't remember if I've seen that movie or not but I remember we used to own it because I remember the VHS cover! Silly, Silly. Anyways we got to eat little sandwiches, tarts, macaroons, and lots of other yummy sweets. It was so good and we each tried a different type of tea- mine was called silver arrow or something like that. Clearly I only picked based on the name but I don't actually know anything about teas.

This weekend we also went out dancing which was fun! We went to a club not too far away from my house called Ministry of Sound and it has a few different rooms with different types of music and it was nice to go out in London because it has been a long time since I have had time to enjoy a night out in London. School work seems to dominate my life which is probably good since I need to stay focused in between people's visits. We went out wiht our new Australian friend who taugh us Aussie slang hahhaha and also one of my roommates and we had such a great night out!

I'm exhausted and need to get to sleep here in a few minutes. I thought I would be excited to have my bed back to myself but really I know I'll need all 5 of my pillows tonight more than I have because I liked laughing as we fell asleep and fighting over sides of the bed and being ridiculous and silly with our stuffed animals.
Thanks, Lisa, for visiting me! It was such a wonderful trip and it truly has helped get me through small patches of homesickness. Miss you so much already!


Love from London,
Kristin

Kind of a Big Deal (or two)

So last week I was at the mall and was astounded at just how massive this building was! It not only had approximately every single store an American mall would have but it also had hundreds of food and clothing and shoe and any other type of store you can think of that I had never even heard of before. It was overwhelming and I probably only saw about 1/3 of it in my brief walk around after paper writing some more. The most exciting discovery was of course the fact that there is a PINKBERRY in the mall!!! It was exactly the same except they don't charge per topping and you can add as much as you want to your cup like at Yogurtland or Menchies. It made me so happy because I haven't had froyo in months and months! Poor Chris probably thought I had lost my marbles when I squealed as we turned a corner and BAM it was directly in front of us. hahaha but he kindly took a picture of me anyways which I of course have to share with you all here. Once I had some Pinkberry in my belly I managed to avoid stressing about my paper for a brief period of time which was quite a relief. 

Now on another school related note...I am not famous on the King's Website! About 2 months ago now the director of our program asked if a few of us would be interviewed just answering the same 3 or 4 questions; why we picked King's, whether we liked the program, if it helped with career plans etc... I had actually completely forgotten about it until my friend, Bryan, told me to go look at the Program website and WHOA! There was part of my interview at the beginning of the video clip! I'm slightly embarrassed because I feel so young compared to everyone else and like my answer seemed silly but eh, I'll let you all decide what to think of it. It's kind of exciting either way! Now, I wonder how long that video will be up there....! WOW I'M FAMOUS.....kinda.

Love from London,

Kristin

Who Does She Think She Is?!

As I've mentioned in previous posts I have a lot of respect for the Queen of England and really enjoy the fact that I get to enjoy all the jubilee events happening around London this year. It's an exciting time to be in London but busier than ever and I'm struggling to accept the huge influx of tourists and craziness. Today, however, was especially disappointing. Lisa and I signed up for a tour to take us around Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle! We specifically chose this tour because we were so excited to go to the castle! We arrive at our tour this morning and they tell us that we can no longer go to the castle because although it just re-opened less than a month ago the Queen has decided that she needs to use it last minute today and we can therefore not be walking around the same place the queen is walking around! *GASP* how scandalous would that be?! In my opinion she should have just requested a wing of the castle and left the rest for us to tour but oh well...we instead went to Hampton Court Palace which was beautiful as well but not what we had planned. 

The palace did have some beautiful gardens that we really enjoyed walking around. The oldest vine in the world is housed here and is literally thousands of years old. The roots spread out massively over the grounds and the parts we could see were thick and gnarly and in their own ugly way, stunning. We were able to walk around some of the state rooms but of course with our luck the Queens private rooms were closed off while an exhibit is being set up. Good thing I much preferred being outdoors today anyways as we were blessed with yet another gorgeous sunny day! 

After the palace we headed to Stonehenge which I was delighted to see again! I still find it fascinating and it was also at this point where we began talking to some other people on the tour who were about our age and we bonded over the crazy lady who was annoying the entire tour bus. I kid you not, not a single person wanted to sit next to her and she was yelling at people (us) for getting too close to her picture in front of Stonehenge (Ummmm HI, do you see all the people here?!) and she threw a fit because we weren't going to Windsor. I mean...who does the Queen think she is that she can use her own home when she feels like it?! Anyways...we really enjoyed seeing this and wish we could have stayed longer. Unfortunately we were only given 45 minutes but it was enough to learn about what history is assumed about the stones as well as some of the conspiracy theories that people have. Our guide was quite knowledgeable on every place we visited as well as what was going on outside our bus windows as we drove past so we learned a lot on the way to and from each location. 

The last stop on our tour was the city of Bath which again we had very little time to explore but we did get to go in and tour the old Roman Baths which was just incredible to me! Why do I love old things so much?! Probably because I like to imagine myself in that time and dream of what it must have been like in those times. But honestly it was stunning to see how much of the baths are still preserved and how technologically advanced it seems they would have had to have been in order to keep up such a building containing numerous rooms and both hot and cold baths along with rooms for exercise, massage, worship and more. The fact that the original ducts still have water flowing through them and you can still see the steam rising from the pools is pretty awesome. 

It was approximately a 2 1/2 hour drive back in to London after our tour of Bath so we napped a little and enjoyed some of the pretty scenery and sunset. We all know how much I love sunsets and tonight the sun was a strange but bright orange color that I found beautiful. 

Like I said earlier we made a couple friends on the tour and after our bus dropped us off we went and got hot chocolate! They are both from Australia and Lisa and I really enjoyed talking to them for a couple hours about traveling mostly but also about work and school and general get to know you things. I spoke with Mel a lot about what it's like living in London and she and I both agree that although we love London we can't wait to get home haha. It's funny because talking to her we decided we have a lot in common in terms of both of us wanting to be adventurous and explore new places and have new experiences and that we are both afraid of regret. I would rather come to London, struggle a bit and know what it's like to live virtually alone in another country for a year and then get the excitement of going back home than spend years wondering what it could have been like if I had just gotten the courage to do it! Long story short, we decided that we would both be very happy to say "We did it!" if nothing else comes of this year. 

Love from London,

Kristin 

Still Being a Tourist and Loving It!

 Theme Song of our Travels

Every time I get to visit a new place whether in the UK or outside the UK I remember why I am so happy to be studying in London! Europe is so accessible and I am so lucky to be able to hop from place to place with so many people that I love. Currently my best friend from Los Angeles is visiting me and it has been the funniest/silliest/craziest/most enjoyable week and a half and I'm already dreading our travels together coming to an end. For now though, let me update you on everything we have been doing because it has been non-stop since the minute her plane landed at Heathrow.

The first afternoon was a little difficult for Lisa because she was very jet lagged and I wouldn't let her go to sleep until at least 10pm. It was for her own good! No better way to beat jet lag than get right on track with a sleep schedule. So we wandered Greenwich Park exploring areas I had never seen before on my runs and enjoying the beautiful flowers that seem to be growing somewhat wildly throughout the area. The next day we did a lot of walking starting at St. Paul's Cathedral and then walking to the Tate Modern to look at some pretty art things and then continuing on through Waterloo (past my school), Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus where we stopped for some drinks and then finally right back on home! It was a very long, exhausting and productive day. 

Saturday, the highlight of our time together began! We headed off to Madrid, Spain for one of the best few days I ever could have asked for. The weather was so beautiful I wore shorts and dresses the entire time and it was so nice to not need a jacket for an entire FOUR days. We went to several major museums, rowed boats on Retiro Lake, toured the palace, ate lots of tapas and wonderful market food at San Miguel and were taken out by very friendly spanish girls who we met through my friend, Ruth, who I went to high school with and is now studying in Madrid! We had a wonderful time dancing the night away. Literally! The clubs do not open until after 1am so nobody shows up until at least 2am and since the metro doesn't open until 6am there's no point in leaving before that. It is customary to get breakfast on your way home from a night out and as much as Lisa and I wanted to partake in that we were beyond exhausted from our 4ish hours of sleep the night before. Yah, 4 hours because did I mention our flight Saturday morning was at 8am? Meaning we had to leave my place before 6. It was crazy and hectic and totally worth it. Spain is also another metro system that I am now comfortable with though I let Lisa do most of the navigating. My mind has been a jungle of so many cities and I kept getting mixed up as to which direction we were headed (typical Kristin) and so I gave up and left all that business to Lisa and she did a fantastical job of keeping us on track! The warm sunshine was honestly much needed for my sanity. Although London has plenty of sunshine it isn't warm like I am used to! Lisa and I both got some color and I feel so refreshed. 

Being back in London has also been fun and we of course have kept plenty busy. The weather has been surprisingly warm and we are taking advantage of that. I wore flip flops for the first time in MONTHS (literally) and it was the best feeling in the world! Perhaps not practical for all the walking we have been doing but it was nice to enjoy for a day. 

Only building in the world (supposedly?) that has been a Catholic
church, a Jewish Synagogue, and an Islamic Mosque. Amazing.
(It was also a Protestant Chapel and a Methodist Church though
not for as long as it was the others. Currently it remains a Mosque
where over 3000 people attend on Friday's!)  

Tonight we went on a really awesome tour that involved seeing "behind the scenes" London which most people wouldn't think of exploring. It was a tour that involved experiencing street art in the East end and it's fascinating how much of a separate culture it is. It's not just tagging walls with spray cans or putting ugly graffitti all over the city but it truly is art and I am no fascinated. Our tour guide was enthusiastic and part of the art scene which made the tour feel authentic as well. The artists have created beauty in a part of London which is otherwise worn down, gray, dirty and mostly forgotten about until the Olympics committee decided they needed to clean up the city and in turn told many of the artists they had to stop painting/drawing on/and changing the building. Funny because until recently no one could really be bothered to even help clean the city streets but now that big businesses want to move in and expand and the city wants to show off all of London a culture has to change how it looks to the world. 

Anyways, we passed several of the artists while we were on our tour and everyone was friendly, probably because our tour guide seemed to know absolutely everyone we passed and talked to! It was funny and again, felt authentic. 

This is all plaster chiseled out by hammer and nails

One cool fact: one of the artists who paints around the East End actually has one of his paintings hanging in the white house! David Cameron and Obama always exchange gifts when they see each other and Samantha Cameron (David Cameron's wife) somehow knew of this man and his artwork and wanting to make her husband seem cool to the president of the United States she told him to give Obama a piece of his artwork and BAM! Now this artist is commissioned by people all over the country to do work on their buildings, bill boards, etc... 

Another one of the artists, Connor Something-rather, draws soldiers so I of course liked him the most. Another artist draws large animals in cities all around the world and makes hundreds of thousands when his art goes in to galleries. I find it beautiful that even though some can make thousands and thousands by selling in galleries they still want to spend their free time making an old run down city more beautiful with all of the colors and art they bring to the walls of the city. 

Our tour guide also filled us in on a lot of fun, historical and sometimes quirky facts about the city which I will relay to anyone who asks. At least to the best that I can remember! There is so much that I want to share with you all and write down for future memories but I am so tired and it all just isn't coming to me right now. Pictures will be up on facebook in the next week or so as soon as I have some more free time. As for now, it is bedtime.

OH! For anyone who is wondering about the theme song I posted at the top of this post it is our theme song because 1. it is catchy and fun and 2. it was played over and over again and in every place we went to in Spain! It's a portuguese song but apparently this summer it became very popular in Spain and it's just one of those songs that when it's played everyone, no matter what the environment you're in, gets excited and sings along. We've had a lot of fun attempting to learn the words and then again trying to translate because there is no direct translation no matter how many different translators we have used. But it's fun! So, enjoy!

Love from London (and Spain!)

Kristin 

Differences

Ever since my dad left I have been doing school related things non-stop. The term has officially ended for me meaning classes are over but paper writing must still be accomplished. Although my papers aren't due until the end of April I have lots of visitors coming and I just won't have time in April to work on them so my usual over-achieving self has managed to create a schedule for completing both my papers, including editing, before Lisa arrives on Thursday!  After days of sitting inside Starbucks looking like this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^    I officially have rough drafts done of both essays, which is quite an accomplishment I think. Now I may have always been an overachiever with a game plan weeks ahead of schedule (to the annoyance of my college roommates ;) ) but that doesn't mean I didn't have plenty of finals week meltdowns, including one near heart attack scare after too many extra large redbulls (seriously). However, it is the bonding moments which happen during the stress of finals week which I truly do miss. Staying up until all hours of the morning, laughing, crying, and the general hysteria of the campus as the countdown to summer began. It's different this time around because I have no countdown to summer as unfortunately even after these two essays are turned in I have to then write the biggest paper I have ever written in my life. Bigger than any paper I will probably ever write again. 15,000 words on a topic of my choice which is exciting and terrifying all at once. I still need to pick a topic but for now I'm going to play the game of denial because I just don't feel like thinking about it right now! My dissertation tutor tried to talk to me about PhD's and I nearly burst out laughing in his office. I was pleased he considered my first 2 essays to be so well written that he felt he wanted to encourage me to pursue school even further buuuuut I just don't see that happening. My brain is fried. Moving on to more differences...

St. Patrick's Day in London.

Caitlin and I met up on Saturday to have a pint and a pie and it was lovely! Somehow I had still never had an English pie so I went with the "traditional" steak and ale with chips and veggies and it was DELICIOUS! I can't wait to have it again.

 Today, however, was the big parade and festival in
 Trafalgar Square and for weeks, since I first saw a
 poster for it at the bus stop, I have been excited for
 this parade. I love parades! Well let me tell you....this
 was the farthest thing from a parade. It was a joke
 and I don't know what everyone was so excited
 about. The festival itself was neat and the Irish
 Olympic Team was there speaking but the
 parade...pathetic is the nicest word I have for it.
 Imagine an hour of watching unorganized groups
 walk with banners.
 That was pretty much it. The most entertaining part
 of  the afternoon was this man who was quite
 inebriated and pretending to Irish Dance in a non-
 approved break of the parade. Security came up and forced his group to continue moving after just a few seconds. I'm not sure why as there was nothing else to watch but hey! it was good fun while it lasted hahaha oh and the best part? He was playing his music from an old walkman connected to a speaker. I'm telling you, this guy was great. On top of all that (or lack of all that) there was also no confetti and not even one piece of candy thrown into the crowds. I mean....WHAT?!?!?
Needless to say, I'll be happier next year back at Brennan's watching people get fined for pointing at turtle racing and drinking my green beer.

One awesome part of my week was the field trip my Youth Ministry class went on to a church in Reading that is dedicated specifically to working with young adults in the city. We got to sit down and talk with the pastor who started the church and hear about what motivated him to take on such a task and what keeps him going. He told us stories about a few of the young people he is currently working with and the ways he sees their lives changed and it was really motivational. I know now that I really do want to work with high school students. I'm not sure yet what I want to do, maybe teaching, maybe some type of religious education or campus ministry but I know that I want to work with teenagers. I'll have to think a bit more about it when things calm down but hey! it's a start. Anyways, the church itself was also very beautiful and if I was still a teenager I would definitely want to hang out here! Pool tables, fooseball tables, video games, exercise classes, and of course Bible Studies and personal one on one time with adults in the congregation who are all required to devote a certain amount of time to working with the young adults if they want to be a part of this church. It sounds harsh writing it like that I suppose but it's something that SO many people in Reading are excited to dedicate their life to and that was really cool to see!

Well, time to get a move on making some type of itinerary for Lisa's visit!!!


Love From London,
Kristin