London Tours, British Museums and the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I was back with Pat and Martin at last! Pat was working so Martin wanted to take me to London for the day were we were had a bus tour of London, sailed down the River Thames and went to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Everything was amazing!

Although it was raining off and on all day it was still fantastic and made me fall in love with London. I learned so many interesting facts about London including that Sweeney Todd was an actual rumor in London, the great fire (seems like all major cities had big fires) and I saw some of the places Jack the Ripper actually murdered his victims (I later went on a walking tour of Jack the Ripper, I highly recommend it!). Martin also showed me the BBC and the news network he used to work for.

After eating dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, (no I am not snotty and still enjoy Italian food outside of Italy…) it got extremely cold and rainy and we were supposed to go to Sweeny Todd. Thankfully, we went to a restaurant directly across from the theatre and stayed in there until we were able to be seated a mire 5 weeks away from the stage! I bought a Sweeny Todd pretty program and the official London CD. Shows on the West End are completely different than those on Broadway. On Broadway, the theatre decorates to fit the show that is currently being performed in (such as “Wicked” and “Phantom of the Opera”) where on the West End, they are simply theatre spaces. And they don’t have to announce where the exits are and that you should turn off of your phones! The British are so smart!

Me at Sweeney Todd

If you don’t already know the show, go watch it! It is a dark story built off of an actual London legend about a successful barber banished from England on false acquisitions because a powerful man wanted the barbers wife for himself. However, he manages to return to London under a different name. Upon his arrival he discovers that his wife has died and his daughter has fallen under the care of the powerful man who banished him. He plots his revenge with Mrs. Lovett, the owner of a meat pie shop who is clearly in love with Sweeney Todd. He soon receives the title of 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street' I won’t spoil the ending for you so go watch it!

The show was SPECTACULAR with Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge) and Michael Ball. They both performed out of character and there was not a trace of previous characters in the production (aka Umbridge did not show up when cooking meat pies). Signs of true actors!  After the show, it was pouring so we hopped in an official London black cab back to the train station and headed home.

Olympic Medals 

The next day we went to the British Museum (a free museum by the way) which houses all sorts of cool artifacts that are Egyptian to Greek to Roman British history. There was defiantly a feeling of information overload and I could have gone back for more. The British Museum also has the Rosetta Stone! I know it is very important for developing writing and society, it wasn’t that impressive looking. It took us all day to go through the museum and unfortunately, I had to pack in preparation for leaving them for my study abroad the next day.

Rosetta Stone

Meeting the Queen

Well... Not exactly...

As you may know I came into England last Thursday and this weekend was the Queen's Diamond Jubilee aka the Queen has been on the throne for the past 60 years. It's not her birthday as Grace Jones at the concert proclaimed... as my cousins said "stupid woman."

This past week has been crazy! You may not think it but England has their own language! A lot of the time I have to ask my crazy cousins what certain things mean or just what they are talking about. When I first got here I asked for lemonade. Well. Lemonade here is actually Sierra Mist (well the taste at least) and I didn't know that it was soda. The kind I wanted was apparently cloudy lemonade. It's really the little differences that get you!

Longest Pier in the UK at the Southend in the Pier

The food is excellent! Most of it is prepared with more care than stuff in America, making it taste much better. So far, I have had candy floss (cotton candy), Cadbury chocolate (so good), Chinese, Italian and of course fish and chips. All of it tastes different in comparison to America. My cousins really have spoiled me to ensure that I have had a great experience.

At Chinese restaurant

Right. Back to the Queen. Because of the Jubilee, Monday and Tuesday are bank holidays (same as what the 4th of July would be). The two events that I have watched were the Queen's Jubilee Boat Spectacular and the Queen's Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Place (which I am watching now).

See the white dot!? THAT'S HER!

Yesterday in the pouring rain, I waited 4 hours standing in London to watch the Queen sail by on her boat, I tried to sight see afterwards but the rain beat me out. I had to remind myself that I would be coming back! My cousin and I took the train in from Chelmsford, Essax to London and then we took the tube (subway) to London Tower! Tonight, I am watching the concert from the comfort of my cousin's home (and glad to be warm!). So when I said I met the Queen I meant that I was within half a mile of her.

Making a call with my "Union Jack"

Tomorrow we are headed to Stratford to do some shopping in the big mall. Stratford will actually be home to the Olympics this summer. Wednesday begins the Italy journey, next Thursday to see Sweeny Todd and next Saturday begins Castle!

IT'S NOT HER BIRTHDAY!

Packing and Planes

NOTE: I wrote this yesterday while waiting for my 5 hour connection from JFK to London, Heathrow. I was picked up this morning and am having a fantastic time!

Well today was it. Flying to England.

It has been a rough couple of days packing and making sure I see all of my family and such. Monday, Memorial Day, we had a giant BBQ in preparation for my departure.  The kids came up and I got to see all of my uncles! Yay!

My baby cousin Alexis and I

Here I am waiting in JFK with no internet bored out of my mind. L How is this possible!? Well I mistakenly thought that during my 5 hour layover, I would have the Interwebs at my disposal. NO FREE WI-FI. Really Delta/KLM-JFK (the plane food was delicious though)? 

So I shall tell you about my packing!

It was terrible. I cut my knee, stubbed my toe, yelled, screamed, and hollered. But it all fits and I have everything I wanted to bring with my carry on being heavier than expected and my suitcase being lighter.

The best way of packing I found was to roll all of my clothes.  After I set the first layer in I found I still had an large amount of room. They weren’t lying when they told you to roll your clothes, it really works! Fortunately, I now do not have to worry about bringing things back to the states (within reason). It also helped that a lot of my clothes were light and I wore the only jacket I will be taking to England.

This morning was also an adventure. From riding in a tiny airplane to waiting 5 hours for my connecting flight to London Heathrow.

Becky and the tiny airplane

I know I will be exhausted tomorrow when I am picked up from the airport. I MUST FIGHT JET LAG (NOTE: I lost and had to take a nap)!

To be continued…

The Costs They Forgot to Tell You About

I'm super excited to study abroad in East Sussex, England but there are a lot more costs that cropped up after I decided to go officially. It comes in that 80 page book they expect you to read...okay okay I may have read most of it!

Some of them may be pretty simple and you may think"well, duh..." but here is what I found going through the process.

1) Passport

As you may have guessed, I didn't have a passport before November and I needed to go and get one (can't fly to England with an enhanced driver's license!). I had to get the works. First you pay for the passport, $140.  Then the execution fee, another $25.  The picture, $10. And finally, the money order to be able to send the money to the government, I think this was about $5. This brings the grand total to $180.00. Wow.

Renewing it alone is $140!

2) Luggage

A good set of 3 piece luggage for a new traveler is around $90 from JCPenny (which is rebranded itself! I'm loving their new logo). Be careful about your allowed size for your flight too! I have a piece of luggage that came in the set that is too large!

3) Cell Phone

Don't EVER bring your own cell phone over. I thought I would just add the international plan and be done with it. NOPE. It was about $30 per month ON TOP of my regular bill and then add 99 cents per minute. How about just getting data? THINK AGAIN! That was an additional $20 to the data plan you are currently paying for and you only have access to about a megabyte.  Go for a disposable phone when you get overseas for emergency purposes only . Much cheaper, $20 - $50.

4) How much your University will actually pay for the program / Deposit
My study abroad program is through Queens University, RIT didn't offer a program that allowed me to stay in England for the amount of time I desired or at the right time.  I thought cool, going through a Canadian University will be a bit cheaper because of the conversion. I also looked at what my University gave me in scholarships and the scholarships themselves could pay for it.  When I was going through the whole business with Financial Aid however, they told me they could only pay for a percentage of my scholarships. Even if I went on co-op during the Spring.  (The Financial Aid is different than the academic year, beginning in the summer and ending in the Spring).  I had to pay the $1000 deposit by myself and then they added another kicker to the equation... they would only pay for tuition, not room and board.  So it was an uphill battle to get the money.  I ended up taking out my government loan for the Spring so I could pay my room and board and the remainder of my tuition for England. Total cost out of pocket: $1000 and applying to as many scholarships as I possibly can.

5) ATM fees. Obviously, overseas will not have the same banks as we do, so there will be withdrawal fees. Take out large amounts of money if you are taking out of the ATM to avoid paying the fee each time. HSBC is in England but they just sold all of their banks in NY and CT off (just my luck) to First Niagara...Yes, HSBC they defiantly have the same services, thanks for screwing over your customers. Watch out for foreign transaction fees on credit cards too!

This is just to name a few. There are a ton more.

My advice?  Always plan to spend more than you do and look for little money savers.  Though it may be stressful now, get as many jobs or work as many hours as you can to help pay for the extra costs.

Remember to pack lightly!

19 more days and I am so terrified and excited!

Countdown

50 Days 

Until Becky and I fly out of Syracuse, NY to NYC, NY to 
London, England

Oh my gosh... more planning needs to happen....

GO!

I can't believe this is happening!

I still need to:

Make sure my credit card company knows
My banks know
Deactivate my phone for that time period
Buy plane tickets according to the plan
Buy train tickets or a bus pass
Talk to my family more
Make sure I know what I'm taking
DON'T OVERPACK LIKE ALWAYS

Do you have any suggestions for Becky and I's 10 week journey?

Post it below!

So how is the planning for England coming?

VERY NICELY THANK YOU.

Becky and I got together last night to form a tentative schedule :-D

I also hope you enjoy the Disney Princess Calendar we used!

June 2012

July 2012

 BTW "Program" is our Study Abroad session

Countries I Hope to Visit this Summer

A 86 days until England! I CAN'T WAIT!

Here are the countries that I hope to visit this summer!

England 
duh.  It would be pretty hard to not go here seeing as how my study abroad is located in East Sussex and I'm staying with my family..

London, England

France
Mostly Paris. :-D  Another easy one to get to because it is so close to England

Paris, France

Ireland
It's so close, why not?

Spain
I have a friend who is studying abroad in Spain and we agreed that we were going to come and visit each other!

Barcelona, Spain

Italy
How can anyone go to Europe and not visit Italy? I mean come on.  The Colosseum, the Vatican, the art, the architecture?  A must see.

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Germany
Germany has so much history involved it would be hard to pass up a trip here.

Greece
How beautiful Greece is!! Just by looking at the pictures it is to die for! Not to mention all of the Greek temples like the Parthenon.

Parthenon, Acropolis

Egypt 
This one may be a long shot this summer but I defiantly want to go here at some point in my life. I would love to see all of the pyramids and I absolutely love Egyptian culture.

Now, I'm realistic enough to understand that I probably won't make all 8 countries in 10 weeks (it could be possible though!). But I will see where I end up and make the most of it no matter what and whatever I don't get to see will just be added to the travel wish list!

Bought My Plane Ticket!

I bought my plane ticket to England! Yay! 

Okay so I know this is a late posting but give me a break it's the end of the quarter! 

I will be flying on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Syracuse, NY to London, England  (Heathrow airport) on May 30, 2012 and returning on July 25, 2012. I'm extremely excited for my summer adventure and am sure to keep you updated!

But first, my review on the best site to use for booking a flight!  And the winner is:

I absolutely love this site for booking my plane ticket. It is one of the best shopping bots in terms of finding the lowest price available.  Some people like other sites such as Kayak.com and bookingbuddy.com but TripAdvisor was able to search ALL of them. It even allows you to check the sites against their own search. It directed me to a flight from StudentUniverse.com . With StudentUniverse it allowed me to purchase my ticket at a student price as long as it verified that I was a student (it took about 10 mins).

TripAdvisor also gives customer reviews, hotels, vacation rentals, restaurants and things to do.  All you need to do is create a username and login.

TripAdvisor 

The only problem I saw with tripadvisor was that in different browsers it gave different prices. My friend was using Safari and I was using Chrome and it gave completely different prices and flights until she switched to different browser (Chrome and Firefox provided the cheaper prices). This however, could be a problem with the browsers itself.