punctuating.

I would just like to apologize for my terrible grammar. You’d think, that as a sophomore (woah, junior - you'd think I'd also know my own grade!) in college, I’d have this whole comma thing down. Well, I don’t. Sorry if you are a comma freak and cringe at every one of my sentences. You’d also think that being in England, the country that has supplied so many of the world’s greatest authors, I’d pick up a thing or two in the grammar department. Welp, what can you do? To make me feel better about myself, here are some things that I have picked up...

1. I have been working on my accent and it is coming along quite nicely. I’m no Kate Beckinsale but I like to think I could fool someone into thinking I'm british if I tried really, really hard and they were really, really tired... maybe not though.

2. I have become a pro at walking up spiral staircases. This is all we have in England. At first, it is charming, but then when you have to walk up hundreds of stairs you realize that it makes the width of the steps uneven and things get a little tricky. It is kind of fun to get a little dizzy though!

(this isn't spiral but it is curved so you get the idea!) This was climbing up St. Paul's

3. I have become pretty savvy with my Tube etiquette: don’t smile, don’t talk, stand to the right walk to the left (or you'll get trampled), exit the tube station then figure out where you're going instead of blocking traffic, half of the lines will be down or delayed on the weekends, push through people if you have to, pick a good spot so the door magically opens in front of you, stay away from Earl’s court at all costs, have a slight scowl on your face.. you'll look more authentic.

we're smiling, obviously our first day here in Londontown haha

4. I have become accustomed to paying in coins. In America it is considered to be very annoying to the cashier if you pay in all coins. In England, all they have to give are coins! There is a 1 pence, 2 pence, 5 pence, 10 pence, 20 pence, and 50 pence coin, as well as a 1 and 2 pound coin. It was really hard to figure out which was which in the beginning, so I always just ended up paying in straight pounds and eventually couldn’t close my wallet because I had so many coins. Now I have it all figured out and can pay like a pro.

5. I have become a little more responsible with my sleep. This is a recent, still-in-testing development. Saturday night I got my usual 4 hours of sleep so Sunday and Monday I decided to get 8 then 7 hours. Yes, it is 12:30 and I have to be at breakfast at 5:15, but this is better than the night before the North Trip when I didn’t go to bed at all! I’m learning here people!

Tomorrow morning at 6:20 we leave for Wales! We’re going to go to some church history sites and get a feel for Welsh life. Since I just recently found out that I am a lot Welsh, I am really excited! I hope it is as fun as our previous trips... I know it will be! 

This is Natalie and I mom-walking it through the Gardens at Versailles on a really hot day in Paris to make sure we didn't miss our coach. Success! We made it just in time.

 Me and Meegan reenacting Titanic on the Liverpool Harbor.

I can't wait to go to Wales. Some of my most favorite memories from study abroad have come from these trips!

More to come!