Looking Through Old Pictures

As I get ready for Sarah and I's once in a lifetime adventure, I have started to look through my pictures from last summer. For those of you that don't know, I studied abroad at Imperial College in London, England for 6 weeks. I lived in a flat with 3 other American students in Earls Court, which was about a mile from Imperial's campus. This summer will be a different experience because our program takes us through so many different cities in Australia. Last summer, I was in London the entire time, except for the two weekend trips I did.

Photo Flashbacks:

Walk from our flat to school

View from the London Eye

The London Eye

Our street address!

Our tube stop.. Earl's Court

It was a semi-rare even to see the bridge actually open

Changing of the guards

I loved the tube system!

Big Ben

They really just stand there!

Warwick Castle

We took a fieldtrip to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace. We watched Taming of the Shrew.

Kate, Kelly, Jenna, Kara and I at King's Head enjoying one of my favorite beers... Fruili!

We had a 3 day holiday weekend at the end of May. Jenna, Kelly and I decided to do a champagne tour through France. We took a bus from London to Dover, where we crossed the English Channel on a ferry, and continued on bus to Paris. We spent the night in Paris before starting our 3 day adventure along the Route Du Champagne.

Enjoying the Eiffel Tower

It's seriously MASSIVE!

Every hour on the hour, thousands of strobe lights flash to make the Tower appear like it's sparkling.

A grape field along the Route Du Champagne

We toured 3 different Champagne houses with a taste test at the end of each.

Inside on the of the cave tunnels:

The champagne tour was one of the once in a lifetime events most people have never done! It was a GREAT way to spend one of our 3 day weekends!

One of our class assignments (I took International Business) was to tour Fuller's, a smaller English brewery and Budweiser's London brewery. After touring each and talking to management, we had to write a 1 page paper comparing the two.

Inside Fuller's kegging room

My International Business Class taste testing at Fuller's

One thing that was important for me to do while abroad was to visit Scotland. My family is one of the "original clans" in Scotland and I really wanted to do a weekend tour of my heritage. I took the train to Glasgow, Scotland on a Friday. That Saturday, I did a day tour that took me through the Highlands of Scotland. I took a cruise on Loch Ness and did a little "Nessie Hunting". The next day, I visited the town of "Hamilton" and saw a few of the castles my family originally built. I took the train to Edinburgh, Scotland that night. I toured the city and visited a kilt making factory. I've said ever since that if I ever run away, you can find me in the Highlands of Scotland!!

Urquhart Castle of the coast of Loch Ness

Urquhart with Loch Ness behind it.

Kilt factory.

My little piece of Heaven.. Scotland :)