Hey Everyone!!!

I know it's been a couple of days things have just been very busy with getting back from Amsterdam on Tuesday and having day trips to various parts of England. But I'll catch everyone up on my times thus far.

Friday was probably my favorite tour we have gone on in London. We took a walking guided tour of the Tower of London and it was FABULOUS!!!!!!! We were guided by what they call Beefeater. They are now retired military men who actually live within the wall of the Tower. They got the name beefeater because during the times of peasants and royal class the peasants would have a hard time obtaining meat but the guards were to be strong in ordered to protect the tower so the king ordered they be served meat. That is how they became known as the beefeater because these guards were no different from the peasants and were envied because they were fed so well.

We also learned that the Tower of London is not just one tower, there are in fact 20 towers that make up the Tower of London. There are 13 within the walls, 6 on the outer and 1 in the center. The bloodiest execution in the history of the London Tower was one of Jame Scott, the Duke of Mullman, who was the oldest of King Charles II 18 illegitimate children. He was charged with treason when he lead a rebellion against the King at the time who was in fact Charles II. Before I go on to say what happened there is background you need to know. When someone was charged with a crime and were sentenced to death by beheading, they were to pay the executioner money to assure a clean and fast death. On the day of his execution, Scott refused to pay the executioner and told him to "make it clean and get on with it". BIG MISTAKE! The first blow came down right between his shoulder blade. He was said to have looked up and told the executioner that if he missed again he wouldn't promise to keep his head in one place. When the second blow came down it went right into his head. The third cut off his ear, the fourth went into his shoulder, but on the fifth time the blade came down into his neck but only went in 2 inches. The executioner thought enough was enough and pulled out a butchers knife and ended it all by cutting Scott's neck.

After we toured the outside of the Tower, we were able to go into their chapel. We learned about Ann Boleyn and how and why she was executed. She was charged with incest and treason to the King. She was a native French woman and asked for a proper french execution. Her death was said to be so quick and clean that she didn't realize she had died. It is said that when the executioner lifted her head up, she looked around the room and moved her lips as if she were still alive and breathing.

This was the tour that made me realize how far back English history really goes and how by hearing these amazing and interesting stories American history seems minuscule compared to what the British went and have gone throughout the past hundreds of years.

After we finished to tour of Tower of London, we rushed to catch out plane to AMSTERDAM! Our flight left around 6:30 and it was only a 45 minute flight so we arrived roughly around 7:30 but Amsterdam and an hour ahead so it was already 8:30. We were all exhausted to we just went straight to our hostel, checked in, went to dinner and straight to bed. The next day we got up early and decided to explore the area around our hostel. We walked up and down the streets at the little shops and came across the Red Light District. It was defiantly nothing I had imagined. It was sort of a culture shock because in Amsterdam, there are more ideas that are accepted and not as many rules about drinking, smoking and prostitution, all of which are legal with some guidelines and exceptions. We walked for quite some time looking at different stores and crossing amazing canals with flowers and boats everywhere. We started to get hungry and tired so we headed back to the hostel for lunch. We also met a guy who was staying at the same place we were named Stewart who was from Birmingham, England, He was very nice and told us where some good places to explore would be. As we were getting to know Stewart our other friends from the program arrived and we ended up staying up all night a hanging out.

The next day, Sunday, we all go up early and went to the park because it was such a beautiful day. We relaxed by a quaint little pond for a few hours when some of us decided to visit some museums. We wandered a bit and came across Anne Frank's House, I didn't get to go inside because the line was too long but it was amazing to just be on the same street let alone the same country. It really made me appreciate and embrace my heritage and give me insight how hard it was for Anne Frank during the Nazi occupation while hiding in Amsterdam. After we took a couple of photos we headed back to meet everyone for dinner. After dinner we all decided to be bold and go see what the Red Light District at night. It was completely different then what we experienced during the day, I didn't feel threatened or scared but it was just an uncommon situation that not everyone can or will ever experience. The last day we were in Amsterdam, Monday, we checked-out and walked to the souvenirs shops and picked up a couple of things. After we separated and the group i was in went to see the Van Gogh museum and the I Amsterdam statue. We took a whole bunch of pictures in front of the I Amsterdam which I promise will be up by the beginning of next week. When we met with the rest of the group we ate dinner and split off to go catch our flight back to London. The worst experience was having to sleep in the airport and wait for 8 hours for my flight. It was something I would never EVER wish on anyone else. But lesson learned book an earlier flight or get a hotel.

Some things I noticed while in Amsterdam that were different in London was that customer service isn't as friendly and willing to help you with a problem. You don't really tip you waiter or waitresses and you have to go up to the counter and order food, they do not come up to you.

Interesting facts about Amsterdam is that it is below sea level and the only things keeping it afloat are the canals. The meaning behind the three X's is not exact but there are theories. The first theory is that during times of war all the soldiers looked the same and were hard to tell apart so when in battle many times men would kill other men on their side so they would put one, two or three X's depending on where a soldier was from. The second theory was that Amsterdam was a port for pirates and the X's were to warn people to not dock at that port, it was too dangerous. We also learned about the Red Light District and what the different lights mean. A basic red light means that they are a female, a blue and rad light means that they were a male but are now female, and a blue light means they are male.

What made me the most mad about Amsterdam was that we had to pay 2 Euros for a tiny bottle of water when in the U.S it is free. You even have to pay to use the toilets, the fast food places like McDonald's were really nice and the food seems to be a lot better then the fast food in America. Men dress more metro and women are more conservative. Announcements in the terminals and stores were in the native language of Dutch first then in English. When we were in Amsterdam the pace of life was soooooo much slower then in London. People still bumped into you and didn't say excuse me but it was nice to not feel as if i need to run everywhere i go. I think what was the most interesting thing about people in Amsterdam that when people asked where i was from i would say Washington D.C and it took people a little time to figure out where i was talking about some didn't even know where D.C was.

More will come later and the pictures will be up soon!!! Always on the move Cheers!!!!

Today was a really fun day. We had a walking tour of the Tower of London and got to learn some crazy facts about what it has been used for over hundreds of years. We were lead by a beefeater which are the men that are dressed in the funny blue and red dress looking uniforms. I think the most interesting facts were who were executed and how they were executed. But I'll have to blog later because I'm off to Amsterdam!!!!

CHEERS!

Yesterday was a really interesting day. Some of the group had their internship interviews while others in the group went to the National Art Gallery to see the Piccaso exhibition. My interview went well but it was hard to see myself working for this company. The company works a lot with finance and business technology clients. After the interview everyone met up to see the British Museum. It was very exciting having the oppertunity to see the athenian and egyptian parts of the exhibits. We got the see the controversial exhibition of pieces from the Greek Parthenon. It was cool seeing real live mummys and learn how they were mummified. After the Britsh Museum we headed to the British Library. After the museum we found a really good pizza place. It was so good but in London the crust is thin and there is less sauce but more cheese as opposed to in the U.S where the crust is big and there is more sauce and less cheese; maybe thats why we have such a problem with obesity. After dinner we split up and went our own seperate ways. We were all too tired to do anything else for most people there was way too much walking.

CHEERIO FROM LONDON!

GREETINGS FROM LONDON!!!!

I finally made it here, I thought this day would never arrive but we landed safely in Heathrow Airport around 7:00am Tuesday Morning (still Monday in the U.S). We took a bus to the AIFS office where we checked in with Sinead who gave us the rundown of the happenings of London such as where we can eat, do our work, important numbers we need in case of emergency and all there things that we needs to know. We then got our packets of information and maps so we don't get too lost our first couple f days in a new city. Sinead then called us taxi's to take us to our home stays. While groups were waiting to be picked up, we all took a stroll around to block to explore and get a feel for the area; most of us had lunch, went to the bank or bought phones so we could talk to each other while in London, others just slept to catch up on Jet lag.

When the taxi finally came for me and my roomies, we took the craziest ride of our lives, ducking and weaving around buses and people to make it to our temporary home in Tufnell Park. The area is very nice with little shops for eating and grocery and even a pub at the corner. The family is so nice and showed us to our rooms right away. We unpacked and took a nap for a couple of hours. When we woke up we have tea with the family and got to know the parents a little better. The mom is a freelance editor and the father is as he puts it " a Jack of all trades with no special talent". The mom told us that they would make us dinner the fist night so while supper was being prepared we took a walk around the neighborhood. An hour or two later we had supper and really got to know the family better.

We then wanted to catch up with everyone else to see how their home stay families were. We all met at a pub maybe 10-15 min away from Tufnell called O'Neil's. We then made our way to another bar called Cafe Loco. It was a lot of fun trying to navigate the bus system and getting to know other people in our groups but the most fun was being able to talk to locals and get a better sense of what this place is really about.


On Wednesday we all met up at the ULU which is the building where we will be conducting class. It is directly across the street from the AIFS office and is only maybe a half an hour tube ride. That was an adventure in itself because we definitely got ourselves turned around of the tube a couple of times. We had orientation in which we talked about safety and the norms of London. We talked about etiquette while staying with our home stay families and our internship assignments. After the meetings were over we met for lunch and met up to board of coach tour of London. But first what's interesting about the area where we have our classes is that down the road there is the Senate House building in which Orson Wells once worked and was his inspiration for his famous novel 1984. the building in which he worked was his muse for the idea that "big brother is always watching".

While on the tour we were able to see London city life. We got to stop at Buckingham Palace and see where the queen lives. her royal flag was flying high so she was home that day. We got to see Piccadilly Circus, the Tower Bridge and Tower of London. We then got out and walked from South London to North London on the Millennial Bridge which was built in the obvious year of 2000. After crossing the bridge we got to see where they filmed the song "Feed the Birds" from the movies everyone knows and loves Merry Poppins. We then took a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral which is not a royal church but the "Church of the people". We got to look at all the amazing carvings and sculptures and tombs of famous citizens of London. An interesting fact is that is withstood being attacked by 38 arsenal bombs in WWII and that there was a superstition that if St. Paul's fell London would fall too. After the tour we all went our separate ways to wash up for dinner we then made our way to Wood Green and all met for dinner at a Pub near one of the other groups home stays. It was an early night for everyone because we were all still trying to get used to the time change.