.London.is.Love.

BIG NEWS! I am officially the proud and ecstatic aunt of a new baby girl Rowan Elizabeth! She was born lastnight/early morning for me at least. At 8.12 lbs she's beautiful and as healthy as can be, we're so blessed. CONGRATS Valpal and Shawn, I'm so happy for the both of you and can't wait to be home to meet her.

On another exciting note, London is the place to be. I love it here. It's actually....cold outside? If I dare say that, I feel that I might jinx it and Texas weather will hunt me down and land....no bueno. I love London and it's complete attitude, I guess you could say. There is so much to see that it's a whirlwind of skinny fashionistas and their touristic counterparts all trying to live in one city.

We stick out like sore thumbs, we are loud, we dress differently, we speak differently, we look eachother in the eyes, we eat/drink when walking, we cross the street at the wrong time, we even drive on the complete opposite side of the road, but for some reason I feel like London needs us to "be" London? Does that make sense to anyone but me? I didn't have internet yesterday so I'm taking time out of my morning to write for yesterday an

d then later today I'l write again about what went on in my day.

We loaded our bus at 7:45 in the morning and then took a 2 hour bus ride back to Nice with a bus driver that was a little break happy (that was fun). We got to the airport and got situated then headed off to London! We actually arrived a little earlier than expected, no complaints there. The weather here was about 75, a little warm but WAY better than Texas and a little cooler than Nice. It was very nice(borat anyone).

Unfortunately our bus driver dropped 45 of us off at the wrong entrance to our dorm, so needless to say walking through London with 45 students with suitcases officially stamped each of our foreheads with TOURIST in big bold letters. " What doesn't kill us makes us stronger...right?"Oh, and then we got to go get our other luggage from a different side of the college and walk that back to our dorms...OH JOY. (building character, right mom?)

Finally we decided to get a group and head down to "Boots" which is pretty much a CVS or walgreens and pick up some stuff, and then we went to the cellphone warehouse to get a cheap cellphone for the next 4 weeks that were here ( I already feel like time has flown).

If I could bring my family and my boyfriend up here, I wouldn't mind staying. Any volunteers? We then decided we needed to go to Harrod's. BIG MISTAKE for a shopaholic. EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING was beautiful and did I mention they are having their ONCE a year sale, that ends the 19? What a coincidence that we'd get here just in time. Every single thing anyone in their right mind could want is located in this store. I thought I had "died and gone to heaven." Of course I can't afford a pair of socks from there, but it's always fun to pretend.

There of course were a pair of shoes that I fell instantly in love with but I held strong...barely! We talked to a few of the girls that worked there and they gave us some tips on finding the cute vintage shops and resale shops along the way... I might have to ship some stuff back. Ooops!

After we left Harrod's we walked back to the dorm where we were informed that dinner had started about 30 minutes earlier, perfecttt. Oh and the "dinner hall" isn't anywhere near our dorms... that was fun. Learning the hard way, DO NOT be late to dinner if you want to eat more than rice and carrots. After dinner we had our meeting where we found out about classes, got our oyster cards and britrail passes. Then we all went back to the dorm where we started getting ready for class the next day. It started pouring raining, so everyone was reluctant to go out and explore. I worked on homework, listened to the rain and then went to bed... what a story I have for you later today about my wake up!

This is more just me talking than blogging, but I've really been thinking about this opportunity I am having and realizing how blessed I am. I appreciate the support from my family and friends tremendously. I love this, I love traveling, I love meeting new people, doing new things, and seeing things we only see in pictures usually. I wish all of you were here to do this with me, and I mean that. I love you all.

xoxo