Author Archives: reb5156

Having a jolly good time!

There is absolutely no way that I’ve been here for a month already. Would it be alright is I just never came back home?

One club I think everyone should experience when they come to London is Fabric. It is one crazy place! When we decided to go, it was a student’s night called the Refresher’s Rave (it was meant to be a “refresher” from exams). I didn’t know how literal the “rave” part was going to be, but there were definitely a lot of people there on drugs! Fabric itself was really cool; there were 6ish different dance rooms and one main room where the DJ was. Each room had different music and different lights flashing. We spent most of our time in the main room because it was the best place to dance. I only stayed for about 2 hours because I couldn’t handle the amount of other people’s sweat and drinks that were all over me and I was truly afraid that I was going to be vomited on. Aside from the gross parts, it was really fun!

A few weeks ago, I got in touch with the PSU Alums living and working in London and they invited me to a social gathering this past weekend. I decided it’d be a great opportunity to meet people that work here from Penn State, so I dragged one of my PSU friends along with me. The people that were there weren’t all from the US and full time Penn State students, a lot of them were either international students or study abroad students. It was really cool to meet all of them and talk to them about Penn State and the places they live and work. Meeting other people that live near me in London and knowing they’re from Penn State made me realize just how small the world is today. It’s pretty crazy to think about!

One thing I love about the surrounding areas I live near is that there are so many markets! This past Sunday, I went with a few friends to the markets off of Liverpool Street. It was about a 45 minute bus ride from the dorms in Chelsea and then a 5 minute walk. The first market we went to was covered by a huge roof but wasn’t enclosed. It had a ton of clothing and jewelry vendors and some food vendors. We walked around all of it and then went to check out another one. I can’t remember the names to either market, but we’re going back so I’ll get the names then. The second market we went to was amazing (and enclosed)! When you first walk in, the very first thing that’s there is the food vendors. There were literally 4 rows of any type of cuisine you want. There was even an Ethiopian stand that was veg/vegan!

I didn’t eat there but I am definitely going to when I go back to the market. It was really cold that day so walking into the heat and aroma of all the different cuisine was perfect. We walked around that one and looked at all of the clothes and jewelry; this second market was definitely more affordable. One thing about London – they don’t believe in public restrooms. And if I’m lucky enough to find one, I have to pay to use them. It is rather aggravating! But anyway, it got incredibly freezing outside so we headed back to the warm dorm rooms.

This week has been really eventful so far. Monday, I went with a few friends to Stratford-Upon-Avon. They’re all very interested in Shakespeare, which is why this trip came about. I’ll never turn down a chance to explore, so I of course went with them! It is a very cute town; I really enjoyed walking around the market street and circling around the residential part. We found this old looking tavern and decided that it’d be a good place to eat. It was phenomenal; and definitely had an old English feel about it.

Tuesday, I had a ballet to go to for my Performing Arts in London class. When I heard that it was going to be the American Ballet Theatre I was a bit upset. It ended up being a great show! Wednesday, I had a (free) tour of the Tower of London for my Historic London class. I loved it! Even though it was extremely cold, the tour was really cool. Our professor is a registered guide of London so she walked us around the outside of the Tower of London and then told us “Well, our time is up but you got in for free so stay as long as you’d like”! So with that in mind, we decided to stay and wander around. Luckily, some of the towers were heated. I got to see the crown jewels; wow was that unreal. After I was able to scrape my jaw off the ground, I realized where all of the tax money here goes HAHA. I also got to see the torcher chamber, the prison where people engraved their names and sayings before they were executed, and the displays of different aspects of the Royal Army inside the White Tower (main tower).

This weekend I’m heading to Edinburgh with some friends! I’m so excited to travel to Scotland!! I will definitely be blogging all about it.

Looking back over the last month, its mind boggling to think about how many different things I’ve been exposed to. It’s so true that no one could ever go back home the same person after doing a semester abroad. The biggest lesson I’ve been learning (and still working on) is trying to live every day for that day. Before I came here, and for the first few weeks I was here, I constantly planned for the next thing/day/event/etc. When I realized how quickly time passes here, I thought about it. I don’t want to spend this whole trip planning and looking to the next thing because I’m going to go back home in April and think “Oh my gosh, where did those 4 months go”. I don’t want to get home and realize I didn’t take the time to stop and smell the roses, wander around London, and maybe even get lost some times (or a lot!). I am really pleased that I’m learning how to relax and “life for today”; even if it’s at a slow pace.

Location: London

Extreme tourist

Hello again! Time is passing by at an incredibly fast pace here and I don’t particularly like it. The past two weeks have been pretty eventful when looking at it as a whole. Two Saturday’s ago, I returned to Parliament Square with some friends. We decided to get off the bus in front of Westminster Cathedral (not to be confused with Westminster Abbey) and decided to start our exploration there. From there, we went to Westminster Abbey. We saw a little pedestrian path through an archway and decided to walk through and see what was on the other side. Apparently, part of it was a school and the other part was a back entrance to the Abbey. We went inside the back entrance and walked through the part that was open for viewing. We got to see where the King’s documents were once stored and very gorgeous views of the architecture. After leaving the Abbey, I wanted to cross the river and walk around on the other side of the Thames. While we were crossing, we saw the classic view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I can honestly say that at the very moment I was standing along the River Thames looking at Big Ben and Parliament; it hit me that I was in London. I had to stand there for a while just to take it all in and collect my thoughts. It is very incredible to actually think about the fact that I’m living in London, England right now; it continuously blows my mind.

After staring at this gorgeous view, we walked on without a destination in mind. As we were walking by the Eye, I realized how amazing of a view it must be. I definitely want to take a ride so that I could see the city from that angle.

Even though museums aren’t really my “cup of tea”, I decided to tag along when people went to the Victoria and Albert Museum the next day. I figured that since it’s free, what do I have to lose? We spent quite some time looking around the museum but I was pleased to find out that it wasn’t only paintings. I did enjoy this museum, mainly because it had a lot of artifacts as opposed to just paintings.

In the beginning of the week, I planned quite a few trips. I was able to book a day trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon and weekends to Paris, Slovakia, and Edinburgh. I spent a lot of time with one of my friends trying to figure out and organize the places we would like to travel. I’m rather excited to travel!

This week was the first real week of classes; for the most part, that is because tutorials began this week. My first of two tutorials was Intro to Criminology followed by Twenty-first century Political Changes. I was not sure what to expect, so I went into the tutorials with an open mind. One thing I learned: it’s true when people say Europeans don’t go to class. In my second tutorial, 25 out of 32 people didn’t show up! I was so shocked that the professor didn’t seem shocked at the small amount of people. Other than the lack of students present, I found the tutorials to be a less formal version of the lectures.

This was also the first week of our tours for my Historic London class. We did a “City Walk” which included half of the original City of London; today, this area is widely known as the Financial District of London. It was a very interesting tour and I was able to learn a lot about the history of the original/Roman London.

Since I don’t have class on Friday’s, I went for a run along the River Thames. It was an absolutely gorgeous day so my run was incredibly enjoyable. Afterwards, I walked around parts of London I’ve never been to and adventured by myself. From my perspective so far, I would say that the parts of London I’ve been to are pretty safe during the day which is why I was okay by myself. I really enjoyed walking everywhere and going where the path took me.

This past Saturday, a few of us took a day trip to Dover via National Express Coach. It was so much fun! It was rather rainy and foggy but it could have been much worse. We got to Dover around 10am and decided we would head towards the castle. Being that it is a castle, it is of course it is on a hill so we climbed all the way from the town up to the castle. It was really cool and really pretty; especially because we took a small path most of the way up the mountain through wooded areas. When we got to the castle, we got tickets and headed inside. The views and the secret medieval tunnels we went through were so interesting! We went on a tour of an underground hospital that was used during the Second World War and we walked all around the castle premises. We didn’t go out on the port to look directly at the White Cliffs because we could see parts of them from the top tower of the castle.

In the beginning of the week I went to watch the changing of the guards and found Abbey Road. We walked part of the way to Buckingham Palace and got a pretty good spot to watch them marching from St James’s Palace. We’re definitely going to go back again though because we really didn’t know where to stand. We found that a good area to begin is at St James’s Palace and then walk with them as they march along the street. If we go back a third time, we want to stand near the gates to the Palace to see what goes on behind there. Afterwards, we wanted to go to Abbey Road but didn’t know where it was. We asked the “annoying people” on the streets that were trying to promote gym memberships because no one else would give us the time of day. As it turns out, they were incredibly nice! They told us about places we have to see in Northern England so we could get a taste of the “real” English lifestyle. They were definitely the nicest random people I’ve met since I’ve been here. After about 20 minutes, they told us how to get there. When we got to the street, it was so cool to see the wall where everyone signs and Abbey Road Studios! I didn’t realize that Paul McCartney still lives around there so we want to go back and find his house. We also want to go back because we only had a pen to sign the wall and we have to retrace what we wrote in marker.

I’m now pretty comfortable with my classes and it’s really interesting to think of how different the system is. This week, I sat towards the back in all of my classes (which I NEVER do) just to observe how Europeans act in class. Honestly, it’s a lot like students at home: some people are paying attention and taking notes while others are talking and being rude.

I truly believe that walking around without a clear destination is the best way to really see a place. I found so many really interesting areas while I was walking around that I wouldn’t have otherwise found. Although I’ve spent a lot of time being incredibly touristy, I’ve seen some amazing places that I really enjoyed.

Location: Chelsea, London, England

“Ahh, Americans! So you must want hot dogs and hamburgers”

Hello there! So, back to where I left off. Last Saturday (January 8th) we had a free bus tour with IES around the surrounding areas of London. It was the most fantastic bus tour I have every been on! The whole thought behind this tour was not for us to explore on our own; it was so that we would have an idea of some places we wanted to come back to. Thankfully, I thought to bring a notebook. Our tour guides name was Owen; he told us a lot of really great information about living in London and discussed the history of the city in great detail. It was really interesting to be driving by the places we were learning about; I found it to be very effective and I actually learned a lot! I was really happy that I brought my notebook because I got to jot down the names of the places we drove through and the places Owen recommended we visit. Fortunately, they did stop the bus a few times for us to get out and take some pictures at Big Ben/Parliament Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The London Bridge, and Buckingham Palace. Something that I found super interesting was that “Big Ben” isn’t the structure but is the bell inside. I’m sure if I payed attention in grade school I would have known that; however, I did not. Here are some other pictures of the places we were able to get off the bus.

It’s still unbelievable to me that I’m in London! Our bus tour lasted about 3 hours that day and I am so glad that I went. The next day, IES planned a free trip to Windsor Castle for anyone who was interested. Not only was it a trip to take a tour of the oldest castle in England, but it was free so OF COURSE I went! It was really cool because our bus driver took the “scenic” route which let us see the (semi) countryside of London. We got to Windsor and took a small tour of the town before heading to the Castle. I couldn’t believe how huge this place is; no matter where we went in Windsor, we could see some part of the castle at all times. I was in complete shock. The coolest part for me was thinking about all of the history that happened there. It was built during the times of conquers and wars over the land and battles actually happened in Windsor at the castle where I was standing. I couldn’t even wrap my head around it. We took a break for lunch then entered into the Castle walls. I wish I could post every single picture I took there because it was just so incredible. We got a 2 hour tour of the publicly available areas (the space where the Queen/Royal family occupies when they’re there is not open to the public) and the rooms where the Queen still hosts “parties”. The detail in the rooms were out of this world and there were so many interesting stories behind even the smallest of things. I was so pleased with this trip – even more so because I didn’t have to pay!

The days that followed our great weekend was the start of class. Monday I don’t have any classes so I just hung out around the dorms trying to figure our travel plans. Words to the wise: travel planning for a group of people is stressful as ever. At least we got one success out of the whole day — we booked our hotel in Dublin for the St. Patrick’s Day festival! Now we just have to figure out how to get there. Tuesday was my first day of lecture; my classes that day were Intro to Criminology and The Performing Arts in London. I slowly caught on to their word usage throughout the class. The one difference I was not made aware of until this lecture is that they call lecture time lectures and tutorials are called class. It’s definitely going to be interesting trying to get used to the way the education system works here; good thing I like a challenge. Wednesday I only have one class, Historic London, and we only meet one more time on campus. Every other week we get to meet at different places throughout the city for our lectures. I’m really excited about that class because it isn’t just going to be us sitting in a room talking about the history of London — we actually get to go and explore the history! Thursday I had European Business Culture and Global Political Issues in the 21st Century. Unlike the rest of my classes, my first class was at 10am. I have about a 45 minute commute so I left at 8:45. Well, let me just start by saying that rush hour on the underground is much later then I would have expected. I had to wait for 2 trains to come and go before I even thought of trying to get on! I have never in my life witnessed so many people trying to squeeze onto a train. I now know why the majority of people here are not overweight, it’s because they wouldn’t be able to fit in any public transportation to get to work on time! I finally squeezed my way onto a train and managed to get to class 10 minutes early! That was a wonderful success. Both of the classes I had I think will be incredibly interesting.Oh, and another thing about college in Europe: syllabus week doesn’t exist.

We had a free dinner set up with IES on Friday at the National Art Gallery Rooftop Restaurant; the view was unreal. We had a rooftop view of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben, The London Eye, and many other buildings. The meal itself was pretty good, too.
This weekend we decided that we were going to explore around Parliament Square/Westminster Abbey a bit more. It was so much fun! We went into the back entrance of the Abbey and explored in there for a bit and then walked along the River Thames by Big Ben and crossed the river. It was so gorgeous. It truly hit me that I’m in London when I was looking at the Parliament buildings along the river. I was speechless.

There are so many things that I am learning about myself being here; and I’ve only been here 2 weeks. I’m excited to see what else I’ll be learning, but I’m trying to change my normal behavior and live in the moment as much as I possibly can.

Location: Chelsea, London

Don’t call it a tube, you’ll sound far too American.

Here’s a picture of our dorm room (like I promised)!

Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since the last blog – this past week and a half has been packed full in an attempt to prepare for the start of classes and adapt to life in London. Since it’s been so long and I have so much to blog, I’m making it into 2 parts!

Last Tuesday morning we had a free day so some of us decided to wake up and meet downstairs around 10am to journey over to City University. Our plan for the day was to find our way around the campus, go to a 99 pence store (comparable to a dollar store – “pence” is their change), and find the closest ASDA (Wal-Mart). The weather that morning was actually nice; it began as partly sunny. However, I knew that I was in London and I took my umbrella with me anyway. We took the underground and got off right near City University. When we arrived, we got our bearings and headed to the University; it only took us about 5 minutes to walk to the campus. When we got there, my initial thought was “it’s a lot smaller then Penn State”! We walked around the small(er) campus and to the back side of the buildings where we entered the student building. When we got inside, there we’re very pleasant receptionists sitting there so we decided to ask them where the closest 99p store is. It turns out that it is located in the beginning of a shopping market right by the underground station. The market had a lot of great shops and stands with great prices! We took a walk to the end of the market and then finally found the store. We were able to buy a lot of necessary things in there; I ended up getting most of my toiletries and soaps there for only 12 pounds! From there, we found a cute panini caf� that had a lot of options at a very low price. The panini’s were really good! We got back on the underground and headed for (what we thought) was the right direction to ASDA. We found out after arriving that we went in the wrong direction. I was perfectly fine with that – it’s all part of the adventure! We hopped right back on the underground and went in the right direction. We arrived at our destination after about a 45 minute underground ride. We then had to get a bus to take us the remaining distance (this was one of the first times I was on a double-decker bus). Once we got to Clapham Junction (location of ASDA) we were ecstatic to finally be there! As we were walking up the hill to get to ASDA, I spotted a Whole Foods!! I was so happy! I didn’t go in that day because I wanted to see what ASDA offered so we walked to ASDA and spent about 2 hours in there. This store is not even comparable to Wal-Mart back home; it is amazing! There are so many organic brands there; ASDA even has their own organic brand which makes buying organic much cheaper. I was in heaven. I picked up most of the staple items I needed and after a long while spent roaming through the store and a long time in line, I was finally at the register. I was scared to see how much I was going to be spending; to my surprise, I spent under 40 pounds! The prices were great; even though it is much more expensive when converting to dollars. Collectively, we had so many bags to carry back to the bus stop. It was incredibly entertaining and I’m sure hilarious to watch but it was quite challenging. Nonetheless, we arrived to the bus stop and were able to get off at the stop right in front of our dorm building. Later that night, a few of the girls wanted to go to a pub for a light meal and some drinks. I’m not a fan of beer or hard liquor so I decided to have a rose wine. It was fun just hanging out and talking with the girls and getting to know everyone. Only one other person that came out was from PSU, one of the girls is from Wagner and another is from a small school in Minnesota. I was pleased that I was at least meeting people from somewhere other than Penn State.

Wednesday morning, we had to get to City University at 10am for our first day of orientation so we left the dorms around 8:50. My commute takes about a total of 45 minutes, but I am the type of person who needs to get to my classes early so I usually leave an hour and 15 minutes before I have to be on campus. When we arrived at City, we realized that we had 10 minutes to get to the room and no idea where it was! We ended up finding our way, but we were about 5 minutes late. The orientation lasted from 10am-4pm (16:00) and then at 4pm, we met for a Cheese and Wine welcome social. That was really fun because we got to meet other people in our program that were living at the University dorms. When we got back, I had to put together my timetables for my classes. Timetables are pretty much equivalent to schedules at home. There is one huge difference here; they don’t make you schedule the class time you want to attend, just the class name. I thought that was pretty odd; however, I was reminded that attendance for European students is very unimportant and class time usually doesn’t mean much to them. Thursday was a tough day for me; I celebrate Russian Christmas on January 7^th and Thursday was my Christmas Eve. This year was the first time I have ever been away from my family for Christmas. Thankfully, our meetings at City were mainly about our academics at the school and didn’t take too long. That night I was able to come home and skype my whole family; it still boggles my mind that I can video skype my family internationally (with no fee)!! Later on that night a few of us were sitting around trying to figure out what we could do so we took the bus to a place called Piccadilly Circus for a while and walked around. This area is more or less a smaller version of Times Square in New York City. It was pretty cool to see all of the nightlife and shops around there. There was also this really cool frozen yogurt place called Snog’s. It was so cute; the ceiling changed colors and it was very trendy. We didn’t walk around for long because it was close to midnight on a Thursday so most places were getting ready to close. Friday morning, I found where a Russian Orthodox Church that my uncle recommended was located. I went to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition and All Saints which was only about a 15 minute bus ride/walk away from my dorms. I had a bit of trouble getting to there because I got lost when I started walking but I eventually made it to church (and only 5 minutes late). I like to think that I have a pretty good sense of direction but I was still very happy when I found it. It was a beautiful church and a familiar service but there were so many people there! The church itself is pretty small so it was a tight squeeze. It was very calming to be in a familiar setting for Christmas morning; although, I was really upset that I was away from my family. This was a weird feeling for me because it was the first time ever that I was truly homesick. By the end of the service I was calmed down and confident that I was alright; this is all part of the experience. After the service, I traveled back to the dorms and met the girls downstairs. We decided we were going to spend the day at Harrods, Top Shop, Zara, and H&M. Harrods was unbelievable! The size of this department store was enormous (an entire block!!!) and it included every single designer you could think of, cars, a grocery store, a bakery, a restaurant, a (Harrods) gift shop, and a cafeteria. I was in awe! We left there after about 2 hours and went to Zara, Top Shop, and H&M. We then left our shopping extravaganza and journeyed home in the pouring rain. It was already dark when we were heading back but it was before 5pm (17:00).

This week really threw me right into life in another country. I was thinking about it and one of the reasons I like traveling so much is because I get to be somewhere that is different from what I’m used to. Although London is probably the closest thing to an American city, it is definitely still a change from home. British products are different, people are different, different words are used, and so on and so forth. Like I said, I love that about traveling to new places. Something that is going to take me a while to get used to is military time. If you noticed, throughout my blog I converted the afternoon to military time in parenthesis because that’s how they tell time (I probably missed a few spots in my blog). Hopefully, within the next week or so I’ll be using military time too. Also, everyday life and college life here is going to take some getting used to. So far, London has been very good to me and I love living here!

(The continuation blog should be posted tonight) 🙂

Location: Chelsea, London, England

“Just stay chipper”(pronounced chippa)

Hello again! Well, I’ve finally made it to the IES dorm and I couldn’t be happier.
I arrived in London Saturday night around 8:30 (London time); after getting my luggage together, I started on my two hour trek to my hostle. I quickly found out that I had no idea where I was headed. I walked about 5 minutes out of my way before realizing just that. Normally, I wouldn’t mind walking; however, i was carrying about 100lbs+ of luggage in an underground tunnel looking for the ticket purchasing kiosk. After purchasing a tube ticket, I hauled everything down the escalator and waited for the tube to arrive. It was about a 50 minute ride to my stop — this was a great time for me to try and relax my speeding mind (I had no idea how to get to the hostel after the tube). I must have looked pretty lost because after I got off of the tube and onto street level, a man that worked at the station came up to me and asked me where I was headed. I was pointed in the direction of the bus stop.
My next challenge was figuring out what each pence (change) was worth without looking like a mindless American. That took a while but I was finally able to get onto the correct bus. After 2 stops I was right in front of the hostel. I was so happy that I got myself there safely and for about 6 pounds total that I didn’t initially notice the 15 steps I had to climb with all of my luggage. Thankfully, there were 3 people walking into the hostle at the same time and they offered to carry my luggage up for me! I wanted to cry I was so happy.
This was my first time in a hostel so I truly had no clue what to expect. Looking back, it wouldn’t have been bad if I were traveling with a group of people. I was unsure of leaving all of my luggage out in the open with 11 other roommates that wouldn’t even attempt to be nice to me. My first night in London, I slept about 12 hours. I was physically and mentally exhausted from my day of intense traveling and I didn’t want to move from my bed Sunday morning. Finally, I decided that I should get out of bed. I went downstairs to the common room and the computer room. I was uncomfortable leaving the hostel since I was by myself; it was on an incredibly “shady” side street. I chose to relax and de-stress while watching TV and skyping. I was overjoyed when I was able to fall asleep because it meant I was closer to arriving at my dorm building. It took me a while to fall asleep and when I finally did, I woke up to the sound of drunken travelers at 2am. That was rather unpleasant.
I chose to wake up early and eat breakfast before my attempt to get to the dorms. I walked to the tube station because I didn’t know how to get a bus heading in that direction and then got a ticket to the correct station. After traveling 20 more minutes, I arrived at my station. This station was not equipped with an escalator or a lift which of course meant going up 2 flights of stairs with all of my luggage. By now you would think I was used to this but I was not. Finally, I got to the street level and decided I’ve had enough; I took a taxi the rest of the way. It was completely worth it — they dropped me off right in front of my dorm. I was ready to kiss the ground! I checked in and got my room key then headed up to my room. I was so happy to get here!! I got inside and started to unpack; it was amazing to finally be here. The view is really nice and even though the room is small, I really like the dorm.
After unpacking, a couple of us went on a short walking tour to the closest tube station. We all purchased phones and I stopped to get groceries. The prices truly weren’t bad! I was pleasantly surprised with the variety that was available for how small the stores were. The rest of the night was taken up with orientation and I can honestly say that I am exhausted! I can’t wait to sleep tonight.
Tomorrow morning a few of us are taking a bus ride to the nearest ASDA (UK WalMart) for some things that we need to stock up on.

I did not expect to be taken so off guard while trying to navigate around; however, I’ve learned more about traveling in 2 days then I ever have. Looking at the positives of everything so far is definitely the only way for me to learn from all of this. Well, that’s all for now! Goodnight everyone 🙂

PS- as soon as I can get my pictures to work I will upload some of the dorm room and view!

Location: London, England

Wait…I leave in less than 24 hours?!

Hey everyone! I truly can’t believe that I leave for the airport in the early hours of the new year! I have been going crazy trying to figure out what I need to pack to live in another country for 4 months; I hope I have everything! I have already packed and repacked 2 times to try and make sure I have everything that I wanted to bring while still being under the weight limit. It was certainly a challenge but there are some great packing resources online (and a personal packing list helps a lot too). Today I’ll be finalizing and zipping up my bags and preparing for the adventure to begin. What a crazy thought.

I’m so glad that the weather is cooperating so far for my departure; the crazy weather over the past week had me scared that my flight was going to be cancelled. My plane takes off around 8am from Newark and I’ll be arriving at Heathrow airport at about 8pm (3pm our time) on Saturday, January 1st. I am pretty anxious about trying to find my way to my hostile by myself with all of my luggage at night but I think that’s one of the great things about my semester abroad — I’m going to be put into many unfamiliar positions, but having to figure them out on my own will be such wonderful learning experiences.

Since I can’t actually move into my dorm until the 3rd, I have to stay in a hostile for my first 2 nights in London. That in itself should be a great experience — I’ll be sure to mention that in my next blog!

See you in 4 months, America!!!!

Location: Susquehanna, PA

26 days and counting!

Hey everyone! My name’s Rachel Brownell and I am a third year student at Penn State majoring in Management in the Smeal College of Business with a double minor in International Business and Global Business Strategies for Alternate Energies. I will be studying in London, England at City University during the Spring 2011 semester. My flight is scheduled for January 1st out of Newark – that should be interesting! I’ll make sure to start my blogging that day and let you know how my traveling is.

I have a huge passion for traveling and I am so excited to be living in England for 4 months! I’ve been to Europe twice so far to Spain and Italy – I plan on traveling all over England and Europe while I am studying abroad and I am really excited to be able to share my experiences with you! I’m really looking forward to being exposed to different food, fashion, customs, and cultures (in general).

Feel free to respond and comment on any of my posts! I’ll let you know how my travel day goes!

Location: State College, PA

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