Coming Home to Family, Friends, and Graduation!

My time in London came to a close on Thursday, August 5th. I had a wonderful time and learned so much while I was there, but it was time to come home and be with my family again. The flight back went smoothly and it was nice to have two of my classmates to travel with from our flat all the way to Orlando International Airport.

My husband and youngest daughter picked me up and we were so happy to see each other. We stopped to have dinner at the Crab House in Orlando on our way home to Wesley Chapel. When we arrived at our house my in-laws and older daughter were there to greet me. We visited for a while and I gave them each some souvenirs and then I was off to bed! I needed some rest since the next day more family was arriving in town for my Saturday morning graduation ceremony.

I couldn't have chose a better way to end my Master's program; studying abroad was an experience I shall cherish for the rest of my life and having my family at home with me to celebrate my graduation upon my return was the icing on the cake!

Pubs, Pub Food, and the Culture of London

Over the past three weeks I have had the opportunity to experience many pubs in and around the London area and I have come to realize what a big part of the culture pubs are here.

There are pubs on every street and just about every corner. Of course they all advertise having the "best fish and chips in London." Besides fish and chips, pies of the day, Pimms, and of course beer are always on the menu.

Before I left on my trip to London, my uncle Terry had recommended a pub called Porter's in Covent Garden for my flatmates and I to try. With such a busy schedule it took a while before we could make it there, but we finally made it there last night.

We enjoyed ourselves and some of the traditional pub drink and cuisine. I ordered their daily special called "Toads in the Hole" which was a bread bowl filled with sausages, onions, and gravy served with mashed potatoes. Crystal had a fish pie, Erica ordered a steak with new potatoes, and Cynthia had a steak and cheese pie. We shared a couple pitchers of Pimms and Erica and Cynthia saved room for dessert. Erica's was called "Spotted Dick" which we all found to be an interesting and humorous name for a dessert. It was a small cake with raisins and topped with custard.

Here are some pictures from our night out at Porter's.

Time Flies

This is a picture of a really cool clock I saw while in Hyde Park today. This caught my attention because it is something I find myself saying all the time. Time seems to fly even faster as we get older and especially when we are having fun!!

These past few weeks have been very busy and I can't believe tomorrow is my last full day in London. I have learned so much on this trip and have built memories to last a life time. I am so glad I have had the opportunity to "live" and study abroad and I'm thankful I will have this blog and pictures to look back on because as the saying goes, "time flies."

Reflections on My First Impressions of Paris

This weekend we went to Paris and I was a little surprised because it wasn't everything I had expected. After visiting London and other parts of England over the last two weeks I had certain expectations for the subway system, cleanliness, and ambiance of the city. In my opinion, London is kept much cleaner and neater than Paris. There was a lot of litter in and around the Metro stations as well as a lot of foul smells. I also did not notice the flower boxes and planters in Paris as I noticed in London. I have really enjoyed that aspect of London. It is so nice to walk through the city and see clean streets free of trash. The colorful flowers in boxes outside windows are so pleasing to the eye.

The areas I visited in Paris did seem rather crowded, but then again London is rather busy with people too. I wonder if Paris just struggles with maintenance due to so many visitors and overcrowding and has yet to figure out a good system to keep up with the high volume of people?

Schools in London verses U.S.

Something interesting I have learned while being in London is a difference between the schools here verses the schools in the United States.

In the United States the majority of schools are public rather than private and most public schools do not require students to wear a uniform. On the other hand, in London there are more private schools than there are public (or state) schools and all students rather they attend state or private are required to wear a school uniform.

I also learned that the school vacations (or holidays) are different in London. Most schools in the U.S. have a long summer break with a few shorter breaks during the school year. In London, however, children are on holiday from late July 'til early September (with 6 weeks off in the summer) and they have some longer breaks built into the school year.

I thought these were some intriguing differences to note!