Tea Time!

Before I left for London, my family and friends joked about how I would drink tons and tons of tea once I got to England. While some things definitely are just stereotypes, this is not one of them. Everyone drinks tea, and it's sold everywhere.

One of the perks of this is a little something called "afternoon tea," which sounds really proper and kind of reminds me of a certain scene from Titanic. Afternoon tea is served in hotels (some have ridiculously expensive menus complete with champangne like the Ritz), restaurants, and little cafes. Nebi, Jess, and I opted for one of the less classy venues but still had a lot of fun.

There are a few different tea options, and the server brings each person an individual kettle, so everyone has the type they want. Then, they bring a centerpiece-looking thing to the table filled with little smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches and mini pastries.

It was so cute! And it was very British--a very cultured experience :)

Tour Guide in Training

I could not wait for Jen, Kenny, and Marie to visit London! My goal for the weekend was to show them the coolest parts of the city, which is quite the task in only 48 hours. The trips to and from the airport were adventures in themselves, but once we were finally all together, it was a weekend of tube/red double decker bus rides and sightseeing galore. I actually impressed myself with my ability to navigate around the huge city, and we had sooo much fun! Here's what we did:

==> Buckingham Palace (Apparently the guards don't care about securing the palace on a 24 hour basis because they were MIA when we were there)

==> Fish & Chips! (I've been in London for 2 months, but it was actually my first time eating this too)

==> Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, and the London Eye (It was getting dark by the time we were walking over the bridge, so we saw the whole city lit up--perfect timing!)

==> Hi Sushi in Covent Garden (Unlimited sushi for 14.80!)

==> Absolut Ice Bar (Everything is made out of ice--the bar itself, the cups, the walls--, and they give you a parka and gloves to stay for a 40 minute session. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen!) Here's a pic!

==> Piccadilly Circus (Tip: don't ever fall for the smooth talking of a club promoter, like we did)

==> Harrods (I think to make it through every part of this amazing department store would take days) Here's a pic!

==> Dave Matthews Band Concert at the O2 Arena! (I went home and downloaded tons of Dave after this!! It was so good! The O2 Arena itself is amazing with tons of restaurants, bars, and clubs inside the venue)

Crunching a healthy dose of London into 2 days while having an amazing time with my best friends= success! May seems so far away :(

I can't wait for more visitors...I might have to start charging :)

A Trip to the Homeland

I was SO excited to go to Italy last weekend!! The trip even surpassed my expectations, and spending the whole time with Marie and Kenny made it ten times better. Florence (or Firenze if I wanted to sound more cultured)is such a cool city. The food and wine are unbeatable, and the city itself is so beautiful. Making it to the top of the Duomo was for sure a highlight. After struggling up the 463 stairs to get there, we could see the whole town --it was a surreal.

Although most of my time in Italy was very...Italian, we brought some PSU culture to Florence. Saturday of my visit was Penn State's legendary State Patty's Day, so we bought green shirts and participated in our own festivities. The atmosphere wasn't exactly the same, but the celebrations were definitely up to par.

I really wish I had more time to explore the rest of Italy. I had so much fun with Marie and Kenny, and I don't think I would have been able to leave without knowing their scheduled trip to London was only 4 days away!