Natural History Museum

The natural history museum was nothing what I expected. Given, I didn't really know what to expect, I didn't think that i was going to be a huge building full of dead animals... and well rocks. Maybe we missed parts of it, but all I saw where dead, stuffed animals, bones of animals, bugs, and a bunch of rocks. I wasn't as impressed as I thought I was going be.

Stuffed Orangutan 

Stuffed Giraffe

Drinking Our Way Through London

We've gotten drinks everywhere from clubs, bars, pubs, restaurants to grocery stores and have spent a small fortune doing so! But last week we found an awesome restaurant with a great happy hour! Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Dirty Bones! The cocktails are only eight pounds to start off with and are 2 for 1 until 7:00pm... And did I mention that they are delicious?

The full 2 for 1 menu

The Top Dog. I would highly recommend 

Painting the town red.

I feel like red must be the queens favorite color! The red phone booths and the red busses, even the underground signs are red! Well my favorite busses are the popcorn busses! This one is specifically my favorite because it's pink (of course!)

Bus Map

I think I finally (kind of) got the tube map figured out... You know, two weeks before we go home. But one map that I think needs help, is the bus maps that are at the bus stops. It's so hard to tell where you are, where you are going or which bus you want to take to get there.

We put the "DAM" in AMSTERDAM

Finally, we got a weekend to travel out of the UK!
And 'DAM' we had fun! 

We took a weekend trip to Amsterdam and we had so much fun in-between our major dilemmas. Starting with our buss ride there. We were not aware that we would have to unload the buss multiple times during the (what was suppose to be) 9 drive. But to top it off, We had to unload at about 2am and get onto a ferry that was delayed for an hour and a half. Half of us completely out of it, all of us passed out on chairs. We finally get there to realize that we don't have directions to get to our hotel and every sign in sight it in Dutch! We were so lost with no way of finding where to go!

AXO takes Amsterdam

As you can tell, we loved the IAMsterdam sign! Such great photo opportunities! We also did a bar crawl with one of the hostels, walked through the red light district, took a boat tour through the canals and ate some of the best food i've had since I've been in Europe!

A sign I liked that was used with others to
promote a club.

The weirdest think I found about Amsterdam was that it seemed like most people that lived/worked there spoke english, all off the street signs where in dutch yet advertisements were more often in english! 

P is for Pims

ABC's of Drinking

When touring Oxford we found a cute pub that I just fell in love with (but don't I fall in love with them all! Oops!) This pub had a successful marketing scheme for the summer using the alphabet that was consistent on their signs, menus and advertisement. 

AXO takes Oxford

We also walked through the gardens of some of the Oxford campuses. They were gorgeous to say the least! Perfectly mowed lawns with pristine flower beds surrounding them!

War monuments

There is pieces of the world wars everywhere you look in London. We found this out when we walked 10 miles to view many of then just near where we are living in Kensington. This monument is from World War Two and it is in honor of the men that were in the tanks. You can tell It is a more modern monument because you can see emotion on the men's faces.

This was my favorite monument for our walk and it is in honor of all the animals that helped in the war. It's kind of cheesy but I think it was cool to point out that they also gave up their lives and they had no choice in the matter.

But Does it Taste Good

Garlic Salt is my saving
grace! I literally put it on
everything. 

I love the chalkboard look
of this label! The mat finish
is just the icing on the cake.

Finding the grocery store was only half the task of getting supplies. I almost cried in the store when I realized that most of my household named brands, that I've grown to love and trust... They are not international! I wondered the aisles like a lost puppy dog.  Lucky for me, me irrational obsession for chalkboards, twine and mason jars did me right because I was buying everything based on the looks of its packaging. In my entire life, I have only bought one brand of seasoning and maybe two brands of pasta sauce... Lawry's and Prego have never disappointed! But I was weary about buying brands I've never heard of. The natural yet "pinteresty" look of these products lured me in and the packages did the products justice. (Thank god for my picky  eating habits) they tasted just as good as they looked!

Pubs, Pubs and More Pubs

   The pub scene is a very prominent idea here in London. Unlike at home, it is more acceptable to go in the middle of the day. Also unlike home, it's a place to spend a lot of time while socializing with friends with out getting hammered while doing so. The service is much different here, unlike at home, you do not have a waiter coming to check on you every ten minutes. The waiters don't come to you unless you flag them down and if you didn't know better, you would think that they didn't want to help you. They leave you to yourself to socialize amongst yourselves. The amount of pubs is much greater here too. It seems as if there is one on every block!

They mostly are owned by the same people and because of that, 

they all look very similar. I think that the reputation and familiarly 

in the design and look of the pub helps their business because like 

chain restaurants, the customer is comfortable and knows what to 

expect. In this case, I think it also helps that the pubs are very cute, 

yet have a classic, polished look to them. I mean how could you say 

no to these adorable pubs, showered with flowers?

Now What?

Welcome to our humble abode 

Eventually we made our way to our new home and to great relief, it's a beautiful set up in one of the nicest parts of town. Even so, we had a few more struggles and I had a new situation I had to grow to love. (I never lived in the dorms) Living in a quad stacked room was neither a familiar nor welcomed idea. Lucky for me, I ended up with great roommates that made the transition a breeze. (God bless their souls for putting up with me.) The other problem to tackle... We had nothing in the kitchen and no idea how to navigate the city. None the less, we eventually found our way. (At least we lived to tell the story)

Finding "Home"

My beautiful, yet inconvenient
luggage

My first week studying abroad in London was far from ordinary! In seven days, not only did I settle into the place where I'll call home for six weeks (five weeks longer than I've ever been away from my real home), I made six fabulous friends, rode bikes through royal parks, listened to T swift sing, met tons of locals, went to class, went to museums, partied like the brits do and have been lost for the majority of it all! Starting with our initial arrival to the airport, there was nothing but confusion. The ten and a half hour flight must have dazed us (along with minimal direction and phone service) because once off the plane, we were lost in a maze of airport terminals, tube rides and busy London streets. To add to my distress, I brilliantly brought three suitcases which brought upon the great challenge of transporting up stairs and over 6+ blocks.