Fit.

Fit (adj.): Attractive; slang for "hot."  "She's so fit!"

I have no idea why I started to do this... but I did.  It happened.  I think it started as an accident, my hypersensitive camera clicking while I was walking.  I thought it looked pretty cool, so I continued taking pictures of my pink converses along with the different sites or cities I was visiting at the time.  It's funny to see the progression from perfectly clean to disgustingly dirty... those shoes have seen some days.

There were some days I had to wear different shoes due to inclement weather.  

"Oh, the places you'll go!"  ...or rather, my pink converses.  Have gone.

This was in the Dublin Castle, waiting in line.

The Windsor Castle + my shoe.

The Cliffs of Moher + my shoe.

The Dover Castle + the sub.

The entire city of Rome + my shoe.

The Spanish steps + my shoe.

The Trevi Fountain + my shoe.

Night Rome (The Vatican) + my shoe.

The Arch de Triomphe + my shoe.

The Pantheon + my shoe.

The Versailles Palace + my shoe.

I have no idea, in Rome, looks important + my shoe.

The Sacre Coeur + my shoe.

This was my first adventure in London.  I took this by accident. 

The Lift.

The lift (n.): elevator (That wasn't difficult).

Tips for traveling, most of which I have learned the hard way:

1.  Be in shape before you go seriously traveling.  Luckily I worked out during the summer before I studied abroad, so I didn't mind the extended periods of walking.  However, towards the end of the semester, it definitely took a toll when I went to Rome as my "last hoorah" trip.  You want to be able to see as much as you can, and being tired and grumpy takes away from your experience.

The grumpiest person alive.

2.  If you have previously arranged lodging before you travel to a city, KNOW THE ADDRESS TO THE HOTEL.  Believe it or not, when Macauley and I (and our friend Kevin) went to Rome, we flat out WINGED it.  We only knew we were staying at the Rome Cavalieri (luckily for us, it is well known).  However, it was a huge pain getting there, not knowing if we were getting screwed or not regarding the cost of transportation.  We also got into an unmarked taxi (oops?), but that's not the point I'm trying to make...

We found it eventually... LOOK AT THAT VIEW!

Strugglin' in the rain: "...WHAT DOES THAT SAY?"

3.  Understand what transportation you wish to take before you arrive in the city.  For example, when Macauley, Obella, and I went to Amsterdam, they have a weird tram/train system, that in my opinion, is a bit faulty.  Not to mention, it was hard to distinguish the names of stations from each other, all written in Dutch (...does that sound ignorant?).  As aforementioned, know the address of the hotel, and know the corresponding or nearby station/tram stop/etc.  

Peek-a-boo... it's my shoe!

3... a. Walk as much as you can.  In Rome, it was incredibly easy to walk all over the city, and the best part was, we stumbled upon so many interesting things en route to a big interesting thing.  For example (I'm full of examples!),  in Rome, when Kevin, Macauley, and I were strolling along to visit the Colosseum, we ran into the Pantheon!  It was incredibly breathtaking and awkwardly wedged between modern(er) Rome buildings.

...to be continued!  I just thought of a cool post idea.

HELLoooOOOOO!

HELLoooOOOOO! : I tried to create inflections of the English accent on how people say, "hello."  It's fantastic.

Currently, I am sitting comfortably (finally, happily, ecstatically) in America, in New Jersey, IN MY HOME.  There is no better feeling than bursting into a fully-decorated-for-Christmas Rosenberg house, the smells of mac and cheese oozing out of the kitchen (Mom mom's recipe... it's simply the BEST).  Yes, I realize I neglected this blog while abroad, but nay, I have not.  I've planned out many entries, but in order to post them with the perfectly accompanying pictures, I needed to download Macauley's pictures and my parents' pictures (Spoiler alert!  My parents visited me!)... a task that had to wait upon my return to the dear states.  

HOWEVER! 

Now that I have an ample amount of time, I've decided to treat this blog as a great winter break project.  Therefore, it will be done right, and it will be done well!

Stay tuned. :)

Hoover. Flu jab. Vest. Trousers.

Hoover (n.)- Vacuum.
Flu jab (n.)- Flu shot.
Vest (n.)- A "vest" is not a sleeveless sweater-y article of clothing/fancy waistcoat here... a "vest" is an undershirt.  Or a bro tank, if you will.  Or a tank top. It gets confusing, especially when talking about...
Trousers (n.)- Trousers are pants.  Pants are underwear.  Everything is topsy-turvy.

I can't believe I just said topsy-turvy.  

I'm avoiding writing my 1,000 word essay for my Shakespeare class.  I'm being absurd.  I've been avoiding it, having comfort in the fact that I can write a 1,000 word essay in my sleep, especially on anything that has to do with my man, Bill Shakey.  Yes, we are on nickname basis.  Anywho, I suppose I should start... I have a simply marvelous heading and title.  I'm acutely distracted by the high-ceilinged (Is that a word? It looks so strange) slightly gothic-styled library, overwhelmingly surrounded by shelves of books, books, and more books.  Mission:  Explore the restricted section and discover a book focusing on Nicholas Flamel.  Heeh.

Okay, I need to get out of here (here, meaning cyberspace).  

Au revoir!

Wellies.

Wellies (n.)- Short for Wellington(s).  Wellies are rain boots, and apparently, calling rain boots "rain boots" is an absurd notion to anyone British.

Here are some pictures.  Just because.

Captain Hilary, navigating on a lion (that I am definitely not supposed to be on).

Some truly lovely people, WAC4life.

The Eye.

Close up of Big Ben.

Proper.

Invasion of WAC!

There are probably between ten and fifteen WAC kids on the Royal Holloway campus, including the ones that already go here.  It is glorious! Students already studying abroad (one from Copenhagen, one from Cork, and one from Madrid) as well as students from the lovely state of Maryland (WAC has fall break right now) made the trek to good ol' Egham for the next few days.  Last night, we went to a place called Club Liquid in Windsor, a few towns over.  There was a bus that left from Founder's at 11:00 (it came at 11:30, which frankly increased anticipation and excitement) and returned at 3:00.  It was a LONG night, but S-Club 7 performed!  Unfortunately, it was S Club 3 (not too sure where the other four went), but it was still a grand time.  I decided that my Hello Kitty dress should make an appearance... it was quite the sight.  

I believe the plan is to go into London with the whole gang tomorrow night... that should be a wild time.  As for now, I have to read a significant amount (of Shakespeare and Medieval Epics) before I let myself have fun, haha.  As for now, cheers!

I still don't know if I use "cheers" correctly.  Oh, well!  

Massive.

It is October 11th, almost a whole month abroad already!  I cannot believe it.  My 21st birthday only nine days away, which means PARIS is only nine days away.  I'm already bracing myself for that weekend... it. Will. Be. A. TIME.



Before I continue with this blog post, I should probably explain what the post titles mean.  The post titles have nothing to do with the content; they are British slang/commonly used words that I have noticed are popular.  


Speaking of things I have noticed, here are some things I have noticed (Ha. Ha.) :


1.  Apparently, men wearing short shorts are a thing.  That took some getting used to.

2.  People work out in polo shirts.

3.  People work out in track swishy pants (I don't know how else to describe them other than the word "swishy"). 

4.  What you wear says a LOT about you.

5.  People in London are beautiful and intimidating and tall and thin.  Made me wildly self conscious.

6.  Americans are LOUD.

7.  There are different British accents, depending on whether a person if from the North, or the South, or London, or wherever.  So many different British accents.  And apparently my impersonation of a British accent is absolutely terrible.

8.  I think I scare most people with my loudness/outgoingness.  Oops?

9.  Everyone has a sense of style.  It's amazing.


Classes started October 1st, so for the first week on campus there were events and socials and whatnot. Here, they call it 'Fresher's Week.'  It was fantastic.  I've been hanging out with Washington College people (from now on I'll use the more affectionate term, WAC) primarily, but we made a fair amount of English fresher friends.  The hardest thing is making friends my age... the students who live on campus are freshers (17-18 year old kids).  I've been called "quite old" on numerous occasions.  HA.  I mean, I am almost 21, so it's just downhill from there...