Dover Castle & the last couple of days.. :)

All right, where did I leave off??
Wednesday was full of classes and then back home for dinner. British Lit: We discussed sonnets by Thomas Wyatt (Anne Boleyn’s lover), Shakespeare, etc. They were interesting. We had to pick them apart; tell who is being talked about, who is writing the poem, from 1st or 3rd person. What the setting is, how the style represents the era it was being written in. What are the underlining meanings of the poems and thing likes that.
Then we broke up into groups for our presentations that we have to do in class in a couple of weeks. I’m with Erin and Megan. Thought it would be easy since there are 2 of us that live by each other and then Erin could spend the night if she needed to do so.
Then lunch at school. Had a yummy sandwich of chicken and mayonnaise with lettuce & cucumbers. It kind of reminded me of a tuna salad sandwich! Yumm I miss those too! Lol ;)
Next was Modern Britain where we learned about the Monarchy and why it is still important in England. The Queen definitely does not just stand around all day and wave to people and gets paid to do nothing. She’s the person who holds the UK together and without her position, the United Kingdom would fall apart. She also meets with the Prime Minister weekly to discuss matters of England and other foreign affairs. She has the power to override his decisions in matters of emergencies that deal with the people. But a lot of the monarchies power has been given to the Prime Minister to deal with. In discussion we talked about why the monarchy is still being used in England and we said that it’s tradition (Tradition…tradition! Fiddler :D ) and that if it is working for England there really isn’t any need to change it. It was an interesting lesson.
Thurs. was all right. The morning started with American Cinema. We discussed the movie ET and how the different camera angles and the way Spielberg shot the movie made certain effects. It was fun to learn about, Ben would like it, even though he’s taken the class already lol. 5 hours later was Ethics. We talked about morality and religion, how religion was used to explain morals in everyone’s lives. If people didn’t have a religion, where did their morals come from? Are there certain moral codes that everyone follows? Do not kill people, do not steal ect. We basically answer questions like that and then support them through our readings that we have to have done before class starts. They aren’t too bad really. I actually feel like I am talking too much in that class, so maybe I will tone it down a bit.
Right after class, Erin and I got a quick bite at the school cafeteria and then made our way to the Student Union for open mike night, where Megan was performing!
She did a great job and it was fun to hear her sing. It is kind of a acoustic version of Michelle Branch I think, with more of an edge to it. She sold some of her cds as well and made some friends with the other performers too.
Friday was the trip to Dover Castle and the Secret Underground Tunnels in the Dover Cliffs. It was a lot of fun and so beautiful to see the English Channel again! The castle itself was very tall, involving lots of stairs. It was one of the castles that King Henry VIII stayed at when he was trying to find wife number three. After he whacked off Anne Boleyn! The view from the top of the castle is amazing! Soo pretty, and you can view the boats taking people over to Calais, France! We did that 2 summers ago!
The tunnels were very cool too! It was a quick kind of walk through though. It starts off with a short film on when the tunnels were being made in the Napoleonic era and then made into a head quarters for England during WWII. Complete with a hospital, work offices containing important spy info, beds for soldiers, kitchen and dining area, and a huge computer room for phone service and incoming and outgoing messages. All the computer room technology can now fit into our modern day cell phone!
After the tour, I bought some books to remind me about the tunnels because we weren’t allowed to take any pictures while we were down there.
Went to the restaurant that was on the site of the castle and all of the hot food was shut down. We were left with cakes, crisps (potato chips) and drinks. I got a roasted chicken flavored crips (actually quite good) and a slice of chocolate cake :D Yumm!
Once it was time to go, we all headed back on the bus. Back in Canterbury, Erin, Megan and I were starving and ended up eating at a great pizza place called Jaspers Pizza.
Later that night a lot of us met up at the Student Union for drinks and ended up spending the night at my friend Jenn’s (from ISU) dorm. It was fun but we were all pretty tired and called it an early night at one in the morning lol :)
I made my way back home in the morning, got changed into some sweats and headed back out to join up with some of our British (guy) friends to play football, and watch rugby.
We had to climb a fence to get into the park, not too sure why lol! Played football, my team lost since no one wanted to be a goalie, and the other team had a good goalie :) After football, the guys decided to play rugby, teaching the American boys how to play. It looked to me like a lot of running around, swinging the ball to pass it to the next team mate, and tackling one another to the ground! It was very fast paced kind of stuff, not at all like American football, where everyone has to set up plays and all of that. They did play American football and some of the guys were actually very good. But we were leaving by then because we were soo coold when the sun went down. We actually ended up back at Jasper’s Pizza again for food and then headed home to rest.
Woke up today, Sunday, and went shopping with Erin for some clothes for going out to the club on Wednesday night for two of the girl’s birthdays. Both are in our group, and both are turning 20. We found some cute skinny jeans, because that is all the rage here in England. Skinny jeans and boots in the winter here! Found a couple of cute tops, Erin found a cute silver dress from H&M.
Went to an internet café where Erin could call her family using Skype.com and then we both went home to eat a quick bite. There were a handful of us who wanted to hang out at Witherspoons again, to talk and have something to do on a Sunday night. It was actually quite busy for a Sunday pub. I guess everyone likes to have one last night before the week starts back up again. A lot of family’s and business people, and friends were all there.
Well I’m tired and have some homework to catch up on tomorrow at school. Essays to type, books to finish, articles to read…blah blah blah.. :) Wed.s should be fun though and am looking forward to it. Then Erin and I may go into London of Friday to catch a show and explore more of the city.
Night night!
<3 Shannon

Tues. night...

Tonight a lot of the girls went out to dinner at the Little Italy Restaurant for our friend Mallory’s 21st birthday. It was a lot of fun getting different pastas and just talking about England, what stuff we miss back home and what other trips we want to take.
Then we all met up at Witherspoons where there was a whole section for us to sit and get drinks. Some of the other half of our group was already there and we joined them. I had a lot of fun. We discussed driving around the round abouts (big circles instead of intersections) and how scary and hard it seems to understand which car can go in which lane, and how to get out of the round about as well. I couldn’t quite understand it so I won’t even bother trying to explain the rules of the road here lol :D
We also were talking about swear words that are used in the British language compared to American swear words. I don’t know how this topic came up really, but it was very funny. I found out that if something is very good then people here say, “Oh that’s the dog’s bollocks.” But just saying, “Bollocks.” is actually a bad thing to say. Also a twat is a bad name for a girl, and wanker is also another known and bad term.
Since we had school the next morning, I didn’t stay out too late.
School was all right except that my alarm didn’t wake me up! I woke up at 8:15, threw on some clothes and rushed out of the house. I found out that the alarm is somewhat broken, so I’m going to use my phone to see if it will wake me up tomorrow. Hope so!
All right, well I’m tired and need some sleep :D
Tomorrow night we’re going to the Student Union to support Megan for the open mike night! Should be fun! And then on Friday, we’re off to visit the Dover Castle and see the underground tunnels! Yeah!
Much love to all!
Love Shannon

Trip to Deal!

My trip to deal started out cloudy and early. We got to the bus station around 8:30am, paid for our bus ticket on the bus and left Canterbury by 9:00am. The bus went through a lot of the back roads past houses and fields where the little ba ba bas (sheep) were grazing. Everything was green and a little muddy. I took a little nap and then woke up when we were in Deal. The bus ride was about an hour and a half. By car it only takes 20 minutes. We piled off the bus and made our way to the sea side! Carol has never seen an ocean before and she liked the view very much.
We all went down the reddish rocks to the English Channel. I was the only one who wanted to actually touch the water so then my pants got a tad wet hehe :D The water was cold but didn’t smell like salt water. It was kind of murky, brown water but it was still fun to see. Now I’ve touched the English Channel, although trying to swim it may be impossible for me lol :D
We ventured on down the seaside, saw some boats, fisherman and little shops and homes. One of the boats was called Ronnie Boy! Hey dad, you never told me you had a boat down here lol! To get the picture of the fisherman, I had the girls stand next to the place where they were getting the fish off their nets. Then I took a picture of the “girls” next to the sail boats. The fishermen started laughing at me. Hehe!
Then we came across Deal Castle. It was kind of small and round castle. For some reason I thought that it would be taller. There was a moat, but it was mostly empty and free of crocodiles. We couldn’t go in it, but there was a sign that said gift shop inside. I used the big door knocker on the door, and then realized there was a door bell hehe! Rang that, and a woman came out. We asked if the castle was open for touring, but it doesn’t open until Easter. So I couldn’t even see the gift shop either. Boo! The Deal castle, along with 2 other castles, was used by King Henry VIII to defend England against France & Spain.
We were very hungry by that time and decided to go into their High Street and find some food. A lot of stores were not open still, the time being about 11:00 am!! This is what drives me crazy about England! Everyone opens their stores rather late in the morning and very early in the evening! I don’t understand it! I’ll find out why though!
We ended up heading back away from High Street towards the sea road again. We were told there was a good fish and chips shop. Found out it was being remodeled and ate at a little diner instead. I had my first real bite of fish and chips. I originally had ordered an egg with sausage and chips. But Carol didn’t really like her fish for some weird reason and I ended up splitting her food with Megan. So I put lemon juice, salt, & vinegar on the fish and it tasted very good! I may even like it now :D I also convinced that Megan and Erin should try the vinegar on their chips and they liked it too. Way to go Aunt Meg, for having me try the vinegar chips in Cali. Lol.
Deal seemed to be a smaller version of Canterbury. A lot of shopping stores on High Street and then little shops and food diners around that as well. We tried to something else to do like their Astor Theatre, but it wasn’t playing any shows during the day. So no luck there.
We headed over to the Pier and walked along it to the end where there was a restaurant. We should have gone there to eat instead, but oh well. The sun decided to peek out from the clouds and I got a nice shot of the sun over by the cliffs. There were some men fishing along the pier as well. The pier was not as windy as I thought it would be. Chicago is 5 times more windy than it was in Deal that day!
We were heading back towards High Street to find a store to buy some postcards or souvenirs. Erin bought a couple of post cards but I had already bought Canterbury postcards instead.
It seemed that we were getting pretty tired and were annoyed that we couldn’t do anything really touristy. We got back on the bus, it took us through Dover and we got to spy the Dover Castle. Our school group is going to come back and go visit the Castle and the underground tunnels so maybe I’ll get a souvenir then.
We were completely wiped out and I took a little nap on the bus. We decided that when we go somewhere else, that we could probably schedule getting to another city around noon because then there will be places to eat. I also want to research Whitstable before we go there, just so we know what we can and can’t do and won’t be disappointed.
When we got home, we decided that we wanted some ice cream and each got a cone and then headed to our houses. It was a fun day all in all and it was nice to get out of Canterbury as well.
My legs are quite sore though, from walking on the shore and my feet hurt because the boots gave me blisters! Ouch! But I ended up watching The Italian Job with Katerina last night and made some pasta for dinner. She let me have some of her Greek Salad and it was good. There were no lettuce leaves of any kind, just cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese, green peppers, onions and extra virgin olive oil.
We had some chocolates while watching the movie and then watched one episode of Frasier too hehe. Loaded some of my pictures on my computer and went to bed.
Slept in and woke up to sore legs. Cleaned my room and put more pictures on my computer. Met Erin at an internet Café and went to Tesco’s to buy ingredients for chili. Hopefully I have all the right stuff, a lot of it took a long time to find since I didn’t really know which type of cans to use. We’ll see tomorrow. I’m eating a partridge with pears, artichokes and bacon! Never had it before and it tasted a lot like cooked turkey on a stick, from Disneyworld. Michael is cooking it tonight and now I can say that I actually ate a partridge (maybe) in a pear tree :) Katerina is having me write down all the dinners we eat so I can come back home and make it there! Haha we’ll see about that one. Some of them are not too hard to make though, so I could probably make those things.
Love to all and more later!

Historical tour of Canterbury

Friday was the tour of historical sights of Canterbury and the Christ Church Cathedral. Kathy, Megan and I were a 2 minutes late getting there but Erin was the last to show up. We didn’t think it would take that long to get to the reception hall at school, but somehow it took a little longer. All the kids got emails from Jim our chaperone, to arrive 15 minutes early, to not talk while the tour guide was talking and also to hussle up with the picture taking. Only one applied to me that day, but it was weird because I felt like I was back in the tour group for high school. Except no one was stupid enough to get hit by a taxi/car….yet! :D Our total of 3 school groups were too big that we split up into two groups.
We first went to St. Augustine’s Priory and sat in the pews to hear Martin tell us some facts about it. Queen Bertha, a Frankish princess & practicing Christian, was given the church by her husband King Ethlebert. She went to worship there with her Bishop Liudhard. This is known as the oldest church in England and is still being used today. If you really want to know more of the history of the Abbey and the Priory, I found this brilliant website that has all of the info. I just thought it would be better to just give the highlights than every single fact, most of which I can hardly remember hehe! Sorry, there is a reason why Ben is the history buff in my family and not I. http://volokh.com/sasha/canterbury.html
After the priory we toured the gravesite and then headed down the hill to the King’s School, which is a little ways down the hill from a prison. Huh. Weird to put a prion between a church and a school. Oohh, as I’m looking at the website, they show some great pictures of the crypt in the Cathedral too! And better pictures of the Canterbury Tales Tour than what I was able to take.
After touring the outside area of the Cathedral, we took a break for lunch and were to meet up at the Starbucks outside of the Cathedral. Erin, Megan, Carol and I went to a little Italian/French styled restaurant next to Erin’s internet café where you can use the internet for however long you like with buying one drink. We all got hot chocolates because our hands were freezing cold. I ordered a pizza with mushrooms and it was delicious! We thought about getting a coffee at the Starbucks café, but we were kind of just looking around the other stores to kill some time after lunch. I can always come back to the Starbucks, where I might add that my favorite actor Orlando Bloom has been to :o) I pass by the place almost daily.
Into the Cathedral we went and it was simply amazing! There are still services going on today and performances by choirs on Saturday nights sometimes too! Katerina said that she will take me to one of them! :D The whole congregation was filled with rows of chairs set up for the performance Sat. night. The ceilings were huge and the choir was so beautiful too! We actually got to hear a bit of the organ player practicing some music. It was brilliant and so loud that Martin (our tour guide) had to stop talking sometimes because he couldn’t be heard.
Martin led us down to a side area where there was a tiny chapel that was gated off. But the area outside of the chapel was where Sir Thomas Becket was murdered. He wasn’t supposed to be murdered, it was just that King Henry’s knights took more of a firmer hand of ridding Henry of his meddlesome priest. Thomas Becket was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church. He engaged in a conflict with King Henry II over the rights and privileges of the Church and was assassinated by followers of the king in the Cathedral.
From there we ventured into the crypt, which made me think of that tv show the crypt keeper/storyteller, something like that haha! They were kind of creepy. Saw the place where St. Thomas Becket’s tomb used to lie before it was moved upstairs to the exact same spot, and then later the tomb & Sir Thomas was completely destroyed by King Henry VIII. There was a room where all of the plates, cups, rings, swords, and other memorabilia is kept to view and is sometimes used in certain ceremonies. We were not allowed to take any pictures in there. Then back upstairs to the Choir, where ironically the organ music started to play for the first time while we were there :D It was so cool to look out from the choir and see the HUGE congregation area and the back wall stain glass windows! Imagine singing from those steps, it would have been wonderful! Then we headed into what looked like a type of office area that is behind the choir. Which I guess is where the many choir members sit. It is joined further down to the Lady’s Chapel in the 13th century. Next came the tomb of the Black Prince. No one knows why he was called the Black Prince really lol, it makes me think of the Black Knight in Monty Python. The Black Knight always triumphs! Don’t exactly remember what the Black Knight was all about, sorry. Then we saw another little chapel called the Chapel of Remembrance that had a lot of old flags hung around the walls. A memorial bust of Edward Pusey, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement and Regius Professor of Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church 1828-82.
Then we headed over to the monks quarters which was also used to give shelter to the homeless at one time. There are 2 rows of stone that 150 monks would gather in the room to discuss daily matters. This was the room we got to see 2 summers ago and we were really allowed to be in it at that time. But oh well. It had a beautiful stain glass window of a lot of kings (including King Henry VIII) and cardinals and 2 Queens (Bertha and Victoria).
That concludes the tour of the historical sites around Canterbury! Please throw all of your trash in the garbage outside the theater. Buhbye, buhbye, goodbye. Oh man my cheecks hurt! (Barbie from movie ToyStory 2) Hehe! More later! <3 Shannon

Student Union Tues. Nights

It was so horrible out yesterday that I didn’t venture outside until 8:15 pm. All around the town are umbrellas on the ground because they all were broken in the storm. The winds were so bad, and the rain came down all day!!
When we got to the Student Union, we joined Mallory, Erin, and Shannon at their table. There was a kind of “Whose Line Is It Anyway’s” skit being performed onstage by some students. They were very funny and are there every Tues. night. That may be fun to go to again. After their show, Megan and I went over to the Student Bar (yes they have a bar in their Student Center!! Crazy!) and we both tried this drink called the Filthy Flirt. :D It’s not as filthy as it sounds, it was one of my favorite drinks so far. But unfortunately it was 3 pounds!! Too bad I won’t be buying that too often. There were a lot of the ISU students, the Missouri students, and the ICISP students as well. Along with a number of British/ other exchange students too.
We ended up talking to a couple guys who are in my Modern Britain class. It was a lot of fun talking to them and we all decided to go to Witherspoons pub, since it’s right by school. We ended up talking about all kinds of things such as the immigration in Britain and America, driver’s license and how easy/hard they are, traveling, and school.
It was a fun night and I hope we have a lot more to come!
School wasn’t too bad today. British Lit. was fun because we discussed poems. We broke them down into the speaker, mood, setting, style, rhyme etc. Then we discussed Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale and have an essay due next Wednesday dealing with the story.
Modern Britain was all right. We got to watch a movie that was somewhat biased on how great of a prime minister Winston Churchill was for Britain during WWII. In the discussion groups we talked about who Winston Churchill was exactly, how he made a good prime minister. Then we discussed people in America who had made that sort of impact or are viewed as hero-like in America. Martin Luther King, Abe Lincoln, and George Washington all came up. But we agreed that MLK was one of the top people who is remembered as being a type of hero for Americans.
Then class ended and the ICISP group met at Jim’s (one of our directors from IL) home for a spaghetti dinner. We were some what in groups just having fun and talking about some of the trips that we think we want to go on while we’re here.
Then a handful of us headed back to our homes because we stayed out a little too late last night. I met Katerina at home and I told her that Carol, Megan, Kathy, Shannon, Erin, and I were wanting to go to Deal on Saturday for the day. She told us we should look into using one of the buses or maybe a large taxi and go on up for the day. It’s supposed to be light rain and a little warmer than usual. So let’s hope so! :D
Katerina’s friend from Greece came to Canterbury tonight and will be staying until Monday. Her name is Joanna, and she is trying to arrange her classes for fall semester to further her degree in Film History. Right now she is a film critic for a newspaper in Greece! We talked a lot about the films she got to go see, Juno, included! She said she really liked it a lot and it was a lot of fun to just hear Michael, Katerina, and Joanna discuss movies. What they liked, what shots they thought were good, what film or plot they didn’t enjoy. It was very interesting :D
Now tomorrow is American Cinema, which we will watch ET. Hmm… not a big fan, but oh well. Then Ethics, is five hours from that, so I will probably go to the library and work on my British Lit. essay & read my book pages for Ethics. Fun, fun. Until then, I will talk to you all later! <3 Shannon

Catching up :)

On Saturday I went to join up with Erin, Megan, and Kathy. We decided to do the touristy Canterbury Tales Building Tour. You’re given a head set with a type of remote control that plugs into the headset. Then you go from room to room listening to different stories about each room. The Canterbury Tales is a contest to see who can tell the best story. That is what the book holds, all the stories in the game. The tour dealt with a handful of the stories such as the Knight’s Tale : A chivalrous tale of two knights in love with a fair lady; the Miller’s Tale: A deceitful clerk tries to have his way with the carpenter’s wife & gets his just desserts in this bawdy story; the Wife of Bath’s Tale: It asks the question to which every man would like an answer- “What do women most desire?” (The answer is to have their own say in matters and let their voice be heard); The Nun’s Priest’s Tale: a farmyard fable about Chauticleer the rooster who outwit’s the fox. And finally The Pardoner’s Tale: a chilling story of three men, led to their own downfall by greed.
It was interesting but every room smelled so horrible. Maybe it was supposed to make people imagine they were back in the medieval times. The displays were kind of hoaxy. They were just statues that had lights turned on them whenever they were being talked about. The tales were interesting though and I had already read the Miller’s Tale in high school, which we’re also reading in class in British Lit. as well. So that was kind of fun to do. It kind of reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean, but without the cool puppets, just statues instead.
We all ate at Little Italy Ristorante and it was very good! Lots of opera music, including Celine Dion and Andre Bocelli. The food was very good and we all split a bottle of white wine. Still not a big fan yet of the wine. I thought that I’d like it because it was supposed to be fruity, oh well.
Later that night, we all decided to meet at The Witherspoons Pub. We had been reading the sign wrong. It's called Free House because that means that they can sell any beer that they want to. Not just English beers. :D Carol, Erin, Kathy, Shannon, Steven, Matt and I all met up and got our own table with couches. We did sit next to some pretty cute guys and talked to them a bit. I don’t think that they were students though. It was very crowded with all kinds of people. It was someone’s birthday and they had decided to dress up like super heroes! There was a Mr. Incredible :D, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Wolverine. It was pretty funny!
Sunday was a cooking day for me with Katerina. She likes to cook a lot and has a TON of cook books. I asked if her mom taught her how to cook and she said no, she just likes it and picked it up. She likes how it feels like chemistry, that you’re mixing and baking things to get the desired outcome of a good meal or tasty treat. We made the batter for the Christmas fruit cake and then cleaned my room. She was telling me tips on cooking, like letting the butter mix really well before starting anything else for the recipe. Adding one egg at a time and then allowing it to mix really well so there will be no lumps in the cake. It was fun, and the batter tasted very good!
Next we made chocolate mousse for dessert that night. It was very rich and really good! Love chocolate! :D So does Katerina as well. She loves the Fannie May candies that I brought over from the U.S.
Made a fruit salad for lunch with oranges, apples, peaches, grapes and grape fruit juice on top. Light and nice lunch.
After cleaning my room I had to run to Tesco’s before it closed at 6pm. I got some other ingredients for Katerina for dinner that night as well. We ended up having a really good cooked chicken with prunes and cashews for a stuffing. It was very yummy. Along with that was a salad which had avocados, oranges, and her own dressing, small potatoes and turnips. Then for desert we had the chocolate mousse!
After watching Frasier for a while Katerina and I headed off to bed. Kostos and Michael we doing their own things. Michael probably reading a book and Kostos either reading or on the Internet, or maybe composing some music.
Monday wasn’t too interesting. Ate lunch with Megan and Erin at Café Rouge. Talked about which trips we should go on, and if we should go to London this Saturday or maybe go to Deal, or Whitstable because it’s only 20 minutes from Canterbury. We’ll have to look into it more. See what the weather is like.
Right now there are severe rain warnings and flood warnings for certain parts of the U.K. It’s raining so hard today and will probably continue until Weds. Then pick up again on Friday. Hopefully it will be ok. A lot of people are staying inside today, and then going out to meet our whole group at the Student Union for a meet and greet. The Missouri students have arrived and we still have yet to meet them. More later! <3 Shannon

What Canterbury student life is like....

But I don’t really know if we stand out as American students so much. I mean I think that my bright red coat totally gives ME away. It seems that a lot of people here wear dark colored clothes that blend in with the weather really. I feel like the odd duck out, or like a target sometimes. Although it’s a good thing that I didn’t go for the bright blue coat either! When people hear us talking, or we ask for directions to somewhere the people are very nice. There are a lot of nice people around the city. I am also getting better at knowing where things are. It’s not too hard to get really lost anymore. Although finding places like pubs or shops are a little tricky since the maps don’t locate them. All I really have to know is where my house is, check, where the High Street is, check, and where school is, check. Everything else is all connected to those. High Street connects me to both home and school so we usually end up along there. Also Tesco the grocery store is off of High Street too.
The streets are not too bad either. I just have to watch out where I’m walking and look the other way from now on too. I also have to be careful when crossing the streets because people definitely don’t slow down for pedestrians if they are in the way!! The cars are cool but smaller obviously. If it’s a sports car, like a convertible, it’s much shorter. Not at all like the one’s we have at home. The biggest vehicle I’ve seen is a big truck go through a side street to High Street back alley where a lot of trucks park. I’ve also seen some smart cars too, and I remember thinking, “Oh I want one of my own! They’re too cute!” But they would definitely not be safe back home at all. If a Hummer hit me, I’d be killed. They are more for the city streets that are very narrow like Canterbury's streets.
The buildings are a mixture of really new buildings and really, really, old buildings. The stores are usually 2 levels because of the space that each shop get’s to take up. They all seem smushed together, even the houses. Think along the lines of Harry Potter’s home in the films, or the homes in Bend It Like Beckham movie. My house is literally split in half. If it wasn’t it would probably look more American than city life or British I suppose. The chimney’s and rooftops look old, but the homes themselves don’t. On the inside though you can tell they’re old. Creaky floor boards, radiators for heating, old fireplaces. That kind of thing. I like my house though and it’s quite cozy. Our family would NEVER fit in it at all, we’d have to move out to the country where the SUPER old big homes are! I really want to see those HUGE mansions up close, I’ll have to ask where they are. I heard there are some in Bath, so when we go down there I’ll look around.
It’s required by law that all of England, maybe even Europe, has to recycle. Michael said that some people have cameras in their trash cans to check to see what people are throwing away. Hmm… seems a little like V for Vendetta, with the government watching over their people like hawks, wiring their homes to hear inside!
But that’s really not Canterbury at all. It's a safe town. It get’s dark out around 5:00 P.M. and then stores start to close around 6 or 7 PM. Pubs as well only stay open to about 11 PM. This whole town goes to sleep so early, quite unlike home. It does get a bit eerie when I’m walking home from Tesco’s or school. I just know not to go in dark parks and walk where there are a lot of people to see you. That’s about it really. People keep saying it’s not at all a crime town. That it’s very safe. Just creepy I guess only because I’m not in a car and actually have to walk everywhere in the city. That’s really the difference. I’ll get my swimmer’s legs back again with all this walking that I’m doing! Whoo-Hoo!
My friends and I didn’t end up going out last night. It was raining too hard and some of them have a long walk just to get to High Street. So I ended up watching the Manchurian Candidate and 3 Frasier episodes with my host mom Katerina. I actually like that show. I thought that I wasn’t going to, but it’s very witty humor! Like Will and Grace. I miss that show. Well, I’m going to go. It’s supposed to rain the next 10 days so we’ll see if I can keep my spirits up. <3 Shannon

What classes are like con't.

Sorry that I haven’t really mentioned what my classes are about. We just started so there hasn’t been too much to say really. In my British Lit. class we are supposed to read the Prologue to the Miller’s Tale, and the Miller’s Tale. We will also be reading King Lear, Frankenstein, Great Expectations, and Doctor Faustus. I have already read The Miller’s Tale in high school, but still read it again to know it better. I know what King Lear is also about because we went to see the show in Chicago for my theater class. It was played in the standard Shakespearean form. I haven’t read the other two stories, but our teacher Steven told us to probably start the Great Expectations book. He said that that story is probably the hardest to understand. We’ll write essays on the books and discuss them in class I believe.
Erin and I are sharing the Canterbury Tales book. The books at the school are actually a lot more expensive than the books sold in book stores around here. Also, my host family probably have all of the books that I will need for my British Lit. class so I can ask them to borrow the books. But if they don’t, there’s Waterstone’s book store, or other book stores as well.
I have already told a bit about my Modern British class. Other discussions that we will have in classes to come are Churchill and the WWII, the Monarchy, the Prime Minister, Lords and Commons, Culture Wars, the Special Relationship (I’m assuming between British and Americans, the type of bond because we speak relatively the same language), Britain & Europe, Northern Ireland, the Disunited Kingdom, Political parties, and finally the exam. So lot’s of interesting topics to talk about and it should be interesting and fun I hope. My teacher will also assign things on Black Board for us to read to discuss in class.
The American Cinema class will be covering film in the 1980’s, the New Hollywood, and how family is portrayed during that decade. Different types of family’s and such. We will watch movies as well and next Thursday we will watch my mom’s favorite movie, ET :D Not too excited about that one since it’s also not my favorite movie to watch. But supposedly we will discuss certain things about the movie in class the following week. I bet my brother Ben would like this class a lot! We also will discuss how George Lucas, Spielberg, Coppola, and other new movie directors changed the way movies were being made during this time too. This class will also use Black Board to read certain articles and assignments on Black Board.
Lastly, is my Ethics class. There is a lot of stuff that I really don’t know about this class at all, so it should be interesting to learn. The teacher is a little hippie it seems. He studied in India for a while and I think he also studies different cultures too. There are only two Americans in this class. Erin and myself . So our only assignment grade will be our term paper that is due in March. But we can always go talk to our teacher to discuss the paper and make sure that we’re doing what he wants us to do. I have to buy his book, which is only 5 pounds, and also we are to read assignments on Black Board as well.
The classes aren’t necessarily different from American college classes too much. Just that we have essays and term papers instead of daily assignments to do for class. Also, my classes are only once a week, so I’ll have to pace myself with our papers and definitely not procrastinate and put them off until the night before any paper is due.
However, the teachers do realize that we will be traveling and that school is not the only reason why we came to Canterbury. So that is nice as well. My classes are mainly all American students except for 2 kids in my Cinema class and Modern Britain class, and Ethics. There should be more students hopefully coming for the cinema class, but we’re not really sure. There were only 2 that actually came to the Cinema class this week. In the Modern Britain class, there are about seven or so British students in there. That will be good because we can have another point of view other than what Americans think :D
The grading system is different here though. The grades start at 70% and higher is first class degree (grade). 60% to 69% is upper second class degree. 50% to 59% is lower second class degree. 40% to 49% is third class degree. Lastly below 40% is fail. So that’s how it works here and all of our grades will be.
I’m excited to meet other British students and I hope to make some friends here as well. I’ll probably have to hang out a lot more at school, like in the cafeteria or at the library, or student union (student center) because that is where a lot of them seem to be if they are not in class or in town. We’ll see I guess. I’m not sure about the clubs that I can join. The international director didn’t really mention any to us at the meeting we had on Monday. I’ll have to ask her if there are any clubs to join here. It just seems like a short amount of time that maybe they don’t allow us to join clubs because we are either traveling on Fridays, or will be elsewhere visiting other parts of the country. Hmm… I’ll have to talk to Ali about all of this on Monday. We are going to have a meeting on Monday to discuss our home stays and how they’re doing. On Tuesday, there is going to be band playing at the student union and a lot of other kids will be there as well. So that should be interesting and fun! Then on Wednesday, we’re having a get together at Jim’s house, the teacher who came with us from our ICISP group & leads discussions in Modern Britain class. We’re having spaghetti and garlic bread, and just hanging out.

Second day of school & the pub!

When my ethics class was done at 7pm, I went back home to eat some dinner and then Megan, Kathy, and I were going to go out to one of the pubs to get a drink. We met at the Tree House Pub and found that Matt and the other Shannon already there. The tree house is like a sit down, eat something, and relax kind of pub. I really liked it. Then another guy named Steven joined up too. He’s also from our group too. He’s 22 and is majoring in political science and just came here to get a different experience. Megan and I both got a half pint of a beer called Strongbow. I liked it better than other beers that I have tried before. This one wasn’t so bad. It kind of tasted like sparkling champagne. My host mom had told us where this other pub that was very popular with the students called Simple Simons. We tried to find that pub but ended up walking WAY past it. However, we did end up meeting a couple of the ISU kids on the way. We decided to find another bar to go to and hang out with them. A lot of the stores here close around 6 pm, and that seems to go for the bars around where we were too. One of them had only older people in it, so we didn’t want to go there. Another one was closing and by that time it was getting a little late. The ISU kids headed home because they were planning on talking to their friends or parents on the phone. Steve, Megan and I decided to head back home. We got their cell phone numbers so that we could hang out tonight or Saturday sometime.
Kathy, Shannon, and Matt were at another international students house where some of the kids were teaching their English neighbors how to play beer pong! But they had gone up the road further after we had met up with the ISU kids, so we didn’t join them afterwards.
On Friday’s no one has any classes and I got to sleep in. It has been raining outside and rained last night too. There is a big storm coming from Scotland, which will make it rain here all weekend. I guess I better get used to it :)
I can’t wait to start traveling and see London, Bath, and other places too! That will be very fun. I will put more pictures up and let you see what Canterbury, my house, and school too. My host family wants me to get a picture of them tomorrow, just because Katerina doesn’t want to have a picture of her in her uniform for work. :D
I hope everyone is well and you’re having a fun day not filled with rain! :D I have to go to the campus today to have them look at my blackboard login password because it wasn’t working today. I also have to get a hold of Carol, who has a copy of the Canterbury Tales for me for my British lit. class. Latas (from Bend it Like Beckham)!

1st day of classes

Today was my first day at CC of C (Christ Church of Canterbury). I had British Literature first and Megan and I were the first ones there. The rooms are kind of confusing to find because they’re not in consecutive order really. There are only American students from our program in this class, along with the other Missouri kids who will come next week. We got together with a partner and then introduced them again. I had Mallory who is a junior at ISU and a theater major. She’s very nice and seems like another fun person to hang out with. Then the teacher Steven Tucker gave out a curriculum and told us the stories, essays, and term paper we’d be writing about.
After British Lit. Erin, Megan and I went to eat some lunch. Got nachos with chili, guacamole, cheese, sour cream, and rice. Loved everything but the rice really. Not too keen : P
After lunch, Megan and I went to take some pictures of CC of C and the King’s School where Christopher Marlowe attended. It’s about 40,000 pounds a year to send your 12 through 17 year old to go to that private college there! Megan and I walked around High Street again and it was market day which is every Weds., through to Sunday I believe. Lots of things to buy off the carts and in the stores there are a lot of sales.
We then headed back to school and met a lot more of our whole group in Modern Britain. I liked the topics that we will be discussing but the teacher is a little monotone. That will be a little bit harder to stay awake in I can tell. We did watch a very funny sitcom bit on a show called Forty Towers. John Cleese made this 12 show series which ran for about 2 years in England and is now on reruns all the time. It’s very funny, and this particular episode was about the stereotypes that an American hotel customer acts and how John Cleese’s British hotel manager acts. Very funny!
The overview of the course and the same 4 essays, a term paper, and an end of term exam, we broke into 2 teams to have a discussion. In this class we do have a handful of British students and we discussed Britishness & citizenship, the “American dream” and what the “British dream” would be if there was one. Also, the different stereotypes between our nations and the stereotypes of Europe.
Once class was over, Megan, Kathy, Nick, Liz, and Ken, a lot of art students went to find the art building off of High Street. It was confusing to get to and once we found it, Kathy, Megan and I headed home. So Megan and I were going to go to the movies with Katerina and Kathy was going to meet some people for drinks at Simple Simon, one of the best pubs here. We got home, I ate a sandwich very quickly, and Megan called my phone to say she was too tired to go. I also think it may be that she’s not getting enough protein because she seems spacey and flighty the whole day.
Then Katerina and I left for the movies in Kent, which is up the hill. It’s called the Gulbenkian theatre, which is used in lectures for the Kent University Cinemas and local movie theatre as well. We saw Brick Lane, about a street in London where this woman who moves to London as a young girl to marry a fat, kind of stupid man whose dreams for his job and family are falling apart. It’s about her finding her independence and self-worth and was a very good movie directed by Ang Lee.
After the movie we went home and I am VERY tired and sore. My body is still getting used to the time zone and exercise with all of the walking that I’m doing!
More later :D I’m going to probably go out with some people tomorrow night after classes get done and go to Simple Simon as well.

Finishing off 1st day and 2nd day in Canterbury...

All right, so Kathy and Meghan and I walked to a new way to get to High Street which goes straight through the town. It's the main street FULL of shops, restaurants, bakeries, etc. So we met up with Carol and Erin, who both had class today and we all went to go look for the best deal on the pay as you go phones. There are about 4 places that sell phones on High Street and they're all conviently around one another. There is the votophone store, O2, T-Mobile, and Orange. The best pay as you go phone was at Orange, which the phone cost 10 pounds and then you can add however many minutes onto the SIM card to use through your cell phone. So I got the phone and put 20 pounds on it. I got the abroad SIM card which only charges 7 pence for every minute used, and 15 pence for UK minutes used. So since I was most likely going to be talking less to friends here over the phone and spend more time talking on the phone abroad, I got the abroad deal. I haven't tried using the AT&T card yet, I have heard that they don't work or something, but it's always worth a shot I guess. So after we got our phones we decided to eat a fish and chips restaurant beacause Kathy and Erin wanted fish and chips. I got a baked potatoe with chili and cheese, it was good, and it came with a side salad as well. So after lunch we headed towards school and met people for a tour of the library, which is a lot like what ICC system has, and registering for our Canterbury Christ Church IDs. While we were waiting around for the directors, I met this other guy who is a junior at ISU and is a theater major. His name's Pat and he's very nice. He's from the Chicago area too. So then when the tour was done and we got our cards in the system and will get them in a couple of days, the girls, and I along with this guy name Max, went to a kind of CVS called Woolworths that has everything from school supplies to kitchen ware stuff, to movies and books. So I bought 4 notebooks for school and a planner so I can keep track of things. Then we headed over to Tesco where I bought food stuff for home to eat for dinner. I got bread, peanut butter (haven't tried it yet though, hmm...) chips, deli meat chicken, and cheese slices. So while we headed home, we got to our street and all of our backs were hurting from the long day of carrying out backpacks and stuff, along with groceries, and to top it off it finally started raining! Boo! Oh well, we were lucky to have it be nice out for a couple of days. So then I got home and ate my meal with my host family. We discussed movies and the Sweeny Todd, which I said was good. I told them that people in Peoria at the Rave Theater were wanting their money back because they didn't like and Michael and Katerina were very suprised. They said that no one gets their money back if they don't like the movie, no matter how long they stayed in the theater, or complain either. Hmm.. Bevin, you should take that up with your managers :D So then I helped with the dishes, helped Katerina make the beginnings of a fruit christmas cake, that has brandy in it :) Hmm... although I told her that fruit cake has a bad rep here in the states, so we'll see how it tastes hehe! And then she wants to take me, Megan, and Kathy to a movie tomorrow night. Forget the name at the moment, but it's about an indian girl who has to marry an older man in london and how she struggles to raise a family and independence with her life and love interest. So it's definitely a chick flick so Michael didn't want to really go to it :) He likes other movies and horror films too! So now I have to get some sleep and have school tomorrow! Wish me luck :o) <3 Shannon

Rest of 1st day at Christ Church...

Ok, so after we met with the travel agent director, we got to break for lunch. Some of the girls needed to exchange their money for US to pounds so we went looking for a post office to do that. We went up this hill by school, and then found out that we had to go down the hill and back into the center of Canterbury to find a post office that actually exchanged the money. So then after we found that we went to a Mediterranean restaurant for lunch. It was a buffet and we ended up sharing a bottled still water between Megan, Erin, and my neighbor Kathy. So then we after lunch we went back to school where we talked about the field trips that we were going to go on, and then we took a quick tour of the campus, which didn't take very long. Then it was about 5:30 pm that we all walked over to this place called The Super Noodle Bar where we all ate huge plates of Chinese food. We got to know more about the other students that were sitting around us and had a nice time. Some of the kids wanted to go out to drink at one of the pubs afterwards, but a lot of us were so tired from the whole day, I woke up at 7:00 am that morning, that Megan and I decided to walk back home. It felt VERY late to me but I ended up getting home at about 8:30 pm. Weird! lol :D But Megan and I ended up getting lost because we had gone the opposite way from where we had started at the restaurant, so we got out the maps and looked at them in bright, well lit street corners. We actually had ate at the opposite side of town from where our homes were, but it didn't really take us very long to get home. We actually did pass by the entrance to the Canterbury Cathedral and the Starbucks that Orlando Bloom had been too! That was the one where our EF Tour group at Richwoods had been! Aww.. ;) So then I got home and Megan and a couple of the other girls decided to meet up the next day to go get phones and walk around town until we have to be back at school around 4pm for our Canterbury Christ Church ID's. So more later! Gotta go :D

Meeting and Orientation @ Christ Church

Well my day started early at 7:00 am to a very cooollldd room. Got up and got changed and ate breakfast and waited for Meghan to meet me at the end of my road of Victoria and one of the streets called Wincheap. But before I left home, I decided to check on my neighbor whose name is Kathy Kieta. She's was almost ready and when Meghan met me at 8:00 am, we went back to get Kathy who was finishing up breakfast. Kathy came into Canterbury around 12:30 on Sunday and she explored on her own, which included finding the school. She's from Chicago area and she's studying architecture and wants to transfer to UIC sometime. So we all walked to school and were about the first ones to meet in the reception area called Anselm, which is oddly right outside of the chapel (which is inside).
So we all met everyone else and went to this room in the tennis court area. It's a small building type place as a substitute for another building that is being redone. So it looks kinda like a quick construction one floor building. So we met everyone else that is in the program, except for the St. Louis crowd who come into Canterbury next week due to problems in flights.
So I actually had to introduce Kathy to the crowd and that is why I knew a lot about her. So when it was her turn to introduce me, I had told her that I was a Quintuplet and she was very amazed, as were the other students and teachers too. Kind of embarrassing, but oh well.
So then we had meeting after meeting of things to know about and how to act and how the school system is set up. Looked at my class schedule which is on Tues. & Thurs. Tues.: is British Literature from 9 to 12 and Modern Britain from 2 to 5. Thurs.: American Cinema 9 to 11and Ethics from 5 to 7. The way the classes work is that we sit in lecture for about an hour or hour and a half and then we take a coffee break. Then we come back and the rest of the time is for class discussion. So I have at least one person that I know of in each of my classes. So it will be different because it's only 2 days a week, and I was talking to Katerina tonight about how past host students have handled it and she said that they have plenty of time to travel and get their papers done as well. Which is good, so anyways, the next meeting we had was after a break. We went to the student lunch room, or refectory as they call it here :) Looks very nice and cheap student meals of course, but good too! So then back to our room where we had a meeting/video on how to behave properly as a student in Canterbury. To be smart, but to still have fun at the pubs as well. The Head of Student Support Services said that there is not much crime at all in Canterbury, but that people still had to think smart and be responsible. Next meeting was a travel agent director who works with the best student prices of traveling around England and other cities like Paris, Amsterdam, Edinburugh, Brussels, Wales (which includes horse riding!), Oxford, Coswolds, Bath, and Stonehenge, & Dublin during the St. Patrick's Weekend! A lot of these trips are for only 2 days or so, and almost all of them are on Friday's, which cuts into the trips that we are already taking included in the program. So there are some we can't do, and others we can which everyone is excited about. The trips include a 2 or 3 star hotel which you can share with your friends who go on the trip. The hotels are checked regularly so that they are good. Fully guided sightseeing and specified attraction entry charges included, services of a tour guide for the full duration of the tour/day trips. So I will have to see which one's I'm able to afford and actually go on. They seem like a lot of fun and very safe too! But I don't know if I will spend them on the Paris and Amsterdam trips, only because I'm going there after school is done. Ok I will actually have to stop there and write more tomorrow due to tired eyes :D Plus I only have to go to school at 4 pm for another registering for our student id cards on campus. Love you all! XOXO

FINALLY in Canterbury :D

Ok... Hi everyone! I'm safe and sound, nothing horrible happened to me at all, no scary men barging into my hotel room at 3 in the moring like what happened in Florence one night a long, long time ago, (ok so maybe 2 years ago but whatever :D ) So let's recap the events that happened while I was away from the internet and phone for 2 days!! I felt totally disconnected from everyone and let's just say it's kinda scary but kinda nice too!
On Friday the 4, 2008, mom and dad took me to the airport at O'Hare, we cried and said good bye at the check in scan area for carry on luggage. They had to scan my laptop bag twice because of everything in it and hand manually go through it. But everything went well, I found my terminal all right and got on the plane after calling my grandparents. So I got on the plane, whici lucky me I had a window seat! The plane took off and we headed over to Newark, NJ! As we were flying into Newark, I was able to see the Statue of Liberty way in the distance, however what else could it have been? It's the only green statue in the middle of the water! :D
So that was pretty cool, and I thought of all the people who had crossed over to America by boat looking at it with their American Dreams in their minds. Anyways, I also saw the Empire State Building and also could make out the Brooklyn Bridge as well! It made me think of the Kate and Leopold movie where Hugh Jackman says, "By God, it still stands!" Hehe :D So... then I landed and made my way to my other terminal which wasn't too hard to find either. I looked around for some convient food to eat and ended up getting a sandwich that turned out to be a foot long sub roast beef, cheese, and lettuce sub!!! Too big, but I just packed the other half into my book bag to save for later :P So then I nervously waited around for my next flight to London, Gatwick, thinking, "Surely the gate will change and I will miss the flight!" But it didn't thankfully and I was also sitting by quite a few people who happened to have British accents, so I thought that I was fine.
By this time, my eyes were getting very very tired and I just wanted to be called up to the front of the plane with a first class ticket, but of course, no such luck for me. I did however sit next to a nice young British couple who helped me with my landing card. Before we took off, I got out my ipod and just had the earphones in, and two flight attendants decided to both tell me that it had to be off first or the music on low, and then the next one told me to take the headphones out of my ears! Huh! I didn't even have the thing on yet! But whatever, we listened to the flight safety instructions and then FINALLY took off for London! I ended up falling asleep easily due to the NyQuill tablet I took about an hour before we boarded. Then I suddenly woke up with one of the flight attendants right by my head with a beverage cart talking to the person across from me! It scared me half to death! I also felt like I had had my mouth open and he could see me lol! Oh well, I won't see him again hehe! So then I went back to sleep, and then woke up VERY VERY THIRSTY, and the trolley cart came again, but this time with dinner! Oh Boy! Plane food :P I chose the chicken, remembering not to eat any beef, in case of mad cow of course :) And it had penne pasta and red peppers and corn, which actually was ok to eat. It came with a nice salad with dressing, a roll and butter, and a brownie in a package. Didn't eat the brownie since my mouth would be dry from eating it, so after I was done, I waited for the trolley to come by again with some water.
After dinner, I couldn't really go to sleep again because of this HORRIBLE baby who was probably about 1 and a half years old who kept crying periodically thoughout the WHOLE flight! Grrr.... so I decided to watch CSI:NY after seeing the British girl next to me watching it on her screen. I felt bad for peeking at it and decided to watch it on my tv :D After it was do I tried to sleep with my ipod music on and my ears being clogged due to the air pressure! So I fell asleep again and then woke up when they were passing out the landing cards. So I slept a couple hours I would guess. I then filled out the card, and had to ask the girl next to me if I had to fill out the back which had the passport and stuff on it, so she said no and I would have to get a new one, which I called the attendant over and got a new one hehe! Oops. Just remember, don't fill out the back of a landing card, also have your address ready in case you have to put that down, which I did and put down. When we landed in Gatwick, I went through customs, which was a looong line which went rather quickly! The man asked for my passport and landing card, and then asked what I was going to do in England. I told him I was a student studying abroad and he just checked it, without asking for the statement of my banking account, or my letter from school either. Hmm..?? Oh well. Better safe than sorry I suppose. Then I went to go get my luggage, found it and went on to where the trains were to get a ticket from the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station. Finally found the stupid ticket area, got my ticket and went to the terminal where it was going to be. It was actually downstairs and I had to haul both HEAVY suitcases down them. Although, now I know about the lifts (elevators) that take you and luggage up and down hehe! Too worried that I'd miss the train to clearly think of that :D So I actually did end up missing the first train because there was a train in my terminal, but I was looking at the screen and it said that the train was on time and I thought was coming into the station at 9:20, but that was the departing time and I totally had missed it! But no worries, because I told the station guy standing around that I had just missed it to go to Victoria Station and he told me that there was another one at Terminal 2. So I took the lift up and over to Terminal 2 and asked before getting on the train if this was going to Victoria Station.
Got on the train, put luggage in big luggage area, and took a seat. It took 30 minutes to get to Victoria Station, which was a nice rest. Got my ticket checked, and also could have bought it on the train as well, like Crispin said to :D Oh well. So train ride was pleasant and I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie with all the houses looking like his did at Little Whining Street (??) or wherever he lived hehe!
Bought water, because for some reason I have been soo thirsty ever since I arrived in England. Not too sure why? But I have been keeping hydrated and drinking a lot of water mum :D So got off train, and looked for taxi area, which was very easy to get to and get a cab. Cab driver helped me with my bags and was very nice. We talked about my trip, studying in Canterbury, living in America, going to New York (the driver) and other things.
Got dropped off at hotel, which was more like a narrow building that had a Days Inn sign above the door. So I tipped the driver 1 pound like Christine told me to, and went to check in. Was told that I couldn't change my room to a single and had to keep the same cost, which was what I figured would happen. So I went to room 308 and left my card in the light place which kept the lights on and put my baggage down. It was then 10:00 am and I decided to check to see if I could contact Erin to get together. But no such luck because the internet wouldn't work. So I decided to read bit and then called home to tell everyone that I had gotten there all right and also see if Erin had sent me an e-mail. Nope. So I left the room, making sure I had everything and went off in search of an internet cafe. Paid 2 pounds for an hour and half, couldn't figure out how it worked because I guess you had to set up a Euro Account or something and then you could access the internet. So I then decided to just go on a bus tour. This was luckily a Big Bus Tour right down from where the cafe was. I got the ticket that was good for 48 hours, even though I'd only be there for 24 hours. So took the bus, which ended up circling around at a drop off, and then we had to get on another Big Bus Tour and started again. I actually saw a lot of London and got familiar with where everything was again. I listened to the announcer guy with the headphones would periodically say something about the historical monuments or places, or streets we were on. I saw the Marble Arch, which is a smaller version of the Arc de Triumph in Paris, France, rode down Baker Street, thought of Ben and House while on it :D Passed on Regent street that had the Burberry store in the middle of it, made a small note to go back there to look only :) Passed by Trafalgar Square, where there were hardly any pigeons at all, bummer.. passed Covent Gardens shopping area (no naked guy in the street this time Sammy, sorry I know how badly you wanted to see him again lol ). Went past Royal Courts of Justice, St. Paul's Cathedral where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married, Bank of England, went on the London Bridge, passed the London Dungeon which is supposedly a theme ride ?, passed Tower of London, all the way down the Thames to where the Eye of London was, looping back to pass the Westminster Abbey, Victoria Tower Gardens, passed my next future husband to be Prince Williams Buckingham Palace, about the spot where we had been last time :D Went by Harrods shopping building, which looked like Chicago's Michigain Ave. Very BUSY!! Past the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Science and Natural History Museums, which finally ended the tour 2 hours later back at Paddington pick up where I got off. This tour is one where you can get on and off anywhere as long as you had your ticket and remembered the times that the buses were going. This was excellent and I recommend it to everyone who goes to London, which was a good idea mom, dad, and Ben. Thanks!
While on the bus before my stop, I had moved to the front to ask if it was going to loop back around to the Paddington pick up and the driver said yes. I talked with him and also asked him the best way to get to Heathrow airport for tomorrow to meet people at Terminal 3 to get taken to Canterbury. He said take Paddington Station train to Heathrow Airport. Then went back to the hotel and was EXTREMELY tired!! Ate the rest of my sandwich which was in the fridge. However, the fridge wasn't very cold at all, but whatever. So ate dinner and then read my book since the tv wouldn't work. Called front desk to complain, which was 1:00 am. They said the remote was broken or something and that they'd send someone up in 5 minutes to give me a new one. No one showed, but it was for the best since I didn't need to watch tv and really go to sleep. Listened to the STUPID buzzing noise of I think the fridge, and had to put ipod in ears to block it out! Bed was comfy though :D Fell asleep around 5:00 pm and woke up around 8:00 pm. Still hungry but didn't want to venture outside due to it being dark out and I was all by myself. So just read the rest of my book and called parents again on phone card.
Then read rest of book and finished it around 2:00 am.
Woke up at 8:00 am, jumped in shower and got dressed and made sure that everything was packed nicely and I didn't leave anything behind. Then went down to breakfast. Did have toast, did have beans, but sadly couldn't try them together yet! Too strange hehe :D Also had 2 glasses of orange juice since I still have stupid cough, and hot chocolate, scrambled eggs, and some slices of ham/bacon, the weird kind that was at the hotel last time we were in London. Declined on the bangers (sausage) though b/c I knew ahead of time they taste like mush inside! Yuck! :P
Watched football on tv while eating breakfast and then checked out of hotel and walked down the street to Paddington Station, took train to Heathrow, walked allll the way to Terminal 3 and went to the Arrivals area. It was somewhat like the waiting area in the movie Love Actually, without the slow motion and music and Hugh Grant talking in the background lol. People were greeting one another, held signs up welcoming others home, taxi cab drivers with signs to take people places, most likely hotels. I awkardly made my way through the end of the Terminal 3, which looked like a run way, looking for the cab driver. Sadly no one held the sign saying Canterbury Christ Church students, however at the end as I was looking around a girl named Megan Johns spotted me and asked if I was in the Canterbury school. She was and we were glad to finally see someone we knew and chatted while looking around for the driver. This old lady what had a student helper sign on her shirt came around and gave us a sign to write on and hold up that I put Christ Church Canterbury Students and waited with Megan. She said how she had woken up to the maid coming into clean her room, and that the front desk of her hotel had not given her a wake up call. So she had madly dashed out of the hotel, with no breakfast, gotten on a bus to take her to the airport and was trying to page people who were in her group. So this airport guy had also stopped by and helped us by lending us his phone to call the taxi people to see if there was someone actually coming. They confirmed that he was, that he wasn't carrying a sign, and that I could go early with their group who was supposed to meet at the Arrival Information desk at 10:00 am to go to Canterbury. Which worked out fine because I didn't want to wait around for 4 hours until 2:00 pm for my group to actually go, which ended up being delayed 2 more hours so they got to Canterbury around 6:00 pm.
Finally met up with a guy named Matt, a girl named Julia, from the ISU group, and one of the teachers. Erin Sloan, who I was supposed to meet up with had taken the subway twice in the wrong direction and had somehow ended up in Terminal 1 waiting for people. The cab driver told his company to page her and go to Terminal 3 where we were all waiting.
We finally all got together and made our way to the parking lot where our taxi cab was parked, that sat 6 people and a small trailer for our luggage too. We were all packed in tight but better than hanging around for 4 more hours!
Talked with Megan in the back seat, she's from Champaign, IL, is a musician, has already 2 cds made and is planning on performing somewhere for fun around Canterbury and selling her cds, on the side. She's a vegan and we actually ended up being down the street from one another. Which ended up perfectly because we had decided to meet with the teacher and Julia at Christ Church University and then try to find a Tesco (grocery store) where there were supposedly pay as you go phones. Megan and I decided to meet at 4:30 pm to walk over to the school and then meet them at 5:00 pm.
So I met my host family and they are VERY nice. Katerina is a physiotherapist, who works from home and also at her work. She has a son named Costos, or Kostos ?? who is 17 and goes to school here. They are both from Greece, and he just recently moved here as well. Michael is Katerina's husband and he is a retired sub college teacher for the Kent University. He actually taught, or helps teach the Introduction to Film Art History, which will be one of the classes I am taking at Christ Church. My room is all the way on the third floor in the attic, which has a great view of a park and of Canterbury too! I have my own desk, sink that works, and shelves to put my clothes and other things too. Sadly no places to put my pictures, but we'll see about that later I guess. I unpacked all of my stuff and then took my gifts of 2 Fannie May chocholate boxes and a book on Route 66 from a gas station we got on the way up to Chicago. I also brought down some pictures to show Katerina and Michael my family and friends and other things thrown in there too! Katerina LOVED the Route 66 book because it has always been her dream to travel it all the way to San Francisco, just like Mechty's dad :D. But she said that she needs to giver herself about 2 years to build up the courage to fly on a plane over to the U.S. So she was really excited about the book, and they also liked the chocolates too! I told them it was from Chicago and then Michael showed me a picture of his two kids both in their mid 20's I think, who had gone to Chicago this past summer. Huh, small world :) So then Megan came by my house and we got directions from Katerina with a map :D of how to get to the Church all right and to get to Tesco too.
So we ventured out and by this time it was kinda dark, so Megan and I were staying close together trying to NOT look like tourists hehe. But we were safe, however we were lost a bit but then corrected our mistake. But we ened up being late to meet the other two people and decided to just go to Tesco instead. So it took us an hour to find the place due to our detour, and ended up around the eating area where my family had stopped for the McDonalds because it was the only place open due to the power outage! Weird! So we ended up asking a girl who turned out to be from Seattle, Washington and was staying in Canterbury on a mission trip for a year. Her name was Kaitlin and she was actually going to Tesco herself so she showed us the way. She also told us about another phone store to compare prices if the pay as you go phone wasn't a very good deal. Which it turned out to be 64 something pounds!! I don't think so! So Megan and I shopped around for groceries. I ended up getting some cereal, since Katerina didn't know what kind I liked, a thing of yogurt, Ritz crackers, crackers with cheesecake dipping sauce (interesting), and a razor, which by the way, they have Venus and I should have brought one from home! Oh well :D
So once finished, we headed back home. On the way we stopped at a Thai Restaurant and ordered Take Away (to go). Interesting, and Megan liked it a lot since there was a lot of vegan stuff to eat. Not my cup of tea, but I got some kind of chicken, with veggies and a side of rice. Much more like Chinese really. Then headed for home and didn't get lost.
Came home and ended up saving the dinner for later and ate a yummy dinner of a type of lasagna with penne noodles instread of the layered noodles, which had a type of ground meat, and good cheese in it too! They served it with a feta cheese on the side. It was interesting and very sharp, but was ok I thought. Not my favorite but oh well :) Talked about being a Quintuplet and they were still amazed about the whole thing. They asked if my parents got money from the government, and I tried not to laugh! I wish!! But oh well, I guess here Michael said that they get much money per child per week or month or something! Which would definitely be nice if that would happen in the States lol :D But I told them people only get money if they are on welfare, or divorced I guess. Then we talked about movies and they moved onto actors and actresses because I had asked about Atonement coming to their cinema, which it had over Christmas! Drat! But may come out on DVD while I'm here, so Bevin, happy birthday present maybe!! :D Then I had asked about what famous celebrities lived here and Michael said, "Orlando Bloom" !!!! I acted all suprised but told them that he was my favorite actor and Michael said that his oldest son went to a party and got to meet him! I asked Michael what he was like and he said that he was a really nice guy according to his son! So hah to all who thought that he was a vain, stuckup actor! But Katerina and Michael both had agreed that Keira Knightley was a good actress but just didn't act approriately like a famous actress. I guess she can come off rather haughty in interviews or something? Also that she needs to break away from the period movies as well. Oh well, :D.
Then after dinner I helped wash dishes, they recycle a lot of things: cans, plastic bags, papers etc. Which is sort of what we do sometimes too. Costos didn't really talk a whole lot during dinner and I tried asking him what his interests were, like if he played video games or what not, but he said no, not since he was little. Well there goes one plan about getting him some video games or something of that nature. So I'll have to try harder to see what he likes.
Michael and I tried setting up my lap top which took a while, but luckily they had had the same problems with their other host students (they've hosted 2 I belive; 1 from Missouri, and the other from N.Y.C.) and we eventually figured it out and that is how I am typing tonight :D Yeah, I felt soo disconnected from everyone back home since I didn't have a cell phone and my lap top wasn't really working.
So now tomorrow is a big day, full of meeting people at the school's main building, talking about the school, break, more talking about homestay stuff, tour of campus, meeting with the staff, travel presentation, info on field trips :D, and finally ending it off with dinner for everyone at The Super Noodle Bar for a welcome meal & more opportunities to talk to other students!
Now it's time for bed and am glad to be back online again :D Plus there's an adapter for my computer already here, so grateful :D!!
Night,
<3 *Shannon*

Why England?

Where to start..... my name is Shannon, I weigh: 121 pounds, smoked cigarettes:0, drank bottles of beer: 0 .... oh wait... I'm not Bridget Jones after all :D

Well, my name is Shannon and I'm a 20 year old sophomore at Illinois Central College. It has always been a dream of mine to study abroad in England. I wasn't very particular of which part of England, I just knew that I wanted to go study there. I became an Anglophile (aka person who is friendly to or admires England or English customs, institutions, etc ) since I started reading about Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII and found out that Orlando Bloom, the actor, was British too :D As I got older, my interest increased and during our senior year at Richwoods High School, my family and I went on a Europe trip which included visiting London and Canterbury! I loved being there and seeing the places that King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn actually were at one time! Plus I was in THE starbucks coffee shop that Orlando Bloom had been too!!
Well, when I found out that I could actually go study in Canterbury through Illinois Central College, I looked into it and seriously discussed it with my parents. It is a once in a life time opportunity and has been a difficult process to actually achieve. I still can't believe that I'm actually going! I will be going to the Christ Church of Canterbury, and staying with a host family. This seems a little backwards because my family has always been the one to host exchange students and now I'm going to be the exchange student!
I started saving a lot of my money from my job at Flat Top Grill as a waitress and started the process of applying for the trip. Through MANY different people to finalize all of the classes, student loans, meetings and such just to be able to go, seemed like there would be someone telling me, "Oh you didn't finish this, so you're not allowed to go!" But I really am going, my plane ticket has been bought, and my money is saved. I'm excited, scared, nervous, and happy that one of my dreams is coming true. I hope that this all doesn't seem too boring for you who are reading this and hope that you enjoy it. Please write comments and keep me informed of what's going on with all of you!
Back to the studio (sorry, another Bridget comment hehe :o) ) By the way, it's a VERY funny movie and you should watch it if you haven't already. Along with Monty Python and the Holy Grail. :D Also another British movie :D

Love *Shannon*