Reporting back from London!

Well hello America! Happy Martin Luther King DAY!!! Sadly, here in Britain, we still had school:) Well, now that I finally uploaded some of my photos, it's pretty hard to actually choose ones to post! The one of me jumping (typical I know) is the front of my school! Can you believe that! About the third day of school a few of us took our walk to take some photos of the front of the manor, and also walked into the village. The plan was to get photos all the way around the house, but we never made it to the back, so photos of the gardens and such will have to come at a later date (we were going to go out today but we weren't allowed in the woods because shooters were out and about - pheasant hunters that is). It's absolutely wonderful here! I had a tough first few nights - partially exhaustion, jet lag, and nerves - but I already feel so comfortable here!

I wish I could say that I already have a English accent, but sadly I will probably have a southern American accent more as the students here are mostly from Kentucky and Indiana and such. It's just as entertaining to compare our language differences as the ones of the British! The castle is even better than I could imagine, it's so beautiful! We were at Hampton Court Palace on Sunday, and all that was going through my mind is "Harlaxton is cooler!". Which is VERY lame since Hampton is a BIG deal!

SO, on Friday we went on our first trip. We left on a coach for London at 8am. Most of the students went with the school, just so we get used to the city etc. London was great - but very exhausting! I don't remember the last time I have walked that much! I also had a nasty cold, which my bus mates deeply appreciated. Everything was great, especially when I almost ran into one of the 'bobbies' on a horse while crossing the street. OR when we were advised to stay away from Trafalgar square because there was an 'anti-america' (or so it was called...) demonstration! THAT was fun. Actually I was tempted to go (as long as I throw in a few "I can't wait to go back to CANADA"s in there, I'd survive:)). But it was very fun, and we hit all the big spots, Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace etc. It was great. The picture above is of two friends and I in front of Westminster.

And the one to the right is in front of Big Ben of course (for those of you old farts that can't tell - I am spelling out WOW).

Hopefully there will be much more to come! I wish I could fit more pictures on here, or that I had the motivation to upload them all. But for now, I need to do some reading on the Magna Carta, and then go down to the pub for a bit (what a hard life!). I still love America, and I hope all are well! God Bless!