so on wednesday, we met bright and early at 7:00 AM for our very first overnight trip! we were so excited, yet a little nervous about how we would function since we knew this would make us superrrrrr tired.
our first stop was at glastonbury abbey! this was really cool. we looked at tons of ruins from a monastery, and one of our tour guides was dressed like a monk and everything. haha it was really cool to see something that was still around from sooooo many years ago!
our next stop was at TINTAGEL CASTLE. this was my favorite part of the day. we didn't see much of a castle, but the ocean was AMAZING. and that was good enough for us :) we got to explore around the cliffs, and it felt so good to be around water. we never wanted to leave! isn't it beautiful? i seriously wanted to jump in, but it looked a bit cold ;)
from here, we drove south to newquay where we stayed at the hotel victoria! it was actually a very nice hotel (besides the fact that we didn't have wifi in our rooms) haha but to be honest, the reason why i was most excited to stay here is because i've recently been obsessed with "revenge" the TV show, and my favorite character on the show is victoria, so yeah… that's dumb. oh well! haha but look at this hotel! it was so beautiful and the view was magical. take a look!
and apparently it was haunted, but i tried to not think about that while we were there...
so after we got all settled in to our rooms, ashlyn, madie, christine, and i wandered around newquay to find somewhere to eat! newquay is the cutest little town! i would totally retire there with my husband! haha the only problem is that most places there close around 5:00 PM, but thank goodness for pubs that are always open- we found somewhere to eat! we ate at "the sailor's arm" (no, it's not a tattoo parlor) and it had the best fish and chips ever. like hands down. the fish was cooked to perfection!!!! yummm so golden and delicious :) at dinner, there was a really attractive british bartender working and he was totally hitting on christine. like hard core. it was wonderful. they sat and chatted at the bar for a while and he invited all of us to stay for the quiz that night until 4:00 AM, and we told him we'd think about it :) (even though we knew that was NOT going to happen because we were all exhausted) it was a good time though. definitely a good memory-- just look at her face looking longingly at him ;)
after dinner, nothing, literally NOTHING, was open, so we went and saw "The Monument's Men" at the cinema. i LOVED it. i totally recommend it if you haven't seen it :) well, and tom hanks is in it, so of course i loved it. duh. but it was all about art history and stuff, so naturally, i loved it! and it was so nice going to a movie theater! i feel like i haven't watched a movie in a theater in years. i know that's exaggerating, butttttt it was really relaxing. (especially after our long, draining day we just had traveling) after the movie, we just walked home to our hotel and got more settled in! christine and marie went for a swim in the ocean, but i was way too tired and way to scared to swim in a freezing ocean. hahah now, i kind of wish i did though- just to say i did it ;) that night, i was rooming with Betsy! she is so cute! i love her! dr. c always confuses our names, so we're known as the "twins" on this trip! haha seriously no one can tell us apart! we don't really see the resemblance, but apparently it's because we have the same color hair? anyway, so we just stayed up for a while and had some really good girl talk and then we went to bed and had a lovely night's rest :)
the next morning, we got up bright and early to a lovely english breakfast at the hotel including the most delicious, flakiest croissants ever, and we took a walk along the beach before we headed off to land's end…
from the hotel, we made our way along the west coast of cornwall to land's end. this was probably one of the top ten high points of this whole semester. i LOVED land's end. so much. there are no words to describe it- check it out. it was magical. and a little windy.
our next stop was at st. michael's mount. if you can't tell- there's a theme to this trip. water/oceans/cliffs/islands. haha so we showed up to the beach and spent a while frolicking around enjoying the sand and the sun and picking up seashells. so this place is really cool. st. michael's mount is an island with a castle on it. but at a certain time of day, the water washes away and there is a causeway that is open for you to walk across to the island. SO COOL. so we were waiting for the causeway to open, but it was taking too long and we never have any extra time on these trips, so we took this cool boat/car thing over to the island! we hiked up st. michael's mount and got to explore the castle! apparently, a family still lives there. like to this day. i feel bad for them though- that is one heck of a hike just to get home. haha the view from the top was crazy beautiful though! then we quickly grabbed a cornish pasty on the way back from the castle because you have to get a cornish pasty when you're in cornwall :) it was kind of gross, but it's one of those things you have to do! :)
we made our way back to the beach via the causeway because it finally opened then we loaded the bus to go on to our next adventure! we stopped at exeter cathedral! yay another cathedral! we ran through this cathedral pretty quickly and the library attached to it and saw some cool stuff. then we went to NANDO'S :) it was a good time :)
on friday, we had the day allllll to ourselves! we slept in a little bit and then we headed to the national portrait gallery to complete a homework assignment! we just had to identity 12 portraits of royalty and then write about each one… it was pretty simple. and after we finished our assignment, we just wandered around to see the rest of them! here are a few of my favorites :)
after the national portrait gallery, we hit up baker street! apparently this is a big deal to sherlock fans, but i didn't really know get the significance. haha we tried to go into the sherlock museum, but the line was sooooooo long (never try to do anything in london on fridays or saturdays) so we just walked around and ended up at ask italian :) yummmmmm. haha …and we might have stopped at scoop on the way home for some gelato, too… shhhhh!
on saturday, we completed another homework assignment! go us! we were assigned to walk around the kensal green cemetery and write about what the tombstones told us about the person it was about…? odd, but really interesting! i love old cemeteries! and the headstones were cool to look at! some were so elaborate, and some were so simple! it made me think about what i want on mine…? haha food for thought. this one was my favorite because of all of the little trinkets on it!
then we made our way to PORTOBELLO ROAD. one of my favorite places here!!!!! it's so fun to see all of the street vendors and try all of the yummy treats! i love all of the vintage shops and it made me WANT A FUR COAT SO BADLY. specifically a dalmation coat. call me cruella. i'm determined to get one before i die!!!!!!!! but yeah- so fun. another amazing thing about portobello road is that there's a poundland there! it's like a dollar store, but with pounds and it's the best thing everrrrrr! we loaded up on junk food because that night, we hung out at ashlyn's sister's flat to babysit her nephew while her sister went out with her husband. so naturally, we had a girls night complete with pizza, clueless, and everything cadbury has ever produced. hahah it was a lovely night :) it was so nice being in a home! it felt so good!
SUNDAY WAS SO BAD. usually i get to teach the angelic sunbeams. but this sunday, we had to teach the 4-7 year olds. they were horrible. one kid was punching the other in the face. and this little girl poured apple juice all over my new coat while she was like sucking on my hand. gross. it was so gross. we like ran our of the building the SECOND church was over. haha i may sound dramatic, but it really was that bad. hahah wish me luck that next week will be better!
from london with love,
pep xoxox
