last weekend in London.

I cannot believe how quickly my summer is going by. I knew it was going to go by fast, but not this fast. PLEASE SLOW DOWN. This weekend is my LAST WEEKEND IN LONDON. Next weekend (July 24th-26th) I will be venturing to Paris. And the following weekend (July 30th - Aug 2nd) I will be in DUBLIN. Then to Iowa on Saturday, Aug 8th. WOW.

Most of our friends from the program went traveling this weekend, but Kelly, Amanda, and I decided to stay in London ..go on our tour of Parliament, finally get on the London Eye, and do any other little things we have not yet gotten to. Our tour of Parliament on Friday was ..okay, I mean it was really cool to actually walk through such an important/historical building, but the tour was a little lacking. We walked the path the Queen takes when she opens parliament ONCE A YEAR. (ONCE A YEAR). exciting. hahaha. We couldn't take any pictures on the tour. But I did get ONE in the main hall while waiting for our tour guide.

-----> Kelly, Amanda, & I in our DREAMER t-shirts :)


Following our Parliament tour, we headed straight for the London Eye. They were sure to ask me a couple times, "Chelsea, do you feel okay?" hahaha. I successfully did NOT get sick this time. And we did make it on the eye. After being asked numerous times what we were dreaming about (our t-shirts).

----> The city I live in!!


-----> Supporting our stylish University of Dreams t-shirts :)


-----> Having WAY too much fun w/ the guy in the car in front of us!


We then decided that for dinner it would be fun to venture to Chinatown London. So we did. Delicious food, but I felt bad for the ducks in the window.

-----> eyeballs, beaks still VERY intact. I ate chicken!


Today we went shopping at various markets throughout London, including the two Covent Garden markets and Camden market. They had a Build-A-Bear in Covent Garden. I went in and found the CUTEST "Chelsea Futbol Club" soccer outfit ..jersey, shorts, socks, & soccer cleats. So I bought it for my build-a-bear/monkey that is back at home, but definitely NOT forgotten :) I also purchased alot of other Chelsea Futbol stuff.. it seriously entertains me. (FUNNY - Jeff is a big soccer fan and he does in fact like Chelsea soccer, sooo I found this sign that says "Chelsea Fan Sleeps Here". hahahahahhaha, funny?! A little. I got it for him! & Jeff, you better hang it up!).

-----> Boobear's (my build-a-bear) new Chelsea Futbol outfit :)


-----> HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA <3


Back to my "itchy/scratchiness" ..I went to the doctor and she told me I have hives from some allergic trigger, but that she doesn't know what caused it. She prescribed me medicine, filled it at the pharmacy, looked it up online when I got home ..said "Referred to as Zyrtec in the United States". I have been taking the medicine for 4 days now and I am yet to see an improvement in the bumps or the itchiness. If they aren't better in two weeks, she wants me to make another appointment to get allergy tests done. Lets hope they get better! The doctor suggested I was allergic to London, hilarious right?

-----> my hives. my arm. this is really minor compared to my legs.

Brussels (continued) ..& my first SICK DAY (from work).

So basically Brussels was my ideal city ..minus the slight language barrier and extremely forward/creepy guys. The city is known for waffles, chocolate, french fries, and BEER ..not to mention the gorgeous buildings! (It's the "capital of Europe").

----> One of the many amazing buildings in the "Grand Place" (or Center Square)


My advice: Visit Belgium. Drink Leffe & Hoegaarden. Eat a "traditional" Belgium waffle (w/ nothing on it), then do it the tourist way & put as many toppings as possible. Eat frites (french fries) out of a cone, pick a good sauce (spicy! yummm). & if you're brave ..try mussels in brussels (w/ fries). OH & eat Belgium chocolate :)


Now today ..Tuesday, July 14th

I must set up this story ..so during my first couple of weeks in London I noticed my skin felt really dry. And usually that's typical during the summer, so I didn't think much of it. I just continued to use lotion when I got out of the shower (that I brought from home). And even drink more water (got to stay hydrated). WELLLLLLL ..over time this "dry skin" problem has turned into much more. While in Belgium I had the constant overwhelming need to itch/scratch my arms & legs. That is when I begun to wonder what the heck was going on. This morning when I woke up ..not good. I don't really remember being 5 years old and having the chicken pox but I can imagine that the "annoying MUST scratch my arm/leg now" feeling I am having was much like it. I called in sick to work. My first time EVER in my life. Crazy, I know? So because London practices this wonderful thing called "United Healthcare" (sarcasm) ..I had to REGISTER for an appointment today and tomorrow I must "promptly" begin calling the doctor's office at 8:30 AM. Our program director told me to just keep calling until I get through. What is this a radio contest or a doctor's appointment??? Apparently ALL of the appointments for the ENTIRE DAY fill up in the first 20 minutes the phone lines open. Which means I begin calling at 8:30 AM and if I have not gotten through by 8:50 ..I have to try again the NEXT day! Seriously? I hate going to the doctor's, but I appreciate it more in the STATES. Basically I have NO idea what started all of this scratching, but I will hopefully get an appointment tomorrow and find out. Everyone is guessing it's an allergic reaction or something "different" here. Well since everything is different it's a little bit difficult to pinpoint what it could be.

But of course I couldn't just sit around all day and stare at my arms & legs wishing I could itch them ..so I went with a friend (who called in sick because of a cough) to the British Library. And then to the British Museum.

We couldn't take any pictures in the British Library, but they had A LOT of really interesting things. We saw a collection of the original pieces of paper John Lennon wrote some of the Beatles songs on, one being "Michelle" written on the back of an envelope. We also saw the original manuscript of "Alice in Wonderland". They also had a huge exhibit of the famous Henry VIII. The room was freezing cold and all of the documents (books, letters, & paintings) were in temperature controlled cases to help preserve them. I finally got all of his wives straight. (A saying about his wives: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived ..clever right?! haha).

Then we ventured to the British Museum! This is when the allergy pill I had taken began to kick in and I was getting sleepy, BUT I saw the ROSETTA STONE and my 1st real mummy!

-----> Inside the British Museum!



-----> the ROSETTA STONE (with a really bad glare)


------> a MUMMY


------> & last but certainly NOT least ..my legs covered in Calamine Lotion (had to, haha)


Discovering what I am allergic to ..TO BE CONTINUED :)

(follow-up blog tomorrow after my hopefully successful attempt at getting a doctor's appointment in London).

I am not yet finished telling about my adventures in Brussels ..I will continue after my tour of the Southbank and a half day at work :)

BRUSSELS ..waffles, chocolate, fries, & beer. my kind of place :)

I just got back from Belgium last night! We left early Friday morning (5:00 AM), got on the Eurostar at the train station right down the street from our building (my FIRST real train ride), and we arrived in Brussels around 9 AM (because of the time change). I think initially none of us expected the language barrier to be as difficult as it was. Once we arrived in Brussels, we began walking. We had a map to our hotel but these are not like USA maps. They're much more difficult to navigate. All I can say is, thank goodness our hotel was 30-stories and easy to spot from a long distance away. We checked in and dropped all of our stuff in our room and then headed for LUNCH. We made our 1st stop at a local pub that spoke ZERO english, so we had to point at what we wanted but because we spoke zero french we just ordered beer to be on the safe side.

----> Amanda, Kelly, and I drinking our 1st beer in Brussels - Hoegaarden.


Then we ventured out to find lunch. Unfortunately for us, our stomachs were overpowering our brains and we stopped at another english speaking place. Using the spainsh words we knew we figured out some of the menu ..("jamon" ham in spanish, "jambon" ham in french). We all played it safe. Either omelets or spaghetti. It was good food, but just a awkward situation. We then walked around Brussels in our attempt to find "Grand Place" (the center square). We ended up completely out of our way, but stumbled upon a yellow van selling Belgium Waffles. So we made our 1st stop for waffles. Although he called whipped cream - creme. & chocolate sauce something COMPLETELY different, once he showed us the items we figured it out. And they were AMAZING. Ahhhhhhh!!

-----> Our FIRST waffles in Belgium :)


I had THREE (& a 1/2) belgium waffles while in Brussels. I justify it to myself because 2 1/2 of them had strawberries (HEALTHY) hahaha and I didn't eat much else. Brussels has way too much stuff from the sea in shells.

-----> Amanda's food ..we watched the guy crack open the shells & lay them on her plate ..then brought it straight over to us ..ewwwwww! (she spit 1 out, swallowed 1 whole, unsuccessful).


We went to this bar called Delirium. Supposedly it has one of the world's largest on tap beer selections ..over 2,000. (they are divided between their upstairs & downstairs bar). So we went there Friday night and the guy recommended a cherry beer. Clearly the menu was too long for me to look and find something else so 3 of us ordered the cherry. Once we got it, the bartender said "Oh and that 10.2% alcohol content". WHAT?!

-----> Kelly, Jonny, & I at Delirium :)


On Saturday, it rained for most of the day. But since we're Londoners now, rain doesn't bother us! Haha. 1st things 1st ..we got another waffle! :)

-----> Looks AMAZING, right?!


And we saw what Brussels is known for, Manneken Pis ..their statue of a little boy peeing. Now when I say little, I really mean little. The statue was probably two feet tall. And it was between the corner of two buildings.

-----> All of us in front of Manneken Pis.

Dear all.

I am going to BRUSSELS, BELGIUM. I will not have my computer over the weekend, but I will update pictures and my blog when I get back on Sunday night.

Everyone - ENJOY your weekend.