IS THIS REAL LIFE?!

First of all, I'm too excited to try to make this post in any way a literary work... so if any of my old English teachers are reading this, I'm so sorry.

Way under dressed...

Last night, six of us went out to Notting Hill to see if we could get near the red carpet for the world premier of "This Means War" starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy. Not only did we get near the red carpet, but I was on the very front row where I could see everything and everyone. Kathryn and I had worn our Tennessee sweatshirts since Reese is from Nashville we thought she might appreciate this, unfortunately they did not do too much to keep us warm. So by the time the stars arrived I could barely take a straight picture because I was shaking so badly. That didn't stop me from trying, though.

That's Tom Hardy...with my head...

Tom Hardy (you might recognize him from Inception or the upcoming Batman movie) showed up and went down the line signing autographs. We had learned our lesson last time to bring something for them to sign, but we are college students with limited resources so all I had was my journal...best journal entries EVER. He was so nice and when I thanked him for signing my journal he replied with a very chipper and very British, "Oh you're welcome!"

Chris Pine

Chris Pine (from Star Trek and the Princess Diaries 2) arrived and was rushed down the line. He stopped signing right in front of me, so unfortunately my journal didn't get to meet him. The security guard that was watching our section was very nice and I had been talking to him before the premier. When I didn't get Chris's autograph he came up to me and said, "But you were so close..." which made me laugh thinking about the Jimmy Kimmel Halloween candy video.





Reese Witherspoon (if you don't know what she has been in you live under a rock) came and was signing autographs as well. When she got to where I was standing and saw my sweatshirt our conversation went like this:

Her saying "Go Vols!" That's my head she's talking to...

"Reese, we're here from Nashville!"
"Oh really! What are ya'll doing here?"
"We're studying abroad."
"What school do you go to?"
"University of Tennessee, we wore our TN sweatshirts just for you."
"Oh! That's awesome, Go Vols!"
"You make TN look so good!" (Yes I said that. No shame here.)
"Aww thank you sweetie!"





Reese Witherspoon said "Go Vols." I thought my young life had peaked; little did I know that the best was yet to come. The head-honcho security guard came right up to me and asked if I wanted to go into the movie. Obviously I said yes, but I though that he was joking. I said, "you can't do that can you?" He replied, "can't I?" A minute later he was handing me 6 front-row tickets to see the movie in the same theater as the stars... They escorted us onto the red carpet and we walked right past Reese giving an interview and Chris Pine and Tom Hardy talking to the press and straight into the theater. Our jaws never got back up off the floor. And I swear we were smiling the entire movie.

The security guard giving me the tickets!

I was a little under-dressed for my first Hollywood premier, but it was magical nonetheless. I still can't quite believe that actually happened. It's a dream I've had many times, but I always wake up at the end...not this time. 

Us after the movie!

So Classy!

Three Strikes You're Out...

When it rains it pours.

This weekend was supposed to be the highlight of my trip as I traveled to Paris to meet up with some of my very favorite people: Madame Bowen, Lindsay Fowlkes, and the wonderful Birthday-Girl Hannah Margaret. After an unfortunate turn of events, Hannah Margaret was unable to go and since Madame's school group was leaving bright and early Saturday morning, it would have been me all alone in Paris for two days. For any grandparents reading this right now: don't worry I did not go to Paris by myself. I was very tempted to - had my bags packed and was walking out the door. However, I decided to call my Dad to get his opinion. I'm sure my parents loved getting a long-distance phone call from an unknown number at 4:00 in the morning their time...every parent's nightmare. I don't know if you have seen the movie "Taken" with Liam Neeson, but it consists of a girl getting snatched in Paris and her Dad coming to rescue her by kicking some snatcher butt. Well, my Dad and I decided that we didn't want to deal with that. And as my brother, Walker, said as his parting words to me, "Remember, if you get taken...Dad is NOT Liam Neeson..." I didn't go to Paris: strike one.

After moping around for a day (and by moping I mean going on the London Eye and booking a train ticket to Oxford...) I decided to have a good attitude about not being in Paris and losing money for tickets and such because after all I am still in London. Things could be worse. We headed to Oxford Yesterday, and as we were leaving I realized that I had forgotten my camera... that may not seem like a big deal but wait until you hear what we were doing in Oxford. We visited The Kilns, which is the house that C.S. Lewis lived in for most of his life. We visited The Eagle and Child Pub, which is the pub where the Inklings (Lewis, Tolkein, Barfield, Williams, and many others) would meet to have their literary and philosophical discussions every week. We visited University of Oxford's Christ Church, which is where the Great Hall for the Harry Potter Movies was filmed... If you know me at all, then you will understand how distraught I was that I did not have my camera. No pictures of Oxford: strike two.

I spent the whole day in Oxford walking, which normally is a great thing for me because I love to walk. However, that is not as enjoyable when you have a bum ankle and it hurts to walk. I'm a dope and have somehow hurt my ankle, so I hobbled around the city for hours trying to keep up with the group and making a fool of myself limping around everywhere. I felt like my black lab, Dixie, who waddles around with a limp. Dixie, we can keep each other company now. Limpin' like a dog: strike three.



Three strikes, you're out! The funny thing about being in London, though, is that even when things don't go as planned, or when things seem to be going against me...I'm still in London. I'm also very lucky, because my brother, Daniel, and his girlfriend, Caitlin, are in my part of town this weekend! Dan has been gallivanting around Europe "studying" for the past few weeks and his last stop is London. He doesn't have a phone and doesn't currently have internet, so getting in touch with him to let him know that I'm not in Paris this weekend has been tough, but it looks like we will be meeting up tonight!


I said "when it rains it pours," but ironically enough it hasn't rained here yet, literally or figuratively. Life is good in London Town.

Disclaimer: These pictures were taken from unsuspecting classmates who put them on Facebook because a blog without pictures is boring. 

Expecto Patronum

Recognize him? If you don't then you live under a rock because that is probably one of the most famous faces in the world right now and tonight that famous face was about two feet from my face...

A few weeks ago, some of the people in our program stumbled across the movie premiere for War Horse and were able to catch a glimpse of the backs of William and Kate's heads. Unfortunately, I was not part of that group, but thought that it was the coolest thing just to be in the same place as some of the celebrities that frequent London. In an attempt to catch up to my fellow classmates on the celebrity sightings, I ended up on a website that lists all the London movie premieres. Jackpot. And it just so happened that the first one for "The Woman In Black" was tonight! Five of us walked about two miles from our flat to the theater and arrived as they were setting up the red carpet. After hearing about the Will and Kate sighting, I figured that we would be in a huge crowd of people and would be lucky to catch a glimpse of a celebrity's ear... but as we approached, there was just one row of people separating us from the star-studded walkway. We waited about an hour and then heard the screams as Daniel Radcliffe (since he's basically my best friend now I like to call him Dan) pulled up to the carpet.

He is really short. I guess I knew this but seeing him in person made him seem a lot shorter. I'm guessing 5'3'' at the most. He was on the carpet for close to an hour and was so close most of the time that I could hear him talking to interviewers. Excuse my extreme nerdiness for a moment: if you have seen the 6th Harry Potter movie then try to recall his acting for the scene when he is hopped up on Felix Felicis. That is how he was in person - goofy and happy. He came right up to where we were standing and I could have reached out and touched him but I thought better of it considering he was flanked by scary body guards.

Before he stopped by where we were standing Kathryn and I had a very low moment: We attempted to call him over by yelling in unison, "Daniel, we came all the way from Tennessee!" I'm going to maintain that it worked and that is why he came to see us, but that's a stretch. We did not feel the least bit guilty about exploiting our southern-belle charm. It has worked in the past so we thought we would give it a try...

Well, I would say sorry for writing an entire post about seeing Harry Potter in person, but seeing as this fulfilled every childhood dream I ever had... I'm just not sorry at all. I'm a not-so-closet Harry Potter fan, so get ready for my dorkiness to appear once again: if I had to make a patronus right now, tonight would be my happy thought. Expecto Patronum!



(If you don't get that reference...it's about time you read the books.)

Top Shop

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in London, and with nothing pressing to do Kayla and I decided to get some shopping done. What we thought would be a quick jaunt down to Oxford Street turned into a marathon of huge stores and terrifying crowds. After stopping at Ben's Cookies (honestly the best cookie I have ever had) for "lunch" on the way, we made our way into the first store. I was on a mission for pants considering one of the two pairs that I brought lost a zipper within the first week of being here, and Kayla was looking for a purse. We thought that this would be a simple trip consisting of one or two stops and then back home...how wrong we were.

The first store was impressive with three stories, but it was relatively normal. The next store, however, was the strangest thing I have ever seen. It is called Top Shop and we had heard that it gives student discounts, so we were eager to visit. I wish someone could have taken a picture of our faces as we entered because I guarantee you that our jaws hit the floor. This store is MASSIVE with four floors each about as large as an entire Target back home. Imagine a Macy's or Dillards...now add a frozen yogurt parlor in between two clothes racks. Walk around the corner to look at jewelry and while you're at it you can get your fill of any type of candy you can imagine. I had a moment of nostalgia as I stood (in the middle of a department store) and looked at types of candy that I haven't seen since we lived in Waterloo, Belgium. We went down the escalator and were met with the smell of food cooking, but all we could see was dresses. No worries, they have an entire restaurant inside their clothing section. It would be like plopping a Panera in the middle of the casual wear section in JC Penny. But if you don't feel like eating, you could get your hair done, your eyebrows waxed, or your nails manicured all at different stations throughout the store. Oh and you can shop, too. It's easy to forget that in the midst of the craziness. This store was like nothing I have ever seen before with clothes for sale that would only be acceptable on the Red Carpet in the states...

We were overwhelmed to say the least. We left and decided that our shopping could be done somewhere that didn't have a cupcake bakery inside. Lucky for us (but not for my wallet) there are five H&M's on Oxford Street to choose from. Mom and Dad, you would be so proud of me I didn't buy a single thing, though we were tempted by the bright UT orange satin pants. And we felt right at home when we found an American flag jean jacket that was absolutely atrocious... God Bless America.

All in all, shopping here is terrifying... I think I'll stick to Target.

3 Girls in a Big City

Yesterday was one of those days that I will always remember as a good day. I might eventually forget what we did and what we saw but no matter what I will always be able to look back and know that yesterday was truly a good day. It started off with a simple mission: find the Borough Markets. You wouldn't think that this would be too hard.... So Kayla, Paige, and I left our flat at 11:30 and figured that we would just walk in the general direction until we found the Borough Markets, an outdoor food market. Someone (...Andy) had told us that it was near Buckingham Palace so we made our way through Trafalgar Square. We got excited when we entered the square because there were people everywhere and street performers on every corner. We stationed ourselves to watch one man who advertised fire bending, but quickly left when we saw that his idea of "turning liquid to solid" was flailing his arms around in an attempt to break dance.

The three of us walked along the path to Buckingham Palace and talked about our time here and how good it was to have a day away from the craziness of big groups for a girl's day. Sometimes you just need a day with the girls. We had seen Buckingham Palace at night, but seeing in the daylight was an entirely different experience. We took the classic pictures in front of the gates and some not-so-classic pictures with random boys on bicycles that reminded us of characters from Mary Kate and Ashley's "Passport to Paris." This was possibly our lowest moment as tourists, but worth it nonetheless. If you look closely in the picture you can see one of the boys looking straight at the camera...stealth is not our forté... One highlight of the day was asking directions from one of the Palace guards (not the ones with the funny hats - the police officers that stand inside the gates with the giant guns). Paige turned on her southern charm and asked, "Excuse me officer, are we allowed to ask you where the Borough Markets are??" He was very helpful and looked suspiciously like Hugh Grant. We felt guilty, however, after we got a picture with him only to find that a "queue" was beginning to form to take their pictures as well... We started something bad.

The rest of our day was extremely interesting to us, but the details would be far from thrilling to read so I will spare you. But rest assured we finally found the Borough Markets after about four hours of meandering around London. In case you were wondering, they are NOT anywhere near Buckingham Palace. Just when we thought all hope of finding them was lost, Paige exclaims, "Where are the Borough Markets??" and about four people on the street turned around and pointed us in the right direction. The markets were incredible. So much food so little time. One of my dearest goals in life is to be able to buy fancy cheese whenever I want, so the cheese stands around every single turn were taunting me. Each little booth gave out samples of whatever they were selling- everything from curry to jams to smoked wild boar. You could have easily had your fill just walking around sampling everything, but we decided that buying dessert was also necessary... Let's just say that the chocolate and Baileys cheesecake was a very good decision.

It was a great day of exploration and sightseeing with two wonderful girls in one wonderful city. We finished our day by dominating the tube for the first time and then eating cookies and milk. I can't tell you how nice it was just walking around the city for an entire day. It may not seem monumental enough to warrant an entire page of writing, but when your days can easily be overwhelmed by school work or the stress of planning for large groups, a day like yesterday is enough to make you stop and be thankful. And I truly am very thankful to be here.

A Week in the London Life

It has (almost) been an entire week since my plane landed in this great city, and I feel like I'm still frantically looking around at every turn trying to catch all of the amazing sites. Before I left, an internal battle was raging over whether or not I would allow my inner tourist to show its face... the second I got here that battle was lost. Unfortunately my inner tourist has decided to stay a little longer than I hoped. But can you blame me? In one day I saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, The London Eye, Trafalgar Square, The Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, Harrods, The Globe Theatre, and so many more... Impressive, no? Ok, it was a bus tour... but still. There will never be another time in my life when there will be so many opportunities in front of me and so much history at my fingertips. So for now my inner tourist has full reign, and that's perfectly OK with me!



This past week has brought so many ups and downs (the only "downs" being that there isn't enough time in the day to have more "ups"). One great moment happened in the center of Covent Gardens where a performer was singing opera for a gathering crowd. His voice was resonating in the large courtyard in the middle of the open-air market, and swept away by the scenery I pulled out my camera to take a picture. Seeing my camera (or the cluster of American girls watching him), he jumped up on the staircase leading to where we were standing and began to serenade. He blew me a kiss and I blew him one back, and voila! my first British friend....


Even better than my operatic buddy was the church service that a few of us found a couple of nights ago. It was called Reality London and has a large base out of LA. We found our way to the crypt of a beautiful church where there was a small group of people gathering for a time of prayer and worship. I was surprised to find that most of the people were American (probably traveling students likes us) but pleased nonetheless. Judging from the prayers and the message that was shared, it struck me what a spiritually barren place London is. We read Psalm 127:1-2 which reads, "Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain." It was shared in the context of planting a church in London, but I thought that it was also appropriate for my time here. I have the wonderful opportunity to explore this city, but if I forget who it is that holds the city in his hands then my time here is spent in vain. It was a nice reminder.

I am getting to know the city and what it feels like to actually live here, but with that comes many discoveries that I would have been OK not making... For example, I am becoming familiar with what it means to live in a 17th century flat. It sounds fantastic right? And believe me it is... our pet mouse thinks so, too. We found his nest under our couch today. I named him Bernard. We have a ghost that likes to slam doors and make floor boards creek in the middle of the night. Also, two of our toilets periodically decide not to work, which is unfortunate considering that there are seven of us living here. But through all of the toils I remind myself that I am in London and life could get a whole lot worse than being on one of the greatest adventures I could ever imagine...

A Very Good Place to Start

I understand that there are currently millions of blogs floating around about things that are not nearly interesting enough to warrant an online play-by-play. In fact,  I often finding myself wondering why in the world some people feel the need to fill me in on every detail of their lives. With this in mind I fully acknowledge that I am most likely about to become one of those people. However, I am overlooking that fact because I have a million family members that will enjoy a play-by-play and I have no phone... With that being said...

I woke up in London today. I would like to emphasize the "woke up" part because, indeed, this is not a dream. If I walk out the door of our 17th century townhouse and about 500 feet to the left I could walk straight into the British Museum.

We arrived at the Gatwick airport yesterday at about 6:30 am London time, which is about 12:30 am Nashville time. Needless to say we were tired, but we were over the moon to be on the ground in our home for the next four months. The first thing that I saw when I walked off the plane was a Coca-Cola dispenser advertising "Diet Coke" on the front... not "Coca-Cola Light" or whatever else some crazy people think is Diet Coke. My biggest fear was relieved and I guessed that this would be a good trip. My suspicions were confirmed when we loaded our luggage onto a double-decker coach and spent two hours looking at beautiful scenery as we drove into the city. I couldn't quite believe that I was actually here until I looked out the window of the bus and suddenly saw Big Ben creep up over the Thames river. Even then it didn't seem plausible that I could be about to embark on such an incredible adventure.

And yet...here I am. My first two days have been full of discovering the cultural differences and trying not to get run over by the thousands of red double-decker buses zooming around. Those aren't a myth.

There have been a few moments that I have felt utterly American despite my sad attempt at looking like a local. One of these happened in the grocery store when a man asked me if I was in the "queue" and then proceeded to pass me in line after I delivered a very non-committal grunt in response. The next came during a picnic in the park that we shared with a few pigeons. Thinking that I would make friends with the feathered scavenger, I threw a corner of bread onto the ground and then watched as a SWARM of pigeons came shooting across the park in our direction. We tossed the remaining bread and left as fast as we could to avoid the dirty looks from the men sitting on the bench next to us. The worst however was four of us walking into a McDonald's for dinner tonight. It is our second night and already we resorted to American fast-food. We were ashamed but desperate enough to enter despite every stereotype that we were fulfilling by going. Karma got the better of us, however, when Colin got chicken-nugget-mugged by a homeless woman that came up to our table and snatched one of his McNuggets.

The biggest culture shock, however, was realizing just how lucky I am to be here. Looking around at the beautiful buildings and parks, I can't help but be amazed by the history and culture that surrounds me. The people are lovely and the weather has been wonderful. Not only that, but our house is about as central as you can get in downtown London. I realized while we were searching in vain for household items for our flat that no one lives here. You don't LIVE in downtown London, you visit... and yet we are lucky enough to be in the heart of the city. I am so blessed to be here and by the people that have worked so hard to get me here.

I look around and can't help but see God's glory reflected in the majestic buildings and the friendly faces of the bustling crowd. I am anxious to see not only how I will change over these next months, but also how God will use me to bring change. This is a new and exciting opportunity and I hope to make the best of it and maybe have a little fun as well :)