Barcelona

Now THAT was a cool country. So far I have loved every country I have visited for different reasons and I love Spain because it is so alive and colorful! It was a beautiful city with so much detail as we walked around on intricately designed streets with different stones, rocks, and a lot of mosaic. It made me want to do mosaics again! So this is what I did...
Friday we climbed up this mountain I guess you could say called Montjuic I believe. We could see the entire city and the Mediterranean sea which was quite spectacular. There was an old castle on top that we walked around on. There was also this beautiful waterfall on the mountain too full of palm trees around it. A lot the area reminded me a lot of Balboa park in san Diego. yea san Diego--SDSP 2004!! we slowly made our way down and stopped at the site of the 92 Olympics which was pretty cool to see. I have to say that the stadium really isn't as big as I thought it would be. It is kinda like the Price is Right Studio--looks a LOT bigger on tv. We kept climbing down and stopped to watch people take horseback riding lessons. we were making our way to the magic mountain fountains only to find they are closed this time of the year. we were sorta bummed about that. we headed back to the hostel which was right on La Ramblas which is one of the main streets. Our hostel owner then took us out that night at 11:30. we went to a bar first until about 1:30(in the morning) and then we headed to this club and were there until 4 in the morning. The whole night didn't cost me a penny because I didn't drink and we got into the club for free because our hostel lady knew the doorman. I danced the night away trying to avoid some of the guys trying to freak on me. There were some pretty cute spanish men though, I do admit that. Some spanish guy asked to kiss me. His mannerisms definitely reminded me of Mr. Bean--no joke.
The next day we got up and went to park Gueill which is covered with mosaic which made me want to take up mosaics again. we saw a beautiful view of the city again.we walked all around there for about 2 hours before going over to Sagrada Familia. I think that is how you spell it It is a beautiful church that in my opinion looks like Ariel's castle from the Little Mermaid except with Jesus statues and minus that one thing on top from the scandalous movie cover. you know what I'm talking about?? After that, we rested up for the night before going out to see Flaminco dancers. I think that is what they are called. when they first came out, there were two guy musicians with the michael bolton hairdo(we don't care how long you grow it, we know you are bald on top.) one dude started playing on this plain black box. it reminded me of pandora's box, but instead of a box of secrets, it unleashed these crazy drum sounds. they also sat there and clapped a lot. i always wanted to start a clapping band. ....after seeing 2 shows of that, we tried to go to this club, but it was like 8 euros to get in so we then went to this travelbar which was really boring. I decided to head back to the hostel and ended up staying up until 3 talking to a Swedish girl. it was awesome!!!
on our final day, we went to the gothic cathedral only to find every inch of it was covered with scaffolding. thank goodness for postcards. after that, we went to the beach. we ran into the Mediterranean which was super duper cold, but we got some pics and then got dressed. we layed around on the sand for awhile before heading over to this other park. I think it had the word citadelle in it or something. Regardless what it was called, it was beautiful!! there was a little pond to rowboat which was cute. there was this huge fountain area with two staircases that we laid around on while I smoked a cuban. I'm serious. I walked around smoking a cuban. it rocked!!! we then saw the arc de triomfe there before grabbing dinner at a cafe. we had our final pitcher of authentic sangria before heading on the plane.
our plane ended up getting delayed and I didn't get home until nearly 3 in the morning, but it was worth it. i loved it. For those of you going there for summer project, I am soooo excited for you. I know God has big plans for you all!! I'm praying for your support raising!

Little bit of everything...

So it has been awhile since I have written so I'll try not to make this super long.....Last thursday I had an awesome Bible study over at my british friends' flat. It ended at 9, but I definitely stayed until 12:30 just talking and hanging out. I love my British buds!!! Friday during the day I ventured off to the Photographers Gallery and the National Gallery. I saw some awesome paintings such as Van Gogh's Sunflowers and various other famous painters. I also ate a sack lunch in Leicester Square Gardens and people watched for awhile and journaled to. That night, I went and played badminton with my British buds. I felt ever so proper--especially when I would make a good hit and they would say things like ,"well done, Raegan." so cute!"
Saturday was quite possibly the laziest day of my life, but really fun. one of my friends, Mike who is from church, was having a Lord of the Rings marathon. I literally sat from 9:30 in the morning until 12:30 that night with very little movement. I also drank like 12 cups of tea. I'm not even kidding. I had never seen the movies so I figured I should just go all out. it was a fun day even though I did very little.
Sunday I went to Hamleys, which is the FAO schwartz for England. I was looking for Harry Potter toys for a special someone who is turning 6 in May, but I was a little picky so I didn't find exactly what I wanted. It was still fun though to be in the 5 level toy store. I wasn't that impressed with the Barbie section though...Sunday evening I went to church like always--another great service.
Um....today we went to Oxford and Blenheim Palace. Oxford was pretty cool although we didnt' get a ton of time there. however, I did get to see parts where Harry Potter was filmed so that rocked. I found out they were filming there just a few weeks ago for the next movie. I wish I hadn't known that because I would have KILLED to be there to see the stars! Besides the Harry Potter thing, I went to the pub were C.S. Lewis and JR Tolken along with friends would go every tuesday to discuss things along with the books they were writing.
Blenheim palace was really beautiful. it was a cross between Hampton Court Palace and Versailles. It was fricking cold because it was snowing, but that made it look even more beautiful. our tour guide was really funny so I really enjoyed that.
I think that is about it.....this weekend I'm headed to Spain..Barcelona to be exact. I'm super pumped. I'm hoping to pick up a nice Spanish lover....just kidding!!!
Oh....so the whole thing about the Queen not going to the Royal Wedding is great over here...I love this gossip!! so fab!
Cheers!

Wales

Hey everyone!! Well, I just had another exciting weekend traveling to another country. I headed up to Wales this weekend and had a blast. It was so cool to be in Welsh land. I got excited everytime I saw a sign that said Welsh on it. We saw a ton of castles which was pretty sweet. We climbed on one of them that was on top of a hill and ate lunch. Wales was really beautiful will the mountains and lakes all around. It was pretty rainy and misty in some parts, but it gave a cool effect so I'm hoping my camera was able to capture it. We also saw a blizzard on top of a mountain although it wasn't really sticking. It was so cute because some people on our trip had never seen snow so they were soooo excited.I have to say that the best part was the people on the tour. We had a small group, 22 to be exact. There were tons of Australians again and they were so much fun! WE sang a lot on the bus and I even got up and danced up and down the aisle to Footloose. I'm sure that doesn't surprise any of you though! The first night we were in this hostel that has a cool pub in it and two friends adn i were playing darts when two guys came over to challenge us. One of them was probably my age and the other one was probably nearly 40. Well, I got picked up by the 40 year old and I don't mean like hit on, but literally picked up. He was pretty drunk, but scooped me up in his arms and of course I have no idea what to do and meanwhile Katie is laughing at me. It was quite an experience. Shortly after that, we decided to go ahead and go into our rooms. Saturday night would surpass that though. WE went to this pub and there was a group of Welsh bikers standing around and singing very loudly traditional pub and welsh songs. We of course encouraged them by clapping and cheering and then they came over and asked us to sing. We were singing songs from like the 60's and I don't think they thought it was very cool. Then all of us were singing our national anthems and we Americans were hoping they wouldn't ask us because we are always unsure what people think of us, but they were cool so we sang our hearts out. I of course stood up and ended it with "play ball!" It gets better though. Katie wants a pic with these guys so Dana and I go with her and he asks if we want to see his eyes and we're like "what? He definitely pulled down his pants to show the entire pub the two eyes he has tattooed on his butt. I'm in totally shock and i turn away because I'm afraid i'll see somethign else. He then pulled them up and then pulled them down again. He finally pulled his pants up for good, but regretfully forgot to zip his fly. wow.....now that is what I call a memory.
I think another highlight was going to this small village...totally forgot the name, but it starts with a P. Soemthing like Portmelio...or soemthing. It was the setting of the show The Prisoner from the 60's. it was super cute and kinda reminded me of a part of Disneyworld, although how would I know since I've never been there!! Listen to me complain while I sit in London......anyhoo, it has colorful houses, fountains, and was right on the shore. It was beautiful. I was waiting for people to come out and sing "it's a small world afterall," but no such luck. I just really loved it and I could defnitely go there on vacation.
Let's see...it was a great weekend and now I've got a lot of stuff due this week. Luckily I did almost all of is before I left!! Go me!! Tomororw two of our new Australian friends are going out with my friends adn I for Valentines Day. My boyfriend was going to fly over, but "doesn't exist" airlines doesn't fly over here. I'd love to hear what all of you are doing for Valentines so drop me a line.
I love you all very much and if I were home, I'd make you all cute valentines....or just buy cute Barbie ones. :) SPeaking of pink, i totally got super cute hot pink rain boots this weekend. I LOVE THEM!!! oh oh...also...you'll never guess where I went in one of the towns we stopped in!!! THERE WAS A SCRAPBOOK STORE!! It was like my mother ship was calling me home!! I didn't buy anything, but it was just refreshing to be somewhere familiar!! okay...gotta go.....

Royal Wedding

so i'm sitting in class today and our teacher announces there will be a royal wedding while we are here. I of course suddenly freak out because Im thinking William is getting married....and of course thinking that it was awfully rude of him to announce it to the world that we are engaged when he hasn't approached me yet. :)
any opinions on this upcoming wedding? I'm excited to see the ceremonies and I'm crossing my fingers to be the flower girl or dance captain. I heard the colors will be red, black, and white--wow, harry already has an ensemble to wear to it...hehehe. I just thought like posting something on it. I just want to see Prince William..that is all I care about.

Northern Ireland, The Producers, and more...

Now I thought that I loved England, but I fell in love with Northern Ireland this past weekend. It was really funny to think that I usually head to Conway for the weekend, but this past weekend I flew to a whole new country. Crazy. I can't even begin to explain how beautiful it was along the coast line. I climbed up mountains, along the coastline, and went through cute towns while learning a ton of history. I absolutely loved it from start to finish. I was on a great tour with two really funny irish male tour guides and we had a small group--about 12 people. Most of the group was from australia so I got to learn about their culture too by talking with them all. I have to admit that I loved learning more about the fight between the catholics and protestants because before I never quite understood it all. It really opened my eyes up to God's heart for the world and His people. Definitely pray for peace there because they so desperately need it! I would love to see peace in my lifetime!! I'm hoping to share some pics sometime soon so watch your inbox for some.
Monday was a really excited day because I toured two theatres here in London and then also got to see The Producers which was spectacular!! It was probably the most fun I have had at a show in a long time. I would highly recommend it to anyone!!
Today was excursion day and we went up to Bath which is a cute little town tucked away by the side of a mountain about 2 hours away from London. They have these ancient Roman hot spring baths which were really quite impressive. That stuff is old man!!! I also walked around and took some pics of course. There was a definite charm to the town and I absolutely loved my day away from the city.
Before going to Bath, we stopped at Stonehenge. It's really not impressive as it is hyped up to be, but it's just something cool to say that I have been to. It's kinda in the middle of nowhere and it is stuck between two roads so you can literally just drive by it and glance at it and get the same view as paying to go look at it. I did have the best scone at their cafe there though. Leave it to me to remember food over great history. :) I would love to hear your ideas on why they built stonehenge so feel free to post an idea.
well, that is about it for now...i've got to run and do homework and then settle down to watch desperate housewives. I still get a little american culture everyone once in awhile. As always, i hope things are great where you all are at. Much love and prayers...

Nelson Mandela AND Harry Potter

You may be thinking how in the world these two names go together and to be honest, I don't know how either, BUT I've had an experience involving them both this week!!
well to start off, wednesday I headed over to the tate britain and then the tate modern. Both awesome museums. I saw some INCREDIBLE art people. that night I was bored so we jumped on the tube and found ourselves at Kings Cross Station which happens to have the platform
9 and 3/4 from Harry Potter. They even have a shopping cart halfway through the wall. WE took lots of fun pics!!
Yesterday, I skipped a class. I know, I know. You think i'd be able to go to all my classes since i only go 3 times a week, but I had a legitimate reason! Nelson Mandela was speaking so of course I jumped at teh invitation. he was speaking for the "make poverty history." there were a ton of people there and sooo awesome to be there on that day. Some people in my program definitely asked me who he was because they didn't know who he was. Oh my gosh..I about hit the floor. Leave it to us Americans to not know who the REAL important figures are!!
Last night I flew to dublin and currently I am in Belfast. I've had an incredible day in Northern Ireland and I have much more to see the next two days. I'll be in touch when I get back. Monday I have two backstage tours and then I'm going to go see the Producers. crazy! i'll be so busy and so tired, but it is worth it. I hope things are going well in the states. I'd love to hear from you!