Just about ready to leave...

So it has been a really long time since I updated this blog so I'll try to think of what I have been up to the last couple of weeks. Well, two weeks ago I saw Phantom of the Opera and I have to admit that it was......HORRIBLE. I know it is a great show and the music is great, but this cast was not so hot. I seriously think I sang better than some of the ladies in the cast. Hmmm..maybe I'll try to make it over here. :) The next night though I saw the brand new musical version of BillyEliot and oh my gosh was it AMAZING!! It was the best dance show I have seen in a long time. I absolutely LOVED it. The next night I went to a piano bar for one of my church friend's b-day bash. It is the same piano bar where I am in love with the piano guy. He just released a CD so I of course bought it and he signed it : Hey Raegan. I hope you enjoy the album and come back to London. Keep smiling. " nice eh?? He is actually thinking about coming to the states to release some stuff so I was telling him to go to Nashville and stuff. Anyhoo....Last wednesday I totally got sick and I'm still getting over it. I had a fever and bad cough. I still have the cough and some congestion, but I'm feeling energized so that is good. I always seem to get sick at the wrong time.
last thursday we got to tour the Globe which ROCKED!! It was amazing. it was probably my favorite excursion we did here in London. I didn't get to go on stage because they were doing stuff, but I got lots of pics!! I also learned a lot too which is always nice. Last Friday we had a huge party in our flat so I left and went on a river walk next to teh thames with an old camp friend I have visiting here. It was really fun actually. It was great to catch up with her because I hadn't seen her in like 2 years. This past week, I've just been trying to get here and there for the last time. Today we have our big goodbye bash given by our program. That should be pretty funny. I've been packing....errr...it is going well. My carry on will weigh about as much as me, but oh well.
I can hardly believe I'm leaving in 48 hours. it just doesn't seem possible at all. I don't think I can even begin to sum up in words what an incredible experience this was. I'm so grateful for this and I will never forget the things I saw, learned, and felt. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my Europe adventures. Although I didn't get engaged, see anyone famous, see any Royals--I still had the most amazing time of my life. I'm certainly sad to leave, but I am SOOO excited to see all of you! I doubt I'll get to write again so I'll go ahead and say goodbye now. See you all very soon!!

Not too exciting...BUT

So I haven't done a ton since I last wrote, but there are a few things. First of all, I totally forgot to mention that I went to Tower of London last Monday. It was pretty sweet. I saw the biggest fricking diamond of my life--530 carats to be exact. So naturally I expect my rock to be 531 carats because I only deserve the best right?? This past Friday I can't remember what I did so I guess I won't tell you about it. Saturday I of course watched the Royal Weddding. Did you guys?? What was up with Camila wearing that wild grass in her hair?? I didn't pay too much attention to them because I was a little too focused on William and Harry. :) After the wedding, I went to the pub in the middle of the afternoon (so I'm an alcoholic now...jk) to watch the big horse race here called the Grand National. It was actually pretty exciting and I loved watching the natives watch it. they got so into it! Saturday night I haven't a clue what I did...something I'm sure. Sunday I went to Greenwich to hit some of the good markets. It was a very cute area of London. That afternoon my roommates and I went for fancy tea at the Orangery which is right by Kensignton palace. it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I then headed to church which was fabulous. Basically this week has been full of working on papers and stuff, but yesterday we did go to the Inns of Courts to learn about the legal system. I even got to sit in on a case because anyone can! how crazy is that? It was actually a murder case which was a bit exciting, but not so much because everyone talked in monotone. It was crazy cool to see them wearing wigs and robes. I'm serious, they still wear them!! Kinda cool!! so although that was a good part of the day, let's not overlook the coolest bit of news.........................
SO BRITNEY IS PREGO!!!!!!! Oh Lord help us all. :) Any comments about it would be appreciated. Well, i must be off to class now....
love you all....only 15 more days :(

To be or Not to be...

Before I get to my Shakespeare bit, I have to tell you a few things I did last week. Tuesday we didn't have school and I wanted to go walking and take black and white pics around London. So I set off walking and just kept walking, and walking, and walking. I actually walked all the way from my flat to the tower bridge. I know for those of you that don't know London, this means nothing, but I pretty much walked from one side of zone 1 to the other. Once again, this probably means nothing to do non-London people, but I walked probably for nearly 3 or so hours if that gives any image. It was sooo good though. I really enjoyed my time just walking by myself and looking at everything. I'm soaking up every day here! that night we headed to a karoake bar. I had seen one in Leicester square so we headed over there. we walked in and sat down and my friends began to notice the abundance of males. do you see where this is going? I suddenly listen closely and I hear "strong enough" by Cher being sang by a male and i pretty much just bust up laughing. so I had taken my friends to a gay karoke bar. At first, I was like we should leave, but watching these guys sing was just too entertaining. They weren't your average singers, i think they probably practiced these songs and were actually people trying to make it to the big time. As we walked out, there were two huge rainbow flags in front. how i missed that, i'll never know! Only I would stumble into a gay bar by accident. I'll never forget that night for sure! :)
the next night we went to a sweet piano bar where i am in love with the piano player. he's beautiful and he sings so well and can play everything. I'm going there again for a birthday party for a friend from church, I think he might think i'm stalking him. oh well...
well, yesterday we had an excursion to Straford-upon-Avon were Shakespeare was born and died. It was such a super cute town and his houses were just lovely! I love the cottages there. we also saw the church where he was buried along with the rest of his family. that night some of us stayed and we saw a production of A Midsummer's Night Dream by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was was modernized somewhat. It was a great production. I loved it!!
well, I've actually got to run to class, but hey...i'll be home in 22 days...crazy!!

Swiss Miss Girl Not to be Found

Hey all....I just got back from Switzerland yesterday and after a long night's rest and a relaxing day in Kensignton Gardens, I figured I'd tell you all about my adventures. Rowdy (rhymes with Cloudy) and I arrived in Basel, Switzerland on a beautiful sunny wednesday. we spent some time walking around and getting a feel for the town, grabbed some lunch, and then took a nice nap because we had decided to sleep in the airport the night before. however, i did not get a wink of sleep. some people were actually snoring from sleeping and there i was on the cold tile floor miserable!! anyhoo, after our nap we went to this jazz jam session at a bar. It was okay, but we were still pretty wiped out so we headed home about 11. the next day we ventured all around the city. it is such a super cute city and we saw the basics like market areas, little stores, old churches, a river that goes through the town, etc. I'm not used to hills because London is awfully flat...kinda like kansas!! I definitely got my exercise though. that night we decided to go to this bar that supposedly has some diferent artists playing, but we were there an hour and a half and there was nothing. the Swiss defnitely need to learn a thing or to about night life because that play was DEAD at night. No atmosphere. so once again, we headed home pretty early.
friday was definitely my favorite day, because we took a train ride to Freiburg, Germany. it was amaaaazing. it was also the most beautiful day!! OMG. the town is surrounded by the different mountain ranges of germany, switzerland, and france so it is just tucked away ever so neatly. the little square areas were so cute, the towers, and everything. they also have this smaller river that goes trhough the area and then teeny tiny water ways all down every street. very cool. we took a break from walking around to get teh best chocolate sundae of my life as we soaked up the sun. after that, we started walking and found a mountain you could climb up to see the entire town. we walked up this really steep mountain and rested on this big stone overlook for awhile and then climbed up even higher to get a better view. we then looked behind us to see this tiny tower up even higher you could climb so we climbed up there too!! the view up there was breathtaking! there was a 360 degree view and you could see the mountains forever! the sun was also so bright and just gorgeous. we then started walking down and found a lift so we rode that down to a nice park garden area. we chilled there for awhile before walking across the town to see this otehr beautiful church. we then grabbed soem dinner before getting back on the train. that night we were both just exhausted so i took a shower since i was icky and we read and played cards.
Saturday, we took a train ride to france and hung out in Mulhouse. it was a pretty cute french town, but it was torn up for a new tram system so that kinda blew. it was also a little rainy too. it has a big suburban area and that was cool to see. it wasn't like despearte housewives though people. :) we got this super yummy waffles with nutella because we couldn't find a crepes stand and we were tired to look for one. we sat in front of a church with a carosel in front of us. it was a crazy carosel because it has the basic horses around it and then all of a sudden tehre was a harley davidson motorcycle on it. i thought it was pretty humourous! we headed back to basel around 5 or so.
that night we decided to just ride random trams to see where they would take us. it sounds dumb, but it was actually pretty fun. we stopped at one place and went to a gas station to get a coke. we found a huge group of people outside this place and we were going to see waht was going on and then it downpoured so we headed back to the hostel.
sunday morning we took a bus to a small swiss town, Liestal. we definitely passed a place called Saline which made me think of Salina!!! I miss that place! it was pretty rainy that morning but we still enjoyed walking around. it was literally in the side of a mountain with fog all around. it was pretty cute! we then headed back to basel and walked around the town a little more one last night. we sat by the river for a long time just soaking up the views before going to the airport.
I was eager to get back "home" though, I have to admit that. you can imagine how frustrated I got when it took like 4 hours to get from the airport to my flat. i then was excited to see my flatmates and of course none of them were home when i got there. I was not in the best of moods......however......one thing did make me awfully happy yesterday and that was............Easter!!! Rejoice for He HAS risen!! That made me smile all day long!!
in fact, my roommie is making a later easter dinner now so i better go back to my flat and eat it.....so all in all, switzerland was great. although I don' t understand german at all because it sounds like people are always mad at one another and I didn't find the Swiss Miss Girl, I had a blast. I got tons of chocolate and made up a word: whtzngargen. it means, "where are you going?" i suggest using it as much as possible!!
well, just a month more here in london and then i'll be home! I can't wait to see you all. much love!!

Bumming around London

so although I'm on spring break, I haven't done a ton yet. I got done with school on thursday at 12:30 so I ventured off to Camden Town which is a cool market area. It is really hippy, but also punk too. I kinda stuck out. I walked around all day because it was beautiful and walked clear across Regents Park. It was great!I spent St. Patty's with my British friends and we totally went bowling. I was expecting the shoes to be like designer stilettos or something, but they were just like our good american bowling shoes. after bowling, we headed back to a flat for tea of course. Friday I just went to areas I haven't been to around London before ending up at Regents Park with some of my flatmates to fly a kite. it was a beautiful day! Saturday I went to an apologetics seminar with my church all day. it was awesome! I learned soooo much. After that, we had a big dinner at a flat and then we just hung out until like 3 am. it was a blast! Yesterday I didn't do too much besides go to church and hang out. we went out to dinner at this famous chicken place called nando's here. a guy paid for me so it was free. it was great! I'm sorry my life has been a little boring. I've gearing up for Switzerland though--I leave wednesday and I'm super stoked. it's going to rock. i'm also going to jump over to germany too. Can I just say that on March 16, was the first day I have NOT worn my coat since being in London. I know most of you have been having like 70 degree weather, but it has been cold here! I've been spending as much time as possible outside. It's been super!!
Since I haven't done a ton, let me tell you some crazy stories....so have you heard about all the crazy crime over here recently? I had been thinking how safe I felt in this city and then all this crime errupts at once. A guy got mugged outside the tube station right by my flat and got his glasses broken against his face. Some guy got beheaded with an axe on a street here in London. Apparently some people are stuck in the old days. I'm sure it confused some tourists. They have also been catching a ton of terrorists here. THey had to stop the tube to arrest some terrorist on it. crazy!! I also saw this fight where a guy pulled out a knife. I'm sure this isn't making you guys feel good about me being over here is it? I assure that I'm being sensible, but it is just crazy! there also have been a couple of murders and stuff. I'm beginning to feel as if I am back in America again or something.
Well, I'll end my post on that disturbing note....i'm just so nice....
much love!

Errr....lots of stuff

Okay, so I've been bad again and I haven't written for quite a long time. I'm trying to think of all I've done. Well, this past thursday we got to tour the houses of Parliament which were quite extravagant!! Even though I've never been to D.C., but I'm sure it makes it look like the ghetto. I walked down the exact hallway that the Queen does when she makes her annual Queen Speech. Pretty cool eh? there is also a wing to the Houses that is literally 1000 years old!! It was crazy cool!! We got to talk to a a rep from the House of Commons which was pretty cool. He reminded me a lot of Hugh Grant. I really zoned out on what he was saying (sorry political stuff just isn't my cup of tea) but I enjoyed looking at him. After the tour, i had the whole day to go explore or see a show, but I took a 4 hour nap. Whoops. I must have been tired so I figured it was okay. Thursday was another awesome Bible study!! After that we headed to Soho to go to the 4 story O'Neills Irish pub. wow, I just wrote I went to Bible study and then to a pub. i'm sure that sounds bad. We danced to some awesome 80's music before calling it an early night. Friday, I went to the British Library which was actually very cool. they have some truly amazing artifacts!! i looked at 1300 year old Bibles including the guttenberg Bible!! I also saw the Magna Carta!! They also had a few of the original pieces of paper with lyrics from the Beatles. They also had Jane Austen's writing desk!!! My particular favorite though was the original manuscript of Jane Eyre. I stared at it for like 10 minutes in awe. There was also the original composition of the Messiah by Handel and the first editions or manuscripts of Beowulf, Alice in wonderland, Cantebury tales, David Copperfield, and so much more. They also had the very first picture of Shakespeare in there. After that, I headed to this knitting exhibition for my mum. Not too exciting, would have been cooler if it were a scrapbooking one! :)
Friday night I went and played badminton with my british friends again and then we headed over to their flat to eat and hang out. I do have to mention that during Badminton I suggested we combine ninja moves and badminton together. it spiced up this classic came quite a bit. I had a hard time hitting the birdie though as I jumped and kick. it was fun regardless! we also played scrabble at the flat and I discovered I have the vocabulary of a 4 year old--very depressing as you can imagine!
yesterday, we headed out of London to Leeds Castle which was beautiful. It was set on yet another beautiful estate with water surrounding it so it was like an island. It is still used for meetings and was actually still lived in until the 60's. It was much more homey than the other castles I've seen. i could definitely live there. They also had a cool maze with a grotto under it. I think that is what is is called. It has beautiful seashell art and waterfalls. to me it looked like goonies so I was looking for gold and Sloth, but I was unsuccessful at both attempts. Last night I went to this awesome program at the Royal Albert Hall called Prom Praise. It was a huge orchestra with a huge choir along with 2 soloists--the male one reminded me of Josh Groban so yes I did fall in love last night. :) they played some contemporary christian music and hymns. they also presented the gospel too which was very awesome to hear. It was just incredible seeing like 2000 people sing. There is also a HUGE organ inside that just blew me out of the water. I loved it and the best part was that my tickets were only £4 !! It was probably the cheapest thing to see there and now I can say I've seen something in the Royal Albert Hall.
this morning, I went to the changing of the guards. It was pretty cool. they definitely just don't clock in and clock out for that job. I think I got some cool shots with my awesome zoom lens. You can't get close to them so I don't know if I'll get an attempt to make one laugh. Crushed dreams I tell ya....
After that, we had a huge dinner in our flat. I havne' t had really good food in sooooo long. I then took another nap...hehe...then I went to church which was awesome!!! I love my church here and all the people!
so that is what I've done...what about you???? this week I'm seeing 2 shows for school, going to a museum, and then I start spring break on thursday!! woooo!!
let me know how things are.....love you all

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!