Going to the Spa with Jane Austen

After a whirlwind of getting settled and traveling around, my mom and I decided to head to Bath for a few days before she left for home. What could be better then relaxing at a spa in Jane Austen country? It was pure bliss. Bath is known not only for the setting of Jane Austen's novels and her personal home for several years but also a natural hot springs that the Romans took advantage of when they were in control of the UK. I love the Romans and there need to create spas wherever they conquered. We took full advantage and spend a morning at one of the best spas I've been too. There are several levels with different pools and saunas and you just wander around to which ever one you want.

Fully relaxed, we spent the next couple of days wandering around Bath, eating good food, shopping, and pretending we were Jane Austen. We also took an afternoon and went to Stonehenge.

(Don't mind the 25 bed bug bites on my face.)

Bath exceeded my expectations. It may be favorite place so far in the UK. I loved the combination of old city with modern shops and restaurants. I could spend hours just wandering around. Luckily, I am headed back to that area on a school retreat for a couple of days this week. If you come to visit Bath, will definitely be on the itinerary.

First Day of School

Well technically it's orientation week but still it was my first day meeting my classmates and professors. This is how it went:

http://youtu.be/DyjlE9NDVSw

You can guess who I was during "introduce yourself time". Here is the demography of my program. 50 people. 10 male. Age range is 23 to 50. 35% medical doctors. 15% nurses. 17 different nationalities represented. 4 Americans.

Even though I don't plan on seeing much outside of school and my flat, I'm still excited to be here in London. They told us that there are five stages of living abroad. The first stage is the honeymoon stage. Check. The next stage is the distress stage. Lookout.

On a happy note the main building for our campus is used at City Hall in the Batman movies. Apparently Christian Bale was filming on campus a few weeks ago. Let's hope he shows up sometime around "distress stage".

Lifes Basics in Switzerland

The rental units and I took a break from running around London like crazies to visit my cousin and his family in Switzerland. I mean when you have family living a few countries away you HAVE to take advantage of the opportunity to spend some QT with them. Let me just say that Rocky and Sarah are the best vacation planners ever. The trip exceeded my expectations and while Switzerland is the probably the most expensive country I've been too it may also be one of the prettiest. Check out the view from our hotel room.

And if that didn't make you jealous enough this was the view from my bed.

The theme of the weekend was Life Basics: Family, Cheese, and Chocolate. We may have had multiple meals that consisted of the these life essentials. I am not a huge chocolate lover like other members of the Smartie clan but Switzerland may have made me a convert.

Trip highlights include road tripping through the Swiss alps, taking a James Bond tram to the top of Schilthorn, Interlaken, seeing the Eiger (Switzerland's highest point), seeing the temple, church in German, and seeing E milk EVERY cow. I can't decide which is prettier the Swiss mountains or lakes.

Our tour guides did not disappoint--now if I can just convince them to come to London. If any other cousins want to move abroad, I promise I'll visit!

Road Trippin' with the 'Rents

When I got into U of London, my parents "volunteered" to help me move across the Atlantic. After dragging 6 suitcases (a girl's got to be prepared:)) from the airport, to the the hotel, on the tube station, to my flat, and then kettle balling them up four flights of stairs; I think they were rethinking their volunteerism. If that wasn't bad enough I forced them to scrub my flat including my toilet which appeared to have NEVER been cleaned. In an effort to allow them some fun on their "vacation", we decided to road trip through the "Kingdom". As we pulled out of the rental car company's parking lot into oncoming traffic, I was rethinking that decision. But with Handsome Rob at the wheel and the Human Compass as the navigator, driving on the wrong side of the street could not deter us. We almost dies 10 times in the first three minutes but we finally got the hang of it...on the last day. Lucky for us the middle finger means the same thing on both sides of the pond and driving the wrong way on a round about doesn't end in immediate death.

Between rounds of whiplash we were able to see some pretty amazing sites. Scotland is beautiful and Edinburgh is becoming one of my favorite cities even if they eat blood and sheep intestines for breakfast. We hit the follow sites: Windsor Castle, Stratford upon Avon, Lake District, Glasgow, Stirling Castle, Edinburgh, and Warwick Castle.

We covered a lot of ground in four and a half days and have the seat belt bruises to prove it. Highlights include seeing the house where my great grand father was born and the cemetery where my five great grandpa was buried.

The scenery was amazing and we passed the time by engaging in political debates and listening to JB.

"Handsome Rob really did a great job getting us to and fro and will gladly provide his services to anyone willing to make the trek. I'd suggest you bring your own neck brace.

School of Life

Things I have learned so far since living in the UK:

1. When the menu says steak and kidney pie, it doesn't mean kidney beans.

2. When you've slept in 9 different beds in the last 10 days you're bound to make friends.

3. If you have have to take short breaks from typing to scratch your entire body, those friends may not be the kind you want.

4. There ARE worst things then starting graduate school with bed bug marks on your face. (I'm not sure yet what is worse but I'm working on it).

5. Having a cold while trying to combat bed bugs is not a good combination.

6. Having my mom here to take care of me makes everything better!

The start of my new life in the UK has had some bumps but I am still really excited to be here. I'll be even more excited when I wake up in the morning and my body doesn't look like small vampires got to it. Travel log coming soon!