Every Dark Cloud Has a Sliver Lining

Sunday, July 14th, 2013 The weekend here in London has been very lovely, hot, but lovely. I took it easy on Saturday and made my way to the Knightsbridge/Chelsea area, and it was just as beautiful as I imagined it.

Everything was beautiful, but very busy because of the weekend. I decided to come back on a weekday to enjoy it better, plus I haven't been inside the world famous Harrod's department store. My Shih Tzu's birthday is coming up soon and I am sure that I will find him a gift there.

Now on to the British Museum that is three floors of nothing but beauty. The museum is vast and you can't see everything in one day to really enjoy it. Therefore, I broke my visit up into two days and it was a good decision, I didn't feel rushed. I took the opportunity to take as much time as I needed to enjoy everything that my eyes found, and it was well worth it. I loved the fact that I packed my I-pod and listened to music while I had a look around at all the art. It was very relaxing and I highly recommend that you do that when walking through this museum. My photography assignment was to pick a color and find it in the museum. I decided on the color sliver because of the old saying " every dark cloud has a sliver lining". It made me smile and feel good after reading the recent news events of the status back home in America.

Everywhere I look there is beauty

Friday, July, 12, 2013 Today's adventure was pretty low key. I got to go to Regent Park and look at all of the pretty flowers. They were so well kept and remarkably beautiful, I almost couldn't look at them. There were children everywhere playing, people with picnic blankets eating and just enjoying themselves. No one seemed to be in a rush at all. I liked the fact that they were taking the time to just enjoy the world. I am not big on nature. However, I found myself enjoying the outdoors. I flew a kite, well I tried to fly a kite. I had a good time sitting with my classmates talking, and just like everyone else there, relaxing.

The Formal Life

Thursday, July, 11, 2013 Today I was in charged of one of the classes group pictures. I think that I have a good looking group!

One of the many exciting things that I did today was bring out my inner Harry Potter nerd by going to Platform 9 3/4.

The British Library has to be the most beautiful library I have ever been to. It was something out of the movies. Everyone was so nice and helpful. What blew my mind was the Library's "treasure room". My favorite things were John Lennon's letters and original Beatles work. My day ended by going to the theater to see the award winning play Les Miserables. I loved getting all dolled up and walking to the theater, it made me feel very British for some reason. The cast of Les Miserables was awesome. They invoked emotions me in that were so overwhelming. My mom is a theater actress, so I got my love for the stage from her. While the actors were moving around on stage, I can hear my mom pointing out to me they're going down stage, up stage, stage left, stage right. It made it all the more enjoyable picturing her sitting next to me.

By far the absolute hi-light of my day was getting to meet Russell Tovey. He is one of the stars of the awesome science fiction show "Being Human". I think that I was the first person in our group to recognize him. He was walking his dog, and a girl in our group stopped to talk to him about said dog, and then I proceeded to lose my mind over him. He looks better in person than on TV, and I believe that is a hard thing to do. He was very very nice to us.

Stairway to Epic

Wednesday, July, 10th, 2013 There are 528 steps from the ground level to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. I am sure that you are reading this and thinking, oh she used Wikipedia for that fact. No, sorry, wrong, I know about the number of steps because I, Melissa Christina Faith Sykes, climbed all of those stairs to the top of the cathedral today. I thought that I was in good physical shape but no bodytone, spinning, or cardio party class has prepared me for 259 stairs. It was a tough climb but with the help of my classmates, I got over my fears of heights and falling down stairs to literally rise to the top. My vantage point from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral was nothing short of amazing both from the outside, where I got to see the beautiful sun shine down on the whole of London and from the inside, the "whisper gallery" to more specific. Looking upon the cathedral was an amazing feast for the eyes. Everywhere you look was something unearthly beautiful. I was in awe of my surroundings there was such fine detail in the structure and our tour guide Janet did a wonderful job as a storyteller whilst showing our class the key points of the cathedral. My favorite parts of the tour were a little bit silly and a whole lot girly, but none the less my favorite parts were the great big doors to the cathedral. I enjoyed the doors because I got to touch the doors that Lady Diana Spencer had to walk through before she became Diana "Princess of Wales". Additionally I loved looking at the throne chairs that HRH Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip and Prince Charles have to sit in during the different services they attend. The little girl in me squealed with unabashed glee.

Looking at the Beauty in Small Things

Tuesday, July, 9th, 2013 Today after class I had the opportunity to do some shopping on London's "Oxford Street". I've never really seen anything like it before. What I saw today wasn't bad or troubling it was actually quite freeing. I saw people from all walks of life on the street today. I hail from Florida, Tallahassee to be exact. Tallahassee is a college town so it has what I had come to believe is an urban atmosphere. The people here today were so beautiful to me. It wasn't just looks based, it was everything about them. It was their spirit. It made me truly happy to be in company with these people. I later ventured to a more quiet area of town. Instead of the hustle and bustle of the busy side walks it was a more calming and peaceful walk back to the study center from dinner. My roommate and I stumbled upon many beautiful lush green parks. Their were families having picnics, senior citizens feeding the birds, young adults enjoying the beautiful afternoon by reading and playing games with their friends. I took the time to admire the beautiful rose gardens at these various parks. The parks were in the middle of all of these historic buildings. When walking by the buildings I thought that it would be wonderful to wake up to the view of these lovely parks everyday. Maybe one day I will know what it feels like.

Welcome to London!!!!!!

Monday, July 8, 2013 After traveling to Miami,Florida, being delayed in Miami for close to three hours, and having a very very bumpy 9 hour flight, I finally made it to London safely and slightly weary. I thought that I would know the scale of Heathrow Airport but boy was I wrong. It seemed that I walked for miles after exiting the plane on my way to be cleared for entry. After I got my passport stamped, I was on the hunt to find my bags. Luckily for me they were safe and in plain view for me to get them. Then it was off to find transportation to the Study center. I had a wonderful cab driver who got me to the study center in one piece. While en route to the study center, I couldn't help but notice the differences in UK and American ways of life. For example the cabs, the cabs in the UK are massive inside and they have WiFi! I was so excited to see where I would be living for the next three weeks, and nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of the study center. It is so regal and it looked like something off of a British television show. When I got into the building I was very happy to see most of my classmates who arrived minutes before me. My happiness didn't stop there, I found out that one of my classmates who I have been talking to via Facebook for the last month was my roommate. She is wonderful and extremely funny, we have already had a mini shopping adventure today at a store called "Primark" which is a insane combination of H&M, Top-Shop, and Forever 21. I finally got in touch with my big sister Cecilie and my Mom Margaret. It was great to hear their voices, I was worried that I would be unable to contact them but I did! I miss my mom, sister and Shih Tzu Barry terribly and I wish that they were all here to share this experience with me. I decided that I will bring them all here one day. Words can't express how happy I am to be in London. It still doesn't seem real to me. I have been dreaming about this for years! Now finally my dream has come true. I am in love with this city, everything about it here amazes me. I am so excited to see everything the city has to offer in the upcoming weeks.

Video Exercise

Hello!!! Here is my video introduction of myself.