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Name: Audrey Hayes
Age: 18
Location: London, England, Great Britain, United Kingdom
School and Major: Richmond American International University in London, media production
Blog: My Life in Blog Posts

Audrey has had a lot more of an exciting January than I have, I would say. I was lucky enough to spend some time with her and see her before she moved off to a foreign country.  Since I have known Audrey, she has always felt home in England, all the times she's visited, and wanted to be able to attend school there. Finally, this spring semester, Audrey had packed her bags and moved across the pond to start her studies at Richmond American International University in London. *side note - "American" university doesn't limit it's students to kids from the United States, but it just has the same structure and curriculum that colleges and universities do here in the states.* Since moving there, I've facetimed with the international jet-setter and have a few updates on her life to share with you all.

When she first settled in, her school hosted a small little "welcome week" for the new students. Now, over in England I've concluded (based from the stories Audrey has told me) that drinking is a lot more different than drinking in the United States. It's a very social activity and "pub life" is a legitimate lifestyle. In addition to this, the legal drinking age in England is 18, therefore, drinking in the social aspect is a part of the university's student life. In Audrey's words, "Welcome Week was all drinking". She said this because, her school often served wine with events they had in the halls, as well as a school pub crawl through Central London. Sounds fun, right?

More about the area Audrey is living in, it is an area in London called Richmond, right outside of Central London. It's a very rich and expensive part of London that she's heard is home for a handful of celebrities, for example, Ellie Goulding was spotted at the pub across from her school a few weeks ago! Richmond is an old area on the Thames river and right next to a huge park that "the Queen rides her horses through". You really can't beat that.

At her school, Audrey said she has classes with groups of students that are all from a different country. That being said, Audrey has made friends with people from many different countries including the U.S., Portugal, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Dominican Republic, England, etc. With her friends, or alone, Audrey is always exploring new areas, trying out new coffee shops, going to museums, parks, and shopping. She even in planning on taking the bus to Wales in the near future!

Some of the craziest things she's seen/experienced and some of the major differences in London include words painted on the street saying "LOOK RIGHT" and "LOOK LEFT" for people like herself, who has a habit of looking the opposite way first. She also said since moving here, she realized how much Americans drive. We drive everywhere, even to a park and ride to ride public transportation. Everyone rides the bus or walks everywhere. Oh and I should mention, foxes roam the streets there. FOXES. addition to this, she said that tea is always served with milk there, like even when Audrey goes to her campus Starbucks and orders tea and biscuits for breakfast, it'll come with milk. My favorite story, however, is when Audrey told me she saw a man walking a sheep on a leash one day. Classic.

Now some photos from Audrey -

What Audrey called a "deer garden" at the park nearby

Central London livin'

In Audrey's neighborhood

Exploring in Central London

The beautiful Thames River

A sheep on a leash ( I can't not giggle at this).

Audrey and a friend at the Houses of Parliament

Audrey's school (no it's not Hogwarts)

Well that's all for January. I hope you all enjoyed this little segment. I'll be sure to update you all in a month from now about what's going on in both of our lives!

XOXO

Audrey