Barcelona

Welcome to Barcelona!

This city is AMAZING! I wish I had come here to study abroad instead of crumby old London. There is so much here, and the weather is beautiful and there are palm trees everywhere.

And the food... magnificent.

Tonight at dinner we shared our meal with a little black cat who was walking amongst the tables. She was a skinny little cat so I dropped her some of my salmon. But she wouldn't eat any of my salmon, which was curious because she looked hungry. Then she disappeared. A little while later she returned, followed closely by a kitten, who proceeded to consume all of the salmon I had dropped for his mother. I stroked the cat while she watched her kitten eat, and I swear she was smiling at me. I fed her some salmon so I was certain she had eaten, and she ate every last drop. Then another kitten came, and it all got too crazy and we were leaving the restaurant but it broke my heart to part with the cat, she was such a sweet cat, and she knew exactly how to make me fall in love with her (it's probably because I miss my Kitty).

Earlier this evening, we were walking down to the beach so my mother could put her feet in the Mediterranean Sea, when we came across a man on a bike. Not just any man on a bike, though, a man on a bike wearing... only a bike. He was completely nude!

I got pictures. It'll take me a while to figure out whether Americans are sexually repressed (in that we giggle at nudity and think it's obscene) or if Europeans are too sexually liberal.

Barcelona is amazing, we've walked all over the city so far. This morning we went to Monserrat, which is this really interesting old Monastery in the mountains outside of Barcelona, but it's more like Disneyland in the mountains, with music and dancing and food and liquor. It was awesome.

My internet isn't working (I'm writing this on my friend's laptop right now) so I will upload pictures when I get back to Londontown or if the internet in Madrid works after Tuesday :)

Happy October!

Happy October! I blog very sporadically and I feel bad, but I'm pretty busy (fortunately).

This weekend we're going to see Stonehenge, which apparently you can't get very close to it at all but still, how could I come to London and not see Stonehenge.

Next weekend three of my friends are visiting from Ireland (two from Belfast and one from Cork). It'll be awesome to show them around London, it's too bad they can't stay longer because there is so much to do here.

Three weekends from now I'll be journeying to Spain with my friend (who is here studying with me) and we'll meet my mother in Barcelona. We'll be in Barcelona for a few days and then we'll head to Madrid. Hopefully getting out of this stuffy London air will do me some good, I've been trying to kick a miserable cough for over two weeks now. Being in this city is not doing a thing for my asthma.

The first weekend in November we're going to Cork to visit our friend who is studying abroad in Ireland.

The second weekend in November we're thinking either Krakow, Poland or Munich, Germany. I'd also like to get to Flanders, Belgium, and that might be the best weekend for that trip.

The third weekend in November we're headed to Norway. I'm really excited to try and test of the little Norwegian I know, and hopefully get to the Viking Museum and maybe see the Oslo Fjords (we'll be in Oslo).

The following Monday Hillary gets on a plane and comes to London (she won't arrive until Tuesday morning) to visit, which is very exciting. I'll show her around London for a few days (though I'll be in class until Thursday) and then on Thursday my friend's family is coming and we're all going to Paris for the weekend. Hillary and I will come back early so that I can get her on her flight home Sunday morning.

By then it will be the first weekend in December and three of my friends and I are going to Disneyland Paris. I absolutely cannot wait for this trip.

After that we only have one free weekend before finals start, which I'm sure we'll be using for studying. Then we have some free time after finals, but we leave for home on the 20th of December (which will be another adventure in and of itself).

So we have a lot planned for the future, hopefully I'll get to see some more musicals (I've already seen Sister Act the Musical and I want to see the Birdcage and Billy Elliot) and get outside London a little bit more with classes or day trips.

Happy October everyone!

Leeds Castle and Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral was by far the coolest Cathedral in. the. world. I absolutely loved it! It was so beautiful and mind blowing I couldn't even believe it. I often find myself moved to tears in museums and cathedrals, but this was probably the most profound architectural and artistic experience I've ever had.

Leeds was significantly less exciting but there are some pictures for you to enjoy. I uploaded two videos from the Cathedral (we were there when a service was being held, the hymns were absolutely spectacular) that I'll post the link to at the end of this post.











A Hymn

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Scotland

We traveled to Inverness, Scotland on the National Express. It took 13 hours from London (actually a little more). We left at 11 pm Thursday night and arrived around noon on Friday. We explored the city (which was only very recently named a city), which is mostly shops and restaurants and pubs. There are castles and fields and sheeps all along the outskirts. From the city streets you can see the highlands sweeping beyond the steeples and terraces.

The sunset was the most gorgeous sunset I've ever seen. More beautiful than the sun kissing the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii, more amazing than nearly hearing the sun sizzle beneath the Atlantic waves off of Newfoundland, more breath taking than the orange glow of the fading sunlight over the Tuscan hills. The sky was literally on fire, the clouds turning from bright orange and red to a deep blue in a matter of minutes. The cows were lowing in the fields below, taking their last clumps of grass before sleep. I watched the sunset and knew that pictures would never ever do it justice. It was like going to church out in God's very own cathedral, surrounded by verdant blades of grass swaying in the gentle breeze of summer fading all around us (it was very warm when we were there! you would think it would have been colder). It felt like a warm hug, have you ever felt that? A gentle warm breeze flowing all around you and complete and total peace. I wish words or pictures could do justice to the beauty of this place. Truly one of the most beautiful places on this Earth.

Here are a few pictures:































Get to Scotland if you can! This weekend we're going to Canterbury and Leeds castle, taking a break from 13 hour bus rides. Hope all is well in the rest of the world!

Weekend 2: Inverness, Scotland

This weekend we will be traveling to Inverness, Scotland, in search of the Loch Ness Monster!! Stay tuned for pictures of the journey!

The bus ride there is around 13 hours long, we leave London at 11 pm and arrive Inverness around 11:30 am. We check in to our hostel around noon, and from there we can hit all the tourist traps and buy some plaid and have a great time (no haggis though, blehhh).

We stay one night in the hostel, since the first and third nights are taken up with the 13 hour bus journey, but that's okay because I am not too keen on being in a hostel anyway.

We leave Inverness around 8 pm Saturday night and arrive around 7 am in London. Sunday will most likely be spent catching up on sleep, gorging ourselves with food and doing any last minute homework.

Classes started, so now studying, reading and homeworking have become a main priority. Travel has taken a backseat, sadly, but we are still in London, the city that never sleeps and the city from which you can travel to almost any destination in the world (and almost any destination in Europe for a really good price).

Wish us safe bus rides and a pleasant stay in our hostel!

Palace Guards Et Cetera

On Saturday we took a trip around London, seeing all of the major tourist and cultura points. We saw Trafalgar Square, which is extraordinary and is almost like a giant common area for London



We then turned around and went into the National Gallery (which is FREE!) and saw some really amazing art, but only some (and we spent about an hour there!) because the place is epicly huge and would require years to see the entire thing. Fortunately, one of my classes is being held at the national gallery every monday so I'll be able to see a great deal of the museum with my class.



We then took the bus to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is (according to some) the greatest cathedral in the world. It's the second largest, behind the Vatican, but I would venture to say that it took my breath away more than the Vatican did (the Vatican was far too crowded). St. Paul's is absolutely beautiful, over 300 feet tall with light peering in from the windows around the dome at the top. You can actually take the stairs up to the very top. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside so I didn't get many...




We went to Buckingham Palace, which wasn't very interesting because I don't particularly enjoy enormous displays of wealth. The palace guards are way cool though. However, there was one kid guarding the palace, and the uniform was way too big for this poor kid. He was so skinny and so adorable, and the big black hat on his head was falling down. So I turned to Alycia (one of my friends from school) and said "Oh God look, his hat is about to fall off his head" and he was trying to shimmy it back onto his head. Then he took the bayonet on his machine gun and lifted it so as to prop his hat up with the bayonet (these guys aren't supposed to move at all, so he did it very delicately and super stealth). It was so hilarious that we burst out laughing.

This wasn't the kid, it was the guard opposite him. I was laughing too hard to get a picture of the other guy.


So far so good! This weekend I think we're going to Bath, which should be interesting, or Scotland or Wales, but we're not really sure yet. We're trying to coordinate a trip to Munich for Oktoberfest, but it's super last minute so we might end up going somewhere else. But it's all still in planning mode, except for Spain in 7ish weeks!

Cheerio!

First Few Days in London! Finally!!

We just got internet in our rooms (it's the second night so it wasnt't a terrible hardship going without it for a night) so I can finally post a blog!

We landed in London around 9:30 yesterday morning (4:30 east coast time). Both of my suitcases arrived on time and in good shape. The two girls I am travelling with, however, were not so fortunate. One of the girls was missing one suitcase and the other, my roommate this semester, was missing both. I leant her some shirts for yesterday and today but I felt so bad for her. The suitcases finally arrived around 11 pm this evening so that's a huge sigh of relief.

We are located in Regent's Park which is this absolutely STUNNING park in the heart of London. It's basically a five minute walk to the tube stop, and then from there you can get anywhere in London or anywhere in Europe really, because the international train station is on a tube stop not far from the closest tube stop to me. I'll post pictures of the park on Sunday hopefully, because it is truly breathtaking.

Tomorrow we're hoping to do a sightseeing tour of London, as the last two days have been spent getting settled in, meeting with our class advisors and doing group activities. This evening we went on the Jack the Ripper Walking Tour all around old London and it was fantastic. There is so much history in this city, so much to see and do and to take in. I feel like I could spend the next four months here and never grow tired of everything I am experiencing.

I'll post again on Sunday about all the weekend activities and later in the week about classes.