Holiday in Spain

The next weekend I went to Spain with Julie, who also goes to F&M and is studying in London.

 

This is my no carb left behind experiment.

That Monday morning, I flew out of Paris to Rome with my London friend Emily.  There we stayed with her friends from home and then took a train over to Florence to stay with my high school friend Brighid.  There are way too many stories from this trip that I will save to tell you in person.

Long story short:  It rained everyday. The food was amazing.  Everyone thought that I was a local.

An American Girl In Paris

The first weekend I was off to Paris on the Eurostar with my college roommates Monica and Luci.  There, we met our friend Nicki, who graduated in May and is now living in Paris.  Although it poured the whole weekend, it didn't stop us from having our fun. (Although, we had to stop into a local pharmacy to get some Dr. Scholl's pads for my feet.)

We arrived Friday night and Nicki took us to a fondue restaurant for dinner.  The place was a hole in the wall that was packed with both tourists and locals alike.  For 18 euros each we got a pot of fondue, meat, a cocktail, antipasti and fruit salad.  Not to mention, the wine, which was served in baby bottles since the restaurant gets charged for serving it in wine glasses.  Afterwards, we went to the bar where Nicki bartends at and then to a club.  Good times were had by all.

Saturday, Nicki took us all around the city to her favorite non-touristy spots.  We were really lucky to have her take us everywhere and it helps that's she's fluent in the language!  We walked down the Champs Elysees and then headed over to Notre Dame. After, we got the best falafel and went to a cute cafe for the best chai I have ever tasted. Then we went to a bakery where Nicki treated us to a chocolate tart and lavender macaroons.  Did I mention we ate a lot on this trip?  That night Nicki had to work so Luci, Monica and I headed to dinner at a quaint French restaurant in a really authentic part of the city. We had a three course meal and sat and ate for almost three hours and a guy with a guitar sang to us.

 On our last day, we tried to pack it all in.  We went to the Louvre, where Monica got us lost several times, and then Musee D'Orsay.  Then we went to Princess Diana's memorial, ate the best sandwiches at one of Nicki's favorite spots and finally saw the Eiffel Tower! It was much bigger than we expected and we took lots and lots of pictures.  We continued by heading into the Red Light District to see the Moulin Rouge and grabbed some crepes before heading over to the Sacre Couer, the highest point in Paris.  We stayed there for a while taking in the view before heading back to Nicki's host family for dinner.  Looking back, that night was so much fun because it was such a unique experience eating dinner in a French family's home.  Nicki acted as our main translator, but Luci and I were surprised by how much high school french we remembered so it was cool talking to them in a language other than our native tongue.  Monica, on the other hand, who studied Latin in high school, had no clue what was being said the whole night, which made the night even funnier.

All in all, Paris is a beautiful city of lights.  It looks exactly like it does in the movies and it lived up to each and every one of my expectations.  The french language is like hearing music on the streets and the little sidewalk cafes make you want to pack up your whole life, buy a vespa, slap on a beret and move there as soon as possible.  Maybe one day...

I suck.

Okay, so I am well aware that I wasn't as great with this whole blog thing like I thought I would be.  Lucky for you, I had the urge to write tonight so I decided to do it here. (Even though I could be trying to make a dent in the three ten page papers due for next week...)

Since I was last on here I have been traveling every weekend.  You will be hearing my stories with much more depth when I come home, but I can at least share some moments about my trips with you  now. So, I'll post them in the order of my adventures!


Nov. 5-7: Paris, France
Nov. 8-12: Rome and Florence, Italy
Nov. 19-21: Barcelona, Spain
Nov. 26-28: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dec. 3-5: Edinburgh, Scotland

Happy reading!

Catching Up

       Time has managed to sneak past me again.  These past two weeks have just flown by.  Since the last time I've been on here, I have visited Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Tower of London, Brick Lane, Camden Market and a live taping of "The X Factor," which is the British version of American Idol.   

Now, let's break this all down.

    The weekend after I visited Monica in Bath, she came to see me for the day in London.  Lord knows that girl loves history, so we paid the eighteen pounds to go to the Tower of London.  We took a tour, lead by a beefeater, and Monica made sure it was her business to always be front and center of the crowd, leaving me behind in the back.  We saw the crowned jewels, obviously, and walked around the area before leaving for Trafalgar Square to visit the National Gallery. It was actually a really nice and sunny day out, which is RARE here.  

     Last week, some of my flatmates and I took a trip to Westminster to see Westminster Abbey.  On Wednesdays, the three of us don't have class so we decided to plan fun things to do around the city each week during this free time.  This past week we decided to head out during the early evening and get tickets to see the inside of the Abbey.  Twelve pounds later, (I am going broke by the way), we entered the famous landmark in which every coronation has been held since 1066, with the last one taking place in 1952 with Queen Elizabeth II.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures, which was disappointing, but it was absolutely beautiful.  It was so cool know that Queen Elizabeth I, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin and many other important people were buried there.  

    At the end of the week I met up with my high school friend, Safi, who is also studying in London and we went to the market and shopped while finishing the day off with Indian food for dinner.

    Last weekend, a girl who lives upstairs and works for "The X Factor" asked if I wanted to come along and see a live taping for free.  The studio was in a really bad neighborhood in West London, about an hour away, but we had so much fun.  My American friends and I had no idea who any of the people were, but we still screamed at the top of our lungs.  The judges were, of course, Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue, (Kylie's younger sister), some random manager guy and Cheryl Cole, which we were told was England's sweetheart.  The studio only fit about 400 people, so it was much smaller than the American Idol setting, but supposedly over 16 million viewers had been tuning in to watch that night.  I also thought it was interesting, that unlike in the States, all of the popular television programs are aired on Saturday and Sunday, because the English tend to go out and have more fun during the week and end up staying home or traveling on weekends.

     Speaking of going out during the week, my friend Emily's birthday was last Tuesday night, so we all decided to head into central London to a club to celebrate. We got all dressed up and stayed out dancing and meeting new people, but once the clock struck 3am we decided to get a move on back to campus.  The downfall of living far away from everything is that the tube stops running after midnight so we have to take several double decker buses back in order to get home.  On this particular night, we didn't care to check the schedules before we left so we were unaware that all of the main streets close to the club would be closed due to maintenance work.  With no open roads, it was a little difficult for any of the buses to head in our direction.  

      The weather was around 32 degrees that night with strong winds and I thought it was a bright idea to just go out in a tank top.  We were all shaking so much we couldn't talk!  After taking a turn on a deserted side street, I saw a security guard sitting at the front desk of an office building.  I knocked on the glass like a homeless person and begged him to look up a cab number for us. He must have been Jesus in disguise, for he found us a number to the closest cab service.  Emily called and ordered us two cabs and while I waited with her, the rest of the group decided to go off and continue with the search to find a working bus stop.  After ten minutes the cab pulled up and we told him that our friends would be back in just a second.  The driver said that he could not spend any time waiting around and that we could either take the taxi right then and there or wait for our friends at the curb.  So naturally, we got in the cab and left without them. I was back to my room at around 4:30 and I went to bed with earmuffs and my winter coat on. I wish I was joking.

On Monday Luci is coming to visit me in London for the week! Then on Friday we are off to Paris for the weekend before I fly to Italy for my reading week!  

Monica really loved the tour.

"Westminster Abbey. Hands down the best abbey I've ever seen." Joey Tribbiani

British Museum for my Art History class.

X Factor stage.

Emily and I on the tube.

You know who this is.

Rub-a-dub-dub

    This past weekend I visited Monica who is studying abroad in Bath.  By train, it took me about 1 1/2 hours to get there and it is truly the perfect quaint getaway from the bustling city.  Located in Western England, close to the boarder of Wales, Bath is such an old and historical city, but with the cutest shops and restaurants that keeps both the locals and tourists happy.
    Monica's house is in the center of the city so it was nice not having to rely on public transportation for anything.  Everything is within walking distance!  Saturday, Monica, her flatemates and I took a trip to the Fashion Museum, which was having an exhibition on Princess Diana's clothes.  It was really cool being able to see her gowns in person and reading about where and when she wore them.  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures in this part of the museum, which Monica knows I was pissed about.  Next, we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in vintage stores and ended our day sitting by the water and catching up on our boring lives.
     Sunday, we kept on shopping (it's what we do best) and I bought a cute beaded cardigan and retro gloves.  Monica wanted to buy everything in the store, but naturally she ended up buying nothing.  haha  Later, Mo introduced me to English "cream tea" which came with warm scones, jam and clotted cream.  We were very happy.  All and all it was very nice getting away for the first time since I've been here and of course making fun of Monica the whole weekend make me feel like I was right at home!

I've added new pictures to my photo album as well! ------>

Beautiful Bath

It looks like she's drinking blood.

View from Monica's bedroom window

I swear, Americans are smart too.

It's clear I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Let's fix that right now, shall we?

     These past two weeks have flown by.  I am now beginning to feel more comfortable with this city and I have learned to appreciate its differences from home, rather than looking at them as imperfections. 

     No matter what I am in the mood for, I can find it in London.  It's nice to know that I am only a tube ride away from great restaurants, vintage shops, the theatre and some of the best museums in the world.  Quite a difference to what I'm usually surrounded by in Lancaster, which are cow pastures and....well, that's about it.  

      So, two weeks ago I started classes here on campus. I am taking poetry, scriptwriting, art history and a lit class.  Little did I know that this literature class is a senior seminar, which study abroad students were advised not to take.  On top of that, this class only focuses on the literature written during the rise of facism and communism in Europe.  Needless to say, I have no effing idea what is going on.  

     Just to paint you a picture:  on the first day of class, I take a seat and I come to realize that I am the only American in the class of 40 students.  The tutor wanted us to each go around and introduce ourselves, along with mentioning the last book that we read.  The first girl who speaks says she just finished rereading War and Peace while the guy after her says he spent his summer reading Wordsworth poems and brushing up on Henry James' short stories.  

       Of course, the first thought that came to my mind was, "What's a good book I can lie about and say I read?", but before I knew it he had called my name not giving me enough time to whip up a highly acclaimed classic.  So, what did I say? I said I read Eat, Pray, Love.  You know how people say you always feel better after you tell the truth?  Needless to say, I don't believe in that anymore.  

       So, other than humiliating myself here on a daily basis, everything's been fine! My dad came to visit me for a few days and it was nice to see him and get to explore London a bit more.  We saw "Jersey Boys" one night and took a day trip to Canterbury on a Sunday.  It was a good five days, but it made me homesick for a familiar routine and everything that I am comfortable with.    

        This past week I saw "Sister Act" and "Legally Blonde" on the West End.  That's three shows in less than a week.  I need to stop.  

        Other than that, I have been just doing work, cooking my own meals (*sigh*), and getting lost on the streets of London.  Now I'm off to do a load of laundry. Riveting life I lead.  

Canterbury Cathedral 

The town of Canterbury

Buckingham Palace