tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87014091119933667112024-02-07T11:36:05.192-08:00Becki Travels the WorldBeckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-29268472837999641662012-06-05T18:09:00.001-07:002012-06-05T18:10:51.604-07:00We Made This Garden Grow!Well I have been putting off this last blog for a very long time. This is because I felt like as soon as I wrote this last post it would mean that my entire experience was over. I felt like I would never see my new friends again, that I would never be able to have an experience as memorable as this one, and that I would never be able to survive living in my home country. Thankfully the anger of my parents dragging me back here have gone away and I have realized that I still can travel the world and I will get to see my friends in the process!<br />
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To all the wonderful people I met at Harlaxton. I have never met so many people that are so optimistic about life and so driven to go after whatever they want. It was these people that made my semester abroad much more than I could have ever imagined possible. And it all started before I even left the USA. So to all the wonderful people I met and now can call my friends...this one is for you.<br />
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Let's start off with who I miss the most! Melissa McCracken. I suppose you would be mad if I left it at that so I'll try to write a little more. I have never gotten along so well with someone I had absolutely nothing in common with. I was a bit hesitant on this friendship just by watching you try and manage all three of your suitcases through Heathrow but somehow you managed to get all your boots through the airport without taking out any small children so I was a little impressed. Things all fell into place though when we were able to coordinate our nap schedules for the first three weeks of school and shyly ask each other to every single meal. Somehow we became friends through: watching nudists shows in London, napping with the heat on at every hotel, complaining about everyone, being your wing woman, crying together in Paris, borrowing each others clothes, getting yelled at for borrowing each other clothes, watching CJ hula hoop in our room, waking up 10 minutes before British Studies and wandering down, listening to music in the dark, having you whip up every possible drink with the espresso machine, watching you play with every possible thing on the table at meals, watching the sunscreen song with the roomies, locking you in the window, and hearing you sing every possible song you could think of at any frickin' time of the day! I know I am forgetting plenty of things but I am sure we will reminisce about them all as we make plenty of new memories along the way! Make sure to wear your Best Friend Swatch from Paris everyday! Miss you and love you!<br />
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Gunnar. I knew you would be a valuable tool in my tool belt from the very first day. I don't think I would have made it back to the manor on mannyyy weekend get aways if it wasn't for you! My trusty navigator. I'm gonna save a lot of money now that I'm not buying you shots of tequila and sambuca! I bet you will miss those! Anywaysss the only reason I really liked you was because you liked Sugarland and made the most obnoxious sandwiches! I guess we have some other memories as well, like when you dragged me through a field telling me how Nick and Kristen could be hanging dead from all the trees around us, I believe this was after you tried to shove me in front of trucks and before the musically filled zig zag up the drive way. Other things I will miss about you: your amazing dancing abilities, watching you try and get around your entire room without touching the floor, looking into your beautiful blue eyes...in all the pictures Missy put of them on my camera, watching Oceans 13 together...oh wait!, seeing you get beat up by Lithuanian men; thank you for giving me the most entertaining volleyball practice of me career, and last but not least thank you for going to watch naked girls dance with me! That's what friends are for! I really can't think of a single normal thing we did together. I wish you all the best in your dreams of going to law school and maybe or maybe not having a wife and kids!<br />
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Sara, I finally spelled your name right! I'm gonna miss you roomie!!!! I'm so glad we got to be together this semester! Out of all the roommates I had you were definitely the best! Thank you for hula hooping with me, watching the sunscreen video, singing Call Me Maybe with me, waking me up from my naps for lunch, taking me horse back riding, finding Drury Lane with me, thank you for not dragging me on all the workouts I said I would do (our friendship would not have lasted), I wish we could have gotten farther in our bucket list but I guess that just means we have to go back someday! Thank you for tutoring me through British Studies and teaching me everything you know! You will be a marvelous teacher someday and I'm so jealous that you get to study abroad twice! I miss my sassy little roomie and cannot wait to see you soon!<br />
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Nicholas. Ever since I walked into Matt's room one day and was confused about who this guy was that was talking so much and acting like we were already friends...I...I don't know. After that day our friendship just blossomed! Especially during that 2 hour relationship we had! I am going to miss looking out my bedroom window and seeing you wandering around the manor with a trampoline. You are one of the most quirkiest people I have ever known and I wouldn't have you any other way! You are the world's top athlete (mostly because of your 4 pushups a day), I loved every minute of playing volleyball and basketball with you and will miss my big middle hitter and inspirational leader. You are also the second greatest dancer I have ever come in contact with, sorry you got beat out by Victory, not in speed though, you are the fastest dancer I know! I can't wait to attend yours and Kristin's wedding and to also see you on Broadway! Keep up the excellent job shaving, oh and also brushing your teeth (especially in the middle of the street at 3am in Paris)! Can't wait to see you again someday!<br />
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Rachel. Thank you for letting me play with your hair and helping me to become an expert braider! You make a beautiful flower! I hope you are enjoying all the pancakes in the world and still using your sexy voice all the time! Let me know if you want to Skype ;) Keep up the excellent job of working out and try to put in some extra time for me! I will dearly miss our Call Me Maybe bonding time and being homesick and watching the sunscreen video together! I feel so lost without you! Mostly because everyone around me always has clothes on! You're gonna be maddd at me for throwing that in! But anyways, keep up the wonderful writing and get some more of your work published! I need some new books to read so get on that. (I prefer trashy romance if you would be interested in exploring a new genre). Love you roomie and can't wait to see you again!<br />
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Benny! I have never met anyone that has as much swag as you do, Silky Smooth. Ever since I laid eyes on that shiny beautiful head of yours I just knew we were going to be best friends! You have excellent taste in music and thank you for giving up your headphones in order to keep Matt entertained! I will desperately miss waking up to your smiling face in soc and then following you around the manor until we ended up at lunch. I am also sad that I cannot open my bedroom window and see you walking around with the mac along with the trampoline. Your accents make every woman's heart within a 5 mile radius melt and you will always be Dr. Threesome in my book! Now, if I never teach you anything else just know that whenever you are in the middle of a room filled with people at least warn them when you are going to drop your towel. Can't wait to see you in EC even if me and Kristin actually do have to try 3 or 4 times before you finally agree. We are very dedicated people.<br />
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Victory. I believe you gave me a talk at basketball one of the first days on how Victory is the easiest name to remember. Because of this I didn't actually know your first name for at least a month or two. Oops. My happiest memory of you would be on Sunday nights when you would waltz into the refrectory and plop down at the table with your chin in your hands just waiting to hear everyone's stories. You always seemed so genuinely excited to learn about everyone and to get to know them. And that is why I am going to miss you! Thank you for making the basketball season bearable but also obnoxiously fun! You are the greatest story teller I have ever met even though I really know you shine most in the magical lyrics you can throw together into a song. Auburn Eyes was my favorite. If we could have only experienced one thing together I would have been completely satisfied with Poetry Jam 2010. Best of luck in everything you do especially in becoming an engineer? I believe. I hope to see you again some day! And if not, my last memory will be dancing on that last Monday night at Barcode and that's not too shabby of a memory to me.<br />
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Alex. I think my favorite time with you was during our walk in Paris when you told me all about the two children that you abandoned. I knew I had made a lifelong friend at that point. Oh and thank you from protecting me from the men on top of the hill in Paris. That was a scary time in my life and I'm glad you were there to protect me in your big strong arms. When you weren't being mean you were actually really nice so I'm kinda confused. I would just like to inform you though that my self confidence has gone way up since being away from your constant insults! I hope you have a lovely summer working on the farm and I can't wait to hear you on the radio someday!<br />
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Jake. I cannot wait to work with my future partner in Becki and Jake's Beef and Egg Production. I don't see how we won't be millionaires by age 25. Really I see no flaws. I am going to miss having someone to cheat off of in class and also having someone to insult just so I could watch them pout. This was really a great friendship I think! Anywaysss I will miss watching you trample poor helpless Lithuanian men just because you were running so fast you couldn't stop. You were really the most graceful basketball player I have ever seen. On that note, I do apologize for giving you false promises for your basketball achievements. You were truly a gentlemen, especially when I would throw my purse across the room just to see you run and get it. OK that only happened once. But I truly did love our friendship and bonding. Can't wait to visit the frat house! WOOO!<br />
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Cleve. Our basketball team would not have survived without you, well not that we really survived anyways. But you gave a valiant effort none the less! I am going to miss watching you father Jake like he was your own. Thank you for assisting him in getting the bees out of my window, I don't think he could have done it without you. Also, thank you for letting me stare at the back of your head when I couldn't think of anything to write on my British Studies tests. I hope you enjoyed our slumber party as much as I did and I hope you treasure the souvenir that you took from above my bed. Every other man in the world I'm sure is very envious! I'm impressed at how long this friendship lasted considering the first time we actually met you had to remind me that we were on the basketball team together. I thought I was doomed from there on. Good luck in the race this summer if you still do it and I will hopefully see you in the future! P.S. I'm still mad that you took my bdubs sauce!<br />
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Jordan. One of my favorite middle blockers! I have never had such an inappropriate teammate during a volleyball season! I always loved playing next to you even though I could hardly focus! Hopefully we will get to play together again someday so that we can run some more shoots. Just please don't leave me for Kristin. You are also the sexiest James Bond I have ever seen! You should wear that outfit more often. You are a truly great friend and wonderful person, especially when you wait up for me in Paris...and then give me awkward hugs! Anyways you should draw me a picture because you kicked me off that bench! Sound good? Can't wait to see you again some day ;)<br />
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Did you think I forgot about you Kristin? I had to save you for last because you are my most trusty follower! And I just needed to make sure that someone actually read the stuff that I put all this effort into! So that was your job! Ever since I was concussed and therefore missing volleyball for the weekend which meant I could attend the orientation, I KNEW we would be friends! I think are friendship (with Missy as well) was truly cemented that first weekend in London as we all napped fully clothed at 6 at night with the heat cranked and awkward shows playing on tv. I think I experienced pretty much everything with you whether it be staring at Doug, getting whip lash from my driving, getting violated during basketball games, letting me have your inhaler to make it up Arthur's Seat, spending many nights in the Bistro, pep talking you through ghill scrambling, watching you try and handle your horse in Lake District and sharing a wonderful nap afterwards, letting me steal your boyfriend for a few hours, fighting over Jordan, enjoying pinaS coladas in Spain, making many stops at Starbucks, taking romantic pictures on the beach, letting me take pictures of you in Paris, being my model in Spain as well. I love my favorite co-captain and cannot wait to play with you in EC. Whether it be in a gym or on a playground or in a bar.<br />
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To everyone that I played volleyball and basketball with, thank you for reminding me of why I started playing sports in the first place. These were two of my favorite teams that I have ever been a part of and I am going to miss everyone involved. Thank you for letting me be my obnoxious self at all times and thank you even more for joining me in the obnoxiousness. You all will never truly know how much I enjoyed the experience. I miss every minute of it.<br />
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To everyone and everyone else, that joined me along the way, thank you for the memories. I am thankful that I got to meet all the people that I did. I could not have asked for a better group of manor mates! Love you all and cannot wait to be reunited again someday.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CImGTTuEMEI">Because I Knew You...</a>(click here).Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-59756990271113114232012-05-19T15:45:00.000-07:002012-05-19T15:45:10.059-07:00Traveling with the FamilyI have just finished cleaning gutters and weeding the backyard at my new home for the summer in Indiana. But I decided that I didn't like doing that anymore so here I am to tell all my followers of my last memories of my time abroad. (Over three weeks ago). <br />
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After our last exam on that Wednesday it became a mad dash to throw everything I owned into 2 suitcases and a backpack! This was because we had a train to catch and no idea where the house we were staying at actually was. All I really remember from these few hours was a mental breakdown to pack all my stuff, try to say good bye to all the friends I had made and watch over my parents. It was a mess. We eventually made it to the train station and were off to London for the rest of the week. When we made it there it turned into yet another mess as we had to figure out how to get to our apartment that was on the very outskirts of London and a half hour away. Long story short they got on a train with all my luggage while I stayed back with my friends Missy and Matt because Matt and I had a burlesque show to attend that night! I believe we got ready in the bathrooms at a McDonald's that did not have mirrors. Then we plopped Missy down at a Starbucks in the train station and caught a train out to our show.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYYZycgR5U7dlIyXMt-rpO3y_Ps9IehrDCIe4uw22-Htrn85WiZ2Wv-L4y1JCuOqc_UnSYAlMKXpQ-Q8XWCXgNb7bWbhIPrJdV3Nv2A3R28oIBE5-mnmpBhiC1HHASzhm1cfVzLGjWfjQ/s1600/IMG_1601.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYYZycgR5U7dlIyXMt-rpO3y_Ps9IehrDCIe4uw22-Htrn85WiZ2Wv-L4y1JCuOqc_UnSYAlMKXpQ-Q8XWCXgNb7bWbhIPrJdV3Nv2A3R28oIBE5-mnmpBhiC1HHASzhm1cfVzLGjWfjQ/s200/IMG_1601.JPG" width="150" /></a>Also long story short, I had bought two tickets to a burlesque show off of groupon a few months ahead of time and spent the time in between trying to convince Matt to go watch naked people dance with me. Thankfully he agreed and brought our $9 drinks! The show went from 7 to 2 with dancing after their performance. But because we didn't know where the apartment was we had to actually leave the show after two hours so that I could catch the last train out to the apartment. Anyways, the part of the show that we actually got to see was interesting and amazing! There was a red carpet leading into the place then we had to head down these stairs surrounded by mirrors. After that we walked into the room where there was a bar, stage and tables. The room was completely decked out like any burlesque movie with red curtains hanging everywhere, low lighting and fog machines. It was amazing and I was in love. Our table was directly next to the stage so we had greattttt views of EVERYTHING. The fun part came when we could not understand the waiters or how the system worked but we somehow managed to get drinks and our delicious three course meals! Then had to figure out how to pay for our drinks and sneak out while the show was going on. Somehow we managed and made our way back to pick up Missy. This is the sad part. When I left for England on January 5th all by myself, Missy and Matt were the only other people on my plane that were going to Harlaxton so they were the first people I met on my trip and some of the best friends I had made and now it was time to say goodbye to the last of my friends that I had made as the semester had come full circle. So there I left them at Starbucks and headed out to the ghetto of London that our apartment was in but it was ok because as I was powerwalking away from the men watching me I was greeted by my sister that I had not seen in months!<br />
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The next day was Harry Potter time. A little outside of London they had just opened up a Harry Potter Studio tour so we had no option but to go. Sarah would have shot us if we didn't go. It was really cool because we got to see thousands of different things that were used throughout the shooting of the Harry Potter series including many set pieces (I was in the Great Hall) and behind the scene secrets(like how Hogwarts is just a small model that they make look real and huge). It is still exciting because last night I watched the full first movie of the series! Tonight I will even get to see the second one for the first time! It's more of a game of searching for things that I had seen on the tour so it gives me quite the adrenaline rush. Oh and I also decided to look into animal training so I can train owls.<br />
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After Harry we headed back into London and found a cheap ticket booth for Broadway shows. So that night we got some tickets to go see Rock of Ages but we didn't see it until after I took the fam to my favorite steak house in London! The steaks were still amazing and the show was awesome. One of my favorites, I'm still listening to the soundtrack. After that we took the trip home, only to realize we were locked out of the apartment and had to walk to a hotel down the road to call the apartment owner.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQVAknDPJBTOtyA2vcD1JpxGzhtqCpaNmvK15isEV2CGZOQ8Joi2UDXmXAnPjvGEydc_fDM3C1SFDpcm5pPdyvcNxdk6t3JQQ5spsW2SByfvDtI0M47Z1gqiLmG8S2QvnfRsoT-Wc-XQ/s1600/DSCN2881.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQVAknDPJBTOtyA2vcD1JpxGzhtqCpaNmvK15isEV2CGZOQ8Joi2UDXmXAnPjvGEydc_fDM3C1SFDpcm5pPdyvcNxdk6t3JQQ5spsW2SByfvDtI0M47Z1gqiLmG8S2QvnfRsoT-Wc-XQ/s200/DSCN2881.JPG" width="142" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdhZutV8Znn_tplV5vSTZltuZqzCx5l_mEyNePCOkYPncijduyFvxtl9C9Tz2BopcS7OCAYxP0OcZftwL2qD32Z78TQ6ev-ewJawRMdkB5wI5dz73y8ZBf68aJ82-Zv8OpqHOlObBG_F4/s1600/DSCN2874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdhZutV8Znn_tplV5vSTZltuZqzCx5l_mEyNePCOkYPncijduyFvxtl9C9Tz2BopcS7OCAYxP0OcZftwL2qD32Z78TQ6ev-ewJawRMdkB5wI5dz73y8ZBf68aJ82-Zv8OpqHOlObBG_F4/s200/DSCN2874.JPG" width="150" /></a>On Friday we decided to venture out so the fam could see some more of London. We ended up taking a bus and boat tour around the city. We were able to see all the important stuff while on the bus/boat. My family brought the most terrible weather with them so we did not spend much time actually outside and walking. But I think they still enjoyed their time and we made the most of it. That night we finally decided that it was time to book our trip to Liverpool. So the next morning bright and early I headed off to the train station with Mommy and Daddy and just a few hours later we were in the land of the Beatles! We booked a tour and were able to take a tour through the life of the Beatles, we had a little 4D experience which was interesting, and then there was another part of how Elvis influenced the Beatles. I have always wanted to go to Liverpool every since I listened to the Beatles on my cd player every bus ride in middle school and I was so happy to finally be there! I learned so many new things about the Beatles and also about Elvis. My favorite part however was when we went and found the Cavern Club where the Beatles played when they were just starting also but the Club has hosted pretty much every famous singer and band from Britain. We had to pay at the door then go down about 4 flights of stairs and there was already a band playing at 3 in the afternoon and the place was full of people! It was also nice because there was also another side stage that just played a video about the Beatles so me and Mom enjoyed a pint there and than got our souvenirs and headed out. Some how we also managed to book our trip to Liverpool on the same day as the Sea Odyssey Titanic. Which was basically a big parade that had a gigantic sea diver start at one end and a big girl start at the other end and they walked until they met up in the middle. The diver and the girl were literally taller than all the buildings they were passing and the streets were packed with THOUSANDS of people! It was the best way to end the trip as we were headed to the train station and headed home.<br />
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That Sunday Sarah, Kevin, Dad, and I had a nice relaxing day wandering around London crossing last minute things off the list. We spent sometime out at Abbey Road Studio and took our pictures on the street. We also stopped for awhile at a park and walked around Harrods. Then we tried to see where sand volleyball would be played at the Olympics but it started pouring rain so we settled for a walk around the National Gallery before heading home for the night.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggZeSOPBfHtjW1HptFmAyoNN4EMGl7R3QH_Y4oU87RdH7_atBp40Skj2c5vMqYTpkhxrG0a6WteSFFKM66hhoscSzUOxjjEjad72H2wvzVqD-TRg8qTKr9V0ZQHCIO6cirNeisANttS2I/s1600/DSCN3007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggZeSOPBfHtjW1HptFmAyoNN4EMGl7R3QH_Y4oU87RdH7_atBp40Skj2c5vMqYTpkhxrG0a6WteSFFKM66hhoscSzUOxjjEjad72H2wvzVqD-TRg8qTKr9V0ZQHCIO6cirNeisANttS2I/s200/DSCN3007.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7AHBfvsI_7JUkPmAO2KgCpodvxnbXF6xJCDwZdAi34X_ltX4rw_8dmr0qMKFNfEkpycbnDVTGktb7sXr9JNWPd-u3G7agrlb80CA_MjQleu7O2kxzxTNM-urgtyZujfUSx-2Y88rcIlM/s1600/DSCN2986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7AHBfvsI_7JUkPmAO2KgCpodvxnbXF6xJCDwZdAi34X_ltX4rw_8dmr0qMKFNfEkpycbnDVTGktb7sXr9JNWPd-u3G7agrlb80CA_MjQleu7O2kxzxTNM-urgtyZujfUSx-2Y88rcIlM/s200/DSCN2986.JPG" width="200" /></a>On Monday morning we were up bright and early to begin our next adventure. ITALY! Our first stop was Rome and because we only had 2 days there we needed to use our time wisely. As soon as we got to our hostel we all climbed in our bunk beds and had a nice nap! After that we were finally ready to take on Rome! We began by getting our bus tour all scheduled. We bought a 24 hour pass to get on and off a bus line in order to see as much of the city as we could. On Day 1 we decided it would be best to ride the full bus tour in order to see everything and then we would spend the next day getting off to see the specific things we wanted. So after riding around on that Monday and enjoying our first two Italian meals we drank some wine and headed to bed. The next day we did a tour of the Colosseum and also walked around Vatican City. It is amazing how much history is in the city and that most of the things we were seeing were hundreds of years old. It was also cool to learn all the history of the Colosseum, I think the most interesting thing I learned was that in the first 100 days of the opening of the Colosseum around 5,000 Gladiators and animals were killed. It was just interesting after hearing of the history of it and seeing the movies it was crazy to actually be in the place where all the history took place. The other place we looked around was the Vatican and around the city. I wish we could have been there for a service to see the Pope but it was still cool seeing where the world famous services take place. After that we picked up a few souvenirs and had some gelato before our last Italian dinner.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyK0NUyXTFuS_pt2Zl1ujVNIfJjm1anZpWXOdoLiHJO_DpI1MZf4NQLPmse72o2l3zOxfbDZhD3w7xJt7OGn_Aio-hO25rLrpRg49YQvEic_iUWE4SEOOFGr7iNjPUnbji_W6HPRaeJyA/s1600/DSCN3036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyK0NUyXTFuS_pt2Zl1ujVNIfJjm1anZpWXOdoLiHJO_DpI1MZf4NQLPmse72o2l3zOxfbDZhD3w7xJt7OGn_Aio-hO25rLrpRg49YQvEic_iUWE4SEOOFGr7iNjPUnbji_W6HPRaeJyA/s200/DSCN3036.JPG" width="142" /></a>The next morning we headed off to the train station (but not before we bought some cheap Italian shoes) to get to our next destination, Pisa. It was a long train ride so by time we got there we didn't have much day light left so we hurried on our to our last destination of Italy. The leaning tower is still standing. We helped it stay up as much as we could but then our arms got tired so we went and had our last Italian meal. After that we had a short last night in Italy then it was time to move on to the next country.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOgOxe5yJ32QlXId-Mdcyrwu0RbSMyiTzAVoD4LyRNvaE6KR1YxzY7a5t10DlXFQT1lQV3zhQ-AZ4WvmIkSM58hqtEVZvsMO06oz0rbm59mEQtMiGfawyBaN_vQXhWH-zdaLqygr-4ltk/s1600/DSCN3067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOgOxe5yJ32QlXId-Mdcyrwu0RbSMyiTzAVoD4LyRNvaE6KR1YxzY7a5t10DlXFQT1lQV3zhQ-AZ4WvmIkSM58hqtEVZvsMO06oz0rbm59mEQtMiGfawyBaN_vQXhWH-zdaLqygr-4ltk/s200/DSCN3067.JPG" width="200" /></a>Early Thursday morning I got up with Mom and Dad. As we went our own way off to Ireland Sarah and Kevin stayed in Italy. After getting in many fights and sneaking past some security people with our over sized bags that they wanted us to pay extra for we finally made it to Ireland on an on time Ryanair flight with some triumphant music! After that we had a quick breakfast and found our hotel. We relaxed for a little bit and did some laundry then it was time for our first Irish tour. The Guinness Brewery tour in Dublin! In the tour we were able to walk around and see all the steps involved in making the world famous beer. It was even finished with a free pint on the top floor of the Brewery with a 360 degree panoramic view of the city. I think that was the highlight because the pint was hitting my parents just right so I heard many new stories that they had never told me before :) After the tour we searched for a pub with some live music and had some dinner and more pints. After that it was another early night to bed so that we could get up nice and early the next morning for the next tour on our list.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3sTgndLjFA5BY9qLTO3mkwVzOnQc8E-824HXBL_IB83ZnmgpJge1hoP0budYYJ01w2tb2NL2Q9r8PxUXRVqSxpbBWtqaWr30-zT8NWD1nJrbhyrPO4N5NV50QcyqXT5Ww4ZVl-oKRd0/s1600/DSCN3120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3sTgndLjFA5BY9qLTO3mkwVzOnQc8E-824HXBL_IB83ZnmgpJge1hoP0budYYJ01w2tb2NL2Q9r8PxUXRVqSxpbBWtqaWr30-zT8NWD1nJrbhyrPO4N5NV50QcyqXT5Ww4ZVl-oKRd0/s200/DSCN3120.JPG" width="150" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Y7O6YYxWQcYqdW6Bq-CbLc_dcx6eSPThXaIJEZhhlUgoqO-MysAWsW6zrAYLuraZlHKC-pDU43bIPzq3z9W0Bu6TFuw6BA6Av-Mi_ZAyYst7iqYLsQoWJlqc67M_3HXRQqS5bzkL6BI/s1600/DSCN3104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Y7O6YYxWQcYqdW6Bq-CbLc_dcx6eSPThXaIJEZhhlUgoqO-MysAWsW6zrAYLuraZlHKC-pDU43bIPzq3z9W0Bu6TFuw6BA6Av-Mi_ZAyYst7iqYLsQoWJlqc67M_3HXRQqS5bzkL6BI/s200/DSCN3104.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nN1sAyzHu-U9E3Y_YuIujbv09qcx4EN2EU9IqCoLi-zVThvS3P3jXm0U4iR2x-tKR7dymbc_3lmwKhGDoNDwjBizeC7KMYKe74qUl13znW8ccLnKzvzeQZMQ9yRvXev0DBNwxVeFUGI/s1600/DSCN3138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nN1sAyzHu-U9E3Y_YuIujbv09qcx4EN2EU9IqCoLi-zVThvS3P3jXm0U4iR2x-tKR7dymbc_3lmwKhGDoNDwjBizeC7KMYKe74qUl13znW8ccLnKzvzeQZMQ9yRvXev0DBNwxVeFUGI/s200/DSCN3138.JPG" width="200" /></a>This was the tour I was most excited for while traveling with the family. The destination was Giants Causeway in northern Ireland with a few other stops along the way. We left at 6:30 in the morning and did not get back until around 7:00 that night but we saw soo much! One of our first stops was the Carrick-A-Rede Rope bridge. We got off the bus and had about a 20 minute walk in order to get to this old fishing bridge. Well it's no longer a fishing bridge and has been updated but it is still very known and very high up. I was impressed that I was able to get Mom to agree to go across it with me and we even got our own certificates for crossing! Our next main stop was the main attraction of Giants Causeway. Giants Causeway is an area filled with thousands of interlocking basalt columns that were created through a volcanic eruption (or so Wikipedia tells me). All of the columns were really cool to look at and even more fun to climb around, even if Mom got mad at me hanging over 30 foot drops. Our last stop on the tour was in Belfast, Ireland which has been known for being a troubling city of Ireland for a long time but has slowly become a nicer place. It is also the city where the Titanic was built. We only had an hour there which was just enough time for one more pint. After the tour it was time to head back to the hotel and relax for the night, which turned into me and dad going downstairs to the hotels pub for a few last pints while in Dublin. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwUBUJdiN9k0VUP7G54L3S8yNanqObse5hPCFPQhHVv3R7Wq479lmUAc4G_LuJug1rUwW4s0po483WeDRVQUgv0-1h_p6DIFyyJJNJ4sk3XEIvJ1zxmuSSPzp62bQGwDyyS7wZ95uFrHU/s1600/DSCN3210.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwUBUJdiN9k0VUP7G54L3S8yNanqObse5hPCFPQhHVv3R7Wq479lmUAc4G_LuJug1rUwW4s0po483WeDRVQUgv0-1h_p6DIFyyJJNJ4sk3XEIvJ1zxmuSSPzp62bQGwDyyS7wZ95uFrHU/s200/DSCN3210.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvXzHo2m_SrMjZ5t8NXhRaUUt46fARlgzHV71CHn8b3sgH03PuLTrMNR1vUt7ZrtM5Ahl1bVyl7TlYsfCho991X6H6PQRO5QDUO2fBgj58V_DF8PpoWGmJUF3qQrKGjtLF1R1uSDNk-rk/s1600/DSCN3207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvXzHo2m_SrMjZ5t8NXhRaUUt46fARlgzHV71CHn8b3sgH03PuLTrMNR1vUt7ZrtM5Ahl1bVyl7TlYsfCho991X6H6PQRO5QDUO2fBgj58V_DF8PpoWGmJUF3qQrKGjtLF1R1uSDNk-rk/s200/DSCN3207.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPG-o8jutPvBdeH5hElJUDCj9CUFS-ZVmJSvH0dOgcrW3aQCBnTvA-Ft2GhyphenhyphenHfiX_b6dcf_UGOGi67isFWdIAiiHXEbOAboRgFGZWF2ubQ67AAX0rdPZy7GyPisUeQVJeF3D741YIdIA/s1600/DSCN3158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPG-o8jutPvBdeH5hElJUDCj9CUFS-ZVmJSvH0dOgcrW3aQCBnTvA-Ft2GhyphenhyphenHfiX_b6dcf_UGOGi67isFWdIAiiHXEbOAboRgFGZWF2ubQ67AAX0rdPZy7GyPisUeQVJeF3D741YIdIA/s200/DSCN3158.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_tiPxfyjVj_KKDWSjfhUTLBMLOb-JPr3RiasUwur9FLrxnNHAJH2YvzMipYMgCQ2nzH35gJv04mQ-GdVAPQZl6CLvas33B8rDsI4a0-ZjjF38oLhCFjN34rPdAMlfn9J7tzRb7ie1Jk/s1600/DSCN3193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_tiPxfyjVj_KKDWSjfhUTLBMLOb-JPr3RiasUwur9FLrxnNHAJH2YvzMipYMgCQ2nzH35gJv04mQ-GdVAPQZl6CLvas33B8rDsI4a0-ZjjF38oLhCFjN34rPdAMlfn9J7tzRb7ie1Jk/s200/DSCN3193.JPG" width="141" /></a>After one last little flight we were over in Edinburgh, Scotland. The last stop on our trip before London and going home. It had been another early morning and we were all pretty exhausted from our entire trip so as soon as we got to the hotel we had a nice veryyyyy long nap. I was also pretty excited about this hotel because I had booked it and although it was a ways outside of town it was out on the water and had a great view! So we were able to eat our few meals there surrounded by great scenery. Anyways, after nap time we headed back into Edinburgh for a little fun. We were going to do a tour of the city but decided we had had enough of those so we switched it up a bit and decided to hit up the Edinburgh Dungeon which was basically an amusement tour through the history of the city. Kind of. They had actors and played through different stories of things that happened in the history of the city. There were even a few little rides involved. Ask Mom for the pictures (they are pretty entertaining). The next morning and our last full day of adventures we were back in town and decided to try out Edinburgh's Camera Obscura. I loved it! There was a tower up on top of this building and at the top there was a mirror that reflected the image of the city down onto a table in a dark room that we were in. By moving and twisting a rod attached to the mirror we were able to see everything around the city. We could even people watch everyone walking along the street without them knowing! After playing with the mirror we worked our way back down the building floor by floor and on each floor there was a different theme of optical illusions that we could look at and sometimes play with. We had a bit of fun the rest of the way!<br />
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Our very last tour was the Scotch Whiskey Experience. Although I had already been on the tour I decided that mom and dad needed to go on it as well. Unlike last time however, this time I was determined and finished my entire sampling of the whiskey. It was a struggle by I persevered and finished it. And that was the last of our adventures because we had a long train ride back to London. We got in late and headed right to our hotel and to bed. The next morning it was time to go home via a long airplane ride. I was not happy to be leaving at all and still wish I would have ran away or had done something to stay off that plane. But nevertheless I am back in the states now and back to real life.Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-57561044522562983532012-05-08T22:15:00.003-07:002012-05-08T22:15:59.384-07:00Spain and Finishing School<br />
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After being back in the US for one week I have finally found time to talk about the last few weeks of my time abroad. They were filled with a few more trips, some papers and lots of bonding time with some great friends.<br />
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The first weekend of April was Easter. Although I could not be home to spend the holiday with my family I decided to try and make the most of it and head out to Barcelona for one last trip with friends. It was a short weekend since we had all used up most of our skip days but we definitely made the most of our time.<br />
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We left Friday morning and had a nice quality Ryanair flight. Which involved us sitting in the back row of the airplane which was also where the bachelor party on our plane decided to hang out and drink heavily. So after that long two hours we were happy to be on our own in Spain. We spent the first night checking into our hostel and walking around the city. Our hostel was one of the most basic ones I have stayed at. There were six of us in our group and our hostel room was basically a room with 3 sets of bunk beds and a set of lockers. We did not have windows that closed or locks on the doors. The doors just swung open right into the lobby where reception was. Needless to say we did not get any sleep the first night because we heard everything that was going on in the lobby. The showers were also fun as they were down the hall and flooded often. So it basically turned into get your hair wet, turn the shower off and put shampoo on your hair, turn the shower on and rinse it out, turn the shower off and put conditioner in, then turn the shower on to rinse off and that was basically it. Oh and I couldn't forget our complimentary breakfast of toast, cereal and warm milk! YUM!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkSXo8kxMOQ2rpqEi1EaTleoA50vicZ19rrUiZhdl1zm7yGeysS-6ud7rYPPoKiUm-NqhNUxWau65e-NyrxGVE22Rn0J7jGBKQO3B0z2iVpAsIwzk0Se-w3Mfp1J76AXZg3EtDleMW_g/s1600/DSCN2323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkSXo8kxMOQ2rpqEi1EaTleoA50vicZ19rrUiZhdl1zm7yGeysS-6ud7rYPPoKiUm-NqhNUxWau65e-NyrxGVE22Rn0J7jGBKQO3B0z2iVpAsIwzk0Se-w3Mfp1J76AXZg3EtDleMW_g/s200/DSCN2323.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRlXRaoWNGVogXoMa2nUODQz0FRn0bV4Ak7oD9oEuZtYNHZ6Iu7PV6vW-xoGFFwk17BIqNAuCDxMeMKkzmWH7DMAxUqFSqw75XZMZ0eJ8qp5TgcIJaTVUNROxFnBf0nZdakn73yRkxqTo/s1600/DSCN2313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRlXRaoWNGVogXoMa2nUODQz0FRn0bV4Ak7oD9oEuZtYNHZ6Iu7PV6vW-xoGFFwk17BIqNAuCDxMeMKkzmWH7DMAxUqFSqw75XZMZ0eJ8qp5TgcIJaTVUNROxFnBf0nZdakn73yRkxqTo/s200/DSCN2313.JPG" width="200" /></a>Anyways the first night we decided to get a feel of the town. We went and walked along the water and looked at boats, then we found a nice park that led to the Arc de Triomf of Barcelona. After that we were in the downtown area and looked around some shops and had dinner at a Spanish restaurant. Dinner involved burritos and pina coladas! It was nice walking around the city because some of the apartments were decorated really sweet on the outside with pictures and paintings. After dinner we started walking back to the hostel and passed a big church that had people spilling out all around it. There was some event going on for Easter and thousands of people were there for it so it was cool to watch. After that is was beddy bye time or just laying in bed listening to people because they were so loud in the lobby. (Pictures: on the left is the church we passed and on the right is inside one of the shops).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrIuIVnFpyc9R8a7loxm6slEHB-F1_f7iUgPFqE_2ZMEsekseUYLTliARR5syPpW7Nu7Nmjmq8zwRe9pbczJ3kBVtn2E5nb3ckbjaQrthZ0nQDUonys3NhnIDiOY7y9onU4w8PQbUzDBQ/s1600/DSCN2327.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrIuIVnFpyc9R8a7loxm6slEHB-F1_f7iUgPFqE_2ZMEsekseUYLTliARR5syPpW7Nu7Nmjmq8zwRe9pbczJ3kBVtn2E5nb3ckbjaQrthZ0nQDUonys3NhnIDiOY7y9onU4w8PQbUzDBQ/s200/DSCN2327.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagrada Familia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxj2oFub5QjLrgkDOrE6GjpmyNoPgNJj9I5tqT-fjkyhWNqxLlSuuOLYKgMaHb31qFvO5j2lnpb7scsYWddQNOepnsm2AnWXrB8FzrykEJu25YmSjIb1TXP9CPMmPlnqHdU8BDufEtmTs/s1600/404066_3427402997581_1045499260_3182109_1854317863_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxj2oFub5QjLrgkDOrE6GjpmyNoPgNJj9I5tqT-fjkyhWNqxLlSuuOLYKgMaHb31qFvO5j2lnpb7scsYWddQNOepnsm2AnWXrB8FzrykEJu25YmSjIb1TXP9CPMmPlnqHdU8BDufEtmTs/s200/404066_3427402997581_1045499260_3182109_1854317863_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starbucks!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0UWV1vPFWDGLiuR0eKUpOBfu8CYAM59RRr5_bXsYJqLejHfqGWPFw5Y37BhzpAAfofKZ6ydBlxsoFn6vsy_TAbSU5Kysdd9_HUadVJvv1Qt1RPCm4CHXUvSUC2ugkUKwwIwSmmJtkY9c/s1600/DSCN2334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0UWV1vPFWDGLiuR0eKUpOBfu8CYAM59RRr5_bXsYJqLejHfqGWPFw5Y37BhzpAAfofKZ6ydBlxsoFn6vsy_TAbSU5Kysdd9_HUadVJvv1Qt1RPCm4CHXUvSUC2ugkUKwwIwSmmJtkY9c/s200/DSCN2334.JPG" width="150" /></a>The next morning it was time to explore the city! I did not realize that these adventures were to begin at the crack of dawn. So that was interesting... there was definitely some Starbucks involved!! Otherwise survival would not have been an option. The first stop of the day was Sagrada Familia. It is a famous church and is absolutely beautiful! We wanted to go inside but the line to go inside the church wrapped all the way around the outside of the church (15 minutes after it opened). It was just amazing how much effort and thought goes into all of the architecture. That is what I loved about every trip I went on while abroad. Compared to the US everywhere else puts so much more work into their architecture. It is not just about how to build the biggest building for the lowest cost but there is much more thought put into every aspect of each building. It is amazing. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1yeqywrP219pHSji7qHpvDLYPQn1U9nY3kP66mQlth8UzLAD_eZSY0FOmIqkEpbWOciScwgZjqZK5HZwnP3WatNH_QlkFM_UWmZlF_rxaIG-XxsgURDLERWyVPno76C3SB35RrQHsJI4/s1600/DSCN2365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1yeqywrP219pHSji7qHpvDLYPQn1U9nY3kP66mQlth8UzLAD_eZSY0FOmIqkEpbWOciScwgZjqZK5HZwnP3WatNH_QlkFM_UWmZlF_rxaIG-XxsgURDLERWyVPno76C3SB35RrQHsJI4/s200/DSCN2365.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQRgoIHti1ieVR-q7VwodrH2_pjC7Ffr9aL-kJoDatBiOu3JHbTXJOwRRpdwXhJlAgd7xA9sLjRz2lceR0ZxVVl6Va9SPhmEJfYUB48DMYf2N8qVXzvg8s_xJ34h7WDh0swMnlpxKRO4/s1600/DSCN2399.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQRgoIHti1ieVR-q7VwodrH2_pjC7Ffr9aL-kJoDatBiOu3JHbTXJOwRRpdwXhJlAgd7xA9sLjRz2lceR0ZxVVl6Va9SPhmEJfYUB48DMYf2N8qVXzvg8s_xJ34h7WDh0swMnlpxKRO4/s200/DSCN2399.JPG" width="200" /></a>Next on the list for the day was WALKING! We started with a <img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCiHsPCBHgObU0v9plI_rv7SdNd9Z00EqfiNyp5yMfxF0feqHxAulVb5Hq5evSAJjEq1Iukqmt99u57MFhJjuz6yFWaAM7cm-cnGZSdSU0fC_oZSxDDv8HasbaDFbeMPRLWxOHpetMf_k/s200/DSCN2355.JPG" width="200" />combination of trains and walking to get up to one of the highest hills in Barcelona. It was a sunny and clear day outside so there were plenty of beautiful views. Which was also perfect for action shots! However the main reason we were on top of this hill was because it was where the 1992 Olympics were held. The main thing we were able to see was the track. It was really cool because the track is still in great condition and doesn't make it look like these Olympics were held 20 years ago. After that it was time to head up the hill to the next location. Kristin and I decided the best mode of transportation for this would be a clear plastic container type thing that ran up the hill on cables. It was cool because we could see all the scenery around us and had great views of the entire city. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUVVXhvTjfNIt3LhDpQUc2bGVpBXiQB6IiyfvV9OTBVjClgZ4s2e3VfN3-pRwp2g9gAQvqDqGbXu5bxp3TItdBnpaPfaE1mjZGudcfb_O_5y1oWjJbQEEyAQYm-nRgIgsh2KNPa9_aFnM/s1600/DSCN2411.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUVVXhvTjfNIt3LhDpQUc2bGVpBXiQB6IiyfvV9OTBVjClgZ4s2e3VfN3-pRwp2g9gAQvqDqGbXu5bxp3TItdBnpaPfaE1mjZGudcfb_O_5y1oWjJbQEEyAQYm-nRgIgsh2KNPa9_aFnM/s200/DSCN2411.JPG" width="200" /></a>Once on the top of the hill we were able to run around yet another...you guessed it...CASTLE! This one was a little different though because it was so high up and right on the water. So we could enjoy the water and have some more nice views of the city. This is also where we decided to have lunch. And by lunch I mean cheap hot dogs and sangria! The sangria was awful. Just awful (and strong). So that was fun!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6UnCuRFZiDybMzUbtqtJkH7rMcZR54wyZp4m1_mipk3MXRPiIVSeUMC4trmD7D1_hgzjmybZo0_FOwVrlqc4BEmsPGkKL9VMK9PtNzDjlgac3Ey8_8OgN15l20iy448XsJbT4AOIWA8/s1600/DSCN2438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6UnCuRFZiDybMzUbtqtJkH7rMcZR54wyZp4m1_mipk3MXRPiIVSeUMC4trmD7D1_hgzjmybZo0_FOwVrlqc4BEmsPGkKL9VMK9PtNzDjlgac3Ey8_8OgN15l20iy448XsJbT4AOIWA8/s320/DSCN2438.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcdsrtjrMDu1WGzM4B25t6VVbU1Q-cxJQ1xfG0yT6YUSFTB37zqtJEMGhCMm1F5g5oJWu9mik-4gfYBbWdu5fN7MR7oxmX_b6AS3NG7ljgwcNiFca25sSVIqc3bp7e46cYQwOi8X3OtF0/s1600/574769_3427425158135_1045499260_3182156_965929237_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcdsrtjrMDu1WGzM4B25t6VVbU1Q-cxJQ1xfG0yT6YUSFTB37zqtJEMGhCMm1F5g5oJWu9mik-4gfYBbWdu5fN7MR7oxmX_b6AS3NG7ljgwcNiFca25sSVIqc3bp7e46cYQwOi8X3OtF0/s200/574769_3427425158135_1045499260_3182156_965929237_n.jpg" width="200" /></a>Next we started making our way down the hill. This is when our afternoon crash started hitting. On our train down I believe about half of us were asleep. But it was not an option to slow down. Well except for on top of a mail box for a quick nap. After we got off the train we had to hike up this very steep hill. But once we got to the top we were on top of the second tall hill in Barcelona. So we walked around for some more views. After that we headed over to The Guell Park. It is an area filled with mosaics. Everything was decorated in mosaics and it was very pretty so we were able to spend some time here looking out at the city and relaxing while taking pictures. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuZ7xHAf5GoVj5X_ddK0hx5Tpya9Phr3HQGJoZVBowhWMLBdpQSCwRvnx1ypA7f7EIeldstU4CegFCrWeqULBldp7Ood1alun0Y1tS75XTC1Ro_xnIXWEQZkvG3ePFWnf9hyM7uvneMtQ/s1600/DSCN2469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuZ7xHAf5GoVj5X_ddK0hx5Tpya9Phr3HQGJoZVBowhWMLBdpQSCwRvnx1ypA7f7EIeldstU4CegFCrWeqULBldp7Ood1alun0Y1tS75XTC1Ro_xnIXWEQZkvG3ePFWnf9hyM7uvneMtQ/s200/DSCN2469.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiXMA8Ok_eNco2pmAZbemXeyDzf8yi7YDfwEH95H91sVb91QKpLSCR83ok_Gn8Tq3eunl_jr3qwjNpINZadz35tmUhQr8I6dkeDrNHj2RMmxYeyZNSc8XXigwt5IEL40oUcnzLT9Uh4yE/s1600/DSCN2456.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiXMA8Ok_eNco2pmAZbemXeyDzf8yi7YDfwEH95H91sVb91QKpLSCR83ok_Gn8Tq3eunl_jr3qwjNpINZadz35tmUhQr8I6dkeDrNHj2RMmxYeyZNSc8XXigwt5IEL40oUcnzLT9Uh4yE/s200/DSCN2456.JPG" width="200" /></a>When we decided to go to Barcelona our entire goal of the weekend was to lay on the beach and drink margaritas. Well the weather all weekend was windy and in the 60s so unfortunately this goal was never accomplished. However we did get to have some time on the beach. We spent our evening sitting on the beach all bundled up eating snacks. It was actually quite depressing. But also a nice relaxing way to end the day. After that we tried to find a famous fountain in Barcelona but once we got out to the location we realized that the fountain wasn't actually running. So we had nothing left to do except hit up the same Spanish restaurant for some more burritos and pina coladas! Just for the record, the bar tender will correct you if you say two pina coladas because it is actually dos pinas coladas! Oops! Anyways it was a fantastic dinner and ending to the night! By time we got back to the hostel at 11:15 we had been out on the town for 15 hours and we definitely all slept that night!<br />
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The next morning we packed up the room and headed out for a Sunday morning church service on Easter Sunday. It was kind of cool because we went to a non-denominational church that spoke mostly english. It was also neat because we were able to meet many other students that were studying abroad in other countries. I always thought it was cool that no matter where I was traveling or what I was doing in pretty much every country I was able to meet other people that were the same age as me doing the same thing as me. Did I mention that I love studying abroad? After church we headed out to the airport and began our journey home. It was a great weekend and wonderful last trip with friends.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggzKQKSno_GFGgcC_5HGVp7_Yyqk-7TsNw7YN_7PCRAPVbbjVJngpl6tVWTVUu0Hexgrs_GhU0nzMgZlOcmoqNj_pgHXIvMClPvYkHe1cYsziN1EdcgTHEoCWrAvAmDKKlR4eRk6BpKWY/s1600/IMG_1459.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggzKQKSno_GFGgcC_5HGVp7_Yyqk-7TsNw7YN_7PCRAPVbbjVJngpl6tVWTVUu0Hexgrs_GhU0nzMgZlOcmoqNj_pgHXIvMClPvYkHe1cYsziN1EdcgTHEoCWrAvAmDKKlR4eRk6BpKWY/s200/IMG_1459.JPG" width="200" /></a>Now time for the good stuff. All the fun really happened in the last week of school. It all began one Tuesday evening when we figured out that a local bowling alley had half off of bowling and drinks. So we headed out on the town for two games and some fun! After our games we decided that we needed to work off a little more energy so we walked a wee bit to get into town and hit up the local night club. Needless to say the place was completely empty which left plenty of room on the dance floor for us to show off our moves. Somehow this bowling and dancing was just not enough fun to be able to call it a night and take a cab home...so we decided to walk the three miles home. Which was an adventure in itself. It involved many Disney and musical songs, threats of pushing each other in the street and wandering through a field in front of the manor. It was possibly one of my favorite nights of the semester! (The picture is how our walk started out).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNpybAdW73L9mFAugsPUY1ZVqm_fxZt3Nhvt7dftQ8DFksn7y9LeVD8H8MTuQNxe-no2-Udvtp_0pGakrniJTWXRRsUNhHtF5-JrhLnGpMfnfTv6VfobilHjAZqBCSMDwmivIGpw5vAeM/s1600/IMG_1501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNpybAdW73L9mFAugsPUY1ZVqm_fxZt3Nhvt7dftQ8DFksn7y9LeVD8H8MTuQNxe-no2-Udvtp_0pGakrniJTWXRRsUNhHtF5-JrhLnGpMfnfTv6VfobilHjAZqBCSMDwmivIGpw5vAeM/s200/IMG_1501.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
The next exciting night of the week was Thursday. It was finally time for our valedictory dinner where we got our diploma-esk sheets of paper. It was basically just a fancy dinner that we got to dress up for and drink wine. I believe our table spilled the red wine at least twice. After our fancy dinner and bonding at the table one last time it was time for a slide show of the semester and then most importantly it was the last night that the Bistro would be open for the semester. So it was our one last night to hang out with every one in the Manor before finals began.<br />
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Our one last fun night at the Manor was the last Monday night we were all together. It just so happened to be one of my friend's 21st birthday. (Happy birthday Matt!). Oh and we also had one last volleyball game at the prison. So we finished that athleticism up and then headed out to celebrate. It was our very last night to have fun together because Tuesday was the night to cram for our last test. So we danced the night away like usual. It was a perfect last night together and I'm truly going to miss the friends that I spent these nights with.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYGSbQSuSpcK97XuP6R0xMXphCMtGo7i7nPIczzhpxJJS8zeAfFZ8PcmKAT9jI7e13kZAUeKrD7MTA-hxlJbPVYP3hQIZhYN8Fyb_1AZgm22TWyfsfpJFzBsKGRUAHN8BTdevnw9J52U/s1600/IMG_1557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYGSbQSuSpcK97XuP6R0xMXphCMtGo7i7nPIczzhpxJJS8zeAfFZ8PcmKAT9jI7e13kZAUeKrD7MTA-hxlJbPVYP3hQIZhYN8Fyb_1AZgm22TWyfsfpJFzBsKGRUAHN8BTdevnw9J52U/s400/IMG_1557.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bestest Friends I Could Have Ever Made</td></tr>
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The last day was spent packing up our room and studying for our last British Studies exam. It was very sad because we had to be out of the manor a couple hours after our test so we did not have much time to socialize and say good-bye to each other. So to everyone I didn't get to say good-bye to, Buh-bye and I will miss you! Thankfully my parents decided to show up on my last full day at the Manor so I could enjoy showing them my new home. That blog will be coming shortly. And these were my last few weeks at Harlaxton Manor.Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-77642136776526548612012-04-04T15:53:00.026-07:002012-04-04T17:46:36.814-07:00Galway, Ireland!So after Paris I decided that 5 days was enough traveling for awhile. So I packed up and headed back to the manor. I spent a glorious 15 hours there that involved unpacking, repacking and sleeping. Then it was time to head out on my next adventure! For some reason I have always been in love with Ireland and have always wanted to go see Galway (especially after PS I Love You). So that is exactly what I did. It also helps that here at Harlaxton I am allowed to miss class the same amount of days that I have it in a week so I have been saving up all my days and trekking the long hike to class everyday! So alas I was finally able to cash in and waste away a week in Ireland! Seeing as I had learned that I love traveling alone I decided to spend a week doing pretty much that. It took 45 minutes in a cab, 45 minutes on a plane and 2 hours on a bus to get to the opposite side of the country that I had already been to (the trip to Dublin is closer and took about 12 hours and included a ferry so this way was much nicer). As it turns out the world is a very small place. I had found a friend of a friend that is currently studying there in Galway so I made a connection with her and was able to stay at her apartment all week for free! It is a small world because I have roomed with one of her friends from high school and will be living with another one this next year, while on the other hand she roomed with my friend from high school her freshmen year. So we had plenty of exciting stuff to talk about along with a skype session with our BFF Adrienne. Sadly however when they say study abroad they kind of mean the whole study part so we spent a lot of our time writing papers. So although I did not get to see the entire city I was able to relax in a new location while dominating the life of Edward III.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2f0qhyphenhyphendbtt_tUQ0StsnRcSytWl_IGzmKcWyf5qAlfyJGvXSwLvB3znmMWoYP_3B5iuVKUIvOaVz3CYuPsJRDeTzexaKR8APEMRmjj6J2p0V-RZBk9cYYwYuUdMC3mtuEJ8TZi8GFL1Q/s1600/DSCN2259.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2f0qhyphenhyphendbtt_tUQ0StsnRcSytWl_IGzmKcWyf5qAlfyJGvXSwLvB3znmMWoYP_3B5iuVKUIvOaVz3CYuPsJRDeTzexaKR8APEMRmjj6J2p0V-RZBk9cYYwYuUdMC3mtuEJ8TZi8GFL1Q/s200/DSCN2259.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727688157929931458" border="0" /></a><br />I got to Galway Monday night and we had a nice pub meal followed by a casual night of hanging around the apartment. The next day I had the longest and funnest tour of my life. The tour left at 10 in the morning and took us all around Galway and around places outside of the city. We saw many burial sites which was kind of interesting but kind of weird especially when walking through a ruined cathedral meant stepping on many graves. But none the less it was very exciting. Another reason why it was a fun tour was because of the fact that our guide would hit the breaks as hard as he could every time he saw some form of new wildlife throughout the day. So we got a great view of a bull (that was not happy to see us), I saw plenty of other cows along with goats, sheep and even BABY LAMBSSSS<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Swf_ggti_kGLExhxxGks4Z9eZwGBP3GTmxgCUxjTMGtAQbwCdwS2H4865anotXzG9fplWf801t1OyvjGItXCb50kDXiROuzzEta_My3JBIaEZW9-70KkYpPtynB3yuNObBwrkjkgg5g/s1600/DSCN2233.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Swf_ggti_kGLExhxxGks4Z9eZwGBP3GTmxgCUxjTMGtAQbwCdwS2H4865anotXzG9fplWf801t1OyvjGItXCb50kDXiROuzzEta_My3JBIaEZW9-70KkYpPtynB3yuNObBwrkjkgg5g/s320/DSCN2233.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727708324050714626" border="0" /></a>S!!!!! So I was a very happy camper. One cool thing was that there were so many different countries represented on our little bus so you really realize how even when you are alone traveling a country you are really not alone as you have something in common with people from all over the world. I even met two fellow Americans that are studying abroad, one was even in England as well. Last but not least, did I mention that I started the day out with an Irish Coffee...as everyone should do! So it was definitely a great day. I spent the morning into the afternoon seeing plenty of graves, a castle and even had a lunch break in a pub. Which again even when you ar<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghqSR4xgn49A8_6MT-FxTJuMfjHQuazdMG3a4WEoJy6gbv1aZRHEdaT72HdJ7fohH_BUNVXsG8BmctPKn7hWHsHFXXKrFMR_dnI1ORPu9Bma8NiStn9a9JVOwnC5_A9zU4OQHtnxaQDZ8/s1600/IMG_1362.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghqSR4xgn49A8_6MT-FxTJuMfjHQuazdMG3a4WEoJy6gbv1aZRHEdaT72HdJ7fohH_BUNVXsG8BmctPKn7hWHsHFXXKrFMR_dnI1ORPu9Bma8NiStn9a9JVOwnC5_A9zU4OQHtnxaQDZ8/s200/IMG_1362.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727688744912082722" border="0" /></a>e alone you really are not. I found a bumper sticker for Irish Fest in Milwaukee, which even though I have never been there still made me excited.<br /><br />After lunch it was time for the main attraction and the reason I was actually on the trip in the first place. It was finally time to see the Cliffs of Moher (which BTW I am told that they were used in Harry Potter, don't worry I am planning on watching all the movies next week). Oh di<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBFkFH-qEa_QE_82DJvI1cm5m0MHssLsj5ZJ5MWdbBjUauDAIoJzKc3LM8DkT83giXiQnV7jzM8ANIn6VlBDirRI4dffUJM9gQI4GFMOAVobHKfv3H41cVBvlXYi8YjWK2ZwVwPiECCU/s1600/DSCN2166.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBFkFH-qEa_QE_82DJvI1cm5m0MHssLsj5ZJ5MWdbBjUauDAIoJzKc3LM8DkT83giXiQnV7jzM8ANIn6VlBDirRI4dffUJM9gQI4GFMOAVobHKfv3H41cVBvlXYi8YjWK2ZwVwPiECCU/s200/DSCN2166.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727691120492606946" border="0" /></a>d I mention that I didn't see a single drop of rain in Ireland and the Monday I got there was the warmest day ever recorded in March in Ireland, so I really had prime weather to see the cliffs. A beautifully sunny day, perfect for being an Irish girl! At this point I am just going to throw in a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM-aDoZHMcS9esyivO1HUleI-x0PC8-n7kNuQ2v9cSK-hiyN0S-q-4Za2EiRtyrldYBgz-ctqrVEO_Iyk0GMdEf26URpMMmErIkSNyFfoDwc_N8LVdfTr6OaAtmkOqoSNa8x-vA87TDaI/s1600/DSCN2213.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM-aDoZHMcS9esyivO1HUleI-x0PC8-n7kNuQ2v9cSK-hiyN0S-q-4Za2EiRtyrldYBgz-ctqrVEO_Iyk0GMdEf26URpMMmErIkSNyFfoDwc_N8LVdfTr6OaAtmkOqoSNa8x-vA87TDaI/s200/DSCN2213.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727691586953605522" border="0" /></a> bunch of pictures as nothing I saw will do the cliffs justice. Oh and yes people do fall off the cliffs and die. So yes I did go past the safety rocks and crawled to multiple edges! So basically the cliffs were amazing and it you ever have some free time in your life you should definitely go see them! <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Omz3ElfNZebLOqqUGCMm3QZw23QNxNkiU0Y3rkuJkdHh93JGvbgj60YzAwTU6gwMW58aYS8oObZXsZlrImnKL-PIIWoD3-Z4F6uT-HgEfMaS-qnbEYCZmrvgPkoEalxLpgCDVHw-OkI/s1600/DSCN2190.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Omz3ElfNZebLOqqUGCMm3QZw23QNxNkiU0Y3rkuJkdHh93JGvbgj60YzAwTU6gwMW58aYS8oObZXsZlrImnKL-PIIWoD3-Z4F6uT-HgEfMaS-qnbEYCZmrvgPkoEalxLpgCDVHw-OkI/s200/DSCN2190.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727694003742315042" border="0" /></a>After the cliffs our driver was madly in love with the weather and wanted to do everything he possible could to let us see everything we could. We drove along the coast for most of our trip back and made a few different stops along a few different bluffs and they all had spectacular views! I think my favorite part of it all was just<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qLtRdpo4NHVjxI_njDtjYE1AMuRiLzu4oVIKMOe97OXFEUhXETKiivWl_1EohPUWrIud7mg8TyJCRnz6acQqTEBkzkGY3ke8u8FpQ2tnRTC2Im9PLkQ8Utwpxm8GsQtR5mveEp8CRo0/s1600/DSCN2224.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qLtRdpo4NHVjxI_njDtjYE1AMuRiLzu4oVIKMOe97OXFEUhXETKiivWl_1EohPUWrIud7mg8TyJCRnz6acQqTEBkzkGY3ke8u8FpQ2tnRTC2Im9PLkQ8Utwpxm8GsQtR5mveEp8CRo0/s200/DSCN2224.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727694322980153714" border="0" /></a> seeing cows grazing out on this country side because our country side is a field of grass where in Ireland country side could also be cliffs. (I also learned on the trip that the cows are so healthy from being grass fed especially with such well nutriented and watered grass that 3 of the top 5 companies for baby formula or milk come from Ireland). Anyways I love cows. And cliffs. And sun. An<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOMZGamA8Zj-xi7gDZoAEDcdNpR4U2fiK4kwWQtbMxlkjw86zui6Kiv33ABBBGMw9owdiEldqDp-cl1bkfpwRBm3CUhtsqsc18_PUrhoe-s4d9HjwxyRVYzKycZJcC_5yx7-h7fBr6ORQ/s1600/DSCN2234.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOMZGamA8Zj-xi7gDZoAEDcdNpR4U2fiK4kwWQtbMxlkjw86zui6Kiv33ABBBGMw9owdiEldqDp-cl1bkfpwRBm3CUhtsqsc18_PUrhoe-s4d9HjwxyRVYzKycZJcC_5yx7-h7fBr6ORQ/s200/DSCN2234.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727694937436177138" border="0" /></a>d Ireland. Did I mention I even saw surfers?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3vP-b5WzNoiBvHSEPcApSO9Ywg-EB5QUdvc5gBX_8GZHrERMnnRFvHyvDjzaqu06ZatUMFF7iPPPeQC3iKmGTAiTRIXvWDguZg2Vus1Z9CbeX9rp1IWmk5HANbJsugBuH3itIyE3fIM/s1600/DSCN2237.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3vP-b5WzNoiBvHSEPcApSO9Ywg-EB5QUdvc5gBX_8GZHrERMnnRFvHyvDjzaqu06ZatUMFF7iPPPeQC3iKmGTAiTRIXvWDguZg2Vus1Z9CbeX9rp1IWmk5HANbJsugBuH3itIyE3fIM/s200/DSCN2237.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727695284924091186" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So after that long trip I finally made it back into Galway and to the apartment around 7 which was just enough time to grab a quick dinner, couple of drinks, put on my nice going out shirt of "Stonehenge Rocks!" and go out to hit up the town. Which is where I experienced my very first silent disco! May I say that whoever thought of the concept was a musical genius! Basically when you walk in the room you get your own head set and you can change the volume and switch between two different stations. There are two d<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJyF9gEaS2PrLSa4BrTrhUQXcjFdVOCPIz9H3RQuwTsQtNVNBiVvMk4gNio-mfnIZUMAI_xpg_RIVXNRiyvAvL_sLjQbzvdqDhKCg1skl-ZhQKmCibgmKGmNLDJS7YNYv2NFFDIDqoCWQ/s1600/IMG_1369.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJyF9gEaS2PrLSa4BrTrhUQXcjFdVOCPIz9H3RQuwTsQtNVNBiVvMk4gNio-mfnIZUMAI_xpg_RIVXNRiyvAvL_sLjQbzvdqDhKCg1skl-ZhQKmCibgmKGmNLDJS7YNYv2NFFDIDqoCWQ/s200/IMG_1369.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727697348673593250" border="0" /></a>j's up on stage that each have their own headsets as well so you can swi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW1DaxeOCs3QFlBMqSZBAT617Q1EXfXbVKtM9xY9LkuqO0ZC_zdplG1MOD80UJrrgQgrADBDB2HFCSdJ0cEmOcAylzahVeii0skfd0f42IEGMCTANhFlj6mru_OFJNYd9KzuOy3cWK8B0/s1600/IMG_1365.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW1DaxeOCs3QFlBMqSZBAT617Q1EXfXbVKtM9xY9LkuqO0ZC_zdplG1MOD80UJrrgQgrADBDB2HFCSdJ0cEmOcAylzahVeii0skfd0f42IEGMCTANhFlj6mru_OFJNYd9KzuOy3cWK8B0/s200/IMG_1365.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727697201332904402" border="0" /></a>tch between the two stations to listen to the music of the two different dj's. The weird part is when you take your head phones off because all you hear is either random talking or people yelling out the words for the more popular song at the time. The other thing that I love over here is that their night music is much more entertaining, AKA every song is singable and it's not just pure beats. I believe I even heard Bright Eyes! So I am going to try and find more of these shindigs to go to in the future!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxeCS84piZN8gAjd0OdfRCCVaXaMUo7LfbN2N06wjNMBPyxONN4GJ3i1j9d9zq3CaW1eSn5W8kczaaDReAOEp9m22fqPj_iNFkK1jHOyXQwCD3YLY3unMJPza0r6aW2JPvD2LpQh5nmg/s1600/IMG_1375.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxeCS84piZN8gAjd0OdfRCCVaXaMUo7LfbN2N06wjNMBPyxONN4GJ3i1j9d9zq3CaW1eSn5W8kczaaDReAOEp9m22fqPj_iNFkK1jHOyXQwCD3YLY3unMJPza0r6aW2JPvD2LpQh5nmg/s200/IMG_1375.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727698978982882834" border="0" /></a><br />After a bit of dancing it was time for the day to be done. I don't think I even stayed awake long enough to feel my head hit <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExgNZW6D8KXQGDP7t4ln36eF5fjsypgdMoQXtt13SI1AYW-eSS300Ud71SR2V4Cd5mdDfDfWVkl8OHWZXmAPrVaoKArB6tIC0p60mh7a4_Ikm3TcYR98Z8Ortn95ajW7HB8NW7H7oYSU/s1600/IMG_1380.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExgNZW6D8KXQGDP7t4ln36eF5fjsypgdMoQXtt13SI1AYW-eSS300Ud71SR2V4Cd5mdDfDfWVkl8OHWZXmAPrVaoKArB6tIC0p60mh7a4_Ikm3TcYR98Z8Ortn95ajW7HB8NW7H7oYSU/s200/IMG_1380.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727699350132921058" border="0" /></a>the pillow. The next day was sadly the day that my big paper was due so I spent most of the morning into the afternoon finishing it up and trying to find a nice friend to print it off and turn it in for me. So thank you Nick Selting! Congrats you made the blog! After that I did a little shopping with my new friend Mo, grabbed lunch (had my very firs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkp36lNk63mMyvym96TRLQ6OKLLsl7wTUj2KlLxEUmbjwFXGJB3Rac4tF5he-kGZ0KqQ4rqJAo-gakjg9JqYeGrShALFt4XprtRkBU5wVaWQmaDOceqy_Clnaz_x31lvlKErZZBtlRWvo/s1600/IMG_1381.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkp36lNk63mMyvym96TRLQ6OKLLsl7wTUj2KlLxEUmbjwFXGJB3Rac4tF5he-kGZ0KqQ4rqJAo-gakjg9JqYeGrShALFt4XprtRkBU5wVaWQmaDOceqy_Clnaz_x31lvlKErZZBtlRWvo/s200/IMG_1381.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727699617047076690" border="0" /></a>t wrap ever! sad I know) then we headed out to an area called the Spanish Arch. It was basically just this area to lounge around while enjoying the water. Once again we had beautiful weather so it was a nice relaxing afternoon. I even learned that crows are disgusting creatures and if you think they won't come a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJ18mGPUSlhQPqG-RQqc0dlzdRQM3Ook3EZgdoHhrE01e7Ce6ObYp0oaL97hvR0_bnTKCxeQ8yY9Vir8klj7sRPr6xs-gKaRRVjtO8-MuACuiZTnGMKN3ct0zi80y7fRE-weWR5MnPW0/s1600/IMG_1388.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJ18mGPUSlhQPqG-RQqc0dlzdRQM3Ook3EZgdoHhrE01e7Ce6ObYp0oaL97hvR0_bnTKCxeQ8yY9Vir8klj7sRPr6xs-gKaRRVjtO8-MuACuiZTnGMKN3ct0zi80y7fRE-weWR5MnPW0/s200/IMG_1388.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727699771553092818" border="0" /></a>fter your left overs near your feet, well my friend than you are wrong. Oh add swans to that list as well. Nasty creatures. So I fed those too. It was even nice enough to snap a few senior pics so if anyone wants I can print this last one out and write you a little something on the back! Maybe they will even use it in the yearbook here!<br /><br />After laying out for the afternoon we relaxed a little more back at the apartment then Mo was nice enough to cook fajitas which were delicious and it was sooo nice to have a home cooked meal! We were also able to skype with our mutual friend Adrienne which I think we were all excited about except for the fact that we couldn't share with her! Oh and congrats Adrienne for making the blog! We missed dancing with you at the rave! But after dinner I decided I still needed to get my fix of live music in! So we went out to a pub for a little bit and enjoyed some good music which even included the Beatles! I can't wait to show my parents the pubs over here! They put so much more effort into everything they do! This pub had a balcony in the middle of the room that acted as a stage and everything just has a homey feeling to it.<br /><br />The next day it was sadly time to go home. So after a little more traveling I was finally back at the manor. This time for 13 hours! On Friday we had a field trip to London! So we left at 8 in the morning and got there around 11. Once there we enjoyed the National Gallery which holds famous paintings that we have been studying in class so those were actually getting interesting to see. After that we had a quick lunch and then a tour of St. Paul. Which I didn't know it until the tour but was the place where Princess Diana was married. Needless to say I loved it and will be taking my parents there as well! Conveniently this was the same weekend that my friend Nick's parents left him an empty apartment in London. So we took full advantage of this...kind of. While all my friends went out and enjoyed the shows London has to offer I stayed in and took a nice nap (at 8 at night), got caught up on skyping and watched some Law and Order FINALLY! I was also in charge of buzzing everyone back into the apartment which was pretty intense. But eventually everyone made it back safely and we had a nice little slumber party of 8 people in an apartment meant for 3. Some how I was lucky enough to end up on a pull out with a light blanket and a sweatshirt for a pillow! All in all it was a great night and fun to bond with friends. On Saturday it was finally finally finally time to go home.<br /><br />We arrived back to the manor around 3 or 4 which was just enough time to get ready for the COS<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge4_rPIXcYRIezNassrXdMSOrX5oqA1kuoBR6ELcsbm7N5mKTNCG-BlP0AMQlrj_MmOD_8GD90Fcm2Eiaf3MC3CCLAETH0sZernvVzeFXAzjjMtRPSQ0WpVardcmeiV66pHvkzwm2UbdI/s1600/IMG_1398.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge4_rPIXcYRIezNassrXdMSOrX5oqA1kuoBR6ELcsbm7N5mKTNCG-BlP0AMQlrj_MmOD_8GD90Fcm2Eiaf3MC3CCLAETH0sZernvVzeFXAzjjMtRPSQ0WpVardcmeiV66pHvkzwm2UbdI/s200/IMG_1398.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727704203664913586" border="0" /></a>TUME BALL! For the first time in my life I was on hair duty before the big event! So even though I was not at my<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lYviOA5qGsfLXb72euHvmzupS6rcNMuN6QsYJIcuVBuAnsDYkJxP7qiX_5GO8nNSk6Afo7l6Xjs7yh3iHnKO8dA6MoPzun0gWnDtkSKVLclGfwl3V2fWMvchCuw7O5Uup5eqd05ZxNQ/s1600/542773_10151463213965417_562065416_24831171_610579622_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lYviOA5qGsfLXb72euHvmzupS6rcNMuN6QsYJIcuVBuAnsDYkJxP7qiX_5GO8nNSk6Afo7l6Xjs7yh3iHnKO8dA6MoPzun0gWnDtkSKVLclGfwl3V2fWMvchCuw7O5Uup5eqd05ZxNQ/s200/542773_10151463213965417_562065416_24831171_610579622_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727704404145877026" border="0" /></a> best I was very excited to be the girl getting everyone else ready! In the end I ended up doing multiple changes between a burlesque type girl to a cow girl...it was intense. I also did the hair of a flower along with Princess Leia! The Princess almost won best costume as well so I will take credit for that. The night was one of my favorite nights while studying abroad. We were given a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg59t1zt14htojrvHeZ9z4ZFJlsEsximhX40NSpg2CWwW5rCbogTNC3cclPqKDYMuxfDDnlt64Zhzth4i4-QrAk0O2Ms_jq_4v2t3NrzZp7Ho-dwNvkSjfx6tq7CdMXM9SBXtG7y__kfH8/s1600/IMG_1405.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg59t1zt14htojrvHeZ9z4ZFJlsEsximhX40NSpg2CWwW5rCbogTNC3cclPqKDYMuxfDDnlt64Zhzth4i4-QrAk0O2Ms_jq_4v2t3NrzZp7Ho-dwNvkSjfx6tq7CdMXM9SBXtG7y__kfH8/s200/IMG_1405.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727704668504720914" border="0" /></a> formal dinner which was followed by a dance. I ended up having dinner while sitting in between James Bond and Rick Perry which was quite interesting. And that was the final end to my week and a half of traveling! Sunday was spent attempting to catch up on some homework followed by going to bed early.<br /><br />On Monday we finally had another trip to the prison to play some volleyball! We should have won but ended up not even winning a single game. Still a little bitter about it. But the most entertaining part of it all was when 2 of the prisoners would come and sit behind me as I was serving and tell me who to serve at. Needless to say I don't think the older prison guard was very happy with them...<br /><br />On Tuesday we had yet another basketball game...this time we had 9 players which was very exciting! I don't remember anything new about this game. Just the same usual getting killed followed by the excitement of trying to get the players from the other team to dunk the ball after the game. Tonight (Wednesday) we thankfully had our last game. Once again we got killed, but this time we only had 7 players. Don't worry everyone I survived the entire game without my inhaler and only air balled one or two shots! Our main objective for playing was just to get through it to get the award we had been bribed with! Which was McFluries! And dangit all we got our ice cream. Although it just wasn't the same but we were happy enough especially with the fact that they have monopoly going on right now! And that is the end of my college basketball career. We figured out tonight that although we do have 3 college athletes on the team, not a single player on the team actually plays basketball as their dominant sport. So we can only hope that we are all much better at our actual sports!<br /><br />And now I am finally caught up on the past 3 weeks of my life! Only a few blogs left so enjoy them! Thanks for reading and see you all in a few weeks! Cheers!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuauocDQE09uEcp0y2Adj9nXHA37bWPa5us9fkwuPUGfQQ56NCiDQ6Q_Kly1GLYo1fXxL001l-vf6OMWmPDDGzbswAkWQLq2gD_jV7gBhuzR8-qSvS4kwm3qtbGPpCRw2TcOabPdCT_c8/s1600/DSCN2201.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuauocDQE09uEcp0y2Adj9nXHA37bWPa5us9fkwuPUGfQQ56NCiDQ6Q_Kly1GLYo1fXxL001l-vf6OMWmPDDGzbswAkWQLq2gD_jV7gBhuzR8-qSvS4kwm3qtbGPpCRw2TcOabPdCT_c8/s400/DSCN2201.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727707097456006194" border="0" /></a>Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-85368096159347084592012-04-04T08:07:00.014-07:002012-04-04T08:58:36.839-07:00Paris!A few Sundays ago we finally had another basketball game! There were 4 guys and 3 of us girls. Needless to say it was a mess. I haven't run so much in 4 years since I last played competitively. I actually made a basket and was 100% on my two free throws. Oh and when you are 5'5 playing a bunch of men that are all over 6 foot you should probably not drive into the lane...that is how you get shoved and end up sliding 10 feet across the floor. Our goal by the end of the game was to get some of them fouled out because they were playing so rough. But alas, after a valiant effort the game was over with a close final score of somewhere around 55-103. We'll get them next time.<br /><p class="MsoNormal">Then the day after that we had another volleyball game. It was the first time we played a team of boys our age! Needless to say I was very excited ;) Although I don't think boys like it when you are 8 inches shorter than them and can out joust them...twice. Or when you ace them a few times. Needless to say I did not get a boyfriend out of the game but we did get a big old victory! Which was celebrated with more pizza from Coach Kevin followed by a team karaoke version of We Are the Champions!<br /><br />Next next n<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTB9ZBRW4282creuNVHNI4l2GqP4aAJ_lBbuSbDbM0xpLefyTpfvUVxRzfx5EVqn4OP7ux4JqxDwJ0F1zSVJ-um1jNYKheM8drJQCddHDK10VjjFwLsRqsgytdmWSNibKGq0S4JuzjAc/s1600/DSCN1934.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTB9ZBRW4282creuNVHNI4l2GqP4aAJ_lBbuSbDbM0xpLefyTpfvUVxRzfx5EVqn4OP7ux4JqxDwJ0F1zSVJ-um1jNYKheM8drJQCddHDK10VjjFwLsRqsgytdmWSNibKGq0S4JuzjAc/s200/DSCN1934.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727562940354092418" border="0" /></a>ext...oh yes...PARIS! A bus ride, train ride, eurostar ride through the chunnel, and metro ride later we were there! May I just say that the city of Paris is beautiful! It was one of my favorite cities I have been to so far. We spent our first night trying to find the Eiffel Tour which turned into a 3 hour walk but we finally made it! As you might have guessed it is much better in person! I did not realize this but at night for the first 10 minutes of every hour they light it up even more<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoiSHczrACOcvWMr0wOPV5YtYluj8A5ei_y0trXqpd61LGpDIk5ugRSOzrJ-MWx3w4Q0sHAQ-v6FqVB6pIsU7y2kY1dP1-EC2_siqgN7QECyhzIho3f6S9W2nQZWu0H_5co2li-r3hyphenhyphenpo/s1600/DSCN1940.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoiSHczrACOcvWMr0wOPV5YtYluj8A5ei_y0trXqpd61LGpDIk5ugRSOzrJ-MWx3w4Q0sHAQ-v6FqVB6pIsU7y2kY1dP1-EC2_siqgN7QECyhzIho3f6S9W2nQZWu0H_5co2li-r3hyphenhyphenpo/s200/DSCN1940.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727563122092259746" border="0" /></a> with twinkling lights and it is gorgeous! My favorite thing to do was lie underneath it and look directly up. The structure of it is just amazing.<br /><br />We spent pretty much every night walking to the tower and drinking bottles of wine beneath it. During the day I spent most of my time with my best friend Missy, which included lots of shopping, wandering and staring at the models in the Abercrombie Palace. Som<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdIhXCv2nuovMg045wzd4BXLEhFODviLH-5Cs9uIA_zaN-7NHzgeKAFwJj7iE4x8HuMawW9LcHxMBqyN9ShN6XnQEWRWg0myIUcmSZjSRkEHFsBfPGbnstc2FDOEmlWNT3IQKhPdah5ss/s1600/DSCN2034.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdIhXCv2nuovMg045wzd4BXLEhFODviLH-5Cs9uIA_zaN-7NHzgeKAFwJj7iE4x8HuMawW9LcHxMBqyN9ShN6XnQEWRWg0myIUcmSZjSRkEHFsBfPGbnstc2FDOEmlWNT3IQKhPdah5ss/s200/DSCN2034.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727563627360996098" border="0" /></a>e highlights were climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, which is basically in the middle of the city and you can look out and see for miles! The Arc was made to honor those who died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It also holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI. If <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3cDoinfL0N-3QSwebbGrme-1qAj5XlGcSdOdOkRXoQSP74s9QojAHGVrG2TkQY2vl6An5DcxEQwy3uQH0YnuPxFP3nCaIvjwRDjd8eyIjvGQ3AwYZbF9RiRaxAUEp3Jt46KOjCiaqVM/s1600/DSCN2050.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3cDoinfL0N-3QSwebbGrme-1qAj5XlGcSdOdOkRXoQSP74s9QojAHGVrG2TkQY2vl6An5DcxEQwy3uQH0YnuPxFP3nCaIvjwRDjd8eyIjvGQ3AwYZbF9RiRaxAUEp3Jt46KOjCiaqVM/s200/DSCN2050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727564065310383090" border="0" /></a>I am remembering correctly Napoleon wanted the Arc in order to celebrate victories of the French and was used for successful victory marches. I even believe US troops have marched around it after victory. It made me remember how much I love Washington DC and want to go back there someday. We also spent one night out at a church on top of a hill called Montmartre. Apparently it is a very popular place for the locals to hang out as you can see most of the city from up there too.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0lS9qFS94xA_iLUHT_swH6TemxFDPWGa_UnslwA_WeT84cs-la82yaLvJn6cMziSarrfSirv8EK5PpG6klQiym8DuuKgqPReSr5GHAuDRBS_ugrnIiz8kWzTUlMWe5EP-hIfF2vjSIg0/s1600/DSCN2080.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0lS9qFS94xA_iLUHT_swH6TemxFDPWGa_UnslwA_WeT84cs-la82yaLvJn6cMziSarrfSirv8EK5PpG6klQiym8DuuKgqPReSr5GHAuDRBS_ugrnIiz8kWzTUlMWe5EP-hIfF2vjSIg0/s200/DSCN2080.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727566359944982434" border="0" /></a> There was even live music and fire performers at the bottom of these large staircases. The unfortunate thing however was all the men. Missy and I loved the live music but could not sit for more than literally 30 seconds without two men sitting on either side of us. Even after they figured out we didn't speak French they would not give up. So after moving to 5 different spots we finally gave up and ran away from the ones that offered to pay for our hotel next time we came to visit. Thankfully our other friends were nearby and we could stay by them in safety. If it weren't for the locals it would have been an ideal night. But none the less it was a beautiful view.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">It’s always weird how much volleyball influences my life and I never really realize a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-MbB61yRNVbJYtrDg7d-DmPgMif4y8BZ0qFX7mujkGnwo_tWE4kjB4DAmgAnmVPJsPq9XL0fmrokXfuhB85yThVqNWIit4dcBCQORegVIqAyyHAII4uUw7HH3MNtYahu7lUpqI3FKCU/s1600/DSCN1972.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-MbB61yRNVbJYtrDg7d-DmPgMif4y8BZ0qFX7mujkGnwo_tWE4kjB4DAmgAnmVPJsPq9XL0fmrokXfuhB85yThVqNWIit4dcBCQORegVIqAyyHAII4uUw7HH3MNtYahu7lUpqI3FKCU/s200/DSCN1972.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727566706154092498" border="0" /></a>ll the benefits I get out of it until I am put in very exciting situations. For instance when I was playing club volleyball I believe when I was 15 or 16 I met this girl that was new to my team. Her name was Hannah, or as Mom calls her Hannah Banana. Well after a long dreadful seas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEi3IwKF8YyN7g8tgW8Tsv3csHrjnX_nrXvipjfHOBym3qbRbj3ckPFcTLaD6DPlGmRbKDwpTg6UMxLj4DeqQx03AXDCVV5xDhmVtcPsuTXFVMOFMOEPUlx0CRsAa33NeMtnTPvqjzvI/s1600/DSCN1958.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEi3IwKF8YyN7g8tgW8Tsv3csHrjnX_nrXvipjfHOBym3qbRbj3ckPFcTLaD6DPlGmRbKDwpTg6UMxLj4DeqQx03AXDCVV5xDhmVtcPsuTXFVMOFMOEPUlx0CRsAa33NeMtnTPvqjzvI/s200/DSCN1958.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727567292489103442" border="0" /></a>on of G-Force volleyball I made some pretty good friends. Hannah would be one of these friends and I don’t think we ever thought we would meet up to hang out for a day in Paris but that is what happened. She is studying there for the semester so I was able to meet up with her and we walked around the city on one of the many beautifully sunny days I got to experience. We wandered the streets and got some cheap steak and wine, and then she showed me Notre Dame Cathedral and took me to a quaint ice cream place. I think it was the first time I ever had to wait in line outside of a building just to get ice cream but it was worth it! </p> <p class="MsoNormal">On our last full day of wandering the streets of Paris I had one of my greatest lunches of all time. Missy and I st<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTFtA01-K9a56z-Fb6pPQhfCmGjJKEX-hgk-3WAt0s7l_xiUuhLOeNW6dWFdmI3Otqb4ml5uTdopN5Hiv3v84Q6XnJk7tcSvj1p_dnScDitQ0HqY-dpK4sPYupuRkCXfEE8PD7Irgj2s/s1600/DSCN2106.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTFtA01-K9a56z-Fb6pPQhfCmGjJKEX-hgk-3WAt0s7l_xiUuhLOeNW6dWFdmI3Otqb4ml5uTdopN5Hiv3v84Q6XnJk7tcSvj1p_dnScDitQ0HqY-dpK4sPYupuRkCXfEE8PD7Irgj2s/s200/DSCN2106.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727568517738237378" border="0" /></a>arted out by hitting up a burrito place near our hotel then we took our 10 pound bag of 2 burritos on the metro and to the Eiffel Tower. We were trying to find a nice p<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Yh1tSUpe6jK724G1PGDkT5yO9zKzS3Gd6WyfroztTp3-7AyOQKLRiuH1fqOm2DnungoCdAwtY_s1JZ26oQ-F1Fw2VnUASmgWYlXY9VrfNwoHcwgsqoJMhkk2Tfsf4JI9zJxxZYf6rUo/s1600/DSCN2108.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Yh1tSUpe6jK724G1PGDkT5yO9zKzS3Gd6WyfroztTp3-7AyOQKLRiuH1fqOm2DnungoCdAwtY_s1JZ26oQ-F1Fw2VnUASmgWYlXY9VrfNwoHcwgsqoJMhkk2Tfsf4JI9zJxxZYf6rUo/s200/DSCN2108.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727568719278784354" border="0" /></a>lace to sit and eat our romantic meal and decided that walking along this ledge around a little pond was a great idea. Well all was going nicely until we realized we were in a field of fountains. Somehow we had managed to sit perfectly in the middle of all these fountains that went off around us as we just stared at the tower. It was one of my favorite meals of all time. After lunch we walked around like usual and stopped in the Musee du Louvre to check out the gift shop and rest our feet. Well that was until we looked up and saw a man 10 feet away<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXymX_po4jO6foPUehoqqSjESnSoGxnl3fbIU42chpYN6VVAuub4tqCd-MJ9CKOZlEpo0RPuyiBpCw7jcktdWjOaO9Xm5L0N-Ec9W6uVcgKg8g8iXZmoIiJ7ZsTddkkMc5DbtGN8N0cY/s1600/DSCN2109.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXymX_po4jO6foPUehoqqSjESnSoGxnl3fbIU42chpYN6VVAuub4tqCd-MJ9CKOZlEpo0RPuyiBpCw7jcktdWjOaO9Xm5L0N-Ec9W6uVcgKg8g8iXZmoIiJ7ZsTddkkMc5DbtGN8N0cY/s200/DSCN2109.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727568870198899586" border="0" /></a> from us holding a camera directly at us either filming us or taking pictures, not really sure, so we ran out of there pretty quickly. After that <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglNPAmhXupSw0j8C4TRnmF4U50cYdEz14I9IHt10RBlebCKo4LbNq4mfNYjjzHKW6zXIAHdrx_AnkUHm7553Gt_ky802IFoY6-FcdC-KPRErtFFGmnu_U_xhNejNG60Y9ibikMAQnA5rI/s1600/DSCN2070.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglNPAmhXupSw0j8C4TRnmF4U50cYdEz14I9IHt10RBlebCKo4LbNq4mfNYjjzHKW6zXIAHdrx_AnkUHm7553Gt_ky802IFoY6-FcdC-KPRErtFFGmnu_U_xhNejNG60Y9ibikMAQnA5rI/s200/DSCN2070.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727569038012461234" border="0" /></a>we spent some time in the park, I even enjoyed my first Nutella Crepe! After that we decided to head back, which basically turned into being watched by a man for ten minutes that was following us along the sidewalk (don’t worry Mom we literally sprinted away to the safest location we knew) that is how we ended up at the Abercrombie Palace yet again. After standing outside there for a few minutes taking in the last scents of our future husbands we decided to actually go back to the hotel.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">In the end Paris was one the prettiest cities I have ever been to. I also learned many new things because of it. It made me really want to live in a big city someday which I have never wanted to do before. I just loved how there was always something going on no matter where you were, whether it be protests near the tower, groups of people chanting together under the tour, live music outside churches at night, or bands of people my age performing in parks. Paris also really made me realize how much I love traveling by myself. Besides the people outside the church and two weird guys watching us, the people of Paris are all extremely nice or at least to me they were. (I'll have a great story for you all in about 10 years!) The weekend also showed me that the best way to experience a city is to get completely lost in it. That is also how you will create the most memories.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Oh I also went to Paris never having opened my own wine bottle but I now have my own opener and can open a bottle in less than 30 seconds! Paris was truly a life changing experience :)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpwDuV9x9rLu4DpgNRgKQlcPgY_N3lltONrsV2rwO3u2apNATwbzR9f7e8jl-CuHAJQoFIri5hBp3b8r2YbNv2oq70AOWWjYOCCS6yCr3BNft3AGU2bQOGI8MW9hSb0ghzQTtUQ9m2Z2s/s1600/DSCN2112.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpwDuV9x9rLu4DpgNRgKQlcPgY_N3lltONrsV2rwO3u2apNATwbzR9f7e8jl-CuHAJQoFIri5hBp3b8r2YbNv2oq70AOWWjYOCCS6yCr3BNft3AGU2bQOGI8MW9hSb0ghzQTtUQ9m2Z2s/s320/DSCN2112.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727573809450714050" border="0" /></a></p>Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-3625857219164014232012-03-15T05:52:00.025-07:002012-03-15T08:55:19.110-07:00Lake District National ParkSeriously running out of time to write these!!! Sorry I didn't get to one last week but I did not travel anywhere that weekend and was busy doing tons of homework so it would not have been as exciting!<br /><br />Anyways, seeing as how most of us have been hauling on all the papers and presentations that we have put off until the night before they are due, we have had plenty of time to get up to shenanigans a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHW1Wjl35MBVyUi3OkQeUnhPqRqWQ7Utnpp2FRDGSF9gKwjt9MsncjFOi97nntx2ndjiX3WP70hjLBvjdESidggQVza_a3cULP_KgOYqsqmGO8Hki5AaSU2rkYNOWHgisVHZc57Hrh538/s1600/DSCN1851.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHW1Wjl35MBVyUi3OkQeUnhPqRqWQ7Utnpp2FRDGSF9gKwjt9MsncjFOi97nntx2ndjiX3WP70hjLBvjdESidggQVza_a3cULP_KgOYqsqmGO8Hki5AaSU2rkYNOWHgisVHZc57Hrh538/s200/DSCN1851.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720111958413094946" border="0" /></a>round the manor. It all started a week or tw<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolkbTsya4nuITNqVMiDmBlvmoQmWGZs-9jzz0mJno6AbUzlzlcth0R8PQnlOhRXNdncvPvxIIoTFnzo5G6MVDo0ww7kfxilppHOjUU72tLR053jOrsszqmtTMDfRPneVI3LqHRZWy35M/s1600/DSCN1854.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolkbTsya4nuITNqVMiDmBlvmoQmWGZs-9jzz0mJno6AbUzlzlcth0R8PQnlOhRXNdncvPvxIIoTFnzo5G6MVDo0ww7kfxilppHOjUU72tLR053jOrsszqmtTMDfRPneVI3LqHRZWy35M/s200/DSCN1854.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720112138712066114" border="0" /></a>o ago when we decided to clean our room for the first time all semester...we even vacuumed and had our window open so we could breath clean air! It was an extremely nice day out and everyone was enjoying their time around the manor so it was no surprise when we heard voices outside our window. But we decided to check it out to see who was wandering our backyard. Then we looked out and saw our two good friends walking around with a computer and...a trampoline! (Pictures: the left is the view from out window and the right is my friend Nick with his trampoline.) Needless to say the boys decided to create the worlds greatest trampoline video from locations all around the manor. We even added a little segment to the video. If you want it's the part looking down at Nick jumping below our window. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJrplDK4brdhTUtTSqy9pmXVoYoda1tlM-vvspvHt3Dvme-IEWcu0PUV_jNVuLZbHGKypueZInu_ITjS5JTe_zaVVQMTRmxJvLPzthUKmmuPusSLBXSBrqYOHDyAeBT6wVH0X6wk8nr8/s1600/DSCN1869.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJrplDK4brdhTUtTSqy9pmXVoYoda1tlM-vvspvHt3Dvme-IEWcu0PUV_jNVuLZbHGKypueZInu_ITjS5JTe_zaVVQMTRmxJvLPzthUKmmuPusSLBXSBrqYOHDyAeBT6wVH0X6wk8nr8/s200/DSCN1869.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720113350077876338" border="0" /></a>I suggest watching it as you can see where we get to spend our time! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCsR5Pyw44c) There is the link. The next day we were a little bored and had a clean room and window so we decided to do some measuring and remodeling. Needless to say we figured out that our beds fit inside our window! Which I think h<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsQNQdi3dw2FGmAmAdThwVx9bu3xXHOr2X9sP2pL6SVKrsb0ZnOve_yn91t5BAHc1afpJQk961Ixazro6l4Wx9FpuTKUF6e_4815mhQxqq378lNXYuR9oMggt27rwhGuMs_u7Hu0i2xAU/s1600/IMG_1134.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsQNQdi3dw2FGmAmAdThwVx9bu3xXHOr2X9sP2pL6SVKrsb0ZnOve_yn91t5BAHc1afpJQk961Ixazro6l4Wx9FpuTKUF6e_4815mhQxqq378lNXYuR9oMggt27rwhGuMs_u7Hu0i2xAU/s200/IMG_1134.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720114201392370754" border="0" /></a>as a pretty nice view to wake up to. The only downsides are that you are next to the window so it's kinda cold, it's quite a jump to get up into the bed and...oh...our roommate Rachel doesn't like it when her bed gets moved into the window when she goes on trips out of the country for the weekend. But I think she moved on so it's all okay. After all of this fun we decided we needed something else to entertain ourselves and we decided it was finally time to purchase hula hoops! Greatest study break and workout all in one! Especially for half an hour before a big test! Video coming soon I'm sure! And that is what we have been up to in the manor!<br /><br />So all we really have been up to at the manor is late nights doing homework and working out in the most obnoxious ways. But then we went to Lake District National Park and worked out in even more unusual ways! Sadly I think the thing I was most tired after was horse riding...We left for La<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2Sb8khW3CZ1ghkzxJJLgxeDPUqi2BEYn9bLBT3m0JieA-84MGiiYb9y8rZFzdpZ1oaAIp1hAil1qpLEjbUkmOZheu45AcI1UVCzXpcOW-CXDbwjaL4YKZNsEjwUhqEBXnpcNlbP7c8o/s1600/IMG_0906.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2Sb8khW3CZ1ghkzxJJLgxeDPUqi2BEYn9bLBT3m0JieA-84MGiiYb9y8rZFzdpZ1oaAIp1hAil1qpLEjbUkmOZheu45AcI1UVCzXpcOW-CXDbwjaL4YKZNsEjwUhqEBXnpcNlbP7c8o/s200/IMG_0906.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720117379197015394" border="0" /></a>ke District last Thursday and arrived later at night in time for a little walk and for boys to jump into the lake off of the pier behind our hostel...On Friday I went out with a couple people and enjoyed the afternoon learning how to actually ride and control a horse and then they let us go out on an hour long ride through the hills with great views. My horses name was Jacob and I think he was a little bored because he kept trying to throw me off...by this I mean that I would be holding onto the reigns and when I would try and stop him he would slow down then throw his head down toward the ground which caused me to fall forward and almost flip over his head. But he was no challenge for my mad skills so I rode him like a champ. Well except for when I tried to take pictures, then he would start galloping and I would lose my balance and one of the reigns then he would start walking sideways which was a bit of a mess. But I was at the back of the pack so no one seemed to notice. I also do not recommend taking pictures on a horse! (Pictures: on the left is one of my pictures on top of Jacob and the right is Kristin and myself at the end of our ride. She was riding in front of me and her horse was also bored so it would slow down so <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD8uwwMGSTWTFDVTbN_lFNJc0jK0t3zxqjG_jONU9l1IRMxgiqEduOqtnkYWaO0Yx-5DaswRkNTJgp-hYxL7AD7eu40NjRhmFSIrzM6LNKCbTi0XUM5jH3oKqNhtFqd4ByHm6S0Eo8e0c/s1600/422142_10150581589497653_500487652_9350174_1929007661_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 297px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD8uwwMGSTWTFDVTbN_lFNJc0jK0t3zxqjG_jONU9l1IRMxgiqEduOqtnkYWaO0Yx-5DaswRkNTJgp-hYxL7AD7eu40NjRhmFSIrzM6LNKCbTi0XUM5jH3oKqNhtFqd4ByHm6S0Eo8e0c/s200/422142_10150581589497653_500487652_9350174_1929007661_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720117478420940066" border="0" /></a>they would get behind and then start galloping to catch up. I'm pretty sure Jacob liked this because it meant that he could take off galloping as well, which happened most when I wasn't paying attention.) After horse riding we were all exhausted (sadly) so about 6 of us girls laid down for a quick cat nap in our room, then when the alarms went off 45 minutes later they were quickly turned off and we slept for another hour. I think it was honestly the greatest nap of my life! So if you want to have a good nap go horse riding! After nap time I went on a walk with Kristin into town, which was 15 minutes away, and we wandered around trying to find cheap water pants for the activities of Saturday. Eventually we found some and walked back to the hostel. Then we found some hungry friends and turned around and walked back for some burgers! It was a pretty crazy Friday for us!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkroGcAy8ERK05hLXAObdkDV0J4nM7ezygG8IigfOcT35Imq3gjGM5cJeaHW0fcrjyENurs4frkKO4vMnmt4rnm9dDSgVYs6oPNvcJj8XOrrMwWo5tFuTNplc9A6MYBLDvXP-QlzKe1l4/s1600/IMG_0932.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkroGcAy8ERK05hLXAObdkDV0J4nM7ezygG8IigfOcT35Imq3gjGM5cJeaHW0fcrjyENurs4frkKO4vMnmt4rnm9dDSgVYs6oPNvcJj8XOrrMwWo5tFuTNplc9A6MYBLDvXP-QlzKe1l4/s200/IMG_0932.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720130916375659890" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Saturday was our day of being adventurous! We had two sessions scheduled out in the mountains of Lake District for the day. Our morning was spent ghyll scrabbling and in the afternoon we went rock climbing! First of all I do not like water! I can doggy paddle like no other but I just do not prefe<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnMmXZ3inWx8PTYoTFYXpdpEl6rzmAj1KJ9JNUW63elz0ff5VkvU0kbJa73mihJiOncnD3mPBgLymzo6bl8IS82aFCEGOHYW-cYomolbjeX1pxr6uybHrRaWkPX1Bth-nkzz9-52ZfE0/s1600/429936_2828089593376_1593150252_32358464_850644062_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnMmXZ3inWx8PTYoTFYXpdpEl6rzmAj1KJ9JNUW63elz0ff5VkvU0kbJa73mihJiOncnD3mPBgLymzo6bl8IS82aFCEGOHYW-cYomolbjeX1pxr6uybHrRaWkPX1Bth-nkzz9-52ZfE0/s320/429936_2828089593376_1593150252_32358464_850644062_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720125382956331234" border="0" /></a>r to be in it. I thought it would be fun because I have climbed up little waterfalls in Jamaica with the fam where everyone is in swim suits and it's warm, everyone holds hands and helps each other and it's all fun. But they are more serious about their water adventures here! Ghyll scrambling is basically climbing up a strong river/creek with a few small waterfalls that lead to one large one at the end. Well I was all ready to go with my rain jacket, water pants and rain boots. Everything started out ok except for my rain boots flooding 5 minutes into the hike (which has been my biggest fear in life!). But it was all fun nothing too serious just hiking up rocks and laughing with friends. THEN everything starts going downhill! To start out, we got to this point where we kinda climbed under a tree and around some rocks, well they didn't warn us that there were some dead sheep mangled in some branches near by! So the 5 boys of course all thought this was funny while I'm panicking trying not to look, with Kristin behind me panicking even more so I was trying not to die while giving Kristin a pep talk of where not to look and how to get around them. But eventually we got through that incident and were back to a semi content state and we rock climbed up a little waterfall, emptied out my rain boots and were ready to continue. We had a bit of happiness but things started going downhill. Turns out the farther we got into the climbing, the more excited the 5 guys got, while the 3 of us girls got more scared and freaked out. It also didn't help that our guide was at the front and didn't talk very loud so he would ask the boys in front if they wanted to go the easier ways or the more exciting ways. This is when things turned for the worse! It was decided that the most exciting way to climb up some falls was to jump into this little pool at the bottom of some rushing waters, then swim/try and climb a slippery wall that had no grips and then somehow reach for tree branches and drag ourselves<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWOPXwsDTfK05FGJuiDFpWQzzTo8fUly6ON6YobsEfRJwF_rC_m3kAvehfQLnomHi3iOBGTQYCVJMIYQ-QB2N5st_1CyzsIJH-nONART9VeCI5bL2L04SnlXTLuWEx0pm0N2wcxTxMs80/s1600/423521_2828090233392_1593150252_32358467_1383617191_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 322px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWOPXwsDTfK05FGJuiDFpWQzzTo8fUly6ON6YobsEfRJwF_rC_m3kAvehfQLnomHi3iOBGTQYCVJMIYQ-QB2N5st_1CyzsIJH-nONART9VeCI5bL2L04SnlXTLuWEx0pm0N2wcxTxMs80/s400/423521_2828090233392_1593150252_32358467_1383617191_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720125526182864114" border="0" /></a> up the side of the falls. Well I was already a bit nervous so I decided to try this second so I didn't panic while watching others attempt this. So I start to climb into the pool, which turned into a drop off (keep in mind that it's like 50 degrees outside and it was the first day of the season that they opened gylll scrambling so the water was freezing!) so I'm drowning shoulder deep, fully clothed with rain boots oh and water rushing at me. I'm trying to grab onto this wall and pull myself closer to the bottom of these falls but I can't find anywhere to grab onto and I'm no where near the instructor trying to grab my hand and pull me to the tree roots. This is where Titanic comes into play. (and yes I did feel like I was in Titanic at this point, just drowning in freezing water). All of a sudden my body goes into shock and I can't breath. So I'm panicking, ready to cry. Then the guy behind me decides I just need a push. So he pushes my shoulders so I go sideways with my shoulders going towards the wall and my legs going the wrong way. Oh and my rain boots start falling off. Most terrifying moment of my life! Anyways eventually I get close enough to the instructor and he pulls me up. Needless to say I was ready to be done at this point but we were barely half way through! The next 45 minutes were spent giving myself pep talks for everything I did, trying not to cry while trying to keep up with the very excited boys that did not care if I fell behind! BAH! Long story short we made it to the end AKA the big waterfall. Which we rock climbed our way to the top of, yes through the water all the way up. At this point I was fed up with this water and I don't think I have ever climbed so fast in my life! I made it to the top of that damn waterfall! Pictures: top right is me, my friend Katie, and Kristin ready for ghyll scrambling, top left was one of the casual climbs,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeku2Vn9spSa_TmNiX5IZW4oXjOH3Vju9708DUonhYG6rMWUKwBJgI9h8WaJnZXIMvcVBQlnkvXzOOZUKJGn9Nc8WmPHKML0u5aHANs1bjOdF4j_CDcqkYg05xXfB9jHc_1boCDJhJUC0/s1600/425798_3256466484275_1045499260_3101041_190900473_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeku2Vn9spSa_TmNiX5IZW4oXjOH3Vju9708DUonhYG6rMWUKwBJgI9h8WaJnZXIMvcVBQlnkvXzOOZUKJGn9Nc8WmPHKML0u5aHANs1bjOdF4j_CDcqkYg05xXfB9jHc_1boCDJhJUC0/s200/425798_3256466484275_1045499260_3101041_190900473_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720127337057360946" border="0" /></a> on the right is our group all at the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxlbTCqS6DD3ot8FWHsPffszju2WcaPMwgCmbOhK1RcaQeBbCSC87SIOqipkXgr3fx9EJy5YIC4etnh5aMuFC0bc3FvCd54_3yqxc8GLCe1VXLhcWoNynf4iiHkS0gSc9imJdkbbdS94/s1600/423664_3256475844509_1045499260_3101057_853354648_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxlbTCqS6DD3ot8FWHsPffszju2WcaPMwgCmbOhK1RcaQeBbCSC87SIOqipkXgr3fx9EJy5YIC4etnh5aMuFC0bc3FvCd54_3yqxc8GLCe1VXLhcWoNynf4iiHkS0gSc9imJdkbbdS94/s200/423664_3256475844509_1045499260_3101057_853354648_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720150671277627650" border="0" /></a>top of the waterfall. Apparently other groups were lectured on how they needed to work together...we were not told to do such a thing. So on the left is what we should have looked like (not the whole drowning thing)...and on the right is another group but with the waterfall that we climbed at the end. So that was that experience. If it was just climbing waterfalls I could have done that like a champ but surprisingly I am just not a fan of drowning.<br /><br />After changing every item of clothes, (behind the bus because the bathrooms had not been opened yet for the season) grabbing some lunch and chugging a Baileys hot chocolate I was semi ready to take<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrr3YOubHlzdsdxYdfC9HxetqJBmqO7KMyvFCxjtaQPVR_663ZPA-_5t-HeSME6P6jZg8IYTh68SFjbv0Jp5LmJ2kiNzMwhRZtM3uq2F24qewMqMDgroS1paHsdZ5tI_wPUZgxt0zrEw/s1600/IMG_0997.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 195px; height: 273px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrr3YOubHlzdsdxYdfC9HxetqJBmqO7KMyvFCxjtaQPVR_663ZPA-_5t-HeSME6P6jZg8IYTh68SFjbv0Jp5LmJ2kiNzMwhRZtM3uq2F24qewMqMDgroS1paHsdZ5tI_wPUZgxt0zrEw/s320/IMG_0997.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720131946079722994" border="0" /></a> on the world again. Next up was rock climbing. Which is nothing like indoor rock climbing might I add. We went for a walk down the road and had a little hike through a field and up a hill. Turns out this field has sheep. Which was ok because we have seen tons of sheep but I guess we have never had an encounter with one with full grown horns wrapped around it's head. Of course all the boys are up ahead taking on the mountain not caring about us or noticing this sheep. So me and Kristin look off to the side and see this sheep, then it starts to stomp it's hoof or whatever sheep have at us, which it usually not a good thing to see from any animal, then it begins to charge at us! Being girls all we know how to do is freeze and watch it come at us. BUT THANK GOD! This dumb sheep decides to run three feet away from us but right <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDciCrzK8nztpkFjb7ovEODPqq-4On9SD40fghu_XrY8ofWmIoVvTgOzfyokwi-48l9i-FCFUNyrtHzgePu36HazMGfQlykdJmSxXkkHBdzPPpGz2VQ-tZo36rgOYUKOYozHEQTsyN65I/s1600/IMG_1032.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDciCrzK8nztpkFjb7ovEODPqq-4On9SD40fghu_XrY8ofWmIoVvTgOzfyokwi-48l9i-FCFUNyrtHzgePu36HazMGfQlykdJmSxXkkHBdzPPpGz2VQ-tZo36rgOYUKOYozHEQTsyN65I/s320/IMG_1032.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720132512607242914" border="0" /></a>past us and then stops and eats some more grass. And that was the start of rock climbing! We hiked a couple more minutes then got sexy in our harnesses and helmets! There was one very large <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPIbDK_4He_YnFmLJF9uP1FetWejImU6TxQQk8ariAv_A6-OAeXUf8AutLUAlvQQR0eEDBLTzHsq1MXszUvvOfEI6cM67Af2z5vEYIIAWtV_v7uU79CqIC0FY998d_KbBOr_JCybSqy4/s1600/IMG_1082.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPIbDK_4He_YnFmLJF9uP1FetWejImU6TxQQk8ariAv_A6-OAeXUf8AutLUAlvQQR0eEDBLTzHsq1MXszUvvOfEI6cM67Af2z5vEYIIAWtV_v7uU79CqIC0FY998d_KbBOr_JCybSqy4/s200/IMG_1082.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720132864327900946" border="0" /></a>rock that had three areas of difficulty we could climb up. I made it up the first two but didn't have much strength or enthusiasm left for the third so I just went into picture mode and was very content :) Pictures: obviously showing off my climbing skills and on the left is the hike leading to the rocks we climbed. It was very pretty and had a great view at the top.<br /><br />After this is was time to load back onto the bus and head back for the night. We had yummy dinners at the hostel complete with huge ice cream sundaes. Then it was an early night to bed because we didn't have much energy left.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUc5T-mg2p0Ynhtuqw2ZZpkpl-kHNloT8K9wpCmQnHiuAggTxYXsdYaTHvZw6BDzNqEhka2I4oqeKeFuKLxC-aF0SZLhxZtmEpdtHbiNT58ELDVWdA_z108RjGOMkstppdbUVBqeY7rT4/s1600/IMG_0921.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUc5T-mg2p0Ynhtuqw2ZZpkpl-kHNloT8K9wpCmQnHiuAggTxYXsdYaTHvZw6BDzNqEhka2I4oqeKeFuKLxC-aF0SZLhxZtmEpdtHbiNT58ELDVWdA_z108RjGOMkstppdbUVBqeY7rT4/s200/IMG_0921.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720133894885156754" border="0" /></a> On the right is the pretty view at the end of the pier behind our hostel. Lots of mountains around with lakes all between them.<br /><br />On Sun<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6IRZWEyjUM2hHJz3Tm4VOmaTLG1GwRTjfqR3emrtPpGuXVY4PLSdZXrWp3QnlMzjyG-isGa6wNYdq9Yub6sg3ma-YOu9eSTaS8XYfZOB4rW6I7hUjI3YvRnHICqPf5H1up3WqbKaOJc/s1600/IMG_1109.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 163px; height: 122px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6IRZWEyjUM2hHJz3Tm4VOmaTLG1GwRTjfqR3emrtPpGuXVY4PLSdZXrWp3QnlMzjyG-isGa6wNYdq9Yub6sg3ma-YOu9eSTaS8XYfZOB4rW6I7hUjI3YvRnHICqPf5H1up3WqbKaOJc/s200/IMG_1109.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720134885371121362" border="0" /></a>day we packed up and started the trip home. We drove for 45 minutes and then stopped in the city of Keswick which is known for being one of the prettiest locations in England, also on a lake. So we stopped here for a few hours and went for a hike along a trail on the lake and had a nice lunch sitting outside at a pub. It was yet another beautiful weekend. They keep telling us how it is always c<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihd1edynhUaIott0NersrRDMZg-FYLVz4Hcz86q_otbewVUNQmD6lV6t6RrnHdxRonHdiIXeFy_aytJ8vphTLYNuvt9CNjb_TvkjFahyBr8s5308gBE6fTlyWpFs-YCnqeIwoJrCQ6jLY/s1600/IMG_1122.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihd1edynhUaIott0NersrRDMZg-FYLVz4Hcz86q_otbewVUNQmD6lV6t6RrnHdxRonHdiIXeFy_aytJ8vphTLYNuvt9CNjb_TvkjFahyBr8s5308gBE6fTlyWpFs-YCnqeIwoJrCQ6jLY/s200/IMG_1122.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720135042987036978" border="0" /></a>loudy and rainy but we rarely get to see this on our weekend trips so I think they might <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxcOnZ7i5GaT75kHNkvwDnzfBP9HUkcEVhv9bsJh-32ccZV_zbP9rPQ6KZk9u8czErMmkWzSmJiI0GVHB1Wusmb2CK6FXpUI0t1KLeZbE46j77Fi2MC429JWu9hUl0L7rGwuaj4Md1nY/s1600/421371_3256549646354_1045499260_3101195_1087499211_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxcOnZ7i5GaT75kHNkvwDnzfBP9HUkcEVhv9bsJh-32ccZV_zbP9rPQ6KZk9u8czErMmkWzSmJiI0GVHB1Wusmb2CK6FXpUI0t1KLeZbE46j77Fi2MC429JWu9hUl0L7rGwuaj4Md1nY/s200/421371_3256549646354_1045499260_3101195_1087499211_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720135777581015730" border="0" /></a>just be lying. Pictures: top left is at Keswick, bottom right is the lake and mountains at Keswick and the bottom left is us at lunch. After another long coach ride we made it back to the manor. It was a fun night of putting a presentation together of how gender stereotypes were portrayed in Victorian art! It was even finished 8 hours before I had to give it which was pretty impressive!<br /><br />Yesterday, (Wednesday) we had another one of our huge British Studies tests, AKA writing for 2 hours strai<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIG_4AgwGEKKfohoK_OgYP0RIHbepgNB6obz8auKX75sm_1y-5ZkxLhlM9ZhMk-aCJwQZbEFvoPnjDKmfUjY6bO-orIYMl3h7PF9mMZcFcuvMEh0N5RqWWaS8mYPVH0gpesyeO3KJHX0/s1600/419873_3275850928874_1045499260_3108794_71218395_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 286px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIG_4AgwGEKKfohoK_OgYP0RIHbepgNB6obz8auKX75sm_1y-5ZkxLhlM9ZhMk-aCJwQZbEFvoPnjDKmfUjY6bO-orIYMl3h7PF9mMZcFcuvMEh0N5RqWWaS8mYPVH0gpesyeO3KJHX0/s400/419873_3275850928874_1045499260_3108794_71218395_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720137574391292242" border="0" /></a>ght. But this time instead of taking u<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhaUHfBxzKoauBgncdNbDDkkxxjkp94RGFSWlUCY_of8fXWyZ3FzFMalQbIc8vQSMHBSJ46Hvr2jcq4S2AnR69LqAzwd6kYaCqv-2HXx53rAIgJYBs3ajaGjB-JUkxugUbEdtP2p-6Ldo/s1600/IMG_1143.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 115px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhaUHfBxzKoauBgncdNbDDkkxxjkp94RGFSWlUCY_of8fXWyZ3FzFMalQbIc8vQSMHBSJ46Hvr2jcq4S2AnR69LqAzwd6kYaCqv-2HXx53rAIgJYBs3ajaGjB-JUkxugUbEdtP2p-6Ldo/s200/IMG_1143.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720141367908230722" border="0" /></a>s to Ireland afterwords they gave us a much better treat! They had a farmer bring little baby lambs to the manor so we could hold them, love them and suffocate them!!!! Then last night we had a huge bon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSs1uxTEKUgX6peWR924qocFWv-tV73a5NoAncPADF4JkL4pUXNGpgsjd6djejhyphenhyphen39kkma1SMrAJiOqAHF-RibUbFb3WGZWyKx-xqCClTob5XwItGp0IdnhtzTCrSUJ7jmCZc02lDEtpM/s1600/IMG_1158.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 159px; height: 119px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSs1uxTEKUgX6peWR924qocFWv-tV73a5NoAncPADF4JkL4pUXNGpgsjd6djejhyphenhyphen39kkma1SMrAJiOqAHF-RibUbFb3WGZWyKx-xqCClTob5XwItGp0IdnhtzTCrSUJ7jmCZc02lDEtpM/s200/IMG_1158.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720141766388300226" border="0" /></a>fire for Spring Equinox or something...not sure but it was very big! After that I had bonding night with some friends with included watching old episodes of Rugrats! Which by the way, that show is much better when you are 21 and <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4cegu2rUUqnfepz4g9xQYYcQcho_sj6jnO9fKr_cv-Apn0cOZSGwZEWCssm1EA-0bQ79VB-xfyGE9GbHrBPtRlG-SqSQZuv1t0hHIMJVFpc8LxUdgLzjK_uo14aibQdeWD6uQLCUC7Q/s1600/IMG_1139.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 157px; height: 111px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4cegu2rUUqnfepz4g9xQYYcQcho_sj6jnO9fKr_cv-Apn0cOZSGwZEWCssm1EA-0bQ79VB-xfyGE9GbHrBPtRlG-SqSQZuv1t0hHIMJVFpc8LxUdgLzjK_uo14aibQdeWD6uQLCUC7Q/s200/IMG_1139.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720142094330060626" border="0" /></a>you realize you had no idea what they were talking about when you were little and you also love how obnoxious their hair and voices are! But it was a pretty great day/night! Pictures: on the left is my newest baby, top right is the fire, middle right is hanging out at the fire, bottom right is my boyfriend Nick, we dated for a wonderful 10 hours, but it was filled with much conflict as his wife Kristin did not like our relationship, and my husband Jake was also not too fond of us being together. But we cherished our time together especially our last moments as a couple watching Rugrats. Relationships are just so much easier over here.<br /><br />Here is where I talk about how home sick I am. Which I am not, so please don't make me come home!!!!!!! Here is the interesting thing though. In my terrorism class we had to pick research topics for our final papers and my topic is justifying Islamic terrorism and suicide bombings (an example is 9/11). Which most of you probably do not get why this is a good topic at all but it's a sociology class so don't judge. But anyways terrorism is the most conflicting topic to study because you don't want people from your own country dieing but you also have to understand the reasoning of why the killing is justified. THEN, newest addition to the topic, this week we started watching a movie that came out called World Trade Center which is about 9/11 and goes in the footsteps of the firefighters and police officers (well so far of what I've seen) and after discussing with my roommates, we realized that we were all in 4th and 5th grade, and we know where we were when it happened but we really had no idea what the buildings were or understood the concept of all of these people dieing. So I may cry for the first time while being over here because of 9/11 and the pain of what my home country had to go through on that day and how it is still affecting us today. While still thinking about my paper and how I have to justify this mass murdering of innocent people. And that it my one deep topic of the day. I apologize if this was a very dramatic blog! But everyday I experience something new and it is crazy! I love it here so much and almost pray that I will get homesick soon so that I want to come home someday!<br /><br />Thanks for reading!<br />Cheers!Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-72093074273752349872012-02-29T05:27:00.020-08:002012-02-29T07:21:57.436-08:00Oxford, Bath and StonehengeWell well well. Every weekend I keep thinking I just had the best weekend of my life. The feeling just keeps repeating itself.<br /><br />This past <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglyhzCsyGRNDMr5mGAq-5nvA96Xh1_dkIwDmuz7kGjfqmpZGxbGMASzkCFlgXnuk6P5at-JeunFSFccfpD8ZlU8_-amAYWqs6s9DUTz5BZcJJVDARwRKXk2I5eAJNMIL5SkimUWFaDVYg/s1600/DSCN1657.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglyhzCsyGRNDMr5mGAq-5nvA96Xh1_dkIwDmuz7kGjfqmpZGxbGMASzkCFlgXnuk6P5at-JeunFSFccfpD8ZlU8_-amAYWqs6s9DUTz5BZcJJVDARwRKXk2I5eAJNMIL5SkimUWFaDVYg/s200/DSCN1657.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714551693697639026" border="0" /></a>weekend I went on another one of the school planned weekend trips, which meant riding on a coach for many hours.We started out Friday morning by packing onto the coach at 8:30 in the morning, always our favorite time of day. After rid<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsj5Pvoll-8BstM80VMZQUI42ZnAfWxHDNeb1JBpc01eYvhtCRbJJQLtwPo1_DceXWgROwrYXb0KUb2Atv8iYdMCQrya9S1PLPV076U9WS1WwzJBTJVBk0cyVnJzJWmGLS4UbRygCme8/s1600/DSCN1670.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsj5Pvoll-8BstM80VMZQUI42ZnAfWxHDNeb1JBpc01eYvhtCRbJJQLtwPo1_DceXWgROwrYXb0KUb2Atv8iYdMCQrya9S1PLPV076U9WS1WwzJBTJVBk0cyVnJzJWmGLS4UbRygCme8/s200/DSCN1670.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714551927509152018" border="0" /></a>ing for a short 2 hours we ended up in the city of Oxford, home to the world famous Oxford University. Fun fact that we all learned, Oxford is not one college but instead 38 colleges all combined. We found this out when we kept trying to find the bookstore. Anyways we had 4 hours free to wander around the town. While doing this we ran into a church, I believe, that held the stair cases along with the dining hall from Harry Potter. If I had read any of the books or watched more than 2 of the movies I w<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCtYp5ZrAilbJ3So1mreR44CRIISEZ5cQecpgwx3HOKXZf5Mlm63qAinLcgOdD9RzzsdKm-TbLIoAp5sRnOTRu5cRE7_MLP-2J8iHqFGAytscGgAUAK4PTLuPC4tXE_MzPLjXZ7OpzgU/s1600/DSCN1674.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCtYp5ZrAilbJ3So1mreR44CRIISEZ5cQecpgwx3HOKXZf5Mlm63qAinLcgOdD9RzzsdKm-TbLIoAp5sRnOTRu5cRE7_MLP-2J8iHqFGAytscGgAUAK4PTLuPC4tXE_MzPLjXZ7OpzgU/s200/DSCN1674.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714552062984079714" border="0" /></a>ould h<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Vz4DHVYmIQ69FIHU0z6AZq4C8yDfjqRQQ7upoIhIK96uhTQcTCeUYgzP56Ajmrkz9_Rwe72N-JP0zURc48g4VTxBZrQ0tMLBpwPykyBhF55ybYQemyIjNEdbvNe-fjzASzyXTZttc3A/s1600/DSCN1682.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Vz4DHVYmIQ69FIHU0z6AZq4C8yDfjqRQQ7upoIhIK96uhTQcTCeUYgzP56Ajmrkz9_Rwe72N-JP0zURc48g4VTxBZrQ0tMLBpwPykyBhF55ybYQemyIjNEdbvNe-fjzASzyXTZttc3A/s200/DSCN1682.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714552375207544466" border="0" /></a>ave paid to go in, so sadly I do not have any pictures for you. After that we hit up a store for some apparel to make ourselves look really smart. While there we talked to the cashier and she told us all the places that she recommends we see while there. This led us to the library which was pretty sweet looking, then we found a market type building which had all these mini shops all put together. Here is where I found the cutest cake shop ever! I hope my cake shop looks exactly like it some day! Here is also where we found Ben's cookies! Most delicious cookies I have ever had in my life! (Pictures: top left-Harry Potter place. top right-Oxford library. bottom left-two yummy cookies combined. bottom right-amazing baby cakes!)<br /><br />After hanging around Oxford we loaded back up on the bus for another 2 hours and ended up in Bath, England<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisn5a6IOjvx2k-sfZPT619ivDLvnzs2kkWPj2VZtpSfa9ULJgNgpFIv9KykZ_wKnc8BxIIZrfwmxghTDtJk4HoBjmT6hDp5krSu5gskFBFU2wkYQIxs0OHmLg3DIT3lUHOG5uQZ-n0tcQ/s1600/425428_10150722959283268_558378267_11414250_150216729_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisn5a6IOjvx2k-sfZPT619ivDLvnzs2kkWPj2VZtpSfa9ULJgNgpFIv9KykZ_wKnc8BxIIZrfwmxghTDtJk4HoBjmT6hDp5krSu5gskFBFU2wkYQIxs0OHmLg3DIT3lUHOG5uQZ-n0tcQ/s200/425428_10150722959283268_558378267_11414250_150216729_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714554615194902610" border="0" /></a>. (AKA home to the Roman Baths AKA famously naturally heated water baths). We spent Friday night to Sunday morning here and it was one of my favorite cities. It was also my first experience staying in a hostel...and the hostel was on top of a hill, 2 miles outside of town. Needless to say I had plenty of time to meet friends on my walk into town. While going there I met up with a group of girls and made some new friends. We end<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBJ_wdHlzU8YoWA2YEX2z3Pyy1tn_VXoldGgC_FSUrKTJSZQ8Q3On0CacfAaFVDL_RsgQRsqpevE9Golr9YFJ2WQmBKH1fXhQDG9FSb5I9f2g3CHnIEv5alhHXegbSPVdepqLHoodEebY/s1600/DSCN1702.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBJ_wdHlzU8YoWA2YEX2z3Pyy1tn_VXoldGgC_FSUrKTJSZQ8Q3On0CacfAaFVDL_RsgQRsqpevE9Golr9YFJ2WQmBKH1fXhQDG9FSb5I9f2g3CHnIEv5alhHXegbSPVdepqLHoodEebY/s200/DSCN1702.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714555029444332290" border="0" /></a>ed up finding a local pub that had 2 for 1 desserts and 2 for 1 cocktails. We also heard they were having live music at 9. So we decided at 6:30 that we would stay there for the live music. So at 6:15 we had out dinners. At 7 we were all allowed to order desserts and at 8 we began cocktail hour. The bright sides were that the food was amazing and inexpensive and the dessert was wonderful. The bad sides were that they didn't really know how to make cocktails and at 9:05 they told us the live music had to cancel so all of our hard work was for nothing! But none the less we had a great night out and had fun talking for the hours! After that we began our 2 mile trek uphill and called it a night. (Pictures: left-our weekend gang: Brittany, Danyelle, Abbigail and myself. Right-apparently a mojito which was basically leaves, seeds, pump and ice).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKw0qFsgiESAkTsfjFrKTEZ-vGF0-ABkB7nC_7E134oxbDqfRNvD1hYy8TSQZehEvajMUtfYwMVIGdp_Iq8KIcHL2WxL6B47zk2e1iSd-79r7H44uLGBb0ujurFj2Mhek_rsevBrbo00/s1600/DSCN1724.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKw0qFsgiESAkTsfjFrKTEZ-vGF0-ABkB7nC_7E134oxbDqfRNvD1hYy8TSQZehEvajMUtfYwMVIGdp_Iq8KIcHL2WxL6B47zk2e1iSd-79r7H44uLGBb0ujurFj2Mhek_rsevBrbo00/s200/DSCN1724.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714557056008695794" border="0" /></a><br />The next day there was an optional school trip for 4 hours but I decided I was sick of sitting on a bus and didn't need to climb <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CImWnrO4Ld-SbrXGClNUz_5JHv0LnyxYXGwS396JuRNHIJnDPnrMEkGZZBTRK2gvwIOWj3ZJChb3OXWzpq5qa5N8J1ST7h2NzfWOv59l4cjjG7UN9LaxsQ0Phpuj7kUjbr9WSxwHbTQ/s1600/DSCN1738.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 151px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CImWnrO4Ld-SbrXGClNUz_5JHv0LnyxYXGwS396JuRNHIJnDPnrMEkGZZBTRK2gvwIOWj3ZJChb3OXWzpq5qa5N8J1ST7h2NzfWOv59l4cjjG7UN9LaxsQ0Phpuj7kUjbr9WSxwHbTQ/s200/DSCN1738.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714557275888217442" border="0" /></a>any more hills or look at anymore ruins. Luckily my new friend Abbigail felt the same way. So we spent the day together! We first walked to the Royal Crescent which is where the rich people would have lived and I have also been told that parts of Jane Austens movie Persuasion were filmed there. I plan on watching the movie this weekend. After that we d<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0pJMpQ-2RBM8JQnI_bhfKov26zk_vUgt34z5RPN8Jcwv9l4AI-nY5MPbWmG58OCAwcFdk7p7ijHKxwBe3RVqGGRMma09xVV75GLo6AB35ltAnKA6fJG-E08lxQoRmkjwULkULOv8-hGY/s1600/DSCN1752.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0pJMpQ-2RBM8JQnI_bhfKov26zk_vUgt34z5RPN8Jcwv9l4AI-nY5MPbWmG58OCAwcFdk7p7ijHKxwBe3RVqGGRMma09xVV75GLo6AB35ltAnKA6fJG-E08lxQoRmkjwULkULOv8-hGY/s200/DSCN1752.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714557590197344370" border="0" /></a>ecided to hit up the Fashion Museum. Which was awesome! We were able to see how women used to dress and how fashion has evolved through history. We were also able to try on corsets and crinolines to feel like the women did when they had to be skiinied up and tied into their dresses. Unfortunately <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgD0BqYlvfXF4kwUWiKmQaWKgyPBRjElR-_1o0x2DMawYL9qLVtjEJ9xihUGbynIL0CgDv-HPJgPE7-cxhs8bZyxODlAJmDT0pXWHoBaqOYUqbojISq_9aRC4nLktIQlOgUlAEVf6A5U/s1600/403182_381060241905550_100000047314012_1532123_818187251_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 142px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgD0BqYlvfXF4kwUWiKmQaWKgyPBRjElR-_1o0x2DMawYL9qLVtjEJ9xihUGbynIL0CgDv-HPJgPE7-cxhs8bZyxODlAJmDT0pXWHoBaqOYUqbojISq_9aRC4nLktIQlOgUlAEVf6A5U/s200/403182_381060241905550_100000047314012_1532123_818187251_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714559372038560098" border="0" /></a>they did not have dresses we could try on which was upsetting. (Pictures: top left-the Royal Crescent. right-trying on the clothes. bottom left- my favorite dress in the museum!)<br /><br />After the museum it was time for the Jane Austen Centre. For those who don't know Jane Austen was a famous writer. And no I haven't read any of her books. But I have seen Pride and Prejudice. Which I am<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCvURyQ19JJ0sq7PirZYfw634N5NL8k_O-4uo1DFjYLI5nqMOQVqeJTRT4w9moy-q7VlBMlAUq8kVYzaiETmhV2brQURFyc8aL0LLq5JkiZJCTIWnlI-xQU7b50juXnZwPsYhGLqhpHV4/s1600/DSCN1763.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCvURyQ19JJ0sq7PirZYfw634N5NL8k_O-4uo1DFjYLI5nqMOQVqeJTRT4w9moy-q7VlBMlAUq8kVYzaiETmhV2brQURFyc8aL0LLq5JkiZJCTIWnlI-xQU7b50juXnZwPsYhGLqhpHV4/s200/DSCN1763.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714559241387721762" border="0" /></a> going to watch again this weekend with another movie that is based off another one of her books. While here we decided it would only be proper to have Jane Austen tea along with crumpets, buns and victorian cake. So we did! It was delicious! Best decision ever. Then we did the quick tour! (More pictures! Tea on the left and squeezing Abbigail into her newest outfit. This is the part in Titanic where Rose is holding onto the wall and her mother is tying her in as tight as she can!)<br /><br />We had to kind of power through the tour unfortunately after our tea so that we could meet up with out friends at the spa! YES SPA!!! It was the only spa in the UK that offers bathi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwucHLIhrUl1TO7EXqaBqce802ARhELKdVkFolLWW-OvCQ8eIghTpcE6clNCagy3pWzV3xGtR-y4e4Yb6mrDWsorEwZzlBDUwL3awJRFyqW9WGdrN69xAZ75n0zTpWsyz1WrFKy1dKL8/s1600/roof-top-bath-spa-thermea.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwucHLIhrUl1TO7EXqaBqce802ARhELKdVkFolLWW-OvCQ8eIghTpcE6clNCagy3pWzV3xGtR-y4e4Yb6mrDWsorEwZzlBDUwL3awJRFyqW9WGdrN69xAZ75n0zTpWsyz1WrFKy1dKL8/s200/roof-top-bath-spa-thermea.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714561547651909426" border="0" /></a>ng in naturally warm spring waters! We brought out swim suits and were able to either sit in the indoor pool on the lowest level of the building, in the aroma steam rooms, or the open-air rooftop pool! All of the water fell as rain water 10,000 years ago and is heated underground by hot rocks. It supposedly had 42 different minerals and is a nice warm 92 degrees! Yes, I did just copy that off the brochure. But it's the truth. So we had 2 hours to enjoy any of the three rooms. It was a beautiful warm Saturday afternoon. The sun was bright and we had been spending the day carrying our jackets instead of wearing them so of course we spent most of our time on the roof-top! We had great views all around the city and it was all so beautiful. We spent most of our time floating around giggling in disbelief that we were actually in a bath, in Bath, England in February and could call it going to college. It was just amazing. Needless to sa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYTm4tP77qOdqS9h1hEbdub-Nbf03ZI93Sg0Of9szFGbLBBVS1D9viLibC8uQ2g734TZSURBJHon4QWf3KL3P5IC6W9rHhPn-u8zdLR-y2kdjOrJGY1-cAa-QuddyPCwn8eysezlyFwI/s1600/DSCN1772.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYTm4tP77qOdqS9h1hEbdub-Nbf03ZI93Sg0Of9szFGbLBBVS1D9viLibC8uQ2g734TZSURBJHon4QWf3KL3P5IC6W9rHhPn-u8zdLR-y2kdjOrJGY1-cAa-QuddyPCwn8eysezlyFwI/s200/DSCN1772.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714562854936867250" border="0" /></a>y we were pretty much mush after that and somehow managed to make it through dinner without falling asleep. After dinner we were smart and grabbed a cab and headed back to the hostel. We spent the rest of the night playing with makeup and nail polish and getting hand drawn tattoos on our feet. Oh and eating cookies since we found another Ben's cookies a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSARxOMl9aUkxYJyQAl5xR826yXUAMouNUfLCiXeW2pSfJezqCFA1W5pCuD0cBUuWErgN5v8Gl960t3OpK0UufuiPlxJ48BZcsibPrLpEye10T0QmWCREHPev9H6ZdI5_r4OvqvV7iJE/s1600/DSCN1814.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 323px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSARxOMl9aUkxYJyQAl5xR826yXUAMouNUfLCiXeW2pSfJezqCFA1W5pCuD0cBUuWErgN5v8Gl960t3OpK0UufuiPlxJ48BZcsibPrLpEye10T0QmWCREHPev9H6ZdI5_r4OvqvV7iJE/s200/DSCN1814.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714563716429114738" border="0" /></a>nd each bought a box of 7. (Pictures: top right-the best google image I could find to show the bath and the view. left-our hostel, my bed was the one on the floor on the left...just awesome. And no the sheets didn't fit onto the bed).<br /><br />On Sunday morning we finally had our scheduled tour of the actual Roman Baths. So we got to see the real deal and where they would have bathed back in the day. I lost my brochure for that one so I can't give you much history. But it was very cool. The next stop after that was Stonehenge. Which as you all remember, the Duggars went there a few months ago so I was walking <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUd0e2q7v0IElcmGVOe__h6Zp_PvZoGDMnOuCiYiL62v5qRNHS0FZD3DdpMz8SVpJ4_On35ySALZxKB0Rv2nmu9vB0NAmNktd_soEg_788dHk1tI0bW9UCOe3mHBPVjUzgm0kVtgtkZA/s1600/DSCN1837.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUd0e2q7v0IElcmGVOe__h6Zp_PvZoGDMnOuCiYiL62v5qRNHS0FZD3DdpMz8SVpJ4_On35ySALZxKB0Rv2nmu9vB0NAmNktd_soEg_788dHk1tI0bW9UCOe3mHBPVjUzgm0kVtgtkZA/s320/DSCN1837.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714565028489733762" border="0" /></a>on the same ground and in the same place as the 19 Kids and Counting crew had been! Such an amazing feeling. But seriously<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiDXEm8x7_RpIPAy-vNIyYl63qNpbKYKqeCA9BznMv7zqpE3eyTanlcXglg0u3BqCwtSKbwGjLRB6W-X_j_019ac-FLPdIgh0r2euuPA-elH-Vvc5QMaGuLqT69GBR4oTE8jS6Pu4gymo/s1600/DSCN1838.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiDXEm8x7_RpIPAy-vNIyYl63qNpbKYKqeCA9BznMv7zqpE3eyTanlcXglg0u3BqCwtSKbwGjLRB6W-X_j_019ac-FLPdIgh0r2euuPA-elH-Vvc5QMaGuLqT69GBR4oTE8jS6Pu4gymo/s200/DSCN1838.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714565245417198050" border="0" /></a> the rocks are huge, and no one has any idea how they were brought there or how they were stacked on top of each other. They estimate that the heaviest rock weighs around 45 tons. Which probably isn't too light, especially when being carried by man power. So it's pretty cool to imagine how on earth they got these huge rocks on top of this hill in the middle of a field. Most random place ever to put a bunch of heavy rocks but thats ok.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HBja392HydT1SXo7OuqR5HOfrn6hCs554dE-_JcNBMek445plGvBmUtQ9wi_Vl3kl9e4uZj0nWvIQogUxhFL1kuViXovGSX4ZlriJLsvV5V0C8RToqIGX4qY5JIwwTOhMwz0NL5q49k/s1600/DSCN1841.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HBja392HydT1SXo7OuqR5HOfrn6hCs554dE-_JcNBMek445plGvBmUtQ9wi_Vl3kl9e4uZj0nWvIQogUxhFL1kuViXovGSX4ZlriJLsvV5V0C8RToqIGX4qY5JIwwTOhMwz0NL5q49k/s320/DSCN1841.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714565800819583122" border="0" /></a> Oh and we had an hour to admire the rocks. So I have plenty of pictures if you want to see more!<br />Best part of the trip, I have a new t-shirt that says............"STONEHENGE ROCKS!" Get it?<br /><br />After Stonehenge it was time to head home. We had lunch then began our 4 hour journey. I think it was the first time I was happy to have a long ride because I had been putting off working on my research paper so I spent most of the time reading a very thick book on Edward III and figuring out what to all write about him. So if you have any questions on him throw them my way! BTW he was a pretty cool guy...just saying. Once we got back to the manor I had dinner and a skype session with some pretty cute cousins (Happy birthday Alyce!) then I began writing my 2500 words on Edward which kept me up til 2 but that's fine, I don't need sleep anyways.<br /><br />Not much happened on Monday besides school as usual and a little volleyball. On a side note, after playing 10 years of competitive volleyball, the best part of the sport is when your serve is on and there is a pouty girl on the other side of the net. Needless to say I don't think she was a fan of my new jump serve.<br /><br />Tuesday was field trip day, we spent time at a work house 45 minutes away which is where they used to keep poor people and ran it the same way as a jail to some extent in order to help the people and keep them off the streets. We also spent time learning about the manor we have been living in. They taught us how the very formal places of the manor were where the family lived and spent their time and how the cheaper looking places around the manor were where the servants lived and spent there time. This is why there are secret passage ways around the manor. They were used by the servants so they wouldn't be seen by the family. Needless to say I now know that I live in a room where servants would have lived and the classrooms where I have most classes were either a playroom for the children or where the Butler lived to oversee the servants and tended to the family (it has a secret hidden stairway that leads from the basement to the two upper level floors). By the way everyone else has classes in rooms such as the long gallery, the gold room or the state dining room while I have class in "Room 130" and the "Music Room". I also learned that our library used to be a large kitchen. One last thing we were told was that everything in the manor had once been sold off and the manor was supposed to be destroyed but then a very rich women who supposedly invented shaving gel came in and saved the place. So we are very lucky to be able to see the Harlaxton Manor, let alone live in it and go to school in it.<br /><br />The other highlight of Tuesday was my intense workout. After doing two days of lifting workouts I decided that wasn't enough, so I decided to do a few volleyball-esk drills, then I decided that wasn't enough so at 8:30 at night I decided to run to the end of our mile long drive way. In the pitch black, in the countryside, in shorts and a t-shirt. It was sooo nice outside, it was a great run. How many people can finish off a workout but running home to a beautifully lit up manor. The manor at night is truely amazing to see. I'm hoping to go out on a clear night and take some pictures to prove the point.<br /><br />Well that has been my life the past week. Hopefully I should be able to move my body again in the next few hours. Classes are pretty rough here. I found out my sociology professor is actually worldly known in his field and has been given many opportunities to bring his family to London just as long as he does a few interviews with the BBC news which is the most popular news program over here. If it wasn't cool enough to have him as a teacher, it is pretty cool that I love his teaching style. We just started two more movies in both of my classes with him. So I believe we are on to movies 4 and 5 at least. It is a rough life I have but I promise I am learning! Wish me luck, tomorrow we have our first home volleyball game! Which should be fun then I will be spending all weekend in my pajamas relaxing, not spending money or traveling all weekend long! It's gonna be awesome!<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />PS. My newest joke to brighten your day. Next time your in England tell someone to catch you and that you'll give them X amount of pounds. For example, when someone is at the bottom of the stairs I yell, "Catch me and I'll give you 130 pounds!" It's funny because here pounds is a certain amount of money but for us it also is an amount of weight! Now aren't I a clever one?!?Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-73156962149773547212012-02-22T08:21:00.018-08:002012-02-22T09:56:42.335-08:00Belgium!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZoQ-KL-9Qsb8Wu5zDEeTbr1GI1Vtf5x8hCCksXiNKTSY98yUJy3MmqMtkN80H5E82pVYZVv4L-V0gCM0Mk-KA0YQhEW7uSFrn6znpXq1jKzSVqitvBF8HqKeKFuiZOyDbtCbixhIOz1I/s1600/IMG_0873.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZoQ-KL-9Qsb8Wu5zDEeTbr1GI1Vtf5x8hCCksXiNKTSY98yUJy3MmqMtkN80H5E82pVYZVv4L-V0gCM0Mk-KA0YQhEW7uSFrn6znpXq1jKzSVqitvBF8HqKeKFuiZOyDbtCbixhIOz1I/s200/IMG_0873.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712002373042230722" border="0" /></a><br /><br />First things first. We won our first volleyball game on Thursday! I even got to play middle and ran a few slides! So Kim, if you're reading this, I'm ready to be moved up to the front row! Oh and our fearless leader Kevin played ok too I guess. He's not very good but at least he buys us pizza after every game ;) So we try and put up with him.<br /><br />Other than volleyball it was a slow week activity wise. So I'll get on to the exciting travel adventures of the week! Some people may know me as being a somewhat impulsive person, so about 2 weeks ago I decided that I should go to Belgium! I have a friend (Ian) that is studying abroad there, so I thought it would be the greatest idea to make the trip. I also decided that it would be the greatest idea to travel and lodge there completely by myself. My adopt a family was not very happy to hear that I did this and even lectured me and told me horror stories. But anyways, I was planning on leaving for Belgium on Friday, so as to not break tradition I planned everything at last minute. Last Wednesday I booked my train tickets and on Thursday I booked my hotel!<br /><br />Seeing as this was my very first time basically traveling anywhere by myself I was extremely nervous! Not to mention my last minute planning! I thought I had everything planned out until it hit 1:30 AM Friday morning and I was checking over my schedule, I realized I had the shuttle times wrong and needed to call a cab! So at 1:35 in the morning I was running around the manner making calls in our little red phone booth trying to book a cab. But do not worry, I did it! So then I was a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9XqLRH96BzNzfTrgn_jlb0pjs-CStajrh4p95VBDPlIAYCrZkV1kG7iVA5WQaJ6HbsyF8cz-4NdZ_S_ZGFBrO9sc4Z5Zvhu37mq_IgIE9LtJyapcJF_uMP625QmjNKtDQfPUt3NtlLc/s1600/DSCN1409.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9XqLRH96BzNzfTrgn_jlb0pjs-CStajrh4p95VBDPlIAYCrZkV1kG7iVA5WQaJ6HbsyF8cz-4NdZ_S_ZGFBrO9sc4Z5Zvhu37mq_IgIE9LtJyapcJF_uMP625QmjNKtDQfPUt3NtlLc/s200/DSCN1409.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712002082525142370" border="0" /></a>ble to go to bed and get a few hours of sleep. I woke up the next morning at 8:30, packed up, jumped in the cab and headed to the train station. After a quick breakfast there I made it on to my first train and headed off to London. From there I had to go through the underground tunnel beneath a street to get to my next train station (the international station). After wandering around the station, a few minutes of blank staring at the ticket machine, asking random old ladies to show me how to get to security and getting frisked I made it to the promised land! The train lobby! As I was traveling the whole weekend I pretty much felt like a reached the promised land every time I made it to the right place on time. After 45 minutes of waiting it was time for another train ride! I rode the international train here called Eurostar. Which goes up to 186mph and travels through tunnels and underwater! My ears weren't a big fan but it only took a little over 2 hours to get from London through France and into Brussels, Belgium!<br /><br />The most terrifying part of the whole trip there was that when we were leaving London all the announcements were in English then once we go into France and Belgium it switched to French and Dutch. (Which I am not fluent in either). So that was a new experience. After the train ride I wandered a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKO4c26ni87hvm7OC5AI-ISX0YJuZnxCu9kQr0hq_nP4lXX_RSuHn4wRCpJwOzCRcx-47HWRPMeBX7G45pAseSlAJcZlJ6sRg81vzwNjuQonKk_R30gC2c3kRYsJTadf_LRQiUcxIsnJ0/s1600/DSCN1353.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKO4c26ni87hvm7OC5AI-ISX0YJuZnxCu9kQr0hq_nP4lXX_RSuHn4wRCpJwOzCRcx-47HWRPMeBX7G45pAseSlAJcZlJ6sRg81vzwNjuQonKk_R30gC2c3kRYsJTadf_LRQiUcxIsnJ0/s200/DSCN1353.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712008804322010258" border="0" /></a>round the station until I found the great outdoors! This is when I power walked my way to a cab and through the hotel sheet at him. After 20 minutes of what felt like driving in circles we made it to the hotel. Just from the cab ride I could tell it was going to be a great weekend. Every time we turned a corner there was something brilliantly new to see and experience! Whether it be huge buildings, cobblestone roads (which weren't really even roads but places to drive around very fast), or randomly following the tracks from the tram. Which I don't quite get because we were the only car following them. But ALAS I made it to the promised land! Checked into my first every hotel and headed up to my room! Which turned out to be a tiny room with the huge bathroom but it had heat!!!!! So all was well in the world!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeB_vKktWmGsbMCxWEVBc4_mivFC4FrWyWhlKo0PjcK44kIyLM6XwJVg20Tn37WMyJ57_trPzHaCzGcM3S8nv8BrSXayeieBMJdQX78dYgNat-OqaBC6pnNwpo9r8uyzbePLil6Qxxao/s1600/DSCN1345.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeB_vKktWmGsbMCxWEVBc4_mivFC4FrWyWhlKo0PjcK44kIyLM6XwJVg20Tn37WMyJ57_trPzHaCzGcM3S8nv8BrSXayeieBMJdQX78dYgNat-OqaBC6pnNwpo9r8uyzbePLil6Qxxao/s200/DSCN1345.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712007903718494738" border="0" /></a> (Picture on the left is one of the cobblestone roads).<br /><br />Shortly after getting there I was able to text my mom to assure her that I had not been murdered or ran over by a train. Then I was able to get in contact with Ian. We spent the evening wandering the streets of Brussels and eating delicious food. Ian was a wonderful tour guide and knew t<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWhyphenhyphent8TCMxQLRMzqXJmr4HihJvzlDxsCYF0kPCxlZ-0aqXoYYQ4XJ2c41AimYX9n_bqvNst7_MYzpFyHsoo0C3y-7goq2hG_KpSaLwFXUsem619_bAs-Lw047xJhk7PC2cE5c0iH3jdtE/s1600/DSCN1361.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWhyphenhyphent8TCMxQLRMzqXJmr4HihJvzlDxsCYF0kPCxlZ-0aqXoYYQ4XJ2c41AimYX9n_bqvNst7_MYzpFyHsoo0C3y-7goq2hG_KpSaLwFXUsem619_bAs-Lw047xJhk7PC2cE5c0iH3jdtE/s200/DSCN1361.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712007535103688882" border="0" /></a>he answer to every question I had. We ate at a cute Italian place. I had a gigantic bowl of Spaghet<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRWm8tk1Pn0sDAlxX_yz34lbkGrlaTb5yTqpuiKrmO6ItsHeJrT308uN-Ir4HyoFsCKEOBLaBIgQpBee8u7iUihRX1-LBFwgf1Nz4eHhtEa-xxq7wA3Njr0GEb-9SFFxBj5b5tlK4fsQ/s1600/DSCN1352.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRWm8tk1Pn0sDAlxX_yz34lbkGrlaTb5yTqpuiKrmO6ItsHeJrT308uN-Ir4HyoFsCKEOBLaBIgQpBee8u7iUihRX1-LBFwgf1Nz4eHhtEa-xxq7wA3Njr0GEb-9SFFxBj5b5tlK4fsQ/s200/DSCN1352.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712008552360114626" border="0" /></a>ti Bolognese (because it was the words that looked the most familiar on the French menu). To go along with the pasta I had my first Belgian beer of Kriek, which is like a fruit beer and was very good. Fortunately/unfortunately they seated us right next to the dessert case so afte<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhveCsS3OUME0yTZMcfb9EFZ2-OmEkC6rsKDYIS3G0l8nwGsZ5YZ2Vdnsli54xRNofX3One_9A_NnnjFUFijUqNLn9FZ879o0aGNcaj4RqoHYHC2lGUwaQgwMs2JRRuAY8M6pDxQ30eqPQ/s1600/DSCN1347.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhveCsS3OUME0yTZMcfb9EFZ2-OmEkC6rsKDYIS3G0l8nwGsZ5YZ2Vdnsli54xRNofX3One_9A_NnnjFUFijUqNLn9FZ879o0aGNcaj4RqoHYHC2lGUwaQgwMs2JRRuAY8M6pDxQ30eqPQ/s200/DSCN1347.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712010068808841554" border="0" /></a>r my huge bowl of pasta I indulged in some Tiramisu and did not feel one bit bad about it.<br /><br />The evening we went over to some of Ian's friends apartment and hung out for a bit where the told me a little more about the culture of Belgium such as the fact that it is legal to drink in the streets of Belgium and about how the national symbol is that of a little boy peeing. Supposedly there was a fire long ago and a boy put it out by peeing on it. Needless to say there is a little statue of him to go along with the the souvenir shops selling everything they can that has a boy peeing. So for the couple people I got presents for, you should be excited! I hope no one gets too upset if their present didn't come from Belgium. Don't worry Mom, your chocolate does not have a little boy on it at all.<br /><br />The next day we started out by jumping on the tram and headed out to see the Atonium. Weird/ex<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvRhoqgNOJ-uxcFDfgquIHb0J8d8xJKXfmoYHvqREC8MBg2zzeKcgDAKyOM8z0u9fWPropdy1de0TOmsLYp_QAktEpHlmIvZ8qrUYUkIQS8qQrTguHcXHnQLKZL2vZ3_pQ2bcGez0ASpE/s1600/DSCN1363.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvRhoqgNOJ-uxcFDfgquIHb0J8d8xJKXfmoYHvqREC8MBg2zzeKcgDAKyOM8z0u9fWPropdy1de0TOmsLYp_QAktEpHlmIvZ8qrUYUkIQS8qQrTguHcXHnQLKZL2vZ3_pQ2bcGez0ASpE/s200/DSCN1363.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712012388463666754" border="0" /></a>citing part of Belgium, they have every form of transportation you could possibly want. Trains (regular and international high speed), trams (above ground and under), buses, cabs, walking, etc. I believe I got a ride on everyone too! But anyways we rode out to the outskirts of Brussels to see the Atonium. It's basically a gigantic steel structure of an atom in the middle of no where.<br /><br />After that it was time to start experiencing the cultu<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQDRzl8Hjgo4wke04aR_3lTz8_87RB4_VP198pWoP0DoFLwlmGosXjH1qmATsXKpw4_hd71PoC72Qigx0mdT7v9cz5b-HYdmCVXnHUy7fyxGzdy8w87KWOs5StbuzIMrDpNi9A5FZLoDA/s1600/DSCN1371.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQDRzl8Hjgo4wke04aR_3lTz8_87RB4_VP198pWoP0DoFLwlmGosXjH1qmATsXKpw4_hd71PoC72Qigx0mdT7v9cz5b-HYdmCVXnHUy7fyxGzdy8w87KWOs5StbuzIMrDpNi9A5FZLoDA/s200/DSCN1371.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712012683678760866" border="0" /></a>re. By this I really mean the food. First up was frites. Which is basically fries (deep fried twice), put into a cone, with mayo based sauce of some sort on it, topped off with a little baby fork so you don't get your hands dirty, even though it is nearly impossible to get all the fries at the bottom with just your baby fork. But these were delicious! I even started looking up recipes for sauces online! After that I believe we moved on to chocolate! In Brussels they have the equivalent of pubs in Ireland. There was even an entire intersection dedicated to the most significant chocolate shops. When I peeked in the one shop it looked like a jewelry store in the all the chocolate was held in glass cases. Our store of choice was Neuhaus! We were even given free samples because it was taking the woman so long to gift wrap everyone elses chocolate. They could even pick from 10 different colors of ribbon. Intense. Delicious. I'll show pics after my mom gets her fancy pack!<br /><br />I believe after tha<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEEeqKkLCT-KAobps5HHmqO2mHUOFpgjDhHAcXXn1aZgWeKr3jViQK7G5FO-eSVCKgAyii8SJIvVgeXoSSiya7kkKF_tsGifK3ZL0Ct39XYKi8M03id7fK7V4WfVpv3V26ipWmop11HXM/s1600/DSCN1395.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEEeqKkLCT-KAobps5HHmqO2mHUOFpgjDhHAcXXn1aZgWeKr3jViQK7G5FO-eSVCKgAyii8SJIvVgeXoSSiya7kkKF_tsGifK3ZL0Ct39XYKi8M03id7fK7V4WfVpv3V26ipWmop11HXM/s200/DSCN1395.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712014525643312898" border="0" /></a>t it was time for waffles! There are basically waffle vans EVERYWHERE to go along with waffle shops on almost every block! You have never had a waffle until you experience a Belgian waffle! They are warm and delicious with little pockets of sugar and warmy doughy-ness in the center! No syrup needed! I am truely going to miss these waffles and I'm not even a waffle person! During the day we also ventured to a couple different parks and a museum. It was a very pretty city; as long as you ignore the clouds, strong winds, and unpredictable rain!<br /><br />That night we had dinner at Ian's apartment, (thank you Ian!) I was most excited for the multiple<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVq8cJHF91sXpaTih5VA-jlPL0q03q8vasmZXX_0OQzlHUUbZm58QkSctAIaMTpQDTgxFS_A2ii4woO_q51Xm0_ayLmYfZJNC1Q816OiTTW9SuupBIKQyE3QFKIjFzUPoEh1nevUbOc0/s1600/IMG_0878.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVq8cJHF91sXpaTih5VA-jlPL0q03q8vasmZXX_0OQzlHUUbZm58QkSctAIaMTpQDTgxFS_A2ii4woO_q51Xm0_ayLmYfZJNC1Q816OiTTW9SuupBIKQyE3QFKIjFzUPoEh1nevUbOc0/s200/IMG_0878.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712016697024319826" border="0" /></a> cups of tea and innovative cup of Belgian coffee (coffee with sugar, cream, and MELTED CHOCOLATE!), followed by an apple cake pie thing that was great. After that we went <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDELCfbG5vbgA4qFZKIXtLejZWUVZphbCNlc3D1GY0UfC-TFye0fM0s-dtDgdryRCCF3hGJNnAXvQ1A0QgCBmXho2QvGz6wyV3oIN2UiltSKyR_mqjj7bc11PtEPLWbklbMba4qUAIo2I/s1600/IMG_0889.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDELCfbG5vbgA4qFZKIXtLejZWUVZphbCNlc3D1GY0UfC-TFye0fM0s-dtDgdryRCCF3hGJNnAXvQ1A0QgCBmXho2QvGz6wyV3oIN2UiltSKyR_mqjj7bc11PtEPLWbklbMba4qUAIo2I/s200/IMG_0889.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712018651504425794" border="0" /></a>out on the town. One of the places I really loved was an old train station, turned into an tourist info center, turned into a bar at night! It was really pretty and a unique experience. The other place we went too was a bar where everyone was allowed to dance on tables and chairs! I have never been in a bar so packed! We had to almost get a running start and jump into people in hopes of getting anywhere! It was just a very fun place with a great atmosphere!<br /><br />The next day it was time for more traveling. In the morning I met up with Ian to see a few more sights, which included one of Europe's largest markets. It went around at least three blocks and had everything from fruits, veggies, cooking pans, clothes, shampoos and crepes! It was huge! Besides people yelling<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcrSQzGJ5vmLjBWAmW3-sUqR9phlNDM2n6Yo7RFNTPBHVfznXbyCDlLKdl0ueBlnm4fWmBFcIuasGHUzmzXmOFFEcnjqUF85MhKezJK2LwtM-BeYOWXUd5u9jr9rhzt5DLYXh2K4holPM/s1600/DSCN1404.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcrSQzGJ5vmLjBWAmW3-sUqR9phlNDM2n6Yo7RFNTPBHVfznXbyCDlLKdl0ueBlnm4fWmBFcIuasGHUzmzXmOFFEcnjqUF85MhKezJK2LwtM-BeYOWXUd5u9jr9rhzt5DLYXh2K4holPM/s200/DSCN1404.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712018949104203410" border="0" /></a> all the time it was really cool to see. After that it was time to hang out in the train station and start homework. Most interesting experience of the weekend happened right before it was time to leave for my train. Three African women came over and asked me to help them print off passport photos. First we had to figure out that I could speak Englis<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdpwMMPm-p_9pS3_2bOHJbHhV5XdZZG8LHTEEieNpfZox5727zNaMOViyKGH8blq_JZy7Wh3VCJYP0zMqbRSSAg9eiMOaWYN0kFeC_l2GN4rWUtFbABVYhgqJARMZwwtbW3AhFPnRtPo/s1600/DSCN1408.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdpwMMPm-p_9pS3_2bOHJbHhV5XdZZG8LHTEEieNpfZox5727zNaMOViyKGH8blq_JZy7Wh3VCJYP0zMqbRSSAg9eiMOaWYN0kFeC_l2GN4rWUtFbABVYhgqJARMZwwtbW3AhFPnRtPo/s200/DSCN1408.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712019423077758930" border="0" /></a>h with one of the women, then I had to try and read French on the machine, then we had to switch the language to African or something that I definitely could not read...and it also seemed that they could not read it either. But our team work paid off and we conquered the machine. After that it was time to head over to my train. Three passport stamps, one unneeded immigration form a cranky lady made me fill out, and my first experience with a NICE security person later I made it to the train! I made a poor attempt at doing homework, then I ate my Belgian waffle from a vending machine and took a nap! It was a great trip! Then I made it back to London, got lost a little bit, had some Burger King and got on my last train home.<br /><br />It was one of my favorite weekends so far! I really loved traveling by myself and being an independent woman!<br /><br />Sorry no time to proofread!!!!Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-8528614042643201462012-02-15T08:04:00.001-08:002012-02-15T09:18:21.338-08:00Ireland!Finally found a wee bit of time to update my hundreds of followers. I never realize how many people are reading this until the idea of presents in mentioned. Then I find out exactly who is paying attention! So don't worry Grace, I'll find you a present much better than your moms!<br /><br />Remember last week when England got the most amount of snow it has gotten in the past 20 some years? Then we<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtW7QuhM-pNnRgZPLffNoUS43JHOUgp_3HaJLNfVMkESRgXLI4YKvUPkeEdCzCX7IxukfuRIlFcTFR-tBuyxzJqL_5meJcwBDQWRqjRQpJbxZUOk6QHh2gLt6KJ8nrGXir6qu3N0Eu-Q/s1600/422234_268039103266203_100001803474140_602523_1001083684_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtW7QuhM-pNnRgZPLffNoUS43JHOUgp_3HaJLNfVMkESRgXLI4YKvUPkeEdCzCX7IxukfuRIlFcTFR-tBuyxzJqL_5meJcwBDQWRqjRQpJbxZUOk6QHh2gLt6KJ8nrGXir6qu3N0Eu-Q/s200/422234_268039103266203_100001803474140_602523_1001083684_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709394672710215442" border="0" /></a> decided to hike to a prison to play volleyball? Here are some pictures! On the left is our mile <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCeiGVuokuPF09SUV0NcxllyJRW4-LIRzuHE-Di-Snyi6guFYqf9Ymnso1uAGCWd9WEBriUIDS8KmUdaWmcilp-0L_dYlbcPZFjipT6u7sbRlTWawoP16LEiBUgpgWFAOHr2frWJreoE/s1600/417520_268039309932849_100001803474140_602528_1760779697_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCeiGVuokuPF09SUV0NcxllyJRW4-LIRzuHE-Di-Snyi6guFYqf9Ymnso1uAGCWd9WEBriUIDS8KmUdaWmcilp-0L_dYlbcPZFjipT6u7sbRlTWawoP16LEiBUgpgWFAOHr2frWJreoE/s200/417520_268039309932849_100001803474140_602528_1760779697_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709394933148789666" border="0" /></a>long hike down our drive way which eventually led to the bar that we met our coach at. On the right is a team picture in the parking lot. The only thing different about this game and many club tournaments I used to play in was that I had to hike on my own instead of sleeping in the car while my mom drove hours through snow storms. I thought I left Wisconsin!<br /><br />Well last week we had our first big British Studies test. Which meant after staying up all Tuesday night studying followed up by more studying Wednesday morning I just had to spend an hour and forty-five minutes straight writing three essays until my hand was numb and my fingers were cramped.....THEN they finally let us leave for IRELAND! So yes, at 8PM on a Wednesday night our lon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7sAmp6denHCNDh12hb-c6ES6DpDeyiVQyWXLmz1lx-RT2lpEyzEmi69Yjb9dc17IeGqv5EvPkMRHLOXbWaXegW8HQlZEqP1WkaeqgyjXhrUrvDKAAegN714aIdhMs8o6BH4SnKN7FQM/s1600/300px-Ulysses_Arriving_In_Dublin.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7sAmp6denHCNDh12hb-c6ES6DpDeyiVQyWXLmz1lx-RT2lpEyzEmi69Yjb9dc17IeGqv5EvPkMRHLOXbWaXegW8HQlZEqP1WkaeqgyjXhrUrvDKAAegN714aIdhMs8o6BH4SnKN7FQM/s200/300px-Ulysses_Arriving_In_Dublin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709396616763899714" border="0" /></a>g weekend began. It was a very long night of traveling which started out with a 6 hour coach ride that led us to the dock of Holyhead. Once there we strolled right onto the worlds largest car carrier. I believe it looked a little something like the one on the left but it was 2 in the morning so I'm not quite sure. Once on board we were free to move about the cabin...on the ferry. Most people chose to do the most normal thing and sleep. So it ended up being like a big slumber party on a boat. Unfortunately my adrenaline got the best of me and I ended up wandering around and actually found some friends that were doing the same thing. Good news, the ferry bar was open all night! Well I didn't really take advantage of that but it was still exciting. I basically spent the night wandering around waking people up. FYI people love being woken up in the middle of the night on a ferry. I think the most exciting part of the ferry was watching people walk to the bathroom. The sway of the ferry always got the best of them.<br /><br />After 3 hours on the ferry it was time to load back up on the coach for some more joyful driving. We made a qu<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0cuxn6Q8Og2ZsiFC5192c6NHzxKqHXFFPQzGANkhm9HvbLUg5hOnLLTrF06xvqDwusBt8LyZ-O4aRIUdOPZFolskcjVWx3Gc3esgB7QiC3F6DeGzaVWLU1gx89n3pdMpUkaDtIYz9HY/s1600/425912_2672136094636_1593150252_32296410_1280613075_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0cuxn6Q8Og2ZsiFC5192c6NHzxKqHXFFPQzGANkhm9HvbLUg5hOnLLTrF06xvqDwusBt8LyZ-O4aRIUdOPZFolskcjVWx3Gc3esgB7QiC3F6DeGzaVWLU1gx89n3pdMpUkaDtIYz9HY/s400/425912_2672136094636_1593150252_32296410_1280613075_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709398426806110258" border="0" /></a>ick stop at a hotel for some breakfast (at 7 in the morning). Then went out for some more joyful driving! Three hours later we ended up at Blarney Castle in Killarney, Ireland. If you haven't picked up on it, there are way too many castles over here. Well this one was a little more exciting because after hiking up a few very tiny stair cases we were on top of the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhawh2NG9lm_zDF1JS7X7E40iMXShKF56qRtxwwFWU5JVW-_w-TZHnnYZdzPCg6uFSmKGAO1K7cGb6L5A0ijGn73QlcGpOH_tTgOQA-xY38G6VUEtSQjtBJcQ7GfFrHW0anDzf_rnEOu7Q/s1600/IMG_0713.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhawh2NG9lm_zDF1JS7X7E40iMXShKF56qRtxwwFWU5JVW-_w-TZHnnYZdzPCg6uFSmKGAO1K7cGb6L5A0ijGn73QlcGpOH_tTgOQA-xY38G6VUEtSQjtBJcQ7GfFrHW0anDzf_rnEOu7Q/s200/IMG_0713.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709410443577305074" border="0" /></a>world! Kind of. Then we were able to lay upside down and hang off the edge of the castle to kiss the Blarney Stone, which thousands of people have also kissed! But it was all worth it because now I have "great eloquence!" Which we all know I desperately needed! Next was another coach trip but this time it was back to the hotel for good! So finally around 2 in the afternoon on Thursday we were free to explore the country of Ireland! We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of Killarney, Ireland (semi cranky but still a wee bit enthusiastic). That night we got our first experience of live Irish music. Which ended up being a man playing in the pub of our hotel. It doesn't take much to impress us!<br /><br />Friday morning, you guessed it! We hopped on the coach for some more joyful drivin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT4FAykP5QFtXVLd-pM_9nxSCsuNhHUgMNmcCuzjAG82bRHz8fAlZA_HP1754BLJn04nDJmCbKn6KoEk6CtfXUZmrGEyin4iL3U2eMHEin-1f-_eEy0Fcjg30AruHbvohq5DQqVtcXMrk/s1600/424085_10150613154194025_596644024_8915340_413206826_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT4FAykP5QFtXVLd-pM_9nxSCsuNhHUgMNmcCuzjAG82bRHz8fAlZA_HP1754BLJn04nDJmCbKn6KoEk6CtfXUZmrGEyin4iL3U2eMHEin-1f-_eEy0Fcjg30AruHbvohq5DQqVtcXMrk/s200/424085_10150613154194025_596644024_8915340_413206826_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709400766130538514" border="0" /></a>g! This time is wasn't as painful because we spent the day driving through the Ring of Kerry. It was<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge0ZvMiusSQYZIvhsumSTYrLrOBTdW19K4bSi3PRgQiU9EzmYd8VfW6lb6X3pLS7eopt_3aFFzfT_k-_MG5iMuL6KDAVviAV4x6pM3EtJFtQ5sW8blTQWFR33U10NBDuOmyRM8FYxsct8/s1600/DSCN1193.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge0ZvMiusSQYZIvhsumSTYrLrOBTdW19K4bSi3PRgQiU9EzmYd8VfW6lb6X3pLS7eopt_3aFFzfT_k-_MG5iMuL6KDAVviAV4x6pM3EtJFtQ5sW8blTQWFR33U10NBDuOmyRM8FYxsct8/s200/DSCN1193.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709401428678782290" border="0" /></a> a 112 mile drive on a very tiny road around the Iveragh Peninsula. We made different stops at varied locations to try out Irish coffee (at 10 in the morning) *(delicious by the way)*, admire the coast, walk on the edge of mountain cliffs and look at waterfalls in the Killarney national park! It was actually a pretty fun day on the coach minus the cd of Irish music that was played three times! They love the song B<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJWpohjcjQCidH0wKxbtbFflpjY0TYck-3dfCuLS1XkMGKIvrnHiLOjHc_pnBkSfAeOX8S0PjI4qgyT3QWq2rnd0TDZv7x-jf85101Z2tc9JHjSYvCGTqCf8ZlbLcmbfiNOwOefmc6aw/s1600/DSCN1240.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJWpohjcjQCidH0wKxbtbFflpjY0TYck-3dfCuLS1XkMGKIvrnHiLOjHc_pnBkSfAeOX8S0PjI4qgyT3QWq2rnd0TDZv7x-jf85101Z2tc9JHjSYvCGTqCf8ZlbLcmbfiNOwOefmc6aw/s200/DSCN1240.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709401693440157346" border="0" /></a>rown Eyed Girl. The picture on the top right is of me and my roommates at Dingle Bay, I<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfq-1D8t81qm5GEtzPN0cJiaEmNWPWFRhnv3iKUPuMbxzoX_JdFS7lnt_gOf8tf03aY42jt1VDJ_gEeSP6oEISntT4VZ3gcgT2viUxOfiLiMS5Shkh2jOGD5UZKm2Gv_e3u2jkiUSd9z0/s1600/DSCN1283.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfq-1D8t81qm5GEtzPN0cJiaEmNWPWFRhnv3iKUPuMbxzoX_JdFS7lnt_gOf8tf03aY42jt1VDJ_gEeSP6oEISntT4VZ3gcgT2viUxOfiLiMS5Shkh2jOGD5UZKm2Gv_e3u2jkiUSd9z0/s200/DSCN1283.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709402078202738066" border="0" /></a> believe, which supposedly has a dolphin swimming around but we didn't get to see him. On the top left is the view from across the restaurant we had our Irish coffee. Hand-holding is me and one of my good friends here in front of Waterville, I believe. Bottom left is right next to the restaurant where we had lunch, so pretty. It was a great trip on a perfect day. They tried to tell us to bring plenty of layers and be prepared for rain. It's didn't rain all day until we got on the coach after our very last stop. It was also warm and sunny the entire day!<br /><br />Friday night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant. Mostly because we all needed a fix of fettuccine alfredo and it was the first place we found that has had it the whole time we've been here. After that we ventured out to a recommended local pub that had traditional Irish music at the start followed by more of a rock band. Best part of the night? There was a hair straightener in the bathroom! Well the music was pretty awesome too! It was a semi early night to bed so we could get on the coach by 8 the next morning to head off to Dublin!<br /><br />We spent Saturday hanging out around the city and wandered around the Temple Bar Area which was filled with lots of little shops, actually for every shop there was about three pubs but the shops were still c<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD2cuHELE3AuHOk9qQ25SZ0NILYN-eVelQHEprW_IqDyDxFex4trsLeE-sd65NQtOec9i4pR257h64Vn02FbvZZ4RD0-2kIkMLC266dzagNqjKrAJgYlu8spBdDol2zzsG7FY1hGNBmBQ/s1600/TRINITY-COLLEGE-LIBRARY-DUB.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD2cuHELE3AuHOk9qQ25SZ0NILYN-eVelQHEprW_IqDyDxFex4trsLeE-sd65NQtOec9i4pR257h64Vn02FbvZZ4RD0-2kIkMLC266dzagNqjKrAJgYlu8spBdDol2zzsG7FY1hGNBmBQ/s200/TRINITY-COLLEGE-LIBRARY-DUB.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709404968733754034" border="0" /></a>ute. After Temple Bar Area we ventured over to Trinity College. There we saw the Book of Kells, which I know you are all super jealous about! Don't ask me exactly what it is, we had to pay to see it in order to get to the famous library. Yes, that's the library on the left and the picture is a lot better than the actual thing. We were mostly concerned about how they got to t<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglJNxhXyiOyFhxQB_YZc4ASm_QUBBFAWgaVYRux4S9IRA24VzgjopnLV8WM-tbiVqHesfX7RlO1W1zq4pP7eoHBMKqZrgRWq5221b3KApPFPUJfYMVtFS7EmVYUhyQub2ftlo-KXBGt4I/s1600/IMG_0814.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglJNxhXyiOyFhxQB_YZc4ASm_QUBBFAWgaVYRux4S9IRA24VzgjopnLV8WM-tbiVqHesfX7RlO1W1zq4pP7eoHBMKqZrgRWq5221b3KApPFPUJfYMVtFS7EmVYUhyQub2ftlo-KXBGt4I/s200/IMG_0814.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709412178505500818" border="0" /></a>he books on the second level because there were no stairs. After that we wandered the campus, which means hearing a band playing and following the sound of the music up three flights of stairs in an empty building then chickening out and running away to Starbucks. Best college tour yet! That night we had some traditional Irish...Subway! It was AMAZING! For the record they still have the best cookies over here too! After that we wandering to a few different pubs which was intense because anyone that can stand up in the country of Ireland is out at the pubs! Soo crowded! Eventually we found a cute little pub with some more live music! I heard Galway Girl (from PS I Love You) twice that night in the same pub! So happy! It was a full Irish experience completed with a pint of Guinness! After that it was time for beddy bye to get up at 6 the next morning for a day of traveling.<br /><br />It was a typical Sunday. Jump on the coach in Dublin, Ireland; ride the worlds largest car carrier again, drive through Wales; grab lunch at a city in Wales called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Don't worry I have a stamp of it in my passport! After Wales we drove through some more country land back to our manor in England. Just like back home.<br /><br />Happy belated Valentines day everyone! We celebrated with karaoke in the bistro. Which always gets out of hand when half the school is theater majors...<br /><br />There isn't too much going on this week. Just a volleyball game on Thursday. The exciting thing this week is that I just booked my own tickets to go to Brussels in Belgium (by myself!) where I will be meeting up with a friend from high school to enjoy some waffles and chocolate! So wish me luck on getting on a shuttle Friday morning, riding a train to London, jumping trains there and riding to Brussels, then staying in a hostel. Then hopefully making it back home Sunday. Someone<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KFCC6J3GBFV4dMhRY3-JsyHPbTncj6OtB0bqEA1Cgxe0MwBjWeJQOZ5AnCvikYFB4h5JkRAULc4X3f3waeCDFmnKoNE-Exuyg3My-EU6lV76UUX5a5oqDjia9kTF_qcVa1_xJbNpFkc/s1600/DSCN1288.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KFCC6J3GBFV4dMhRY3-JsyHPbTncj6OtB0bqEA1Cgxe0MwBjWeJQOZ5AnCvikYFB4h5JkRAULc4X3f3waeCDFmnKoNE-Exuyg3My-EU6lV76UUX5a5oqDjia9kTF_qcVa1_xJbNpFkc/s200/DSCN1288.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709408598863579954" border="0" /></a> please entertain my mother so she doesn't w<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpqk_WiVpZv9L4ogUgg3h8VDI1ktmZr2PzzIbILp38VUtWpSRJB58Jg4LNNaenQGcVmgruMb-Mx3JiBZSnt9jZAHwCUL-qRFZb8vRjhmYMhODHC2mPJhshOqc7-6tXnAd9_sKxb_TfZc/s1600/DSCN1310.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpqk_WiVpZv9L4ogUgg3h8VDI1ktmZr2PzzIbILp38VUtWpSRJB58Jg4LNNaenQGcVmgruMb-Mx3JiBZSnt9jZAHwCUL-qRFZb8vRjhmYMhODHC2mPJhshOqc7-6tXnAd9_sKxb_TfZc/s200/DSCN1310.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709408809954160370" border="0" /></a>orry!<br /><br />Here are a couple more pictures from the Ring of Kerry. On the left is Ladies view and on the right is Torc Waterfall in Killarney National Park!<br /><br />Peace out homies!Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-50701049836169673462012-02-07T06:28:00.000-08:002012-02-07T07:25:52.653-08:00One Month.Seeing as I have my first big test tomorrow obviously it is time to procrastinate!<br /><br />I have been here in England for officially one month! I could leave right now and know that my life has been changed. I have already learned so much about myself, other people and other countries! This blog is mostly for when I am back home and forget exactly how I felt when I was here. So don't judge!<br /><br />In the past month I have learned that people will actually accept you for who you are. If they make fun of you, ditch them (or leave the country) eventually you will find the right people to be around. That is what I love most about being here! I have met so many people <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkfqTMIuZ-k_wLnnB9nPvTjkzuiF9hlJdhCbH6Ul6ZiCjg1zulmcq1DvuPKIqEYVNYjIVld979EQ0hjerY1dNHd5GJD08jXdvYfMS_cf-OPPAMr6KWNwYGjbIJfPNR0klGcGnWog127Q/s1600/424278_2576525334670_1300440284_32262727_575716049_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkfqTMIuZ-k_wLnnB9nPvTjkzuiF9hlJdhCbH6Ul6ZiCjg1zulmcq1DvuPKIqEYVNYjIVld979EQ0hjerY1dNHd5GJD08jXdvYfMS_cf-OPPAMr6KWNwYGjbIJfPNR0klGcGnWog127Q/s320/424278_2576525334670_1300440284_32262727_575716049_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706404196343617634" border="0" /></a>that actually think I'm funny! ...or they just pretend but that's ok too. The other thing I like about being here is that I already have something in common with everyone here. We all decided to leave our comfort zones and explore the world. Therefore everyone here has the most positive outlook on life I have ever seen! I don't think it is possible to have a bad day here. Even if I'm a little down I know Kristin will go work out with me...or just watch very attractive men work out. Missy will go out to the pubs and flirt with locals with me. Ben will give me the bestest music ever, watch movies or have H2H's with me. And Matt will just sing and dance. Needless to say I am always entertained. (Picture: Missy, ME, Kristin, Matt, Ben). So this is a thank you to all my new friends for letting me be myself. Which many friends from back home haven't even experienced!<br /><br />Next is a thank you to my lovely parents. Thank you Mommy and Daddy for letting me explore the world and experience everything I possibly can. I can't wait for you to get here so I can show you everything you have allowed me to learn! I also can't wait to introduce you to my new Mum and Dad! I know I have the best parents in the world but just in case I wasn't sure before I know now. Especially when I can skype with my mom for 2 hours and never run out of stuff to talk about! I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I haven't been this happy in years and I just have so many people to thank for that!<br /><br />What else have I learned?<br />-The quiet ones are the funniest ones-AKA my roomie Sarah<br />-The nastiest looking food usually tastes the best<br />-I don't like whisky but glitter bombs are delicious<br />-Everyone in their own way is a good person<br />-The best way to meet people is to venture out by yourself<br />-The locals love to show you new things<br />-Country music is not popular over here :(<br />-You don't have to pay taxes at stores here or leave tips!<br />-Life is always more exciting with theater majors, borrowed guitars, and multiple forms of lighting<br />-Cab drivers are never happy after 1 in the morning<br />-Pizza Hot is the best place for deep fried chicken<br />-You can borrow pretty much anything from anyone (ex. hard drives, sunglasses, nail polish, curlers, inhalers and clothes)<br />-Roommates don't like it when you keep them up by playing solitaire and coughing all night<br />-Terrorists are not the worst people in the world<br />-Shakespeare is actually a little funny<br />-Castles start getting old after you see 3 of them<br />-Sheep on hills are funner to look at than cows in fields<br />-"Historians will go extinct in a few years because history is not sexy."<br />-Smirnoff Ice and Sex on the Beach are completely acceptable for any gender<br />-Cab drivers will tell you everything you did not need to know<br />-You will get made fun of for having a One Direction poster above your bed<br />-A gold sequence dress is not conventional for England<br />-Heels are not meant for swing dancing<br />-The good guys will lunge across the room for anything you drop on the floor<br />-Smiling, nodding and laughing does not always work when you can't understand accents<br />-Prison guards have tiny legs<br />-Lithuanian men are not the most appropriate<br />-Royalty really means killing off kids and marrying your cousin<br />-Candy does not taste the same in different countries...chips do!<br />-Basically life is just like the movies but only better!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA9IsZPAsV7p6Ii2ggfXqJGfJJuIvYTMc-ge1HBV-AafLqIz6duu981xCt6Eex9jYR4n0L6sYpFareqY3Ktj_KhEziZxqoBytHEBnv2kXP-q-yhG9ZMqPJYzUOiv_r6BhH7zEtHcwZiUA/s1600/IMG_0691.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA9IsZPAsV7p6Ii2ggfXqJGfJJuIvYTMc-ge1HBV-AafLqIz6duu981xCt6Eex9jYR4n0L6sYpFareqY3Ktj_KhEziZxqoBytHEBnv2kXP-q-yhG9ZMqPJYzUOiv_r6BhH7zEtHcwZiUA/s320/IMG_0691.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706414940812707522" border="0" /></a>Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-72606662521125667242012-02-06T05:34:00.000-08:002012-02-06T06:13:26.115-08:00'MERICAWell well well what did I do this week.<br /><br />Last Monday:<br />The basketball team went on our first road trip...to the local Royal Air Force. It wasn't a big deal at all, we just showed up, beat them, went home and called it a day. We probably won mostly because I stayed off the court. Anyways our team is just amazing and because we are so good apparently our Tuesday practices are getting turned into Tuesday night bowling. We just don't need to practice basketball at all. Pros.<br /><br />Last Tuesday:<br />During the evening my adopted meet-a-family came and picked Kristin and I up from the manor and took us home for a traditional meal! The most exciting part was that they had heat! We enjoyed a lovely dinner talking about many different topics. My favorite was when talking about my degree in criminal justice, our Mum left the room and came back with a baton that her relatives used when they were bobbies! After dinner we hung out in the kitchen and played cards for about an hour. They taught us how to play 7's and we began gambling with buttons. I have yet to win so my button supply is going down hill! It was just a fun evening because they are a very adorable couple and reminded me of my amazing grandparents back home. So Oma, Opa, Grandma and Grandpa be prepared to play cards with me and tell me stories!<br /><br />Last Wednesday:<br />During the day we had a field trip to a near by castle and cathedral in Lincoln. It was soooo much fun wandering around in the cold looking at more castles and churches! I loved every minute of it! Honestly my favorite part of the day was when I had 2 hours free to wander to I just went and checked out local shops. I ended up talking to a lady in one of the stores for about 20 minutes and she told me all about living in England. On an even brighter note, some of my aunts have some lovely presents coming their way!<br />That night we had a quiet night in for once. Skipped basketball practice to do homework which somehow led into movie night.<br /><br />Last Thurs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRZET99SGv2hUJ-GDzvYJCPcYYSkMNU94DJU4ltkHXrZxPIui6QfxvNJD4rubieL2XpuzaAoIyqaYm4RJKwRBHvCM6iIVhGDOJgmsM7l6OaAVVrUuKX02zAWmvhe1pF_YJKllZBOnR3I/s1600/IMG_0667.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRZET99SGv2hUJ-GDzvYJCPcYYSkMNU94DJU4ltkHXrZxPIui6QfxvNJD4rubieL2XpuzaAoIyqaYm4RJKwRBHvCM6iIVhGDOJgmsM7l6OaAVVrUuKX02zAWmvhe1pF_YJKllZBOnR3I/s200/IMG_0667.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706024747664328626" border="0" /></a>day:<br />After volleyball practice we decided to check out a little event going on in our Bistro. That little event turned into 'MERICA night! We have been gone from home for about a month so we needed to celebrate our home land! It was basically drinking while dancing to country music and any song that had the word "America" in it! Obviously it was a hit. As far as I know only one light was knocked down and only a few beers dumped on the leather couches. 'MERICA!<br /><br />Last Friday:<br />We actually had class on Friday to make up for when we will be missing class this week to go to Ireland. The night started out a little slow because our friends decided to ditch us and leave for the pub early so in order to waste some time we just snuck into their room and did some rearranging and song writing. Apparently they did not appreciate all their beds being pushed together...I don't see why. Eventually we hunted them down while out on the town. Yes that was a rhyme. It was another great night in Grantham. We even realized that we have locals that are actually friends with us and meet up with us on the weekends!<br /><br />Saturday:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWyEVoiEZpCyAIoH6hfXPdErggMELlctkCeZEarFwXHVKzFSY8l1TNgVlAywjCGfK1sIGoG9zdkIFz1MLklzecvxE96ziwSJBivqDYYPA6PbDEP_mjNvIje3ZiB2R1lcccPtwmNdQntA/s1600/IMG_0676.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWyEVoiEZpCyAIoH6hfXPdErggMELlctkCeZEarFwXHVKzFSY8l1TNgVlAywjCGfK1sIGoG9zdkIFz1MLklzecvxE96ziwSJBivqDYYPA6PbDEP_mjNvIje3ZiB2R1lcccPtwmNdQntA/s200/IMG_0676.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706025032402274306" border="0" /></a><br />We decided to venture our for the first time on our own! I went with my friends Missy and Kristin to the wonderful city of Nottingham via train. A town that our adopted family suggested. We spent the day shopping and eating Mcdonalds! It was very exciting because the only clothes I brought over here were items I could throw away so now I actually have real clothes that I was able to buy very cheap! Maybe you will see my great new style in future pics! Get excited! Eventual<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOjz4kmSQepEc4ACZrSGoMmUcgQiUVECPqUuKNPRrpYlfsB1vkDv85J8VAE6f7p8WISTZUJ5EsOspzdlSzGnndFZSVq7hdb0MPGV0uEAn_Mhtqv095wRM1cBNF6eqF2w6Q93Mwg0-Q_lA/s1600/IMG_0707.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOjz4kmSQepEc4ACZrSGoMmUcgQiUVECPqUuKNPRrpYlfsB1vkDv85J8VAE6f7p8WISTZUJ5EsOspzdlSzGnndFZSVq7hdb0MPGV0uEAn_Mhtqv095wRM1cBNF6eqF2w6Q93Mwg0-Q_lA/s200/IMG_0707.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706025293533096066" border="0" /></a>ly we made it back to the manor as snow was beginning to fall. We originally planned on just staying in, doing homework and watching movies. But the thought of having new clothes was all too exciting so we spent an hour getting ready and dolling ourselves up....only to find out we were snowed in and the cabs couldn't even get up to the manor to pick us up! We pouted for a while in the hallway then bonded over some girl talk. Sadly my friends are losers are were both asleep by 11:30.<br /><br />Sunday:<br />Well we woke up to find out that our volleyball game was canceled, but luckily our coach is a very determined person and rounded up his car, his brothers car and a cab to get us to our game. So after running around trying to get ready in 5 minutes we hiked down our mile long driveway to meet our coach at the pub...because they couldn't get up our drive. Then we headed off to the prison to play some inmates! I am a bit sore today from attempting to jump serve and set for the whole match. Sadly we only won 1 game of the match and left quite defeated! It was a little intense getting to the prison, showing our passports, going through multiple locked gates and playing inmates but it was all still fun. Maybe I can get a job there! Last night we just hung out and watched people get excited for the super bowl...that started at 10:45 needless to say I did not watch any of the game but instead studied like a great student!<br /><br />That is about all from last week. We have a short week this week, just a big test Wednesday then we head out for a long weekend in Ireland! Very excited! I hope Gerard Butler is waiting for me!<br /><br />Sorry I'm not willing to proofread this. Hope my grammar wasn't too awful!Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-22518136786839187952012-01-30T06:07:00.000-08:002012-01-30T07:05:20.207-08:00Scotland!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnCFHuk5q4iVTk5bX8sYzZ-hYkgITcSh4qxwtb5Gf_w0a81VrjKiITYyfMXyJFl7Ae8sfBr4SH5O46ynxj0AAiWQNh9QA9H26U9wiVWkYMnwPvwfVIBc6pTPYXrv5PvfJceLpiZ2TVNQ/s1600/IMG_0548.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnCFHuk5q4iVTk5bX8sYzZ-hYkgITcSh4qxwtb5Gf_w0a81VrjKiITYyfMXyJFl7Ae8sfBr4SH5O46ynxj0AAiWQNh9QA9H26U9wiVWkYMnwPvwfVIBc6pTPYXrv5PvfJceLpiZ2TVNQ/s200/IMG_0548.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703441288824071314" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq3QQs8zePd2UsbxvQL696HahsekSt7VDcthCS-xFP5FJjXbtv-Ns81ms71pO73wGlVH2IAacIBakVEZuDGoxtp3UVCpT7sXS6c2_fpHGPzHn6X5J1G90u1P3KXXboMFctdb4EmeCpcHc/s1600/IMG_0546.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq3QQs8zePd2UsbxvQL696HahsekSt7VDcthCS-xFP5FJjXbtv-Ns81ms71pO73wGlVH2IAacIBakVEZuDGoxtp3UVCpT7sXS6c2_fpHGPzHn6X5J1G90u1P3KXXboMFctdb4EmeCpcHc/s200/IMG_0546.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703427127390333682" border="0" /></a><br />Been busy the last week! I'll try to remember it all!<br /><br />Last Wednesday we had another basketball game again the Lithuanian men! We started of the game losing as usual but then something amazing happened! I got to play! ...before we were losing by at least 20 points! I played along with the 3 other girls in the first half and at half time we were only down by 4! Then the coach put all the guys back in and we lost the game by 30 :( Oh well still fun! (The pictures are my friend Kristin and I after the intense game and on the right is us girls with the Lithuanian men.<br /><br />Last Thursay we had our "Meet-A-Family!" This is a program where we can sign up to have a local family somewhat adopt us for the semester and I am also doing this with Kristin. We have a very adorable older couple that reminds us of our amazing grandparents! Tomorrow night (Tuesday) they will be picking us up from the manor and taking us back to their house to have a traditional English dinner! I hope it's yummy! They are very funny and cute! Our new mom LOVES wine and drank about half a bottle at our dinner and they both LOVE chocolate! So this should be fun!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqJ1hphU7fMX-iy3OP-F5vx9OufOIbY8aPA15cEym0tEK_1xCvXFUBmIWweEz76yucwXi94PLKwjwIecCMsvtOzEzVFycgk9kK1aDsgL104drLcwk7UiX_eFYLO2-rDJPzKzMtur7Sw4/s1600/DSCN1114+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqJ1hphU7fMX-iy3OP-F5vx9OufOIbY8aPA15cEym0tEK_1xCvXFUBmIWweEz76yucwXi94PLKwjwIecCMsvtOzEzVFycgk9kK1aDsgL104drLcwk7UiX_eFYLO2-rDJPzKzMtur7Sw4/s200/DSCN1114+-+Copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703429778393019602" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Last Friday we left the manor at 8AM!!!! Then we drove for a veryyy long time to SCOTLAND! We stopped at the boarder rock and took some pics then adventures around Edinburgh for the weekend! Once we got to our hotel we headed out for a Scotch Whisky Experience! We rode around for 10<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUG3KDrtzxnPlR7AZgvhTRVFCmVy7zeXqI73fV08rM-DqXCWXDbCaj2BktEFt3lRAOCHrDynfoI44aEXLU5466RdTIFK3dUgaV4yl46JjO8HAs9fMik8jWjPW58UJLsl9_6KoXpKofvUw/s1600/DSCN1118.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUG3KDrtzxnPlR7AZgvhTRVFCmVy7zeXqI73fV08rM-DqXCWXDbCaj2BktEFt3lRAOCHrDynfoI44aEXLU5466RdTIFK3dUgaV4yl46JjO8HAs9fMik8jWjPW58UJLsl9_6KoXpKofvUw/s200/DSCN1118.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703429484463109250" border="0" /></a> minutes in a big cut out barrel watching videos then we all went into a room and learned about the different scents in whisky and everything else there is to know about the drink! After we picked out our favorite scents we were able to have a little taste test, for this we went into another room that held the worlds largest whisky collection! Unfortunately I still do not have a taste for whisky...shocker. But the tour<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzZBb84AGzRgAoRQtKyuDDnJsKUhnq19F4IVRzmbR1Fc-V1Whmdg2sLLTV0RXfXCKRtSa9ZOkEwBqee-rlxynAhRP-qIVKPI35pSaz9DmnYjkrBs9cqnGg7BiMBDiiZk0Jj4lpHPGxeQ/s1600/IMG_0565.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzZBb84AGzRgAoRQtKyuDDnJsKUhnq19F4IVRzmbR1Fc-V1Whmdg2sLLTV0RXfXCKRtSa9ZOkEwBqee-rlxynAhRP-qIVKPI35pSaz9DmnYjkrBs9cqnGg7BiMBDiiZk0Jj4lpHPGxeQ/s200/IMG_0565.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703430477469396242" border="0" /></a> was still very cool!<br /><br />After the whisky tour we went out for a very traditional Mexican dinner. So I have now have Chinese in London and Mexican in Scotland...after dinner we freshened up and headed out to find a quaint pub. Once there we discussed current events, politics, religion, and relationships. Not joking.<br /><br />Saturday morning we had a nice brunch at the closest fast food place. Which <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqveuKAjH4bl_K7qMxlUbhqIZjCH5w9bBDf_nWeKyggfMO1JeguwPpwJitpd_tBO0RClIO8sLO1u_a3BRLbSeR-jZUpAziZ1JVjArAB6TO2x6nZAAyeDELEjwy9aK4puHivicRnd_fQN0/s1600/429082_2576520494549_1300440284_32262719_1145069071_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqveuKAjH4bl_K7qMxlUbhqIZjCH5w9bBDf_nWeKyggfMO1JeguwPpwJitpd_tBO0RClIO8sLO1u_a3BRLbSeR-jZUpAziZ1JVjArAB6TO2x6nZAAyeDELEjwy9aK4puHivicRnd_fQN0/s200/429082_2576520494549_1300440284_32262719_1145069071_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703437656519308242" border="0" /></a>just happened to be McDonalds! For the record their McDonalds are much classier than ours. They even boast about cage-free eggs. So Dad you need to get on top of that. Af<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOUsZCs6Uv2hpuF04eo0NeLwpQhvcyOvPNndBHPip0H3tOIu4qnsHtgBdZBrvVGLPZD-UfNJ31HLmgNvwfVC0tvbWgOy7v16ka7d3qnzLHIuJZfpz7UIyAsaE7WbR4YGOKVOR1379XNw/s1600/425390_2576519974536_1300440284_32262718_195670025_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOUsZCs6Uv2hpuF04eo0NeLwpQhvcyOvPNndBHPip0H3tOIu4qnsHtgBdZBrvVGLPZD-UfNJ31HLmgNvwfVC0tvbWgOy7v16ka7d3qnzLHIuJZfpz7UIyAsaE7WbR4YGOKVOR1379XNw/s200/425390_2576519974536_1300440284_32262718_195670025_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703438172205251186" border="0" /></a>ter that we wandered around the city for the day. We checked out the National Gallery. Saw another castle and walked the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a road that leads from the Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. All down the stone road are amazing buildings, restraurants, gift shops, and if you look down the little alleys, amazing pubs! But anyways we wandered down the mile and met up with some other friends. After that we decided to climb a mountain! Not really sure wha<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGOWQD6eZj9vi4AgWXQmxuxfTnhkteJCD_XwDlj8SaftqgjPeWSBsTzuB3Gkco_yADBM8GENFUPyCNysvio4EPr2vzf-K8VYH1r5NMGvZOdi5I9UT1f-9saVfp8WwlG9IgBk94KoC3vI/s1600/DSCN1170.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGOWQD6eZj9vi4AgWXQmxuxfTnhkteJCD_XwDlj8SaftqgjPeWSBsTzuB3Gkco_yADBM8GENFUPyCNysvio4EPr2vzf-K8VYH1r5NMGvZOdi5I9UT1f-9saVfp8WwlG9IgBk94KoC3vI/s200/DSCN1170.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703436457280107426" border="0" /></a>t the name is but I'm sure Kristin will read this and correct me :) After about an hour of hiking, sweating and heavy breathing we made it to the top. It was worth. Even with my cold and coughing most of the day.<br /><br />Let's see after that we need a bit more shopping. Then w<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9cMIqSC_LUJ3mRHMBCuphElxR10eWcUUcY5xOZfkO7s48mAE5xltbkC3tgJEf1-7xGRRo3igCqDA_fkPw7vF9L5drVxzhdDqZA-WvhI9thrWLXhVCwFBxc14unT4cHL040ha3dRiRJE/s1600/DSCN1180.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9cMIqSC_LUJ3mRHMBCuphElxR10eWcUUcY5xOZfkO7s48mAE5xltbkC3tgJEf1-7xGRRo3igCqDA_fkPw7vF9L5drVxzhdDqZA-WvhI9thrWLXhVCwFBxc14unT4cHL040ha3dRiRJE/s200/DSCN1180.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703439342409997202" border="0" /></a>e went and found the cafe where JK Rowling started and finished writing the Harry Potter series...would have been neat if I read any of the books. After that we had a nice Italian dinner, refreshed at the hotel and went out to t<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1SfynuWm-nUHsmJfbgT2OICJYWAiRgRDgxcv10AZkGnofA_woAjfIYVhADpfKzDnj-Y59tU0dhyKZV9GefPBLTsJSmLm5TGFPObNaFA5qQWY27HhbB7brHVfyNGk-R6XARqVVFGzoOT8/s1600/IMG_0576.JPG"><br /></a>his extremely popular pup. It was called Whistle Binkies and had 4 different bands playing live music throughout the night! I was hoping to hear some Scotish music..like in the movies but they playe<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gl1V5jG_sggI6SIwQMSNyOAbJb1suIvDZ1s6i8HFzMO0kS_QFki2RqLt183mUKWQsB41fDwnKlYNWvmtwsUCNXpnLd4EwOL_65cA6diwPbO16Eg40IJQ3xlc5HvEExKSP62XCInJpoQ/s1600/IMG_0576.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gl1V5jG_sggI6SIwQMSNyOAbJb1suIvDZ1s6i8HFzMO0kS_QFki2RqLt183mUKWQsB41fDwnKlYNWvmtwsUCNXpnLd4EwOL_65cA6diwPbO16Eg40IJQ3xlc5HvEExKSP62XCInJpoQ/s200/IMG_0576.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703440131926824322" border="0" /></a>d quite a bit of American music. It was still a super awesome place and I have a new found love for live music! After that we were in bed by 1! We're hard core partiers...<br /><br />On Sunday we loaded up onto the coaches at 9 and headed out on the long drive home. We stopped at a famous wall...that was mostly buried...then we stopped for some lunch and made it back home around 6 last night! It was a very fun weekend! I could not explain it all in on post but I hope to go back someday!<br /><br />On this weeks agenda, tonight I have a basketball game at a Royal Air Force, tomorrow is traditional dinner with the fam, Wednesday we have a day long field trip to another castle. Not sure where we are going this weekend but Sunday we have our first volleyball game at a prison! It's going to be a busy week! CHEERS!Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-19601346368572515792012-01-23T06:11:00.001-08:002012-01-23T06:43:51.316-08:00Living LifeI'm going to have to start updating this more often to keep all my relatives from overtaking my facebook (Mom).<br /><br />Anyways the semester if now in full swing! Classes are all going, trips are planned for almost every weekend, sports teams are starting up and this week I will be meeting the family that will be adopting me for the semester in our Adopt-A-Family program.<br /><br />This past week I joined the volleyball and basketball teams here. The volleyball team is awful as of right now because every girl in the world thinks she can play volleyball...doesn't help that we have a cute British guy coaching us. So far the coach knows my name along with my friend from Eau Claire (Kristin). We are such super stars that he asked us to be team captains. He told us that means we need to yell at people and take charge of the team. My goal is just to hit people in the face to get rid of them. So far they don't like my new and improved jump serve. The most exciting thing we have done so far in practice is hitting lines where we have a sweatshirt laying down line on the court and if we hit it the coach owes us a drink. I don't think anyone hit it the first day but I was 6 inches away so I'm sure he'll owe me a few drinks by the end of the semester. (A certain someone back home always told me I couldn't hit line but I have to prove him wrong now.) We haven't had any games yet but we know that we will play anyone from D1 mens teams, to prisoners (yes I will be going to a prison to play volleyball...wonder if I can put that on my criminal justice resume), to intro levels teams. Should be interesting. Coach even said I'll probably be setting so that should be even more interesting!<br /><br />Now onto basketball. Our school doesn't have an official coach so whoever showed interest got the job. Needless to say we have some dumb guy trying to coach us. It's not working out to well for him. We will set up productive drills and actually start playing then he will take us down to the base line and throw a ball down the court which we have to chase and then dive after. Needless to say my bladder kicked in during the drill so I hung out in the bathroom. We have about 11-12 people on our team and 4 of us our girls. To our coach that basically means we have 7-8 people on the team because obviously the male species is much superior and women can't play sports. We had our first game yesterday and he would put one of us girls in for a minute or two then put another one of us in for that girl then all the boys would go back in for another quarter. Oh well we make sure he hears our opinions on the bench and will likely be overthrown this week! Our game was still quite entertaining. Right now we are playing for the handicap cup. This means we start with a certain amount of points, not that we are playing people in wheel chairs! Yesterday we played a team with all men from Latvia or somewhere else that didn't speak english. We were able to kind of keep up with them even though they were all a foot taller than us. I think the most exciting part of the game was that at halftime their whole team went outside for a "fag" break. We're thinking that's why we lost so we'll probably take up smoking.<br /><br />That is pretty much the only exciting stuff I did this past week. We went out on the wild town of Grantham this past weekend. It appears as though everyone here thinks we're dumb for coming to this town. It's ok we make the most of it. FYI Emma I finally heard the term "wanker" used! We also tried to teach them what a "bro" was. They didn't quite get out culture. It is interesting getting to know what people think of us compared to what we think of them. To everyone else the US the most powerful nation in the world and no other country even compares to it. They didn't even care when we tried to explain how overweight the country is. Last weekend I was talking with a girl from Switzerland and we were talking about how I thought it was amazing how some people know 3-4 different languages over here and in her country. What I did not realize was that for them they need to know multiple languages to just be able to travel in their country. She said that every side of their country spoke a different language and she could not live in her country without knowing 4 different languages. It was just weird because in high school we would have foreign exchange students and we always just thought they were really smart for knowing multiple languages but in reality it was a necessity that they knew the multiple languages.<br /><br />Well that's about all I have for now. We have another basketball game this week and then I have to start planning my trip to Scotland for this weekend!<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />PS I learned some knew volleyball terms! Apparently when two people go for a ball they are called "lovers" and when they both stop and no one gets the ball up they are called "a married couple" because there is no energy there :)Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-29513235790597003352012-01-16T15:25:00.000-08:002012-01-16T15:26:58.732-08:00London!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> 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mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Things are starting to get busy over here! This past weekend we spent the days wandering around a little town called London. Did you know it is the most expensive city in the world? After classes and dinner on Thursday most of the school loaded up onto three coaches (they aren’t called buses over here) and took off for the three hour ride to the city! Once there we checked into our giant hotel, spent 15 minutes attempting to find our room, walked in, closed the window and cranked the heat as high as it would go! They don’t heat their buildings the same over here as we do at home so I typically spend every day in about 3-4 layers of clothing. Anyways once the heat was going and close to starting the curtains on fire we headed out! …to subway! Yes, they do have meatball subs over here <span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">J</span></span> delicious! After that we just went to the pub in our hotel had a drink and then went to bed so we could attempt to get up earlier in the morning.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Eventually we got out of bed and made it down to breakfast (30 minutes after we told our friends we would be down there). We spent most of Friday wandering the streets with only a handout, cameras and credit cards! We realized this was a bad idea after we made it to lunch and only found one thing on our list. The one thing was the National Museum and it was pretty cool. It was interesting being able to see everything I have heard about in my history classes and realize that everything my teachers have said actually exists! Anyways after a nice Italian lunch we were re-motivated and took off again. Somehow we got lucky and looked down a little alley way and saw a big building that said National Gallery. We figured that was a pretty good place to walk to. We then realized that was pretty much the heart of London. At least I think. So we wandered around there. It was pretty amazing seeing paintings the size of an entire wall! If anyone knows how they painted things that large let me know! After that we spent some more time outside the building looking at fountains, Olympic countdowns, statues and street performers. It was a little scary when the “bobbies” (police) walked around telling us pick pocketers (sp?) were in the area and to hold onto our stuff. For the record we never had any encounters or problems with them.<span style=""> </span>So after that we of course walked another couple miles. That’s how we ran into Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. HUGE!!! <span style=""> </span>All of them were very cool except the Abbey had some construction going on so it wasn’t as exciting. After that we decided to visit the Queen at Buckingham Palace. FYI she was there because her flag was flying on top of the building! Unfortunately she didn’t come out and hang with us. After that we started our hour and a half walk back to the hotel! We all settled into our nice warm beds and napped for about an hour! After being forced out of bed we went out for Chinese. Worst part of the trip, so we had to get subway cookies after wards! </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let’s see that leads into Saturday. This was another struggle to start. In case you are wondering getting out of bed was not an issue because of alcohol, we were just spoiled to have heat, television and real food! Anyways today we got smart and figured out the train system! Best creation ever! For E7=7 pounds we could ride all over the city! So that was an adventure! After getting off the first train ride our first stop was Starbucks! To help the espresso kick in we danced around the M&M store. Great music there for waking up FYI. We spent that day then searching for the London Bridge and Tower of London. We succeeded yet again! After that we gave in and got a quick lunch at Burger King and did a little shopping trip. That got a little crazy. The first store we went in was basically black Friday shopping for us but just regular shopping for them. I finally gave into myself and decided this would be an excellent location to buy a leather jacket! I still do not regret this decision. After that shopping attempt we hit up the National Portrait museum. Also cool because of how huge some of the pictures were. I’ll never get over the size of some of them! After that we realized we forgot to look at the most important item in the National Museum. We then hiked backed there to check out… the …2012 …London …OLYMPIC …MEDALS! SOOOO COOOL!!! Most of the facilities they will be using haven’t been built yet but I’m hoping they will have some when I go back to visit in April. After another quick break at the hotel we made reservations and headed out to a London steak house. Best meal I have ever had in my life. Sure I had to ask the waiter for suggestions and how to eat and everything but it was worth it. I had a perfect glass of real French wine to go with my sirloin steak! Yummmmm After that we headed out for a few drinks and met some people from Cleveland along with some Brits. Then it was back to bed.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">On Sunday morning they loaded us back up on our coaches and we headed out to see Hampton Court Palace. I think that’s what it’s called. After a weekend in London we weren’t exactly pumped to walk around a freezing cold palace without lunch. But we persevered and did our best to stay entertained for 4 hours. I won’t lie it was pretty cool. There are pictures up on my flickr page. After that we napped the whole way back to our sucky little manor and started planning trips for next weekend; as well as ordering in a whole bunch of greasy food in an attempt to be able to watch the Packer game!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Today (Monday)was the first day of volleyball practice! I learned that we will be playing against anyone from beginner teams, to D1 teams to prisoners! Should be fun! The coach of course already knows my name and says that I should get used to setting because he wants to be competitive. Only because he has an accent will I agree! Tomorrow is the start of basketball practice so that will hopefully get me in shape as well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Well that was a ton of writing and I’m sure I left some things out. Feel free to comment with any questions and check out my pictures!</p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckibrunnquell/Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-35116121228442221832012-01-10T09:45:00.000-08:002012-01-10T09:46:15.560-08:00Week 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> 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mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Hi all!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Classes are officially in full swing. This semester I am taking a 6 credit British Studies class that is required of everyone. I will also be taking two sociology classes. I believe I am one of two sociology majors here, let alone criminal justice so it should be interesting. The classes I am taking are Crime and Deviance and Sociology of Terrorism. The terrorism class should be interesting because of the topic but also because my professor is from Iran and can give a different perspective.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So far this week I have signed up to play on the volleyball and basketball teams here on campus. I feel like it may be a struggle because they encourage everyone to try it at first so I may have to hit a few people in the face to get rid of them. Basketball should hopefully get me back in shape as well. Interesting thing about working out here, the weights are in kilograms. Needless to say I will need to be doing some calculating while working out so I hopefully won’t crush myself!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The food here is awful! If you would like to keep me at an average weight you should probably send over some snacks! The food is just very odd and they serve it at awkward times so even when I do eat everything offered I am always starving. On a brighter note we have a little bar/hang out place here in the manor. Last night I tried to have a travel planning session and that turned into just hanging out and having a few drinks. According to a survey given to all the males in the room at the time women are more attractive when they drink beer rather than mixed drinks. So I now have to become a beer drinker! </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I can’t think if any other updates at the time. The manor is absolutely amazing and has a bunch of different secret passage ways. We have only found 2-3 so far but are trying to find more! We have also been working on planning different trips. Right now I have 4 weekends that I will not be here at the manor and most of those will get booked with plans out of the country. Right now we are looking into planning a trip to Spain over Easter so that should be fun! This weekend we are going to be in London so let me know if you have any suggestions of things to see!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">OK time for a deep thought.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is the first time I have been forced to live with multiple females in a confined area. At least in EC I had thousands of other people I could hang out with. It is a little more difficult here because there are less than 300 people. The one thing that I realized is how low of self confidence some females have in themselves. Almost everything I hear is about how their faces are breaking out all the time, how other pretty girls are bitches, and how amazing every celebrity is! I mean I sometimes agree with the things they talk about but my typical morning thought is about how my roommates get up so early to do their hair, makeup and pick out cute outfits in order to feel good about themselves. They haven’t quite figured out that I can get up 10 minutes before class, but on jeans and multiple sweatshirts and walk out the door. This is all just a different environment that I haven’t been exposed to. True women.</p>Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-58410972805243877632012-01-08T12:34:00.000-08:002012-01-08T12:35:28.951-08:00Pictures!Here is a link if you want to look at some of my pictures!<br /><br />http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckibrunnquell/Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-73127621267243148812012-01-07T09:47:00.000-08:002012-01-07T09:50:39.906-08:00Safely in England<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> 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</w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Hello from England! I safely made it across the pond after one LONG trip! I left my house Thursday afternoon and headed for O’Hare. Once there I was abandoned by half my family to try and make it through the terrifying airport all on my own. Which I successfully did and only got yelled at once! Once I made it to the gate I was able to meet up with two other people that I’m going to school with that were from Missouri. Eventually I made it onto the plane and miserably struggled for the entire 7 hours. I could not fall asleep to save my life and was just bored the whole time. Eventually I ended up watching Footloose, which was a terrible idea because after that I just wanted to dance! After sitting in the car, airport and plane I <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsp0vFLBm0qjE0TXWxv9StLUd67RytyDEIOL9k6e_iNMnWBZ3-w-MWauXZ_JkE8mo6l648wwaNKV3h8hzX5kfWoAF-2_jkn9Ay90e6udnNjHWS9VENOaFiJiY3B9slv4ylVCGAu7ciFuI/s1600/DSCN0901.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsp0vFLBm0qjE0TXWxv9StLUd67RytyDEIOL9k6e_iNMnWBZ3-w-MWauXZ_JkE8mo6l648wwaNKV3h8hzX5kfWoAF-2_jkn9Ay90e6udnNjHWS9VENOaFiJiY3B9slv4ylVCGAu7ciFuI/s320/DSCN0901.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694948692669035986" border="0" /></a>was rather tired and cranky BUT that all changed when I looked out the window and watched the sunrise while we were flying a few thousand feet above London. It was by far the best sunrise I have ever seen! After wandering around the airport for an hour waiting we got on a “coach” and had a 3.5 hour drive to the manor but don’t worry I finally slept for about 2 hours and woke up while we were going up the mile long driveway to the manor AKA my castle! I don’t really remember much else of what happened yesterday…we wandered around the castle which was pointless because there is no form of organization in it so we got lost everywhere we went but that’s ok because every room is beautiful! </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I have 3 roommates that all go to the University of Evansville. That school brought the most amount of students and they all for the most part know each other so in order to make friends you have to kind of find the other random people who also have no friends. I also feel a little out of place when they get up early in the morning to put on all their makeup, do their hair and put on dresses to go to orientation. Ohh well I have the best style anyways and all I could think of was how I look the best out of all of us and don’t even have to try! </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The food here is kinda weird, for lunch today we had fries, mac and cheese and our choice of bacon or ham. I did not realize that was considered a meal! After lunch we headed out to go shopping in down town Grantham, which was intense because the goal was just to not stand out for being American. We were doing well until our credit cards didn’t work but we got out of there and headed out to find a pub. Tonight we have a formal reception dinner and then are attempting to find another actual pub to go to! </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Hmm what else…I had my first class last night. It was an introduction class for my British Studies class, we had our choice between white wine, red wine and orange juice and I’m pretty sure my professor used to be a raging alcoholic! He is already my favorite professor ever! He spent the whole time rambling and swearing about everything that came into his mind! Also today at lunch I met my sociology professor that I will have two classes with. Well I didn’t really meet him, but instead I met his wife and son while he sat and ate but that’s ok.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sorry that most of this is just rambling about everything I can think of but I’ll blame the jet lag and 6 hour time difference! I’ll get better at this! Enjoy <span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">J</span></span></p>Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701409111993366711.post-23744601588712954492011-12-27T15:16:00.000-08:002011-12-27T15:27:13.989-08:00Getting Ready! ...well not really.Ello all!<br /><br />Welcome to my blog! I will try and keep this updated as much as I can or remember to but please don't get mad if it's not as amazing as Sarah's (I didn't even read hers!). I leave in about 9 days and have not even thought about packing! This should be fun!! If you didn't know I will be going to England for the semester and traveling to different countries for the majority of my weekends! Enjoy!<br /><br />Cheers!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0I25HD0rDvHzz-TynrP8SogMvmtoy2xpEciFZUb1GBoLnNxdgMytSwaOe_9gopNn3pO38kEV6d8eFuzTcbXCexAL3oO3SsHGzWS-8172gFwhqca9AHDaxh1ReBTXke9aQnDypZArYh8w/s1600/DSCN0883.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0I25HD0rDvHzz-TynrP8SogMvmtoy2xpEciFZUb1GBoLnNxdgMytSwaOe_9gopNn3pO38kEV6d8eFuzTcbXCexAL3oO3SsHGzWS-8172gFwhqca9AHDaxh1ReBTXke9aQnDypZArYh8w/s320/DSCN0883.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690953041186631938" border="0" /></a><br /><br />PS. I'm hoping Sarah and Adam will survive without me so I got them these pillowcases to snuggle with!Beckihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06835067609029007276noreply@blogger.com0