Last two weeks

Bonjour!
I know it’s been awhile since I’ve updated this thing so I’ll do my best to update you all on the last two weeks! I’ll warn you ahead of time that this is going to be a novel so my feelings won’t be hurt if you don’t read it all
... it’s mainly just to make Mich happy :D! But anyways...I am currently on the train riding back to London from Paris and I am entering my final week! Crazy how time flies!! I’ll start way back... two weeks ago wednesday ...

Early wednesday we woke up nice and early to catch the train to Edinburgh, Scotland!
Once in Edinburgh we were greeted by our very interesting Scottish tour guide (kilt and all) for a bus tour around the city. The Scottish valued education so most of their history/important people are centered around their doctors/scientists etc. and our tour guide thought it was appropriate to show us all of the places where all the ‘great’ men lived. I think he put most of us to sleep with his long biographies of people that we’ve never heard of but we got to see the city and he played us the bag pipes so we dealt with it. After the tour we were all starving so we took (a much longer walk than intended) to get some food. We ate at a fun place called Frankenstein. It was filled with lots of Frankenstein memorabilia and spooky trinkets -not to mention the food was awesome!! It was even right next to The Elephant Room (for you Harry Potter fans - this is the cafe where J.K. Rowlings wrote the first book) so that cool to see too. After lunch we had to go shopping because none of us were prepared for the freezing and rainy weather! After we all stocked up on sweatshirts/raincoats we pretty much just perused through the streets of Edinburgh. I loved Edinburgh! Kind of reminded me a little bit of Dublin (pretty gray) but the people were all so nice and welcoming! Later we bared the torrential down pour to find a pub and some food! We found a cute little place that served Magners (my favorite cider) and chicken fingers (oh how I’ve missed them)!! After dinner we were told to go to this place to try a fried mars bar. Of course I had to get mine with ice cream which made it all that more delicious! Definitely interesting, but definitely worth trying! After dessert we headed back to the Bed and Breakfast to shower and hit the sack for an early morning...

Thursday we went to the Open Championship at St. Andrews! We got there at about 7am so we were able to be the first ones there and catch all of the early tee-offs. Seeing John Daly and his outrageous outfit at 7:30 in the morning was definitely a great way to start off my Open experience. We kind of watched the early groups tee off for the first while and then once Tiger teed-off we followed him around for the first 9 holes. I basically got to see everyone I knew/recognized except for Phil :(. Sorry dad. Nonetheless it was an awesome experience! It only sprinkled on us, and no crazy weather like wednesday so that was a bonus too. St. Andrews was quite different than any other golf course I have ever been to (looooong fairways, shared greens, no trees) and I think that’s what it sets apart and makes it one of the most (if not the most) famous golf course in the world. I really enjoyed my time and would definitely do it again... maybe on Sunday! Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to bring our cameras into the event so I personally don’t have any pictures of the Open. However, my friend Alex stayed for the full four days and snuck his camera in the last day so I’ll steal some of his pictures to share.
Then thursday night I headed to Amsterdam to meet up with my friend Julie. I didn’t get in until late but Julie, my friends Ryan and Bryan, and I went out to some of the bars/clubs around town on our own little pub crawl. It was a lot of fun and a great way to start off the weekend!

Friday we woke up and headed to Barney’s. There are three of them all right next to each other - and was recommended to us - so we checked it out. I ran into a guy from LA that I met from the day before so we hung out with them and ate delicious pancakes and milkshakes! Not your typical pancakes but they were soo good (as was the rest of the food in Amsterdam)!! After Barney’s we headed to the river to take a river cruise of the city and some of it’s attractions. We saw NEMO (a blue science building shaped like Nemo), Anne Frank’s house, the Van Gogh museum (we didn’t have time to go in), and a few other things. After the river cruise we headed back to the hotel to get ready and go out. We headed to the I Amsterdam sign to take pictures along the river and then we headed to dinner. We ate this awesome mexican place where we made several friends. After dinner we decided to brave the red light district to see what it was all about. Interesting and an experience is all I have to say. Then just after we were about to leave the district we ran into our friends from the train/Barney’s who bought us beer at a bar and hung out with them for the rest of the night.

Saturday we woke up and headed to the Heineken factory for a tour. This was a better tour experience than the Guinness one - much more fun and interactive things to do, not to mention more beer - but nothing beats the Guinness view of Dublin. (I would say that both are a must do). After Guinness we got lunch at a cafe back by the I Amsterdam sign and then headed to the Van Gogh museum. It was pretty cool to see all of the paintings but wasn’t the biggest of museums so it didn’t take us long to go through it. We had a 7 o’clock flight so we had to head back to our hotel to get our luggage and catch the train to the airport. Side note: Everyone in Amsterdam gets around by bike - so if you’re ever in the area be sure to ride a bike - as we did not and had to walk everywhere which was nice, but took awhile. We got in to Stanstead airport and had quite the fiasco because Julie’s visa had expired and they weren’t going to let her back into the country. We got the problem solved though and she was let in - it just took awhile. Once I finally made it back to my flat I was exhausted - so I took a shower and hit the sack!

The next week I had the whole week in London! Woohoo! But this is where things get hazy and my days blur together. So I’ll try and remember everything and what days.
This was the first week where the whole ‘school’ part of studying abroad set in. I had a lot of school work to finish this week and we got our new professor - he’s great, but not as laid back as Brooke. Instead of our usual 9-10:30 mornings - they turned into 9-1 kind of days. Bah! I have learned a lot from him already though and he is a great guy!
Monday we had a lecture till about noon and then Mary and I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. So beautiful!! The inside is amazing and you can also climb a million tiny stairs to get to the top. A well deserved breath of fresh air at the top and an amazing view of London. We got lucky and went on a clear beautiful day so we could see everything. After St. Paul’s we tried to cross the river and got terribly lost but finally found a tube station to make it home. We got stuff to make dinner and then went to see Les Miserables (starring Nick Jonas hah)! It was amazing! Such a great story and great music!

Tuesday our regularly scheduled guest lecture had to reschedule so instead our class headed to the park. We all played soccer and practiced cricket until we started an actual game of cricket. It didn’t take long for us to realize what a boring game it is when you’re not playing around and participating. Not to mention the score can get into the 100s. We played from about 9 to 2 so we were exhausted!! The rest of the day was pretty relaxed and then a bunch of us headed to the Rocket for pitchers and to hang out. A super fun place kind of similar to the Red Door in Seattle.

Wednesday we went to Lord’s Cricket grounds. A pretty small, yet nice and sophisticated place where some of the world’s biggest cricket games take place. I was interesting to see - especially after learning the game. It showed us that cricket CAN be exciting and that people pretty much attend for the atmosphere and to chill out on a nice day. After the cricket grounds we went to Abbey Road to see the infamous road where the Beatles took their album cover. After we got back to the flat we had to work on a group project, but then we ventured out onto Oxford Street to try and make reservations for the Absolute Ice Bar! We all got dressed up and had a big pre-funk in our flat. The ice bar was a major success! There were about 30 of us who went and braved the ice in our parkas and gloves. It was an awesome experience and a lot of fun because it was basically just our group in the bar. After the ice bar we were all kind of lost and wouldn’t you know - we stumbled upon our favorite place O’Neill’s! A great cover band was playing so we basically just danced and hung out there the rest of the night.

Thursday we had a guest lecture from the British Olympic Association who was full of interesting information pertaining to UK sports. It was cool to hear what he had to say - even though it was through his thick Irish accent. The lecture lasted until about 1 so afterwards it was time for some more school work. Sigh. But then we all got ready and headed to Leicster square for the premiere of Knight and Day. We got to see Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz which was pretty cool - definitely never need to do a movie premiere ever again though. Way too crowded! After the premiere we went to an American Mexican food chain called Cantina Loredo. Absolutely wonderful! And definitely in need of a margarita and some tacos! I can’t really remember what we did after that... haha.

Friday was our day off! Finally! Sleeping in felt so nice! Slept in till all of 10 o’clock.. so pathetic haha. It was my friend Aly’s birthday so we did some shopping and walking around London. I had to work on a partner paper to get some stuff done before the Paris trip so I had to cut my time short. However we had a bunch of people come over to our flat for some cake and then we went to some pubs celebrate. We didn’t stay out too late because we had to shower, pack and wake up early for Paris on saturday!

We got to Paris around 11 in the morning and headed to our hotel to check in. After we got settled in we went and got some food and wine and headed to the Eiffel Tower. So amazing! (I was so excited to see it and went to take my first picture and my camera battery died! GARR! So I unfortunately don’t have many pictures of the first two days of Paris. :( But I will try and steal some from Dee to share.) We hung out around there for about an hour and then we had a planned boat cruise to see the city. After the cruise we wanted to go up in the tower but our professor recommended we go to the Arc de Triomphe instead. No lines and cheaper for the same view. After a longgg climb to the top, it was amazing! Such a beautiful city. We sat up there for awhile and basically just took it all in. After the Arc we went LOUIS VUTOON street and had a great dinner. After dinner we walked along the river and headed back to the Eiffel Tower. I got an amazingly delicious crepe -chocolate, bananas, ice cream and all - enjoyed it under the Eiffel Tower and life was good. We met up with my friends Steven and Mike, got some wine and champagne and waited till it got dark to watch the tower twinkle. Never seen anything like it - so beautiful! After our late night picnic we went to go and try and find some bars... got lost along the way but it was all good fun.

Sunday was the Tour de France. We had to get to the grounds around noon to secure our spot and some chairs. Since our professor is a veteran to the race we stoked out a spot where you could the riders going to and fro the loop.. so we saw them twice on their loop instead of just once. Here was kind of a waiting game... us girls tried to go find some shopping but everything and I mean, literally everything was closed down around the streets. The streets were crazy too because everyone had to transport through the subway tunnels to get from side of the street to the other. So we had to hop onto the metro and go a couple of stops away to find a grocery store to get some wine and food. We called our afternoon a ‘French-style tailgate.’ Wine, cheese, bread and chocolate while hanging out and waiting for the festivities to begin. Once the cyclists got to the city, it went by pretty quick. You really can’t single anyone out except for the guy in the yellow jersey because they come and go so fast. But it was an awesome experience and I just enjoyed being there! Sunday night we all went out to a nice dinner because it was paid for!! Woohoo! It was probably one of the best meals I’ve had here and I gorged myself full of wine, bread, salad, pasta, potatoes, steak, and sorbet. SO GOOD! This dinner was also a testimate to the slow paced nature of French dining. We were there for over 3 hours so it took up our entire night. We walked around a little bit after dinner and then headed in for the night.

Monday was our free day. We woke up nice and early to get a good start on our packed day. The first stop was the Lourve. I think it’s best to go in the morning because we were able to get some better pictures both before hand and in the museum because it wasn’t so crowded. The thing I was most impressed about with the Lourve was the actual building itself. It was so beautiful! So many intricate details that went into the architecture and murals throughout the museum. The sculptures were also impeccable as were some of the paintings. After the Lourve we headed to WHITE CHURCH, a cathedral on the top of the hill on the east side of Paris. An amazing view of the city and this is where all of the artists sit and paint and sketch which is cool to see. We then headed back down the hill where there were some happening markets to look through and to get food. After lunch we walked down the street to see Moulin Rouge - a must do for all of us girls. It was cool to see the infamous theatre but wish we could have seen it at night. After Moulin Rouge, we hopped on the metro to ‘try’ and find Notre Dame Cathedral. We got kind of lost but made it there eventually. Notre Dame was so big and beautiful! I loved it! After the cathedral we headed to DEPARTMENT STORE. It was filled with so many designers and great fashions... so crazy! haha. We walked around town a bit afterwards to find some miscellanous shops and get some dinner. After dinner we headed back to the Lourve to do some souvenier shopping and try and see it at night. The Lourve at night was a fail because we were too tired to wait another hour til it got dark out. So we went back to the hotel to put up our feet after a long day. We basically just hung out and it was Dee’s birthday at midnight so we got her some fruit tart and sung her happy birthday. (I even got my paper banged out like a good student so I could play Tuesday night/Wednesday back in London).

Tuesday we toured Rolland Garros in the morning. It was cool to see the differences between that and Wimbledon. Wimbledon is much newer and nicer but they both have the same classic feel to them. Rolland Garros was cool too because we saw the museum and got to go behind the scenes and see all of the player locker rooms, media rooms, and go on the courts! After the tour we went and grabbed lunch and went to the TRAIN MUSEUM. It used to be a train station so it was much bigger, brighter, and more open than the Lourve. Like the Lourve, the building itself was breathtaking. I absolutely loved the Impressionist part of the museum and got to see some more of Van Gogh’s paintings. After the museum we went to go find a bakery for some last bites of goodness before heading back to London!!

Overall I absolutely loved Paris! The city is just so beautiful! I don’t think I could ever get enough of the sparkling Eiffel Tower or the beautiful river and it’s architecture! I didn’t experience too much of the ‘rude’ people either which was an added bonus. Besides London, this would be the next on my list of places to go back one day. I didn’t get the chance to go to Versailles so it’s just one more reason to go back someday! :D

It’s Dee’s birthday today so once we get back to London we are going to go to the River and enjoy some Magners and cake and celebrate. Tomorrow we have a free day so I’m not sure what the plans for the day are. There are still some things I want to do and I have to finish my homework before I head to BARCELONA on Thursday!! Man oh Man! Such the jet setting life! :D Next week we have no class on Monday, presentations all day Tuesday, Fair well events on Wednesday, and then back to Seattle on Thursday! Goodness has time FLOWN bye!!! Can’t even believe how the days are winding down.. but I am SO excited to see everyone and get back to school!! :D

I’ll try and update this with pictures when I get the chance. I will also try and update about my Barcelona trip.. but if I don’t get the chance I can’t wait to see you all back in the U S of A!!!

Cheers from London!! :D