I've realized that I've only posted on the blog when I've gone someplace cool. I know this isn't a bad thing, but I wanted to use a blog to let my friends and family know what my life is like in England, not just when I've left hahaha
I'll be starting off on my massive journey next week and I'm super excited, but this week has been a good one as well! When I came back from Budapest I moved in with the VERY hospitable and welcoming Pawley family! I know the Pawley's through their son, John, who I go to St. Andrews with. When I signed up for my exchange program I had completely forgotten that John was actually from Nottingham! Just saying, but I'm gonna give that one up to God! They have had me over to their home several times throughout the semester for lunch and they are now opening their doors to me for the week. Not only that, but they will be letting my friend Laura join us for the weekend. God couldn't have blessed me with nicer people to stay with!
This week has been filled with essay writing, essay writing, shopping for my trip, and essay writing. As fun as that sounds, I'm actually very glad I chose to stay in Nottingham for the first week of April. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the university kicks us out of residence for the month of April, making all of us international students homeless. This is why I'm staying with the Pawleys for the week leading up to my trip. I've been able to get a good bit accomplished, so it will be nice when I get back and don't have mountains of course work!
Tomorrow Laura and I will be joining Evelyn, John's mom, for lunch and in the evening we will be attending a football (or soccer haha) match for the first time!!! We are going to see Nottingham Forest vs. Bristol City! I don't really know what that means but I'm super excited to get my team spirit on!!!! LETS GO NOTTS!!
On Monday, Laura and I leave for England for three days. Then the adventure begins. First stop.....PARIS! Just giving everyone a warning right now...brace yourself for ridiculous amounts of pictures! We'll be hitting up 8 countries in 14 days! CRAZINESSSSSSSS!
I am so grateful for everything that I am getting to do. God has given me more blessings than I deserve, two of those being the best parents in the whole wide world! Can't wait until they are over here with me!!!
Alright Europe, SEE YA SOON!!!
Friday, April 6, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Oxford and Budapest!
I'm currently sitting in Hallward, UoN's main library, working on essays......well I'll be working on essays as soon as I finish this blog :) Priorities right?
Oh my goodness what a 2 weeks!! The spring term has wrapped up and now everyone (or almost everyone) has gone home for the month of April for Easter break. I'll be hanging out around Nottingham for the week working on course work so I won't have to do it when I get back. I'm very lucky to be staying with a wonderful couple called the Pawleys while I'm staying in Nottingham! SO NICE TO BE IN A HOME! Alright, now to describe my past 2 weekends :)
Oxford
This was one location that I knew before I arrived in England that I would be coming to! I was very excited to find out that the travel society at UoN was making a day trip so I signed up with my friend Laura (a Canadian exchange student who lives on my corridor and who I will be traveling with for the month of April!) We woke up super early and caught a bus to the historic city! We could not have had better weather! It was absolutely beautiful!! The way that we decided to explore Oxford was basically just to wander in the general direction of locations we knew we wanted to see. The architecture was absolutely incredible.
Our first actual stop was to the Oxford Botanic Gardens. The garden wasn't huge, but it was really pretty. We just walked around and enjoyed the beautiful day and went into the green house and saw super cool flowers.
After the garden we just continued exploring the different churches and pretty areas of Oxford. I need to be better about writing my blog sooner because I can't remember all of the specific names of the places that I went, but I have pictures!!!
After we went to Oxford, we made a stop at the Bicester Village, which is basically just a really nice outlet mall. To anyone that doesn't know, I'm not a big shopper.....alright that is an understatement. I'm a destination shopper. I know what I want, I go get it, and then I move on with my life. I've been a lot of fun for my girlfriends over the years that want to go shopping hahahaha. Luckily, neither is Laura so we just went and got some yummy food and rested while everyone went shopping!
Such a fun day!!
NEXT
Budapest!
There is soooooooo much to say!
Alright we are gonna break this up into days
Day 1: I left Nottingham Thursday morning for London to celebrate the amazingly wonderful Shelby Hintz's 21st birthday!!! It was such a great, relaxing day. We just enjoyed London and ran some quick errands before going out to dinner at the Breakfast Club. After dinner we went and got fro-yo at a place called Snog, then got a birthday drink at a bar called Lexington. We wanted to make it an early night because Shelby and I had a looooooong night ahead of us.
Day 1 1/2: This part of the trip happens in the middle of the night, so even though its a new day, it doesn't count!! We had to leave Shelby's flat at 3:30AM to catch a night bus, to catch an airport shuttle, to catch a flight. One of the highlights of this experience was hands down the airport shuttle called the easybus. We caught the bus at 4:20, so one would think that the driver would want to keep things quiet because the journey to the airport is about 1:15 hours. Oh no. Not our bus driver. We were about to leave so he turned the lights off in the bus. Next thing we knew, there were blue lights lining the floor and the ceiling and he turned on the radio to like top 40 hits. Basically, our easybus was converted into a party bus and it was hysterical! Can't lie, it made the experience very entertaining. haha
Day 2: We took a flight that lasted about 2:20 hours. I wanted to sleep so badly, but 1)I'm not a big flyer so I have trouble sleeping on flights and 2)There was a bachelor party that was just super duper excited about their trip to Budapest and wanted everyone to know hahaha. They were all wearing reindeer antlers and many were wearing sun glasses. All of them were walking around the plane, chatting people up, drinking beer and vodka (at 9:00AM.............), and got the pilot to make a special shout out to the groom. Hahahaha me and sleeping didn't stand a chance.
We had a driver from our hostel meet us at the airport.....super cool seeing Shelby's name on one of those pick up signs! haha. Its the small things in life :) We drove to our hostel which was really more of a flat. It had a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and Shelby and I had our own room. We quickly dropped our things off, got cleaned up, and went out to explore!!
Literally right next to our hostel was the St. Stephen's Basilica. Even from the outside you could tell how incredible this building was. You can see it from basically anywhere in the city, which was great because we always knew how to get home. We hadn't really eaten in a while, so we stopped to get some lunch at an Italian restaurant right next to the Basilica. This was the first time that we had to interact with local Hungarians and learn the currency, Forint. Both were very interesting. Most Hungarians do not speak a lot of English, just basic yes and no responses. There was a lot of pointing when trying to communicate. The currency was also slightly intimidating. When we first exchanged the money we were kinda freaking out because I know that I have knew held a bill with that many zeros. Basically 5 Pounds equals about 1000 Forint (at least that was my basic conversion based on the prices of a cup of coffee at Starbucks ha). That meant that it was not unusual to have a 5000 Forint bill for something. Definitely had to get used to that.
After lunch we decided we would walk down to the Danube River that divides Buda and Pest. In case you didn't know (I didn't) Buda and Pest are 2 different cities. Yes, Jessica Bernacchi , they actually are 2 different cities :) I had no idea how beautiful Budapest was!! We walked down to the river and it honestly just takes your breath away. Some of the first things that you will probably see are the Chain Bridge, the National Gallery, and Matthias Church. The river was gorgeous and pretty big. We crossed over the bridge and saw the Hungarian Parliament for the first time. I believe it is the second largest Parliament building in Europe, behind England. It was incredible! So detailed and striking! When we crossed the bridge to Buda, we took a cable car up this really big hill to get a better view of Pest. Seriously incredible! You could see Parliament, the Chain Bride, and St. Stephen's. We walked around Buda for the rest of the day. We saw the Buda Castle, Matthias Church, the hills of Buda, random guys practicing with the cross bows (for real), Fisherman's Bastion, Holy Trinity Square, and Castle Hill. We stopped near Fisherman's Bastion and got a yummy afternoon snack and looked out over the river at Parliament. The entire trip we had to keep pinching ourselves.
After exploring Buda we went back to the hostel just to get cleaned up and rest for a little bit......which turned into both of us falling asleep for several hours hahaha. At 10:00PM we woke up and decided some food may be good. This started a running joke for the weekend that we were looking a Burger King, which we found, but was closed. Luckily we found a place to get a sandwich and went back to the hostel and slept some more haha.
REALLY AMAZING FIRST DAY!
Day 3: Today we decided to explore Pest, where our hostel was. We started by heading down to the Market to get some breakfast. It was much more legit than we thought it would be, meaning it was VERY Hungarian. We had no idea what anything said, what people were saying to us, or what a lot of the food was. Luckily we found a place that made amazing crepes so breakfast was a success! After the market we walked down the river to get a good look at Parliament. It was incredible! We would have taken a tour of the inside, but we heard it was only in Hungarian that day......weird. It really was massive and the detail of the building was insane. From Parliament we went down Andrassy Street which is meant to be one of the best shopping areas of Budapest. It was definitely a classy place with lots of designers. On Andrassy Street was the House of Terror which is an interesting but devastating museum about the Soviet and Nazi interference within Hungary. It was very sad, but definitely worth going through to learn more about the history of the country. After the House of Terror we walked past the Budapest Opera House (gorgeous) and made our way to St. Stephen's Basilica. We knew that we wanted to go inside and it cost 200 Forint each. We had a very funny interaction with the man at the door. He worked for the church and didn't speak a word of English. Shelby and I went in to pay our 200 Forint and grabs my hands and wouldn't let me pay and basically (we think) signaled that we only had to pay 100 Forint each because he liked us????? who knows hahaha. Either way we only had to pay 100 each (approximately 25 pence each and I have no idea what that converts to in dollars. Sorry, I'm a Sociology major. haha) The Basilica was incredible! I have never seen anything like it in my life. The detail in very aspect of the church was insane. BEAUTIFUL! Words really can't describe it and pictures don't do it justice! After working our way through the Basilica we went and saw the Great Synagogue then went back to the hostel to get cleaned up and rest. We made a point this time NOT to fall asleep!! We wanted to have a real Hungarian dinner so we went to this place called Regos Vendeglo es Falatozo and it was delicious!!!! We had Goulash, Paprika Chicken, and Strudel! Our waiter thought we were ridiculous too. He was very nice, but again spoke very little English. We couldn't help but just laugh our way through all of our interactions with him. We went back to the hostel and planned the next days activities and went to bed!
Day 4: Last day in Budapest :(
We had planned to go to the bath house that Budapest is known for, but after some research we decided that it would be really cool, but maybe in different circumstances. I would have liked to see the bath house without actually having to pay to go in. It was a little bit expensive, kinda far away, and we heard mixed reviews about the service, so we decided to basically coffee house hop all day! That kinda just turned into more exploring of Pest but it was great! We walked all the way down Andrassy to a beautiful park that had a castle that I swear they used to design the one in Beauty and the Beast! I was freaking out a little bit!!! We then went to a dessert place that is supposedly famous for their dishes.....and I believe it! So good!! Finally we had to wrap up our day and catch our car back to the airport.
I feel like Budapest was exactly as I imagined a European adventure would be like. It was beautiful, very different from anything I have ever seen, and a giant exploration. It was so much fun and I'm so glad that I got to go on such a great trip with Shelby! We may be in the same country, but its like when someone goes to CofC and USC....you're close but not close enough!!
In 6 days the big adventure will begin! I leave for London with Laura for 3 days then we are off to Paris, the Swiss Alps, Pisa, Florence, Rome, Venice, the Rhine Valley, Amsterdam, and Bruges. STAY TUNED!!!!
Oxford Pictures!
Budapest Pictures!!
St. Stephen's Basilica
The Chain Bridge
Parliament
St. Stephen's
SO GREAT!
Oh my goodness what a 2 weeks!! The spring term has wrapped up and now everyone (or almost everyone) has gone home for the month of April for Easter break. I'll be hanging out around Nottingham for the week working on course work so I won't have to do it when I get back. I'm very lucky to be staying with a wonderful couple called the Pawleys while I'm staying in Nottingham! SO NICE TO BE IN A HOME! Alright, now to describe my past 2 weekends :)
Oxford
This was one location that I knew before I arrived in England that I would be coming to! I was very excited to find out that the travel society at UoN was making a day trip so I signed up with my friend Laura (a Canadian exchange student who lives on my corridor and who I will be traveling with for the month of April!) We woke up super early and caught a bus to the historic city! We could not have had better weather! It was absolutely beautiful!! The way that we decided to explore Oxford was basically just to wander in the general direction of locations we knew we wanted to see. The architecture was absolutely incredible.
Our first actual stop was to the Oxford Botanic Gardens. The garden wasn't huge, but it was really pretty. We just walked around and enjoyed the beautiful day and went into the green house and saw super cool flowers.
After the garden we just continued exploring the different churches and pretty areas of Oxford. I need to be better about writing my blog sooner because I can't remember all of the specific names of the places that I went, but I have pictures!!!
After we went to Oxford, we made a stop at the Bicester Village, which is basically just a really nice outlet mall. To anyone that doesn't know, I'm not a big shopper.....alright that is an understatement. I'm a destination shopper. I know what I want, I go get it, and then I move on with my life. I've been a lot of fun for my girlfriends over the years that want to go shopping hahahaha. Luckily, neither is Laura so we just went and got some yummy food and rested while everyone went shopping!
Such a fun day!!
NEXT
Budapest!
There is soooooooo much to say!
Alright we are gonna break this up into days
Day 1: I left Nottingham Thursday morning for London to celebrate the amazingly wonderful Shelby Hintz's 21st birthday!!! It was such a great, relaxing day. We just enjoyed London and ran some quick errands before going out to dinner at the Breakfast Club. After dinner we went and got fro-yo at a place called Snog, then got a birthday drink at a bar called Lexington. We wanted to make it an early night because Shelby and I had a looooooong night ahead of us.
Day 1 1/2: This part of the trip happens in the middle of the night, so even though its a new day, it doesn't count!! We had to leave Shelby's flat at 3:30AM to catch a night bus, to catch an airport shuttle, to catch a flight. One of the highlights of this experience was hands down the airport shuttle called the easybus. We caught the bus at 4:20, so one would think that the driver would want to keep things quiet because the journey to the airport is about 1:15 hours. Oh no. Not our bus driver. We were about to leave so he turned the lights off in the bus. Next thing we knew, there were blue lights lining the floor and the ceiling and he turned on the radio to like top 40 hits. Basically, our easybus was converted into a party bus and it was hysterical! Can't lie, it made the experience very entertaining. haha
Day 2: We took a flight that lasted about 2:20 hours. I wanted to sleep so badly, but 1)I'm not a big flyer so I have trouble sleeping on flights and 2)There was a bachelor party that was just super duper excited about their trip to Budapest and wanted everyone to know hahaha. They were all wearing reindeer antlers and many were wearing sun glasses. All of them were walking around the plane, chatting people up, drinking beer and vodka (at 9:00AM.............), and got the pilot to make a special shout out to the groom. Hahahaha me and sleeping didn't stand a chance.
We had a driver from our hostel meet us at the airport.....super cool seeing Shelby's name on one of those pick up signs! haha. Its the small things in life :) We drove to our hostel which was really more of a flat. It had a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and Shelby and I had our own room. We quickly dropped our things off, got cleaned up, and went out to explore!!
Literally right next to our hostel was the St. Stephen's Basilica. Even from the outside you could tell how incredible this building was. You can see it from basically anywhere in the city, which was great because we always knew how to get home. We hadn't really eaten in a while, so we stopped to get some lunch at an Italian restaurant right next to the Basilica. This was the first time that we had to interact with local Hungarians and learn the currency, Forint. Both were very interesting. Most Hungarians do not speak a lot of English, just basic yes and no responses. There was a lot of pointing when trying to communicate. The currency was also slightly intimidating. When we first exchanged the money we were kinda freaking out because I know that I have knew held a bill with that many zeros. Basically 5 Pounds equals about 1000 Forint (at least that was my basic conversion based on the prices of a cup of coffee at Starbucks ha). That meant that it was not unusual to have a 5000 Forint bill for something. Definitely had to get used to that.
After lunch we decided we would walk down to the Danube River that divides Buda and Pest. In case you didn't know (I didn't) Buda and Pest are 2 different cities. Yes, Jessica Bernacchi , they actually are 2 different cities :) I had no idea how beautiful Budapest was!! We walked down to the river and it honestly just takes your breath away. Some of the first things that you will probably see are the Chain Bridge, the National Gallery, and Matthias Church. The river was gorgeous and pretty big. We crossed over the bridge and saw the Hungarian Parliament for the first time. I believe it is the second largest Parliament building in Europe, behind England. It was incredible! So detailed and striking! When we crossed the bridge to Buda, we took a cable car up this really big hill to get a better view of Pest. Seriously incredible! You could see Parliament, the Chain Bride, and St. Stephen's. We walked around Buda for the rest of the day. We saw the Buda Castle, Matthias Church, the hills of Buda, random guys practicing with the cross bows (for real), Fisherman's Bastion, Holy Trinity Square, and Castle Hill. We stopped near Fisherman's Bastion and got a yummy afternoon snack and looked out over the river at Parliament. The entire trip we had to keep pinching ourselves.
After exploring Buda we went back to the hostel just to get cleaned up and rest for a little bit......which turned into both of us falling asleep for several hours hahaha. At 10:00PM we woke up and decided some food may be good. This started a running joke for the weekend that we were looking a Burger King, which we found, but was closed. Luckily we found a place to get a sandwich and went back to the hostel and slept some more haha.
REALLY AMAZING FIRST DAY!
Day 3: Today we decided to explore Pest, where our hostel was. We started by heading down to the Market to get some breakfast. It was much more legit than we thought it would be, meaning it was VERY Hungarian. We had no idea what anything said, what people were saying to us, or what a lot of the food was. Luckily we found a place that made amazing crepes so breakfast was a success! After the market we walked down the river to get a good look at Parliament. It was incredible! We would have taken a tour of the inside, but we heard it was only in Hungarian that day......weird. It really was massive and the detail of the building was insane. From Parliament we went down Andrassy Street which is meant to be one of the best shopping areas of Budapest. It was definitely a classy place with lots of designers. On Andrassy Street was the House of Terror which is an interesting but devastating museum about the Soviet and Nazi interference within Hungary. It was very sad, but definitely worth going through to learn more about the history of the country. After the House of Terror we walked past the Budapest Opera House (gorgeous) and made our way to St. Stephen's Basilica. We knew that we wanted to go inside and it cost 200 Forint each. We had a very funny interaction with the man at the door. He worked for the church and didn't speak a word of English. Shelby and I went in to pay our 200 Forint and grabs my hands and wouldn't let me pay and basically (we think) signaled that we only had to pay 100 Forint each because he liked us????? who knows hahaha. Either way we only had to pay 100 each (approximately 25 pence each and I have no idea what that converts to in dollars. Sorry, I'm a Sociology major. haha) The Basilica was incredible! I have never seen anything like it in my life. The detail in very aspect of the church was insane. BEAUTIFUL! Words really can't describe it and pictures don't do it justice! After working our way through the Basilica we went and saw the Great Synagogue then went back to the hostel to get cleaned up and rest. We made a point this time NOT to fall asleep!! We wanted to have a real Hungarian dinner so we went to this place called Regos Vendeglo es Falatozo and it was delicious!!!! We had Goulash, Paprika Chicken, and Strudel! Our waiter thought we were ridiculous too. He was very nice, but again spoke very little English. We couldn't help but just laugh our way through all of our interactions with him. We went back to the hostel and planned the next days activities and went to bed!
Day 4: Last day in Budapest :(
We had planned to go to the bath house that Budapest is known for, but after some research we decided that it would be really cool, but maybe in different circumstances. I would have liked to see the bath house without actually having to pay to go in. It was a little bit expensive, kinda far away, and we heard mixed reviews about the service, so we decided to basically coffee house hop all day! That kinda just turned into more exploring of Pest but it was great! We walked all the way down Andrassy to a beautiful park that had a castle that I swear they used to design the one in Beauty and the Beast! I was freaking out a little bit!!! We then went to a dessert place that is supposedly famous for their dishes.....and I believe it! So good!! Finally we had to wrap up our day and catch our car back to the airport.
I feel like Budapest was exactly as I imagined a European adventure would be like. It was beautiful, very different from anything I have ever seen, and a giant exploration. It was so much fun and I'm so glad that I got to go on such a great trip with Shelby! We may be in the same country, but its like when someone goes to CofC and USC....you're close but not close enough!!
In 6 days the big adventure will begin! I leave for London with Laura for 3 days then we are off to Paris, the Swiss Alps, Pisa, Florence, Rome, Venice, the Rhine Valley, Amsterdam, and Bruges. STAY TUNED!!!!
Oxford Pictures!
Budapest Pictures!!
SO GREAT!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
St. Patrick's Day in Dublin!!!!
Well I can officially check that off of my bucket list!!!
I really did have to keep pinching myself to remember that I actually was in Dublin celebrating such a fun day!
Our trip started very very very very very early Friday morning. We caught a cab at 4:00 AM to go to the East Midlands Airport. Our flight left at 6:30 so when everything was said and done we had about 2 hours to kill. Lucky for myself and the 2 exchange students I was traveling with, we found some wonderful, reclining massage chairs in the airport and rested until it was time to board. The flight to Ireland was only 45 minutes so when we landed it was only 7:30. We took the time in the morning to walk around, get some food, and get oriented with the city center.
By the afternoon the weather was taking a turn away from our favor, so we decided to go take a tour. I mean, what else do you do in Dublin when its raining but go to the Guinness Factory?! We caught a bus and went into the massive factory that was full of other tourists escaping the rain and looking forward to the free pint at the end of the tour. The factory was very cool and had about a million floors. When we got up to the top there was a nearly 360 view of Dublin...very cool! It was also here that we got our free pint of Guinness that came with the tour. Now I am not really a beer drinker. I'll have a beer now and then (typically around football season), but it is not my go to for a drink. You can only imagine what I thought of Guinness. I had never had one before and it was much stronger than I thought. I didn't even get half way through my pint before I had to put it down because I just couldn't do the taste anymore. hahahaha
After the Guinness factory we went to check-in to our hotel and rest before that night. Unfortunately, the weekend makes a slight dip at this point because I have been fighting illness for about 4 days. It started just as a stuffy nose, but I knew leaving the Guinness factory that I was definitely getting worse. By the time I got to the hotel I had a fever and the works :( After resting and still not feeling well, I decided it would be best not to try and go out Friday night and get a good nights sleep in preparation for St. Pattys. My very sweet friend Elle stayed with me and we watched 500 Days of Summer in the hotel...and it was great!!
And....prayers answered!!! When I woke up the next morning my fever was gone!! I was still stuffy, but I can deal with that!!!! We caught a cab into the city center and met up with some other exchange students from Notts for the St. Patrick's Day Parade!! I have literally never seen so much green in my entire life! Everyone was decked out! It really was exactly how you would have imagined it. My pictures truly can't do it justice!! We watched the extremely colorful and artistic parade (that really had absolutely nothing to do with St. Pattys haha) then went to a pub called Arlington's Bar to warm up and get some food/drinks. This was probably my favorite place that we went! The atmosphere was super cool and they had live Irish music when we first arrived. Granted there were probably only 4 real local Irishmen in the pub, it was still a lot of fun. After the band, Irish dancers performed for us!!!!! So so so so so so so so so so cool!!!
Once we had been at Arlington's for a bit we decided for a change of scenery and went to another bar called the Old Storehouse Bar to watch the end of the Wales/France rugby game and the beginning of the England/Ireland game. People in Europe are very passionate about their rugby, so I'm sure you can imagine how enthusiastic everyone was about the games (until England absolutely killed Ireland 30-9) hahaha. It was really fun and we met some interesting people. I also was introduced to Gaelic Football, which apparently is the national sport of Ireland. It is like a combination of soccer, American football, and volleyball, with a splash of basketball...very interesting!
Next stop was a change of pace from the bars to a lovely cafe down Grafton Street. I obviously had to get a coffee with Baileys and some of my friend wanted to get Irish coffee. It was very nice to just sit down and relax in Ireland for a bit, while people were going crazy outside hahaha.While there they also had something that I nearly fell out of my chair over....goat cheese!!!! For anyone that has ever gone out to dinner with me, you know that one of the first things I look for is goat cheese. I love it so much! I don't care if its weird. I love it! There was a salad with goat cheese, basil pesto, roasted red peppers, and sun dried tomatoes...yes please!
Once I was out of my coffee and goat cheese coma we went and met up with our friends at another bar. These friends happened to be with an organized group for St. Patrick's, so this was the after party for them, which was great for us!! There was good music and everyone just had a lot of fun! I couldn't have picked a better way to end my St. Patrick's Day, with good friends and One Direction playing from the DJ (English boy band I am currently in love with....not ashamed!!) We called it an early night (midnight, which for anyone that knows me that is actually quite late for me!) because we had an early flight today.
It was such an amazing experience!!! I can't believe that I actually got the chance to be in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day!! I'm even more excited that I'll be going back to Ireland in June!!! Obviously, St. Patrick's Day is not the norm for Ireland, but when my beautiful Mommy comes over in June for our trip, we will be returning to Ireland for an adventure!! CAN'T WAIT! Watch out for part 2 Ireland!!!!!
This upcoming weekend, if all things go as planned, I will be taking a day trip to Oxford on Saturday and Stratford on Sunday!! I really am so blessed!!!!
I really did have to keep pinching myself to remember that I actually was in Dublin celebrating such a fun day!
Our trip started very very very very very early Friday morning. We caught a cab at 4:00 AM to go to the East Midlands Airport. Our flight left at 6:30 so when everything was said and done we had about 2 hours to kill. Lucky for myself and the 2 exchange students I was traveling with, we found some wonderful, reclining massage chairs in the airport and rested until it was time to board. The flight to Ireland was only 45 minutes so when we landed it was only 7:30. We took the time in the morning to walk around, get some food, and get oriented with the city center.
By the afternoon the weather was taking a turn away from our favor, so we decided to go take a tour. I mean, what else do you do in Dublin when its raining but go to the Guinness Factory?! We caught a bus and went into the massive factory that was full of other tourists escaping the rain and looking forward to the free pint at the end of the tour. The factory was very cool and had about a million floors. When we got up to the top there was a nearly 360 view of Dublin...very cool! It was also here that we got our free pint of Guinness that came with the tour. Now I am not really a beer drinker. I'll have a beer now and then (typically around football season), but it is not my go to for a drink. You can only imagine what I thought of Guinness. I had never had one before and it was much stronger than I thought. I didn't even get half way through my pint before I had to put it down because I just couldn't do the taste anymore. hahahaha
After the Guinness factory we went to check-in to our hotel and rest before that night. Unfortunately, the weekend makes a slight dip at this point because I have been fighting illness for about 4 days. It started just as a stuffy nose, but I knew leaving the Guinness factory that I was definitely getting worse. By the time I got to the hotel I had a fever and the works :( After resting and still not feeling well, I decided it would be best not to try and go out Friday night and get a good nights sleep in preparation for St. Pattys. My very sweet friend Elle stayed with me and we watched 500 Days of Summer in the hotel...and it was great!!
And....prayers answered!!! When I woke up the next morning my fever was gone!! I was still stuffy, but I can deal with that!!!! We caught a cab into the city center and met up with some other exchange students from Notts for the St. Patrick's Day Parade!! I have literally never seen so much green in my entire life! Everyone was decked out! It really was exactly how you would have imagined it. My pictures truly can't do it justice!! We watched the extremely colorful and artistic parade (that really had absolutely nothing to do with St. Pattys haha) then went to a pub called Arlington's Bar to warm up and get some food/drinks. This was probably my favorite place that we went! The atmosphere was super cool and they had live Irish music when we first arrived. Granted there were probably only 4 real local Irishmen in the pub, it was still a lot of fun. After the band, Irish dancers performed for us!!!!! So so so so so so so so so so cool!!!
Once we had been at Arlington's for a bit we decided for a change of scenery and went to another bar called the Old Storehouse Bar to watch the end of the Wales/France rugby game and the beginning of the England/Ireland game. People in Europe are very passionate about their rugby, so I'm sure you can imagine how enthusiastic everyone was about the games (until England absolutely killed Ireland 30-9) hahaha. It was really fun and we met some interesting people. I also was introduced to Gaelic Football, which apparently is the national sport of Ireland. It is like a combination of soccer, American football, and volleyball, with a splash of basketball...very interesting!
Next stop was a change of pace from the bars to a lovely cafe down Grafton Street. I obviously had to get a coffee with Baileys and some of my friend wanted to get Irish coffee. It was very nice to just sit down and relax in Ireland for a bit, while people were going crazy outside hahaha.While there they also had something that I nearly fell out of my chair over....goat cheese!!!! For anyone that has ever gone out to dinner with me, you know that one of the first things I look for is goat cheese. I love it so much! I don't care if its weird. I love it! There was a salad with goat cheese, basil pesto, roasted red peppers, and sun dried tomatoes...yes please!
Once I was out of my coffee and goat cheese coma we went and met up with our friends at another bar. These friends happened to be with an organized group for St. Patrick's, so this was the after party for them, which was great for us!! There was good music and everyone just had a lot of fun! I couldn't have picked a better way to end my St. Patrick's Day, with good friends and One Direction playing from the DJ (English boy band I am currently in love with....not ashamed!!) We called it an early night (midnight, which for anyone that knows me that is actually quite late for me!) because we had an early flight today.
It was such an amazing experience!!! I can't believe that I actually got the chance to be in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day!! I'm even more excited that I'll be going back to Ireland in June!!! Obviously, St. Patrick's Day is not the norm for Ireland, but when my beautiful Mommy comes over in June for our trip, we will be returning to Ireland for an adventure!! CAN'T WAIT! Watch out for part 2 Ireland!!!!!
This upcoming weekend, if all things go as planned, I will be taking a day trip to Oxford on Saturday and Stratford on Sunday!! I really am so blessed!!!!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Whitby, York, and JOHN!!!
Once again, I'm terrible at keeping up with this thing! haha 2 whole weeks...in England time that might as well be 2 months hahaha
The more time that passes, the more I am able to really be settled. I have started to establish as much of a routine as you can when you are temporarily in a place, but I like it. My weeks typically consist of going to class Monday and Tuesday, doing course work Wednesday, a trip to Beeston for some coffee at Bean on Thursday, then Friday either going on a trip or prepping for a trip....HOW BLESSED AM I? There are always other fun things going on during the week, but those are the consistent activities.
So two weekends ago I went with the travel society at UoN to a place called Whitby in northern Yorkshire for the day. I honestly didn't know anything about Whitby, but they were advertising that it was a seaside town and that it was where they filmed the Hogwarts Express scenes from the Harry Potter movies so I was sold!
It was quite a coach journey, but it was totally worth it! I have been fortunate to live near the water my entire life (I did live in Orlando when I was a baby, but because I don't remember that it doesn't count for this purpose haha). I have a deep love for the water and everything that goes with it (marsh, salt smell, ocean breeze). I realized on the coach that this was the longest in my entire life that that I had been landlocked. I had no idea how much it had effected me, because when we drove up a hill and saw the water in front of us, I couldn't help but shed a tear or two. Side note: I've realized on this trip how much of a crier I am...not in a bad way, but apparently any strong emotion that I feel, like happiness, results in me crying hahaha. Whitby was beautiful! It is a maritime town and we were literally just on the water. There were seagulls, sailboats, and that wonderful salt water breeze that I missed so much! There wasn't pluff mud, but this was the closest I have felt to home since coming to England. There were some absolutely beautiful sites, including the ruins of the old Whitby Abbey, a giant whalebone that represented the former whaling industry, and incredible cliffs leading down to the coast. Turns out that they didn't actually film Harry Potter in Whitby itself, but it didn't matter. It has been the prettiest place I have visited so far :)
The week following Whitby I basically couldn't do anything because I was too excited for what would be coming that Saturday........A VISIT FROM MY BROTHER JOHN!
I met John in the Pret-a-Manger cafe next to Kings Cross station 2 Saturdays ago. Poor guy got there about an hour before my train from Nottingham would arrive, but eventually I got there and we met up. I knew it would happen, but of course I cried! I did keep it pretty much together, but come on I was seeing my one and only sibling after being separated from my whole family for 5 weeks! Once I pulled it together we went and checked into our hotel that we would be staying at for the night and then went on an adventure. John had found, before he arrived, a bass guitar conference in London that was going on the day he arrived. For anyone that doesn't know (and everyone should because he is great) John is a musician and his primary instrument is bass, although he plays many others! So when he found this conference obviously we had to go! On the way we saw Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye. After a tube trip and a bit of undirected walking, we managed to find the conference center. For someone like me that doesn't know anything about basses the conference was really cool, but I think that John was able to get a better grasp on it than I did. He was able to play a couple different instruments and watch some other players. Once we had seen everything, we ended up going back to the hotel, getting dinner there, and going to bed. John had some pretty serious jet lag (very understandable) so we just decided to take it easy!
The next day we went back to Nottingham and I got to introduce John to several of my friends. Basically John got to experience my normal week but with some bonus features. We went to a cocktail bar for my friend's birthday, to the city center, to Bean (OF COURSE) and Beeston, to the formal that my residence hall was putting on, and around my lovely campus! One of the highlights for me was going to a bar for an open mic night that some of the girls on my corridor were singing in and John got worked into the set!!! SO COOL!
To change things up a bit, we decided to take a day trip to York on Thursday. It was a bit of a longer journey than I had anticipated, but that was just half of the adventure :) York was really cool, with lots of different shops, beautiful architecture, and a lovely waterway. We were exhausted when we got back to Nottingham that night and basically just crashed! We spent of the rest of the time just hanging out and relaxing a bit before heading to Gatwick on Saturday.
It was so nice having John here. It gave me a little bit of a boost actually being with someone from home!!
I'm superrrrr excited because this Friday I'll be getting on a plane to go to........DUBLIN!!! How else would I spend St. Patrick's Day?!
Sorry that the pictures are out of order hahaha
John at the Bass Conference in London
John and I at the Willoughby Hall formal
Whitby
Whitby
York Minster
York Minster
My roommate Shamiso and I at the Willoughby Formal....SHE IS THE BEST!
The more time that passes, the more I am able to really be settled. I have started to establish as much of a routine as you can when you are temporarily in a place, but I like it. My weeks typically consist of going to class Monday and Tuesday, doing course work Wednesday, a trip to Beeston for some coffee at Bean on Thursday, then Friday either going on a trip or prepping for a trip....HOW BLESSED AM I? There are always other fun things going on during the week, but those are the consistent activities.
So two weekends ago I went with the travel society at UoN to a place called Whitby in northern Yorkshire for the day. I honestly didn't know anything about Whitby, but they were advertising that it was a seaside town and that it was where they filmed the Hogwarts Express scenes from the Harry Potter movies so I was sold!
It was quite a coach journey, but it was totally worth it! I have been fortunate to live near the water my entire life (I did live in Orlando when I was a baby, but because I don't remember that it doesn't count for this purpose haha). I have a deep love for the water and everything that goes with it (marsh, salt smell, ocean breeze). I realized on the coach that this was the longest in my entire life that that I had been landlocked. I had no idea how much it had effected me, because when we drove up a hill and saw the water in front of us, I couldn't help but shed a tear or two. Side note: I've realized on this trip how much of a crier I am...not in a bad way, but apparently any strong emotion that I feel, like happiness, results in me crying hahaha. Whitby was beautiful! It is a maritime town and we were literally just on the water. There were seagulls, sailboats, and that wonderful salt water breeze that I missed so much! There wasn't pluff mud, but this was the closest I have felt to home since coming to England. There were some absolutely beautiful sites, including the ruins of the old Whitby Abbey, a giant whalebone that represented the former whaling industry, and incredible cliffs leading down to the coast. Turns out that they didn't actually film Harry Potter in Whitby itself, but it didn't matter. It has been the prettiest place I have visited so far :)
The week following Whitby I basically couldn't do anything because I was too excited for what would be coming that Saturday........A VISIT FROM MY BROTHER JOHN!
I met John in the Pret-a-Manger cafe next to Kings Cross station 2 Saturdays ago. Poor guy got there about an hour before my train from Nottingham would arrive, but eventually I got there and we met up. I knew it would happen, but of course I cried! I did keep it pretty much together, but come on I was seeing my one and only sibling after being separated from my whole family for 5 weeks! Once I pulled it together we went and checked into our hotel that we would be staying at for the night and then went on an adventure. John had found, before he arrived, a bass guitar conference in London that was going on the day he arrived. For anyone that doesn't know (and everyone should because he is great) John is a musician and his primary instrument is bass, although he plays many others! So when he found this conference obviously we had to go! On the way we saw Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye. After a tube trip and a bit of undirected walking, we managed to find the conference center. For someone like me that doesn't know anything about basses the conference was really cool, but I think that John was able to get a better grasp on it than I did. He was able to play a couple different instruments and watch some other players. Once we had seen everything, we ended up going back to the hotel, getting dinner there, and going to bed. John had some pretty serious jet lag (very understandable) so we just decided to take it easy!
The next day we went back to Nottingham and I got to introduce John to several of my friends. Basically John got to experience my normal week but with some bonus features. We went to a cocktail bar for my friend's birthday, to the city center, to Bean (OF COURSE) and Beeston, to the formal that my residence hall was putting on, and around my lovely campus! One of the highlights for me was going to a bar for an open mic night that some of the girls on my corridor were singing in and John got worked into the set!!! SO COOL!
To change things up a bit, we decided to take a day trip to York on Thursday. It was a bit of a longer journey than I had anticipated, but that was just half of the adventure :) York was really cool, with lots of different shops, beautiful architecture, and a lovely waterway. We were exhausted when we got back to Nottingham that night and basically just crashed! We spent of the rest of the time just hanging out and relaxing a bit before heading to Gatwick on Saturday.
It was so nice having John here. It gave me a little bit of a boost actually being with someone from home!!
I'm superrrrr excited because this Friday I'll be getting on a plane to go to........DUBLIN!!! How else would I spend St. Patrick's Day?!
Sorry that the pictures are out of order hahaha
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Adventure to visit a little piece of home!
I was SO excited to go to London this past weekend to visit my wonderful roommate from College of Charleston, Shelby! She is also doing an exchange program, but hers is through London Metropolitan! When I found out Shelbz would also be studying in England, I just about had a heart attack with excitement!!!
This trip was really exciting, not only because I was spending time with someone from home, but this was also the first time that I was traveling someplace by myself and tackling the train system. Not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous about the train system. One of my friends that I've made here used the trains the weekend before and had a pretty bad experience, but I knew if I wanted to get to London I was just gonna have to conquer my nerves! I woke up super early Friday morning (7:15....which I guess isn't really that early, but I thought it was haha) and caught a bus to the train station. Since coming to Nottingham I have been very paranoid about being late, so I was at the train station about 45 minutes early....oops! I took the train from Nottingham to Grantham then switched to a train destined for Kings Cross Station in London! It honestly could not have been more successful!!! The final anxiety was trying to find Shelby in the station. Unfortunately, I lost my local phone the day before I left, so I sent Shelby a facebook message telling her the area that I would be in and sent a BIG prayer to God to help me find her!! When I first got off the platform and was looking around I didn't see her. For anyone who doesn't know, I tend to be someone that over thinks everything! Before I got off the train I already had back-up plans in case I didn't find her, all of which were incredibly irrational. Luckily, just when I thought I was going explore London alone and homeless, Shelby walked from behind a massive group of people!! I don't know if it was relief, excitement to see Shelby, or a mixture of both, but I immediately burst into tears....leave it to me to make an embarrassing scene in Kings Cross Station hahahaha
Once I pulled it together, Shelby took me to the student apartments where she is living and then walked me down to a very trendy and delicious place for lunch called The Elk in the Woods. After lunch we went back and I utilized my time the best way I could think of...I took a nap. Yes, I went all the way to London to visit my roommate and I took a nap...and it was great!
That night we met up with some of the friends Shelby had made and we went to perhaps the best Indian restaurant I have ever been to. Oh man! It was awesome!!!!!! Now to get to the restaurant we had to conquer another one of my weak areas...the tube. I am a firm believer that God gave us feet that belong on the surface that he provided, so things like airplanes, tunnels, and undergrounds really challenge me. I tried really hard (and I think I was successful) in not letting anyone know how freaked out I was by the Underground. Honestly, of all things to be scared of haha
After dinner we went to this really cool bar that was actually very Texas reminiscent called the Blues Kitchen. Really cool atmosphere and there was a band that played that was amazing! They were Irish, but they broke into this awesome country-ish music. I don't like country, but I loved what they were doing!! We went back to Shelby's and I absolutely crashed on the floor!!
Saturday, Shelby was woken up by a very excited Kate. Poor girl haha. We got up and decided to do some of the touristy things in the morning, first stop Trafalgar Square :) There were lots of street performers, a countdown to the Olympics, and this just happened to be the location of the last Harry Potter movie premiere....yes I am one of THOSE Americans that gets excited over anything Harry Potter that they see in England. Nothin' I can do about it!! We got breakfast overlooking the square, then walked over to the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Several photo ops later we got back on the tube and went to Buckingham Palace. Finally, we ended up in Piccadilly Circus where we walked to Leicester Square for lunch. We literally walked into the restaurant and 2 seconds later it started raining....PERFECT TIMING! After lunch we just went back to Shelby's flat and hung out. That is one thing that I miss a lot about my friends back home. We have all hit a point where we don't have to try anymore...we can just hang out or watch TV and it just works.
That night, we met up with a BIG group of girls for a birthday dinner for one of the exchange students. It was chaotic to say the least, but I think we can all laugh about it now....just picture trying to get 17 chicks from one location to another via tube....it was funny. We went to a really really good Chinese place that served very very little portions haha. We all left wanting burgers! After dinner, the girls that we went out with the night before and myself went to a bar right down the street from their apartments called the Lexington. Another really fun night and a cool place!!
It was so much fun hanging out with Shelby and I had a couple moments when I asked myself, "I'm sorry why am I leaving one of my best friends and a super cool city?", but Nottingham is starting to feel like home in its own weird way haha
The next two weeks I think will be just as packed as the previous ones! I'm going to a place called Whitby in Yorkshire on Saturday and next week I will be preparing for a very special visitor.....JOHN!!!!!!! Watch out Nottingham, you're about to get both Barrys!!
Hope everyone is having a lovely February!!! I know I am :)
Kate
Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the background....no big deal :)
Cold at the London Eye
Goofing around at Parliament with Shelby!
Buckingham Palace! (once again, cold haha)
This trip was really exciting, not only because I was spending time with someone from home, but this was also the first time that I was traveling someplace by myself and tackling the train system. Not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous about the train system. One of my friends that I've made here used the trains the weekend before and had a pretty bad experience, but I knew if I wanted to get to London I was just gonna have to conquer my nerves! I woke up super early Friday morning (7:15....which I guess isn't really that early, but I thought it was haha) and caught a bus to the train station. Since coming to Nottingham I have been very paranoid about being late, so I was at the train station about 45 minutes early....oops! I took the train from Nottingham to Grantham then switched to a train destined for Kings Cross Station in London! It honestly could not have been more successful!!! The final anxiety was trying to find Shelby in the station. Unfortunately, I lost my local phone the day before I left, so I sent Shelby a facebook message telling her the area that I would be in and sent a BIG prayer to God to help me find her!! When I first got off the platform and was looking around I didn't see her. For anyone who doesn't know, I tend to be someone that over thinks everything! Before I got off the train I already had back-up plans in case I didn't find her, all of which were incredibly irrational. Luckily, just when I thought I was going explore London alone and homeless, Shelby walked from behind a massive group of people!! I don't know if it was relief, excitement to see Shelby, or a mixture of both, but I immediately burst into tears....leave it to me to make an embarrassing scene in Kings Cross Station hahahaha
Once I pulled it together, Shelby took me to the student apartments where she is living and then walked me down to a very trendy and delicious place for lunch called The Elk in the Woods. After lunch we went back and I utilized my time the best way I could think of...I took a nap. Yes, I went all the way to London to visit my roommate and I took a nap...and it was great!
That night we met up with some of the friends Shelby had made and we went to perhaps the best Indian restaurant I have ever been to. Oh man! It was awesome!!!!!! Now to get to the restaurant we had to conquer another one of my weak areas...the tube. I am a firm believer that God gave us feet that belong on the surface that he provided, so things like airplanes, tunnels, and undergrounds really challenge me. I tried really hard (and I think I was successful) in not letting anyone know how freaked out I was by the Underground. Honestly, of all things to be scared of haha
After dinner we went to this really cool bar that was actually very Texas reminiscent called the Blues Kitchen. Really cool atmosphere and there was a band that played that was amazing! They were Irish, but they broke into this awesome country-ish music. I don't like country, but I loved what they were doing!! We went back to Shelby's and I absolutely crashed on the floor!!
Saturday, Shelby was woken up by a very excited Kate. Poor girl haha. We got up and decided to do some of the touristy things in the morning, first stop Trafalgar Square :) There were lots of street performers, a countdown to the Olympics, and this just happened to be the location of the last Harry Potter movie premiere....yes I am one of THOSE Americans that gets excited over anything Harry Potter that they see in England. Nothin' I can do about it!! We got breakfast overlooking the square, then walked over to the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Several photo ops later we got back on the tube and went to Buckingham Palace. Finally, we ended up in Piccadilly Circus where we walked to Leicester Square for lunch. We literally walked into the restaurant and 2 seconds later it started raining....PERFECT TIMING! After lunch we just went back to Shelby's flat and hung out. That is one thing that I miss a lot about my friends back home. We have all hit a point where we don't have to try anymore...we can just hang out or watch TV and it just works.
That night, we met up with a BIG group of girls for a birthday dinner for one of the exchange students. It was chaotic to say the least, but I think we can all laugh about it now....just picture trying to get 17 chicks from one location to another via tube....it was funny. We went to a really really good Chinese place that served very very little portions haha. We all left wanting burgers! After dinner, the girls that we went out with the night before and myself went to a bar right down the street from their apartments called the Lexington. Another really fun night and a cool place!!
It was so much fun hanging out with Shelby and I had a couple moments when I asked myself, "I'm sorry why am I leaving one of my best friends and a super cool city?", but Nottingham is starting to feel like home in its own weird way haha
The next two weeks I think will be just as packed as the previous ones! I'm going to a place called Whitby in Yorkshire on Saturday and next week I will be preparing for a very special visitor.....JOHN!!!!!!! Watch out Nottingham, you're about to get both Barrys!!
Hope everyone is having a lovely February!!! I know I am :)
Kate
Monday, February 13, 2012
Bath, Stonehenge, and Windsor Castle
I may need to try and start blogging more frequently! I have packed a lot into a week here!!! I watched the Superbowl, started my classes, explored a town near Nottingham called Beeston, and took a little trip to Bath, Stonehenge, and Windsor Castle. Here we go :)
I thought that I was not going to be able to watch the Superbowl this year which broke my heart! Although I generally follow college football and I avidly cheer for my Virginia Tech Hokies, as an American how can I not watch the Superbowl?! Luckily, there are other Americans here who feel the same way! We went to a bar called Walkabout which is Australian themed to watch the game! Of course it was much later where I was due to the time difference, but it was DEFINITELY worth seeing a Giants victory!! It was also worth watching a bunch of English guys pretending like they knew what they were cheering for when actually they don't know the rules to American football haha
After missing my first week of classes due to orientation (still something I don't quite understand), I finally went to my courses! Of course I'm only in a classroom 6 hours a week. At UoN (University of Nottingham) they really emphasize independent study, especially in social sciences. Being a sociology major, that means I have a lot of reading to do! I think its going to be good though. It will definitely continue to prepare me for my senior year as a Sociology major at CofC. I'm taking a Urban Life and Social Theory class, a Housing and Society course, and a Belief, Spirituality, and Religion class. I think they are all going to be interesting in their own ways. We'll see! Of course, I finish with classes on Tuesday....so every week I have a 5 day weekend. Totally unplanned by me, but I'm not going to argue!
One thing I'm trying to figure out is what to do with my three days during the week that I don't have classes. I have designated Wednesday as my reading and course work day, but typically I finish my work on this day, leaving me with wide open Thursday and Fridays. I knew that I needed to go on an adventure to find a coffee shop/cafe to be my go to for both coffee and an escape. This past Friday I walked about 10 minutes to a little town called Beeston, my goal: coffee and a bank! My wonderful Nottingham family, the Pawleys, told me there were several coffee shops in Beeston and they did not lie! Beeston has a lot of little shops, ranging from clothes, to bakeries, to chocolate shops, to cafes, and beyond! I found 5 coffee shops that over the course of the next 2 weeks I will be trying out! SO EXCITED! At the College of Charleston, coffee is kind of a big deal. Basically, coffee is how we socialize and function. I can't wait to explore these new places! I also found the bank that I use here in UK in addition to the Wilkinson (like CVS) and Tesco (like CVS on crack) that I found! Very successful trip to Beeston. I've decided this will definitely be my Thursday place to be!!
Ok so that was my week....now my weekend :)
I was very lucky to talk to my friend Claire and find out about a Saturday/Sunday trip to Bath, Stonehenge, and Windsor Castle. The price was just too good to be true and I knew several of the exchange students going, so I signed up!!
We woke up bright on early Saturday morning and got on a coach to Bath, England. It took about 2 1/2 hours, but when we pulled up we all knew that it was WORTH IT! Bath is a place that historically has drawn in the very wealthy and royal people of Europe. There is a definite Italian architectural influence in Bath, which was the most apparent at the Roman Baths. Everything was simply gorgeous!! The ceiling alone in the lobby would have been good for me, but the tour and the baths were extraordinary! It took about an hour or so to get through the entire tour because there was so much to take in! When we finished the tour, a small group of exchange students and myself decided to explore the city and hit up some other must sees in Bath. After exploring for a bit, we went to the Jane Austen Centre. I happen to be a big Jane Austen fan, so this was super exciting for me!!!!! There was a lot of history about her life in Bath and the literature she created there, not to mention lots of fun Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth memorabilia :) From here, we walked down to one of the wealthiest districts in Bath called the Royal Crescent. The name is deserved! It was insane!! The giant crescent of wealthy homes was absolutely beautiful! I keep having moments where I feel like I'm in a Disney movie, because everything seems like it can't be real. We spent a lot of time there goofing off on the green in front of the crescent and enjoying the beautiful day! After the Royal Crescent we made our way to the world famous Sally Lunn's to get the specialty buns we had been hearing about. The cafe itself was adorable, but the food and drinks was what made it really stand out. Oh boy! I got the most delicious Bailey's Hot Chocolate and a coffee and walnut bun.....I really could have just come back to SC after that! Another place that we wanted to see was the bridge that looked over the waterway. It was really pretty and had lots of different shops to go through. We also discovered a really nice park, tucked away in a neighborhood, where we could let out some of our energy from Sally Lunn's. Eventually we settled into a Starbucks for a bit to warm up and to get some wifi, but then went and got dinner at a pub called the West Gate. Finally, it was time to get back on the coach to go to the hotel where everyone crashed! I was sooooo tired after Saturday, but I knew I needed a good night sleep to prepare myself for another full day of traveling on Sunday!!
Sunday was filled with more amazing adventures! First stop, Stonehenge! It was about an hour away from our hotel, which was great and allowed for a quick nap. Stonehenge is in the middle of nowhere. When we got off of the bus all you could see was huge fields and sheep. SO MANY SHEEP! It was also the coldest day since I've been in England (around 15 degrees F). Cold. Very cold. We went and walked around Stonehenge, which was really amazing. They shared many myths about how this structure was formed, from giants to the ever popular alien theory. Regardless, it was really cool!! Unfortunately, it was very cold so we didn't stay very long because frankly it was beginning to hurt to stand outside ha. Our final stop before going back to Nottingham was Windsor Castle, one of the Queen of England's many residences. That drive from Stonehenge to Windsor was about an 1 1/2 which meant another nap (thank goodness!). The castle was beautiful, along with the city. I wish so badly that we were allowed to take pictures of the inside of the castle because it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Much of the castle is the exact same as it has been for hundreds of years, while other parts were restored to a near exact replication after a fire in 1992. Honestly, it was stunning! Another cool thing about the castle was that when we arrived we found out that the Queen was actually at Windsor Castle for the weekend and while we were there! Ummmm what?! 2 weeks in England and I'm already on the same property as the Queen....pretty great. Then I accidentally got lost down this corridor and bumped into the Queen herself. She was such a lovely woman! She invited me for tea and biscuits and we discussed the weather and politics.......ok that last part was a lie, but in my mind that happened haha. We really did go to the castle cafe and my hot chocolate did have a chocolate crown on top :) Finally, before we got on the bus to go home, we made one last stop at a shop called candy cupcakes....oh man. Seriously the best cupcake I've ever eaten and they were little works of art!!!! So cool!
At the Roman Baths!
The Bath Abbey
Getting my English pride on with two exchange students I met, Claire and Elnaz
The Bridge in Bath
Elnaz and I at the Royal Crescent
Stonehenge!!
A small portion of Windsor Castle
My fancy Hot Chocolate from Windsor Castle
Delicious cupcakes from Candy Cupcake!
Overall I guess my week was alright.... haha
So excited to continue my adventures over here! I've been blessed with about a million opportunities so we'll see what I actually have time for!
I'll try to blog more so that the posts won't be so long ha
I'll write soon!
Xx (how English people end almost all of their texts and notes)
I thought that I was not going to be able to watch the Superbowl this year which broke my heart! Although I generally follow college football and I avidly cheer for my Virginia Tech Hokies, as an American how can I not watch the Superbowl?! Luckily, there are other Americans here who feel the same way! We went to a bar called Walkabout which is Australian themed to watch the game! Of course it was much later where I was due to the time difference, but it was DEFINITELY worth seeing a Giants victory!! It was also worth watching a bunch of English guys pretending like they knew what they were cheering for when actually they don't know the rules to American football haha
After missing my first week of classes due to orientation (still something I don't quite understand), I finally went to my courses! Of course I'm only in a classroom 6 hours a week. At UoN (University of Nottingham) they really emphasize independent study, especially in social sciences. Being a sociology major, that means I have a lot of reading to do! I think its going to be good though. It will definitely continue to prepare me for my senior year as a Sociology major at CofC. I'm taking a Urban Life and Social Theory class, a Housing and Society course, and a Belief, Spirituality, and Religion class. I think they are all going to be interesting in their own ways. We'll see! Of course, I finish with classes on Tuesday....so every week I have a 5 day weekend. Totally unplanned by me, but I'm not going to argue!
One thing I'm trying to figure out is what to do with my three days during the week that I don't have classes. I have designated Wednesday as my reading and course work day, but typically I finish my work on this day, leaving me with wide open Thursday and Fridays. I knew that I needed to go on an adventure to find a coffee shop/cafe to be my go to for both coffee and an escape. This past Friday I walked about 10 minutes to a little town called Beeston, my goal: coffee and a bank! My wonderful Nottingham family, the Pawleys, told me there were several coffee shops in Beeston and they did not lie! Beeston has a lot of little shops, ranging from clothes, to bakeries, to chocolate shops, to cafes, and beyond! I found 5 coffee shops that over the course of the next 2 weeks I will be trying out! SO EXCITED! At the College of Charleston, coffee is kind of a big deal. Basically, coffee is how we socialize and function. I can't wait to explore these new places! I also found the bank that I use here in UK in addition to the Wilkinson (like CVS) and Tesco (like CVS on crack) that I found! Very successful trip to Beeston. I've decided this will definitely be my Thursday place to be!!
Ok so that was my week....now my weekend :)
I was very lucky to talk to my friend Claire and find out about a Saturday/Sunday trip to Bath, Stonehenge, and Windsor Castle. The price was just too good to be true and I knew several of the exchange students going, so I signed up!!
We woke up bright on early Saturday morning and got on a coach to Bath, England. It took about 2 1/2 hours, but when we pulled up we all knew that it was WORTH IT! Bath is a place that historically has drawn in the very wealthy and royal people of Europe. There is a definite Italian architectural influence in Bath, which was the most apparent at the Roman Baths. Everything was simply gorgeous!! The ceiling alone in the lobby would have been good for me, but the tour and the baths were extraordinary! It took about an hour or so to get through the entire tour because there was so much to take in! When we finished the tour, a small group of exchange students and myself decided to explore the city and hit up some other must sees in Bath. After exploring for a bit, we went to the Jane Austen Centre. I happen to be a big Jane Austen fan, so this was super exciting for me!!!!! There was a lot of history about her life in Bath and the literature she created there, not to mention lots of fun Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth memorabilia :) From here, we walked down to one of the wealthiest districts in Bath called the Royal Crescent. The name is deserved! It was insane!! The giant crescent of wealthy homes was absolutely beautiful! I keep having moments where I feel like I'm in a Disney movie, because everything seems like it can't be real. We spent a lot of time there goofing off on the green in front of the crescent and enjoying the beautiful day! After the Royal Crescent we made our way to the world famous Sally Lunn's to get the specialty buns we had been hearing about. The cafe itself was adorable, but the food and drinks was what made it really stand out. Oh boy! I got the most delicious Bailey's Hot Chocolate and a coffee and walnut bun.....I really could have just come back to SC after that! Another place that we wanted to see was the bridge that looked over the waterway. It was really pretty and had lots of different shops to go through. We also discovered a really nice park, tucked away in a neighborhood, where we could let out some of our energy from Sally Lunn's. Eventually we settled into a Starbucks for a bit to warm up and to get some wifi, but then went and got dinner at a pub called the West Gate. Finally, it was time to get back on the coach to go to the hotel where everyone crashed! I was sooooo tired after Saturday, but I knew I needed a good night sleep to prepare myself for another full day of traveling on Sunday!!
Sunday was filled with more amazing adventures! First stop, Stonehenge! It was about an hour away from our hotel, which was great and allowed for a quick nap. Stonehenge is in the middle of nowhere. When we got off of the bus all you could see was huge fields and sheep. SO MANY SHEEP! It was also the coldest day since I've been in England (around 15 degrees F). Cold. Very cold. We went and walked around Stonehenge, which was really amazing. They shared many myths about how this structure was formed, from giants to the ever popular alien theory. Regardless, it was really cool!! Unfortunately, it was very cold so we didn't stay very long because frankly it was beginning to hurt to stand outside ha. Our final stop before going back to Nottingham was Windsor Castle, one of the Queen of England's many residences. That drive from Stonehenge to Windsor was about an 1 1/2 which meant another nap (thank goodness!). The castle was beautiful, along with the city. I wish so badly that we were allowed to take pictures of the inside of the castle because it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Much of the castle is the exact same as it has been for hundreds of years, while other parts were restored to a near exact replication after a fire in 1992. Honestly, it was stunning! Another cool thing about the castle was that when we arrived we found out that the Queen was actually at Windsor Castle for the weekend and while we were there! Ummmm what?! 2 weeks in England and I'm already on the same property as the Queen....pretty great. Then I accidentally got lost down this corridor and bumped into the Queen herself. She was such a lovely woman! She invited me for tea and biscuits and we discussed the weather and politics.......ok that last part was a lie, but in my mind that happened haha. We really did go to the castle cafe and my hot chocolate did have a chocolate crown on top :) Finally, before we got on the bus to go home, we made one last stop at a shop called candy cupcakes....oh man. Seriously the best cupcake I've ever eaten and they were little works of art!!!! So cool!
At the Roman Baths!
The Bath Abbey
Getting my English pride on with two exchange students I met, Claire and Elnaz
The Bridge in Bath
Elnaz and I at the Royal Crescent
Stonehenge!!
A small portion of Windsor Castle
My fancy Hot Chocolate from Windsor Castle
Delicious cupcakes from Candy Cupcake!Overall I guess my week was alright.... haha
So excited to continue my adventures over here! I've been blessed with about a million opportunities so we'll see what I actually have time for!
I'll try to blog more so that the posts won't be so long ha
I'll write soon!
Xx (how English people end almost all of their texts and notes)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Let it SNOW?!
What a week!!!! It's hard to believe that one week ago tomorrow I was getting off of a plane! I have to say, it feels like I've been here much longer than a week, but not in a bad way. I think there is just so much going on between organizing classes, learning how their university system works, meeting friends, and exploring my new city that its hard to imagine I've only been here 6 days!
Just as a side note, I'm not great about updating things like this, so like I've said before I will try and post one or two times a week, but if you haven't heard anything...I'm fine...I'm just the worst at keeping any sort of journal.
A good part of my time spent in Nottingham, thus far, has been organizing my modules (classes) and trying to prepare for them adequately. The way that orientation was set up for exchange students required them to miss at the very least Monday and Tuesday modules. Well as fate would have it I ONLY have modules on Monday and Tuesday, so I missed all of my classes the first week....great. I was able to talk to all of my professors and it is all fine, but that means that I'm doing 2 weeks worth of course work to catch up. To make things a bit more interesting, you don't buy textbooks, which means for someone like me, a Sociology major, I will be living in the library renting books for 5 hours at a time. Very interesting.
Of course I can't spend all of my time working! I've been able to meet several people through my Bible study and other exchange students so I've been able to get lunch or hang out with lots of different people. We've gone into town a good bit and I was able to go on a little adventure by myself walking around my beautiful campus and taking some pictures. Also, nightlife in general is not something I am used to, but I've been tagging along with some exchange students to check out some favorite student spots. Very different from America! Some of the places I've been seem to be straight out of a movie. It has definitely been a "We're not in Kansas anymore....or even the United States" experience.
Today has been one of my favorite days in Nottingham yet. I woke up and met up with 2 American girls and an Australian exchange student to get coffee at a cafe that is on the very opposite side of campus and seemed to be a place not many students go to. COFFEE! I was very concerned about the availability of Diet Coke initially, but that has not really been my problem. The issue has been trying to find a cup of coffee that doesn't taste like dirt water. Well everyone....I found a place! I finally had a cup of coffee that was able to meet the standards of Kudu and Hope and Union (2 local coffee shops in Downtown Charleston that I like). After coffee we went to a part of the city that I had not been to before and went shopping for a bit. I definitely need to continue investing in jumpers (sweaters) because it is cold....very cold. When we finished shopping we went to the train station and got railcard passes, which will reduce the prices of train tickets (which is good because, God willing, I'll be going to London next weekend to visit my wonderful, beautiful roommate Shelby!!!) We got to take lovely pictures where we were not allowed to smile. Of course when you are told not to smile...all you can do is smile. I look like a Russian spy. Ridiculous. hahaha.
Now to explain the title of this blog post. While walking to the train station from shopping it began to very lightly snow on the city. It was actually very pretty and to someone that can count the number of times she's seen snow on her two hands, it was very cool. When we came out of the train station, however, it was no longer a light snow. It felt slightly like I was being slapped repeatedly by a freezing cold washcloth. We decided that we needed to escape the cold, so we went to a pub called The Cross Keys. This was probably the moment when I really felt like I was in England for the first time. We sat down and got nice warm chips (french fries) and burgers. We also picked a great time because we were able to watch the England/Scotland rugby game!! Yes, sitting in a pub, watching a rugby game alongside passionate fans, and drinking a London Pride beer (obviously I had to), it was nearly exactly how I has imagined it. Of course, I also imagined Prince Harry would be there waiting to take me to meet the queen, but we'll save that for my next pub :)
When we walked out of the pub after watching an English victory, my jaw about touched the snowy, white ground. In the time we had been in the pub, the ground was COVERED in snow!!! it is currently still snowing and it is supposed to keep snowing. What do you even do in snow? I mean in Charleston if there is the potential for ice everything shuts down....how do I respond. The answer ladies and gentlemen (and my father would be very proud of me for saying this) is LAYERS!! Basically I've been putting on so many articles of clothing that I can't move my arms higher than enough to open a door.
Anyway, I'm now back and warm in my dorm and will be doing course work all night. Oh yeah, no one really goes out on Saturday nights...it's their off night. The biggest night of the week to go out is Monday. Oh so many changes. Tomorrow, if the snow isn't too bad I'll be trying out a church and going to lunch at the very welcoming Pawley household (family friends from St.Andrews)! I really want to watch the Superbowl, but it won't be coming on here until around midnight and pubs close at 12:00 here! Well anyway, GO GIANTS!!!!! (Yes, Brown family I cheer for the Giants specifically because you converted me!)
Well stay warm my wonderful friends and family! I'll throw a snow ball in honor of y'all!
This is the Hugh-Stewart Hall. This is a dorm.....yes just like McAlister or Berry for anyone that goes to the College of Charleston. Not all halls look like this, but this is just too much like a Jane Austen novel to pass up!
The Portland Building is where the student union is, along with a couple of food courts and stores. Also a Starbucks :) Another thing that this campus is not short of is bars. Almost every building (seriously, dorms included) have bars. It is still so weird to watch people not only drink openly in their halls, but have the ability to buy alcohol on campus!
This is the lovely Willoughby Hall where I live. Anyone that lives in Willoughby Hall, except for me, would say this is not a good dorm and is actually one of the worst on campus. I, personally, like it. Although it is home to primarily 18 and 19 year-olds, making my 21 year-old self feel old, I really enjoy the location and my room. I also have a great suitemate that I share a study room with.
The building that is the most recognizable on the University of Nottingham campus and is found on every brochure is the Trent Building. It is very big and looks over a beautiful lake (that today was frozen). I imagine that if I walked to the green near the Trent Building right now, it would look too much like this haha
Lots of Love from Nottingham!
Just as a side note, I'm not great about updating things like this, so like I've said before I will try and post one or two times a week, but if you haven't heard anything...I'm fine...I'm just the worst at keeping any sort of journal.
A good part of my time spent in Nottingham, thus far, has been organizing my modules (classes) and trying to prepare for them adequately. The way that orientation was set up for exchange students required them to miss at the very least Monday and Tuesday modules. Well as fate would have it I ONLY have modules on Monday and Tuesday, so I missed all of my classes the first week....great. I was able to talk to all of my professors and it is all fine, but that means that I'm doing 2 weeks worth of course work to catch up. To make things a bit more interesting, you don't buy textbooks, which means for someone like me, a Sociology major, I will be living in the library renting books for 5 hours at a time. Very interesting.
Of course I can't spend all of my time working! I've been able to meet several people through my Bible study and other exchange students so I've been able to get lunch or hang out with lots of different people. We've gone into town a good bit and I was able to go on a little adventure by myself walking around my beautiful campus and taking some pictures. Also, nightlife in general is not something I am used to, but I've been tagging along with some exchange students to check out some favorite student spots. Very different from America! Some of the places I've been seem to be straight out of a movie. It has definitely been a "We're not in Kansas anymore....or even the United States" experience.
Today has been one of my favorite days in Nottingham yet. I woke up and met up with 2 American girls and an Australian exchange student to get coffee at a cafe that is on the very opposite side of campus and seemed to be a place not many students go to. COFFEE! I was very concerned about the availability of Diet Coke initially, but that has not really been my problem. The issue has been trying to find a cup of coffee that doesn't taste like dirt water. Well everyone....I found a place! I finally had a cup of coffee that was able to meet the standards of Kudu and Hope and Union (2 local coffee shops in Downtown Charleston that I like). After coffee we went to a part of the city that I had not been to before and went shopping for a bit. I definitely need to continue investing in jumpers (sweaters) because it is cold....very cold. When we finished shopping we went to the train station and got railcard passes, which will reduce the prices of train tickets (which is good because, God willing, I'll be going to London next weekend to visit my wonderful, beautiful roommate Shelby!!!) We got to take lovely pictures where we were not allowed to smile. Of course when you are told not to smile...all you can do is smile. I look like a Russian spy. Ridiculous. hahaha.
Now to explain the title of this blog post. While walking to the train station from shopping it began to very lightly snow on the city. It was actually very pretty and to someone that can count the number of times she's seen snow on her two hands, it was very cool. When we came out of the train station, however, it was no longer a light snow. It felt slightly like I was being slapped repeatedly by a freezing cold washcloth. We decided that we needed to escape the cold, so we went to a pub called The Cross Keys. This was probably the moment when I really felt like I was in England for the first time. We sat down and got nice warm chips (french fries) and burgers. We also picked a great time because we were able to watch the England/Scotland rugby game!! Yes, sitting in a pub, watching a rugby game alongside passionate fans, and drinking a London Pride beer (obviously I had to), it was nearly exactly how I has imagined it. Of course, I also imagined Prince Harry would be there waiting to take me to meet the queen, but we'll save that for my next pub :)
When we walked out of the pub after watching an English victory, my jaw about touched the snowy, white ground. In the time we had been in the pub, the ground was COVERED in snow!!! it is currently still snowing and it is supposed to keep snowing. What do you even do in snow? I mean in Charleston if there is the potential for ice everything shuts down....how do I respond. The answer ladies and gentlemen (and my father would be very proud of me for saying this) is LAYERS!! Basically I've been putting on so many articles of clothing that I can't move my arms higher than enough to open a door.
Anyway, I'm now back and warm in my dorm and will be doing course work all night. Oh yeah, no one really goes out on Saturday nights...it's their off night. The biggest night of the week to go out is Monday. Oh so many changes. Tomorrow, if the snow isn't too bad I'll be trying out a church and going to lunch at the very welcoming Pawley household (family friends from St.Andrews)! I really want to watch the Superbowl, but it won't be coming on here until around midnight and pubs close at 12:00 here! Well anyway, GO GIANTS!!!!! (Yes, Brown family I cheer for the Giants specifically because you converted me!)
Well stay warm my wonderful friends and family! I'll throw a snow ball in honor of y'all!
Lots of Love from Nottingham!
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