Sunday, May 16, 2010

It's Been A While


Long pause is posts, and I'm not sure why. I haven't been too busy at all since classes finished on May 7th. My last final is this Tuesday, so we've had a nice break since then. Me and my friend Sarah [from Boston] went to Ibiza from the 8th-13th. I had never heard of the place until we got here, but I'm so glad we found it. It is a small Island off the east coast of Spain, and is part of the Balearic Islands. It's pretty cool to be able to say that I have now swam in the Mediterranean Sea! The water was a bit cold, but since every way we were there was in the high 70s possibly low 80s, it was a nice cool down. We spent our days relaxing by our hotel pool or on the beach, and even went parasailing and canoeing. Our nights were usually spent playing 'golf' [the card game]. We ended up playing over 25 games throughout the whole trip! The Ibizan sunsets were quite amazing, as you can see in the pictures.







Because of the ash clouds, we were very lucky to even get to Ibiza. All of the other islands airports were closed the day we left, and we even got an email once we arrived at the hotel from the airline apologizing for our flight being cancelled. All in all it was an AMAZING trip, and I'm just glad luck was on our side:)

Home in 4 Days! . . . wow. it's so crazy how fast this semester went.
Packing sucks.. I have started 'pre-packing' all of the things I won't need anymore, and It is going to be quite a pain to get both suitcases under 50lbs.. but I think I can do it. Getting to the airport with 3 suitcases is also going to be a pretty big hassle, but Sarah is coming most of the way with me so that will be a HUGE help!

I will really miss Scotland and the people I have met, but I am also very excited to get home, especially since Tyler will be graduating, so lots of family will be at the house! I'm also looking forward to watching BASEBALL, even if it is just on TV and even if its a Tigers Royals game.. It doesn't matter to me, I just need to see it:) American food is also another thing I can't wait to have back. El Agave [so I guess not american food.. but you know what I mean..] is one place I will be going to in my first few days home. I have been invited to my first game at the new Twins Stadium too[and they play the yanks!] I have so much to look forward to upon my arrival home, but am slowing down to enjoy the last few days I have here! Can't wait to see many of you soon and kick off the summer! :) Hope all is well with everyone! <3



Monday, April 19, 2010

Spriiiing Break 2010



Me and three other girls[in the left picture] decided to spend our 10 days of spring break traveling around Europe. We got EuRail passes for all of our train travels, and this was good for three countries. The countries we chose were France, Italy, and Germany.

The first leg of travel was from Stirling all the way down to the southern
coast of England to a town called Dover. From Dover, we took about a 1.5 hour ferry ride to Calais, France. From Calais we then took a train down to Paris for our first night.


Sleeping arrangements were quite interesting because to save money we got 2-person hotel rooms, and split the cost
between the four of us. It was pretty cozy(as you can see in the picture), and quite luxurious if you compare it to the nights we had to sleep on a train.

Our first day in Paris was spent sightseeing literally all day! We left our hotel for the Eiffel Tower at about 9am and arrived back to the hotel around 5pm. During this time we saw the Eiffel Tower(of course), The Louvre, Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triumph, pretty much all Paris..at least if felt like it. When we got back to the hotel we google mapped where we had
gone, and found that it was 10 miles[plus the stairs we climbed up the Eiffel Tower, since we got in the stairs line]! So you can imagine at this point we were ready to crash..which we did for about 2 hours. I'm afraid we would've slept through the night if The Hard Rock Cafe wouldn't have been on our minds:) The wait was over an hour at the Hard Rock, but we were too excited to leave. We hung out at the bar until our table was ready, then enjoyed one of our top meals of the trip!
Day 2 in Paris was much more laid back. Our train left Paris that night, so we had the day to finish exploring. We went on a sightseeing cruise of Paris, on the Seine River, checked out the Paris shopping scene, had lunch in a small cafe, and then just relaxed at a park by the Eiffel Tower.

After leaving Paris we were headed south for Italy. We went through Nice, France, which is on the beach, so the views from the train were amazing. We rode the coast of France and Italy for most of the ride. We eventually arrived in Venice in the late afternoon. [we were forced to cut Rome and Milan out of our trip due to traveling issues :( ] Venice was very beautiful, but very very confusing. Even with a map the tons of small streets, canals, and bridges, make is to hard to get around. I am still very surprised that we found our hotel because it was just a small door leading up to like 4 rooms. The Venice room was so romantic .. haha :) our bed had a canopy and everything. We only spent one night in Venice, but had the whole next day to explore Venice, until our next late-train left for Germany. Exploring Venice was awesome. The markets, shops, and restaurants along the canals are all gorgeous [but we were very disappointed we didn't take a gondola ride]. We all got rings from the markets, that are made in Venice with Murano Glass, and of course us American's had to hit up the Hard Rock Cafe--Venice for dinner! oh and who could forget about the Gelato! yum.



We then headed to Germany, through Austria, but because it was a night train, we didn't see much. We arrived in Berlin the next day, and were too tired to do much. We went to eat at an SMALL Italian Restaurant near our hotel. And I might add that we were the only ones eating there. It was very good though, and very cheap, which was a very nice relief. The next day in Berlin we had some great tour guides. Allison knows a guy that came to high school in Minnesota for a year, so him and his best friend showed us around. They took the tour very seriously and gave us some good information! It was a very fun day and we ended it at a delicious [and yes american] 50's diner:) Our last day in Berlin was spent at the ZOO!! It is home to the largest number of species of all the world's zoos:) We had a very fun day there, despite a few rain showers, then played cards for a few hours at the train station before heading back to France.

We were planning to go to the Normandy Beaches before heading home, but didn't get to Bayeux in time:( [sorry dad] By this time we were dead tired, so we enjoyed the fact that our room in Bayeux had 2 single beds and one double. Yes. That means we all had our own space. Me and Sarah shared the double and her quote of the day was "I'm so glad there's a double.. I need to ease myself back into a single bed, I don't think I could make the transfer all in one night." :) We crashed early, and at 5am headed to Calais to finish up the journey. All of the train rides back put us back in Stirling the next morning at about 9. We got to walk through campus Monday morning looking quite zombie-like while everyone was on their way to class..great end to the break.

All in all it was an AMAZING experience that I never dreamed of having, and I owe it all to my parents for making it possible for me:) After seeing so much I feel like I am almost ready to come home. The countdown is on, and i am so ready for summer, outdoor baseball, tennis, golf...Everything:) [as long as this volcano doesn't keep me in Scotland]
Hope all is well with everyone at home, and that you are all enjoying the beautiful weather!

here's one more picture of us in venice:



Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Luck of the Irish!















Saint Patrick's Day week/weekend was so much fun. We were in Stirling for St. Patrick's Day, and then Thursday we left for Ireland. We stayed in a hostel in Belfast for the 3 nights that we were there. It was a 20 person room. Sounds pretty creepy right.. but it wasn't bad at all. The beds were pretty uncomfortable, but we paid 6 pounds a night, so I guess you get what you pay for!! Thursday and Friday we just explored Belfast, and then Saturday morning we got on a coach bus to Dublin for the Ireland vs. Scotland 6 Nations rugby game! We arrived in Dublin with plenty of time to see downtown Dublin, then we had to meet up with the guy that had our tickets.. on a corner. We got our tickets and when we looked at them to our surprise they said Row C. We got very excited but didn't know how good they were really going to be until be got there and the usher said "three rows from the field!" The seats were Amazing(as you can see in the picture), and it was a great game! We planned on sleeping on the bus ride back to Belfast but the drunk rowdy fans did not let that happen. Singing, chanting, and drinking (i guess its legal here to drink on buses) the whole ride back. We got back to Stirling on Sunday, and went right back into school mode with a presentation on Monday, and an essay that was due today. I was happy with the outcomes of both of them, but have another essay, and an essay test due next week, and then SPRING BREAK. Finally! Hope all is well in Minnesota..and California :) Good Night.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Edinburgh--Rugby


We returned to Edinburgh this weekend for some 6 Nations rugby action. We went to The Three Sisters, which is our favorite pub in Edinburgh, and also the pub in the picture! The picture is taken from the window out our hostel room. We thought it would be convenient to be close to the pub, but the downside was the noise! We showed up at around 3pm, which was 'too late' to even get a seat. The place was already completely packed! The first game was Ireland vs. Wales, and Ireland took the W. Then we watched Scotland take on England and... It was our first non-loss!! We tied. :) Still hanging in last place, but the night was a lot of fun, and the fans were just nuts. I have never, and probably won't ever see so many kilts again in my life! Our trip to Ireland is coming up this Thursday, and I am so so excited! Speaking of rugby...we just purchased tickets to go to the Ireland vs. Scotland game on Saturday in Dublin!! All of the St. Patty's Day action plus the rugby experience should make it an awesome trip! I am also taking classes out here.. haha.. I always seem to forget to mention them:) They are going alright.. I have a lot of work that is going to be due pretty soon, but I am good under pressure.. I think! I also added a video that I took of the band that played in between the rugby games! They we're so much fun to watch..and very Scottish! :)

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sorry for the long pause in my updates. Not much going on around here.. just getting all my classes figured out and things like that! I have a presentation with Allison due this Wednesday in our cinema class. It's on the movie Pan's Labyrinth, so hopefully it goes well. I'm not a fan of presentations, but doing in with Allison will hopefully help. We are going to Edinburgh this upcoming weekend! We are hitting up the pubs down there for the Scotland vs. England 6 Nations rugby game.. so that should be pretty crazy! We were also in Edinburgh last weekend for a coach bus trip with a large group. We had a little bit too much fun on Friday night, which made the coach trip on Saturday terribly hard to get through. The fact that we went to a Whisky Distillery may have added a little bit to the problem as well.
Beside all of the going out and homework we are also trying to plan our spring break trip. Our break is not until April 2-9, but it'll be nice once all of the planning is done. It's a lot of hard work, and taking up a lot of time, but of course it will be worth it! This weekend was pretty relaxed, besides a Pub Crawl, and "Party in the USA" themed bash. It was good to relax a little before the week begins. I need to get working on my essays that are due before spring break, but it's hard to get motivated on things that aren't due for a while.

Here's a picture of me and the girls towards the end of our pub crawl!

Hope spring is bringing good weather to everyone! And if not.. at least it's bringing baseball season :)




Saturday, February 20, 2010

Classes

Classes started on Wednesday, and they all went pretty smooth for the most part. I just had lectures, where its a large group and we just listen. Next week we start seminar/tuorials, and this is when the group is divided and we meet with a smaller group and have more of a discussion. I am not looking forward to these, but I think it will be fine! My computer charger broke a few days ago :( but I just ordered my new one today, and it should be here next week. I''m just hoping it gets delivered to the right address! That's all of an updat I have for now! Hope the weather is nice and cold in MN!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Home Stay and Stirling Arrival

On Wednesday we were bussed over to Stirling to stay with a host family. I was with one other girl, and we just had a host mom. She was a very sweet lady with the cutest accent! We also got to meet two of her seven grandchildren while we were there. Her daughter owns a hair salon in Stirling so I get discounts there while I am here:) While we were staying with our host families, the group of students got together during the days for some group activities. We visited the Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, and even went "10 pin" bowling and got to see Avatar. Saturday we were brought to the campus from our home stay, and finally got to unpack for good! Living out of suitcases is such a hassle, and it feels so good to be settled in! Our rooms are pretty small, but they have lots of storage area, and I find it to be pretty cozy. Here is a picture of me and my host mom, and I will be adding all of my pictures to Facebook as soon as I can!