Everything Goes in Amsterdam & Bruges

Another trip down, another week beginning.

This weekend, Kirsten and I decided to take a little honeymoon vacation to Amsterdam and Bruges. Unfortunately a good chunk of the weekend was a little bit of a mystery, but the trip as a whole was quite an adventure!

Kirsten found the trip online through a program called “UK Study Tours” that offered day trips, UK weekend trips and Euro weekend trips at discounted prices and had a lot included for the price. So when we found out that they did an Amsterdam & Bruges trip, we knew we had to take advantage.

The mystery of the trip started up front – the website didn’t say where we’re staying or how we’re getting anywhere. It was all vague, but we didn’t think much about it until the day we left. So we were not entirely thrilled when we found out that we would be driving from London to Amsterdam. Yes, this is possible. We took a bus from Gatwick and took it on the Euro-Tunnel, a train going through the Chunnel that holds just cars, busses, and trucks. The whole ride took about 7 hours, and since we didn’t get on the bus until 11 PM I pretty much slept for most of the ride (well… On and off at least).

On our way to Amsterdam we found out that we would be staying right outside Amsterdam at the Lake Land Hotel in Monnickendam. At first, I was a bit skeptical when I heard this, but it actually wound up being perfect, and we had a great view! We got to the hotel at 7 AM, ate breakfast, and were told to be on the bus at 9 AM to head to Amsterdam for the day. You could still get to Amsterdam without the coach via the city bus or a taxi, but that wasn’t really necessary when we had our comfy bus already paid for.

After scarfing down breakfast trying to wake up, we got to Amsterdam and first did a canal tour. Although the misty weather made it a little difficult to see out the windows, we managed to see the quaint roads, lean buildings and homes, and beautiful canals. I’ve only seen pictures of Amsterdam before this weekend, but it was just as I’d seen and I imagined. And I took a quick 5-minute nap which was absolutely amazing.

After our canal tour, the group leader showed us around the main areas of Amsterdam – Dam Square, the Flower Market, Museum Square, etc. It’s amazing how big of a walking city it is, and even more amazing how much of a biking city it is! Even though the population of Amsterdam is small, there’s about 1.6 million bikes in the city! I wish I could have had time to do a bike tour, but that’s the first thing I plan on doing when I go back. (And yes, I very much plan on going back!

The Royal Palace, built when Napoleon invaded and had it built for his brother.

The “I AMsterdam” sign in Museum Square

We ended in front of the “I AMsterdam” sign in Museum Square, and decided to wander around and figure our day out as we went on. We both felt like it was very similar to Venice in the sense that you could just wander and find things and come across picturesque areas as you walked. And I later realized that Amsterdam is a good mix of Venice and Paris, two of my recently discovered favorite cities! First we came across Coster Diamond exhibition, which was incredible, and any woman’s heaven. It had tons of rings around, a replica of the British Royal Jewels, and a guide on how to order a diamond ring (pretty much explaining each part of the diamond – what a karat means, what the shapes are, what colors there are, etc.) I’ve already decided that my future fiancée can look for my engagement ring there.

Machines used to drill down diamonds. It can take up to 8 hours to cut 1 karat in half.

Next we decided to keep walking around and see what the city had to offer. We wandered around the 5th Ave of Amsterdam and came across a beautiful neighborhood that reminded us of South Kensington, where we’re living in London. Although it was a pretty neighborhood, it was completely empty and quiet on a Saturday afternoon, and that mixed with the cloudy weather made us feel a bit eerie… That’s when we decided it was time for a quick lunch break!

Afterwards we headed to the Flower Market. You’d think that it just had crazy plants growing, but for the most part it was thousands of bulbs and roots that would grow into tulips and other wonderful flowers. They even had cannabis growing kits. I kid you not. If you didn’t know, tulips are HUGE in Holland. This dates back to a long time ago, when Amsterdam was one of the biggest trading cities. Because of its location on the water and its great ships, they could travel essentially everywhere and trade. They traded often with Turkey, and often traded their materials for tulips – that’s how tulips made their debut in Amsterdam.

Lots and lots of bulbs!

I said I wasn’t kidding…

As we walked along the market, we found cheese stores and paraded around the store eating every free sample of different cheeses and stoopwaffel, which is pretty much a wafer/thin waffle with syrup in it. It was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted!! After our 2nd lunch of free samples… We went to Waterlooplein and the Rembrant Museum, but not without walking by dozens of coffee shops. The difference between coffee shops and cafes is that coffee shops sell weed, food with weed, and soft drinks. It’s crazy how you can smell a coffee shop even when you’re not directly near it. Oh well, everything goes in Amsterdam! And speaking of which, the Dutch government is trying to ban tourists or anyone who isn’t a Dutch resident from going to coffee shops. However, most Dutch people don’t smoke a lot of weed and it’s usually the tourists who take over the coffee shops, so it could totally hurt the tourism in Amsterdam. I guess we’ll see what happens in 2013! Now to get back in track – Waterlooplein is just a big flea market, and it reminded me a lot of Camden Market in London. Next was the Rembrant Museum, which I didn’t realize was at his old house! It wasn’t the most interesting museum, but the end was probably the best – it showed how he etched drawings on a gold plate and transferred to paper, as well as lots of his etched and sketches. I’m always amazed by artists and what talent they had, especially since I can’t draw anything more complex than a stick figure.

We became a little too familiar with this cheese shop…

After Rembrant, we went to find the Anne Frank house. It took a little while to find, and unfortunately, the house was underwhelming. We were both hoping for something more dated, like the original design of the house with a little renovation, but half the house was completely modernized and took away from our expectations. Later I learned that the Dutch are very contemporary compared to other European countries like Belgium, so it made a little more sense.

The busy streets of Amsterdam!

Pretty canals!

We needed a rest after our long day, and headed back to the hotel to nap and shower. After we headed back into Amsterdam for a walk around the Red Light District. It’s crazy how many people were in the alleyways checking out all the women. And it wasn’t even that many men over women. I personally found it intriguing, but extremely upsetting at the same time. Prostitution as well as almost everything else is so open there but it’s just a business transaction and nothing more. It was just very bizarre but interesting at the same time. And if you try to take any pictures, security guards are known for taking your camera and throwing it in the canals. So warning for the guys going to Amsterdam in the future – don’t take pictures of the women in the Red Light District. After that we just walked around and ate, and headed back to get some sleep for another busy day.

The Red Light District

Of course I took a picture of these delicious desserts…

—–

Waking up before 7:30 is never ideal, especially on a Sunday, but I couldn’t have been more excited for the day we had ahead of us! After breakfast and check out, we headed to the Cheese Farm & Clog-Making place that the hotel owned. We got to learn how the Dutch make their amazing cheese and see a clog-making demonstration. In all honesty, it was actually a lot more interesting and fun than it sounds. Kirsten and I both thought it would be this dinky little place, but it was really nice. And who knew that clogs were almost indestructible, that cheese has to be cooked at certain temperatures otherwise it’ll turn into another cheese, or that it takes 5 years of training to be able to make clogs to sell? It was already an educational and fun day by 10 AM, and it was awesome getting out of a city. Every trip I’ve been on while living abroad has been to a big city (except to Windsor), so I was extremely content being able to see farms and smell completely fresh air.

Yay cheese & clogs!

Cheese-making demonstration!

Clog-making demonstration!

Cheese samples from cheese made from the farm!

Next on our agenda was the beautiful city of Bruges (or Brugge) that I’ve heard about non-stop for the last year and a half thanks to my dad who is OBSESSED with the city. And then I found out why…

Bruges is literally a fairy tale city. It’s an old medieval city and dates back to so long ago. We even went to the church that claims to have the blood of Jesus in a holy vessel. And we actually got to see it! Unfortunately no pictures were allowed in the church, but it was so cool. Even if it’s not actually the blood of Jesus, I’ll keep saying it was. And the church was the nicest church. It was smaller and simpler than any church I’ve seen this far in Europe, and that’s what made me love it so much. It’s not as majestic as Westminster Abbey or as breathtaking as Sacre Coeur, but there’s just something about it that makes you feel comfortable and warm.

I’m in love with Bruges.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. In Brugge, they have horses & carriages as taxis. Unreal, right?

Cute little canal!

Belfort Clock Tower

Basilica of the Holy Blood, where the blood of Jesus is in the Holy Vessel. Sorry the picture is dark!

If you don’t know much about Bruges, the one thing you should know is you don’t need more than a day there. And we easily learned that. We spent the rest of our short time there walking around, exploring, and of course, eating  chocolate. We went to a store/tea room that claimed to have the best hot chocolate ever. OK, it wasn’t the best, but it was pretty great. We were given mugs as big as our heads full of hot milk and little cups of chocolate chips to mix in. It was so good, and on top of that we got waffles. Which were the most amazing waffles I’ve ever had!

The Dutch/Belgians like to use hot milk and let the customers put the chocolate in at their disposal.

Lastly, we HAD to buy Belgian chocolate! We both bought little bags that we wound up eating the whole thing on the bus and had a little chocolate tasting. My two favorites were the gingerbread covered with white chocolate and the hazelnut inside white chocolate with a hazelnut on top. SO yummy!!!

And after a long trip home, I’m back in London with less than four weeks left. Woof. The trip was such a fun experience and I’m glad I got to see two incredible cities in one jam-packed weekend. After having two crazy busy weekends in Paris, Amsterdam and Bruges, I’m VERY excited to be spending next weekend in London with two friends from school, Elisabeth (my roommate at school) and Kerry! Since Elisabeth has never been here, we get to do super touristy activities, which are always fun. And hopefully we can do the London Eye and Harrods, the two most touristy activities I still haven’t done!

Hope everyone had a fun weekend, but hopefully not too busy like mine! And Happy almost Thanksgiving to everyone back in the states! To everyone who is already home for break… I’m a little jealous. And if someone could send me some of my mom’s amazing turkey and stuffing, I’ll love you forever.

Paris, Je T’aime!

Well, I finally fulfilled my life-long dream of going to Paris! It has been my number one desired destination for as long as I can remember, but my weekend in Paris has come and gone faster than I could have ever imagined. I got to see literally everything I wanted to and have zero complaints about the weekend. Here’s how it all played out.

Friday

I arrived Friday a little after 6 PM. My friend who I was visiting, Nicole, met me at the train station and we took the metro back to her apartment. Her apartment has a slight view of the Eiffel Tower, which to me is more than enough. Even though you can just see the tippy top of it.

We decided to start our productive weekend off the bat – we first walked by the Seine River and saw Hotel de Ville, which actually isn’t a hotel (which is what I thought it was at first). It’s the town hall in Paris and it is absolutely beautiful when it’s lit up at night. We then walked to Le Marais to get some dinner at a cute café. Apparently, a very popular dinner choice here is salad with hot goat cheese melted on pieces of bread, so of course when in Rome, do as the Romans. (Well… Paris for my sake. Whatever.) After dinner, we took the metro to the Champs-Elyssées to walk by the Arc de Triomphe. It was so pretty! Even though the Champs-Elyssées could get touristy in a Times Square NYC way from what Nicole and other people have told me, it was still gorgeous and quaint. All of the buildings here are so similar to one another, but I think that’s good – no inconsistency in style. Nothing looks out of place, too modern, whacky, or bizarre. Even on a main touristy area the buildings were beautiful. The Arc de Triomphe was so pretty too! I loved it.

Panoramic View of Hotel de Ville (^)

 Arc de Triomphe (^) 

Walking along the Champs-Elyssées we could see the Eiffel Tower from afar and had to walk over there. So we did, but we took the majestic route, Rue de Saint-Honoré. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s pretty much the Fifth Avenue of Paris. We walked by Chanel, Harry Winston, Versace, Hermes, and so much more. If I didn’t already feel like a broke college student, walking down that street definitely did the trick. Minutes later, we finally arrived at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, and that’s when it really hit me that I was in Paris. Standing right next to it, under it, and far away from it was like living a dream. It was honestly so breathtaking, and even though it was raining, it couldn’t have looked more perfect. After soaking in the beauty of La Tour Eiffel, we decided to head home and get some sleep for the very long and jam-packed day we were going to have Saturday.

Almost at the Eiffel Tower! (^)

 The Eiffel Tower lighting up at 11 PM! So pretty! (^)

Saturday

On Saturday, we were out of Nicole’s apartment a little after 9 AM. Our first stop was the Pont des Arts, or the Lock Bridge/Love Bridge where couples put locks on the bridge to symbolize their unbreakable love for each other. Being the cheeseball and helpless romantic that I am, I decided that I need to be proposed to in Paris and then run to the Lock/Love bridge right after to put a lock on it. Apparently it’s banned to add locks to the bridge because there’s already so many and it could weigh the bridge down, but who cares? All is fair in love and war.

Pont des Arts (^)

View of the Seine from the Lock/Love bridge (^)

Locks on locks on locks (^)

After that, we walked along the Seine to head to Le Louvre to see the outside of the museum/building. It’s a lot bigger than I expected and was shocked at how quiet the area was for 10 AM on a Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to walk around inside the museum, but on my next trip to Paris (and there WILL be another trip!) I will 100% make sure I get to go inside the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa and other beautiful artwork. After walking around the front of Le Louvre, we went to the Tuileries Garden which was so pretty, even in the somewhat gloomy weather! It looks like the perfect relaxing area for a Sunday in spring. The beautiful fountain facing the Arc de Triomphe, the grassy garden area, and the atmosphere around just made it so pretty, even on a murky winter day. That’s when you know a place is truly beautiful – when you find it to be pretty even when it’s a gross outside.

 At the Louvre (^)

After spending a good 2 hours walking around, it was time for our reservation at Angelina’s, home to the best hot chocolate in the entire world. If you’ve had hot chocolate at Max Brenner, then take that hot chocolate and multiply it by 7 in awesomeness and chocolate density. Yep, that’s pretty much what Angelina’s hot chocolate is like. I had about three cups… but it was so worth it. I also got a delicious omelet and pain chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate, of course. 🙂

 Angelina’s! (^)

Before our food coma set in, we still had a lot to do! Next stop was the Eiffel Tower! It looked like it was going to rain relatively soon, so we rushed over and luckily didn’t have to wait too long to get to the top. And by the time we did, the sun started to break through the clouds. Lucky us! The view from the top was absolutely stunning. Seeing all of Paris (which only has one major skyscraper) was just perfect. The city is more perfect from above than from ground level… if that makes any sense. I didn’t want to leave, and I probably wouldn’t have if it weren’t so windy and cold at the top! And, did you know the Eiffel Tower was originally red and was supposed to be taken down after the Worlds Fair but never was? Imagine Paris with a red Eiffel Tower, or without one at all. That would be way too weird.

The Eiffel Tower by day (^)

View from the top (^)

View from the top 2 (^)

Afterwards we decided to walk around the grassy area in front of the Eiffel Tower because they had hundreds of painted bear statues lined up along the paths. It was called the United Buddy Bears, and they were very similar to the painted horses that the Nassau County Art Museum had years and years ago that are placed in the Americana (for anyone living in on Long Island). Each country had its own bear and was painted uniquely. It was so cute! Of course, I took pictures of/with the American, Polish, Croatian, Greek, and UK bears. How could I not?

 Me with my crazy windblown hair and the Greek bear! (^)

With the sun almost setting and rain clouds coming in, we headed to Musée de l’Orangerie, where Monet’s water lilies paintings are located. You can’t come to Paris and not see them! Now I’m not a big art/museum fan, but the paintings really were great. Before entering the rooms with the paintings, you walk into a small white room where you’re supposed to clear your mind of anything and everything so you can walk into the room with a clear head and absorb the abstract artwork. It was a really interesting concept. After that we just walked around the museum and saw some Picasso, Monet, and other work.

We needed to rest for a bit, so we headed back to Nicole’s apartment and ate some cheese and bread (how Parisian of us) and recuperated after a long day. Then we headed to Odéon where we got dinner and went out for a little afterwards. Calling it a night somewhat early, we needed to prepare for yet again, another productive, busy day in Paris!

Sunday

Sunday, obviously and unfortunately, was my last day. But that didn’t stop me from being the productive, touristy American I am! Because a lot of places are closed on Sundays in Paris, we thought it would be smart to go to the places that would obviously be opened on Sundays: the churches. But before that, we went to see Moulin Rouge! I’ve loved that movie since I first saw it so it was crucial for me to see it! First we went to Montmartre, which is definitely my favorite part of Paris. Climbing hills and stairs to get to the area, it gives you one of the best views in Paris, despite the fact that you can’t see the Eiffel Tower from there. In Montmartre is Sacre Coeur, one of the most beautiful basilicas I’ve ever seen. I decided that is where I will get married. Yeah… I know it’s a bit of a long shot, but I’ll continue to dream big.

Moulin Rouge! (Which translates to the red windmill in English!) (^)

Sacre Coeur (^)

 View of Paris from Montmartre (^)

After walking around in Sacre Coeur, we walked around the streets of Montmartre, which made me feel like I was in a tiny village in the middle of France, not at the top of a hill in one of the most popular cities in the world. It was just so perfect. We even walked by a little courtyard area with an accordion player playing stereotypical French music with a café next to him with the fall trees surrounding the courtyard and typical French buildings with a Dalmatian like one of the dogs from 101 Dalmatians. It was the most French thing I’ve ever witnessed, and that made me never ever want to leave.

Wandering the streets of Montmartre (^)

The most perfect scenery (^)

 Montmartre (^)

After Montmartre, we went back down to Île de la Cité to see Notre Dame. Located on a small island in the Seine, it was a beautiful Gothic church and was just like it was in the Hunchback of Notre Dame! Sunday was quite the Disney flashback day for me. Personally, I didn’t find the outside of Notre Dame as nice as Sacre Coeur, but the insides of both were breathtaking. Nicole told me that her art history teacher taught their class that every side on the outside is different from one another and represents a different season, but all the walls on the inside are identical. Kind of cool, right?

Notre Dame (^)

 View from the back (^)

After walking around there, we continued to walk around the Seine and found another lock bridge. We also happened to walk by Shakespeare and Company, the famous bookstore in Paris where many famous people have bought books in the past, including the one and only Julia Child! After that, it was time to get a nutella crepe, walk around Saint-Michele & Odéon, and head back.

The second lock/love bridge (^)

Shakespeare & Co. (^)

This weekend in Paris made me fall in love with the city. It’s my new favorite city in the world (aside from NYC) and I wish I could live there at some point in my life. I even got to use some of my 7 years of French that I learned throughout middle & high schools… Yay! Hopefully I’ll be back in Paris before I know it and see even more than I saw this weekend, if that’s even possible.

—

This week is pretty much the same as every other week: work work and work! I’m going to see Swan Lake on Thursday, which should be great. I’ve always wanted to see it so I’m glad I have the chance to go at the Royal Opera House in London! And next weekend is another travel weekend – I’ll be in Amsterdam & Bruges!! Can’t wait for the fairytale land weekend! Hope everyone has an easy, quick work/school week!

Catching Up on London Life

It’s been a crazy, busy week and weekend. It all went by so fast – and it’s already Sunday night, almost time for a new week!

This whole week was full of working again. I did more social media and editing work this week, which is all a great learning experience. It’s weird to think that I’m only interning for a total of seven weeks, and after this week I’ll only have 4 more weeks to go. Not really digging how fast this time is going by… Only 3 more weekends in London. Scary!

Speaking of only having a few weekends left in London… I’ve finished booking all of my trips! That’s why I only have so few weekends to spend here. The weekend of November 9th, I’m going to Paris! I’ve literally been dreaming of going to Paris since I was probably 7. I love everything French – the language, food, clothes, scenery, everything. I’m hoping to go to Paris again in the future for more than two days, but I really couldn’t be more excited. I may not sleep the 2 days I’m there just to make sure that I don’t miss anything major. And I can’t wait to start using my French (which I haven’t used much of since senior year of high school)! The weekend after, I’m heading over to Amsterdam & Bruges! These are two places that my parents love, so I’m very excited to visit. The canals in Amsterdam and the quaint buildings in Bruges make both places beautiful from what I’ve seen an heard. After that, I’ll be here in Londontown since two of my friends are visiting, but the weekend after I’m going to Dublin to actually see the two friends who are coming the weekend before! And since the week after is a study period and I only have class on Fridays and the internship is over, I have off that Monday-Thursday. So during that time I’m going to Prague to visit my friend, and I’ll be there to celebrate her 21st birthday! So much traveling, so little time. But I really couldn’t be more excited!

Anyway, to continue on what I’ve been up to lately: this weekend was a lot of running around and being busy. I did get to go back to Borough Market though! I have made the decision that it is my absolute favorite place on earth. The food is literally to die for. I even bought fruit and cheese to take home because I couldn’t leave without any food from the market.

This past weekend and this upcoming week is Halloween (also known as Halloweekend/Halloweek). Halloween is pretty much the same here as it is at home. Actually, I’m not 100% sure if the kids go trick-or-treating here, but I’m assuming they do. I guess I’ll find out Wednesday. But one difference I did see in costumes is that almost all British people dress up in costumes but make it zombie-style by slathering on white face paint and adding some red paint to their costumes and faces. It’s kind of easy to see who’s British and who’s not.

Last update: in my Modern British Drama class, we get to see 6 shows during the remainder of the semester. Tuesday is the first show day! We’re seeing a preview to the show “Khadija is 18.” The preview is just a pre-showing pretty much and it’s the same as the regular show. It should be pretty cool! I’ve always loved theatre, so I’m very very excited!

Hope everyone is partaking in a lazy Sunday and had a great weekend! And Happy Halloweek!

So Far, So Fun!

As I’ve posted about twelve times, my parents are in England this week! We’ve been having such a great week! But since they went to Bath yesterday morning and aren’t back until late tonight, I finally have some down time to myself, and I wanted to blog a quick update on everything.

Fighting through the rough jetlag and minimal hours of sleep, my parents were troopers walking through my neighborhood seeing my buildings and exploring Covent Garden and Soho. My dad kept raving about a wine bar that they went to last time they were in London with my brother, so we figured we’d try to find it. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in finding it, but we found another awesome restaurant, a Tapas place called Pix Pintxos with a great lunch bargain on Sundays, that we can add to the books. Spending the day walking, shopping, and catching up was the perfect start to the week. We ended the long day by going to a delicious Italian restaurant, Signor Sassi, that made you feel like you were in Italy with the waiters singing in Italian every chance they had and the family-sized portions. Yum! And since it was right off Knightsbridge, we got to see Harrods! It was even more amazing to see at night with all of the beautiful lights.

Harrods! So pretty!

The next day, we decided to head over to the Victoria and Albert Museum (which is only a 5 minute walk away, score!). It wasn’t much of an outside day since it was raining pretty hard in the morning. We wanted to do a guided tour, but were ridiculously bored after about 10 minutes. We were pretty much like those students in school who just can’t seem to concentrate on anything the teacher is saying. Well… at least that goes for me. So we decided to choose the better option: we went to the Ball Gown Exhibit that I’ve heard so much about! It wasn’t as interesting for my dad, but my mom and I loved it!

Ball gown worn by Sandra Bullock and featured in a Gossip Girl episode! (^)

Ball gown worn by Beyonce. I wonder if they had to have the mannequin customized for Beyonces crazy curves. (^)

One of my favorites! (^)

 The middle ball gown was worn by Princess Diana. (^)

After spending a decent amount of time dreaming about wearing one of those dresses someday, I had to run to class, but thankfully for my parents, the weather cleared up and they were able to do a double decker bus tour! Later in the day, we went to dinner in SoHo and saw my first show while here! It’s called Baggage, and it’s a very small production. It was in a small theatre and had a 7-person cast. It took place in Primrose Hill and was all about online dating; it was really fascinating to learn some statistics (such as 39% of those who marry someone they met via online dating divorce… sorry that’s one of the few statistics I can remember) and see the show. It was really clever and we all enjoyed ourselves!

Tuesday was a less family-oriented day because I had my placement interview in the morning! I’m officially interning at ZoneOne Radio in London! It’s a community radio station for Central London. It just started in January 2012, so it’s a start-up, which hopefully means I’ll be able to bring a lot to the table. I officially start on October 15th and couldn’t be more excited! Later in the evening I was able to meet up with my parents, and we ate at a pub in Notting Hill Gate and went to Churchill Arms, a famous pub in London that apparently Winston Churchill used to frequent. They had old artifacts hanging on the walls, which was really interesting decor. It was awesome to see!

The past day or two I’ve been catching up with homework and getting organized. On Monday & Tuesday, I have my finals for my classes, and Wednesday I’m off to Rome & Venice with a few friends for our Fall Break! It’s going to be such a fun week! I cannot believe how fast the program is flying by… on Tuesday I was officially here for a month. Craziness!

Travel update: I’ve booked a few more trips since my last trip! In early November, I’m heading to Paris, in mid-November I’m going to Amsterdam & Bruges, and in late November to early December I’m going to Dublin and Prague!! SO EXCITED! I feel like I haven’t done as much traveling as I’d like to so far, but I”m really pumped for my future trips.

I probably won’t have a chance to blog until Sunday, so sorry for the delay in posting. Have a great week & weekend! 🙂

Making Moves and Planning Trips

FINALLY. I booked my tickets to travel around Europe!

On September 21 until September 23, my friend Kirsten and I are traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland! If you’re not sure where it is, click here for a map. I’ve never been too gung-ho about going to Scotland, but it’s going to be a beautiful trip. We’re staying in a hostel in a perfect location and ridiculously close to Edinburgh Castle. We were told to go to a Sky Bar while we’re there, so that’s definitely on our list of adventures. The train ride is between 5-6 hours, and I’m actually excited for it; a long travel up to Northern England and Scotland is going to be stunning. Originally on the weekend we’re going to Scotland, a few of us were originally going to go to Paris, but if I leave later, I’ll be able to crash where my friend Nicole is living! You always have to opt for the cheapest (but at the same time, reliable and safe) option while traveling, since it all adds up and can get very expensive.

In mid-October after our two finals, we have a 5-day long break. My friends and I are traveling to Rome for 2 1/2 days, and Venice for 2 days! I’ve been to Florence before, as I said in my last post, but Rome and Venice are two completely different places. I actually thought Rome and Venice were a lot closer, but they’re actually on completely different sides of the country! Florence is land-locked and located in the hilly Tuscany, while Rome and Venice are both on or close to water with very different atmospheres (from what I hear). We took our nerd-status to the extreme and checked out an Italian travel guide for the best places to go, eat, shop, explore, etc. It’s going to be a great trip! We’re also taking a train from Rome to Venice, which will also be a great part of the trip. Isn’t it the best when the actual traveling part is just as exciting as the rest of the trip? Also, other people in the BU program have awesome trips planned as well; some are going to Greece, Spain, and even Africa!

Looking ahead, I’m definitely traveling to Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, and Prague. My friend actually found a great weekend trip to Amsterdam and Bruges, two beautiful, quaint (sorry, that was the best word I could think of) cities. Because you don’t need too much time in either of the cities, it’ll be a great, but speedy, weekend trip. I have friends in Paris, Dublin, and Prague, so hopefully housing will be taken care of! And Barcelona… well, let’s be honest. What college student wouldn’t want to go there?

 

In other news…

Today was our first day of our Elective A class. As I believe I mentioned in another post, I’m taking “Writing in Today’s Britain: Meet The Writer.” So far, we’ve read Stephen Brown’s play, “Future Me.” It’s a crazy, bizarre play, but definitely compelling. One awesome thing about the class is that we do get to actually meet the authors, and part of our class is to interview the author when they come in. Tomorrow, my job will be to interview Stephen Brown! I found his play somewhat disturbing, but really intriguing, so hopefully it’s a decent interview. We’re reading plays, a memoir, two novels, and poems. It should be a really great class! 

This week is our first full week of classes, so we’re all hoping it gets us more into the swing of things with schedules and what not; so this week will kind of be a slow week. This weekend, I’m going to Oxford and Blenheim Palace, the palace where Winston Churchill was born in the 1870’s. Hopefully I’ll get to do some more exploring of London on Friday and Sunday. I could so get used to this whole three-day weekend thing…