March 21-26: Wrapping Up; Belgium & France

So after being home for two days we decided that we were so sick of London that we should go to Belgium and France and see some adorable towns and awesome World War I sites!!

But for real? Belgium is my new favourite place on Earth. I couldn't get enough of it and granted, I would probably get sick of it after a while but I love how small and quaint everything is! PLUS, they have the best

Lace,

[French] Fries,

Belgian Waffles,

AND

CHOCOLATE!

And, yes, I'm proud to say I bought and tried all of the above :)

Day 76 - MONDAY

March 21st

"Welcome to Brugge!

Here, have enough chocolate to feed a small army!"

We hopped on our coach at 6 AM to go to Dover port only to miss the 8:30 ferry and have our 9:40 ferry break down. So we had to wait two hours for the 10:50 ferry which meant we would miss our Chocolate Museum tour. Luckily, Dursteler rocks and called the place and got us in for the next morning.

Also on this trip, I started my pants boycott a little early and just wore dresses and skirts the whole time! Best decision ever :)

We checked into our hotel, explored the city a little bit, and had dinner. On our ventures in the city, we came across the World's Best Hot Chocolate. Guaranteed.

A complicated process of dropping a cupcake-sized
cup of chocolate filled with chocolate chips
into a cauldron of warm milk

Bigger than my face.

Being in Brugge, Belgium, every other shop on the street is a chocolate shop. So, by the end of the night, we were all sick to our stomachs because of the 7000 pounds of chocolate we had just consumed so we went back to the hotel and got healthy dinners  and watched Dan In Real Life :)

Day 77 - TUESDAY

March 22nd

"Sick of chocolate yet?"

Chocolate Museum made me feel like a fatty.

Needless to say, YES, I was sick of chocolate. But, actually that's not saying a lot considering I don't like chocolate to start with. Crazy, I know. So we did the Chocolate Museum in the morning and then got to explore the town again on our own. We shopped a little bit, I got a handmade lace apron (Belgium invented Lace) and then Shelbi and I went on the boat tour of the town because Brugge is like Venice, built on a system of canals! It was a beautiful day and so cool to see the town!

Oh, and before the boat ride, we went to this cafe called Caramel and got real Belgian waffles. I got mine, with of course, caramel because I was so DONE with chocolate. And, in case you were wondering, they are WAY more AMAZING than anything you've ever had before. These people don't mess around. This is serious business. I was a very happy girl.

Donkey's got nothing on Belgium..

Boat tour of Belgium!

Then, we jumped on our loyal coach and drove to Iepes, France (pronounced like 'Eep') to visit Flanders Fields Museum! This was the real reason why we took this trip and, lemme tell ya, it was totally worth it. I'm a history major but I've never been able to get super excited about AMERICAN history except when my grandpa would tell me stories of when he was in World War II and THEN, hearing it first hand, made it exciting to me. So, of course SEEING it first hand was going to be interesting. And sure enough, I've never been so touched and in awe about WWI. The museum was one of the coolest experiences of my life and suddenly,a lot of things began to make sense (history wise). Stories and little details that I find absolutely FASCINATING came to my attention and I just loved every second of it. Also, it just made me think of my grandpa and his stories and made me remember how my love for history began. And, donuts afterwards didn't hurt either :)

Maybe I'm not as sick of chocolate as I thought ;)

Day 78 - WEDNESDAY

March 23rd

"Lemme tell you aboot a war"

We woke up in Amiens, France, went to see the tallest cathedral in France, Amiens Cathedral, then shopped and I got to practice my french! Yay!

Pretty, no?

Then it was bus ride to Somme Battlefields where we had a Canadian tour guide who had thee BEST accent and kept saying ABOOT and I would giggle every time :) The Somme Battlefields were beyond amazing and surreal. It was an interesting and super educational trip that I wish everyone would make at least once in their lifetime. I was so cool to be able to walk IN the trench of the British and see all the monuments raised for the dead bodies found in No Man's Land. Then to see  German Front and realize that there are still active mines just made it all so real. A somber mood fell over the group like I've never seen before. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I never wanted to leave.

Somme Field

Unfortunately, we had a ferry to catch. But, I'm still so thankful for the time we did spend there. It was nice because right before we left, we took a huge group picture on the battlefield. A picture to commemorate our last major trip together. It was bittersweet to say the least.

And a huge sign that this adventure is coming to an end. I still can't believe how fast it has gone by and that in only 19 days I'll be stepping off a plane in Phoenix Airport into the loving arms of my family. I can still vividly remember the day I left and I cut the hug with my mom short for fear of not wanting to let go if I held on too long. And of course to fight back tears. As much as I have LOVED my time here, it's definitely time to go home. Please, 3 weeks, go by fast, okay?

March 14-19: Drink some beer, kick a leprachaun, and kiss me, I'M IRISH!

Ireland. St. Patrick's Day. 2011.

Let's get the party started.

St. Patrick's Day parade

For the most part, Ireland's not that interesting. I mean, yes, GO THERE at least once in your life. However, do not make a week long trip of it unless it is over March 17th. THAT'S when the good times roll :)

Day 69 - MONDAY

March 14th

"My Half Birthday"

Nothing was going on this day but I had to go to a baptism for a little girl in my ward. It was her actual birthday and me and Laura made the long trek out to Essex to be there for her. It was adorable; such a sweet memory. Also, they had a buffet afterwards for everyone and they had SUSHI!! because the family is half-asian, so they had egg rolls and noodles and rice and AWESOME food!!

Day 70 - TUESDAY

March 15th

"3 AM Wake Up Call"

Yes, 3 in the morning we left the Centre to catch a flight to Dublin. Yuck. This day was mostly travelling but, as a group of fun people, we made the most of our time in the airport and on the coach. Then, once we got to Dublin, we took a tour of the Guinness Factory!

I feel like it would have been cooler to me if I actually DRANK beer, but ultimately, it was neat. And we got free drinks at the end!

Then, we proceeded to go and have dinner at the Brazenhead Pub, the oldest pub in Ireland! We were supposed to have a guest speaker come and tell us Irish Folk stories but he never showed, of course. But the dinner was fun and pretty good. I was a little creeped out by the chicken by that's okay. I forged through it!

Day 71 - WEDNESDAY

March 16th

"Pre-Festivities"

This day was basically pretty free except we had to take part in two cultural things of Ireland. So we did the Natural History Museum and participated in Dancing in the Street! Where everyone parties and dances in this giant group. We did traditional Irish jigs and had the time of our life!!



After dancing, we did some shopping and got dinner at this little American restaurant called Eddie's Diner. Sort of like a 5 & Diner back in the States. With a jukebox that you can pick songs on and it was just such a cute atmosphere!

Day 72 - THURSDAY

March 17th

"No chance in heck I'M getting pinched today!"

We woke up bright an early and got ready for the party day of the century! St. Patty's Day, baby! With 38 other students all dressed up, I headed out to the streets to watch the AMAZING parade. We had front row seats and had a blast just partying it up standing there for an hour and a half before it started. We were decked out in green and even bought Green Shamrock Shakes from McDonald's to celebrate! It was outstanding!!

Yes, that is green hair!

Needless to say, we were the most rambunctious group there. We took over and watched the non-Irish, Tim Burton freak show that was the parade. It was awesome though, and I LOVED IT!! I can't even explain to you some of the things we saw but it seemed like the person who thought of the floats and costume ideas was on LSD or something!

Then, we packed on the bus and headed to Kilkenney, Ireland which is about an hour and a half south-west of Dublin. Why we came here, I still haven't figured out but it was enjoyable. AND it was our last night ever in a hostel!! The one good thing that I can say came out of the trip to Kilkenney is that we had dinner at a real Irish pub ON St. Patty's day and people-watched drunks till 1:30 in the morning. Success!!

Day 73 - FRIDAY

March 18th

"Hangover Galore"

The next morning, everyone was let loose in Kilkenney and allowed to do whatever they wanted to get a feel for the town. Unfortunately, we were also recovering from the crazy day/night before and had no gumption to get up and go.. So we just lazied around and sat in the castle gardens for an hour and a half until we decided to get lunch and get on the bus to go to the Rock of Cashel.

It was a beautiful sunny day, can you blame us??

Rock of Cashel... aaaand my professor acting
as the high and mighty man that he is :)

Then, we got BACK on the coach and drove to the airport to fly NOT RYANAIR home and take WestBus home and get home at 2 AM. Then, I proceeded to throw my clothes in the wash and call my parents so I didn't get to bed till like 3:30. So worth it though. I miss them.

Again, till next time!





March 7-12: A Wale of a time!!

SO. now that Italy is over, we have the rest of our March Madness ahead of us. 7 countries in 4 weeks and we have 1 down. Here.We.Go.

So the week started off fairly normal, classes both days except on Tuesday we went to the Mosque that's here in London. Scratch that, the group went, I stayed home due to illness and exhaustion. Blech. But apparently it wasn't that great anyways.

Then on Wednesday, we had another History 323 class in the morning to make up for missing one week. Then me and Emily went to the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House! The only reason I'm telling you this is because IT'S AMAZING. If you're ever in London, visit the British Museum, The Dulwich Picture Gallery, and the Courtauld Gallery. My top three favourites by far!! Along with the Victoria & Albert.

Wednesday night, we went as a group to see Madame Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall. Now, I went in to this opera with a very open mind and stayed awake the whole time (unlike MANY others in the group) and tried my hardest to keep up with the plot line. However, Madame Butterfly is possibly the worst opera to see if you've never seen one before. I highly recommend NOT seeing this one first. I like opera just not Madame Butterfly. I hated the characters and the plot itself was stupid and stereotypical. The two main characters were so flat and annoying. Immature and selfish and, let's be honest, not thinking with their minds, if you know what I mean.. So, basically, I hated all the characters and the plot, except for the poor little boy that comes out of their stupid selfishness. I just felt so bad for him in the end being stuck with that dead beat loser dad because his mom was psycho and killed herself. Enough!

Thursday, we finally headed to Wales. But, silly me figured that when the calendar said Wales on Thursday, that we would actually be in Wales on Thursday. Logical, no? No. We did a Church History Sites tour all day and then ended up in this teeny, tiny town called Stow-on-the-Wold that we found out was STILL IN ENGLAND. Bummer. Plus, the place was super creepy and had no good food!! AHHH!!!

We have so much fun on church history
tours. yay.

Friday, we did Tinturn Abbey and Big Pit and then ended up in Cardiff for the night and got to see Cardiff Bay, ride the Carousel, and be serenaded by old people at a cute broadway-esque restaurant. It was the best. My favourite part was probably Big Pit, though. It this super old coal mine that's still in working order today and we got to go down in it! Wearing the hard hats and everything!! It was so spooky and our tour guide kept telling us these creepy ghost stories and I loved it but it was pretty eerie.

Saturday, we got to explore a little more of Cardiff aka SHOP and see the Castle and whatnot. Then the coach took us to St. Fagan's where we went to the Living Museum and got to see a real active little village of Wales. It was so cute and there were animals everywhere and the land was just so pretty! Definitely putting Cardiff at the top of my list!!

Tinturn Abbey; we're best friends

And then we came home! There's tons of other little details but with what little time I have left here in London, let's not get caught up! The days are flying by and as I write this I only have 21 days left. Yes, three weeks until I step off the plane in Phoenix and embrace my crazy family once again!

Well, until next time!!

Days 55-62: ITALY!

Okay. It's been too long and I can't remember everything that happened because there was a TON. But highlights were, in order of favourite:
Vatican City (x2)
Trevi Fountain (x5)
Colosseum (x5)
The Forum and ruins
The Pantheon
The Spanish Steps (x3)
The Bocca di Verriti
The Arch of Constantine
Then, of course we had our fair share of Gelato. Our meals included an awesome breakfast from the hotel, pizza for lunch, and then pasta for dinner. Somewhere different each night.
We saw, we shopped, we ate. Basically the perfect Rome trip anyone could imagine :)



If you notice, St. Peter's in the background :)



 

St. Peter's Basilica  & one happy girl :)

First night at Trevi

Third night at Tevi; I fell in love :)

Spanish Steps!

Coliseum! :)

Bocca di Verrite! he eated ma hand.