Roma

So with some spare time waiting for the girls to finish up in an internet cafe I decided to give you all an update. By the way, why isn't coffee served in an internet CAFE. . .why use the word cafe. . .

I moved out of my room Friday morning and spent the day with Sarah before we left for the airport. We go to the airport around midnight and slept there. ..or tried to. . .let's just say it was interesting. But at 430 a.m. we could check in so we did and our flight departed just after 6.

Upon our arrival, we were motioned through passport checks, which means no stamp for me. Strange. . . We then caught a bus to a metro stop and hoped on to the stop which would lead us to our first hostel. It was basically the spare rooms of a woman's apartment but was still cute.

Our first stop was the Vatican where we stood in line for about 3 hours to get inside because we wanted to see the Sistine Chapel. We made it just in time for the last entry: 4 p.m. So worth it! My highlights were: the Sistine Chapel (Adam and Eve and Giving the Keys to St. Peter), School of Athens, and these paintings that appeared to be 3 dimensional but weren't which were on the walls leading around the museum. . .

Time's up. . . Ill try to update again!

Finishing up February and what it coming up. .

Okay my apologies but this will be a quick run down of the last few weekends.


Feb 23rd-24th

I went to Wales with a tour group. It was an overnight trip and we got to stay in a hotel, which we took advantage of since we spent the night in watching TV instead of treking into town in the rain to go out. We saw lots of Wales since we drove around a ton. Got to see the Wales Museum of Welsh Life (yes thats the name) saw some more Abbey ruins and even had an opportunity to see Anthony Hopkins since he had just unveiled a statue that morning and was having lunch in the cafe of one of the castles (Caerphilly Castle). But we decided it wasn't worth waiting around for. . .
Overall it was a good weekend, but I officially burnt out on picture taking so there are not too many to job my memory.

My highlight of the weekend was going into a coalmine. We got all geared up and had a tour of the coal mine and got to hear some stories about it. It was really fun and something I never would have thought I would do.

On the way back we had a trivia game, but since most of us couldnt answer questions we kept getting prizes for getting it half right. I got 2 postcards and a key chain. SCORE!

The next weekend (Friday Feb 29-Monday March 3rd. . aka goodbye Feb. . ) I was headed to Brighton, but had a paper due on the day I got back so I worked hard all week and completed it! Just in time too because I was helping with a fundraising party for the swim team on Thursday night. We all put on our beach gear and put lots of fish and waves on the walls and raised a bit of money for our championships. But I woke up bright and early on Friday morning and caught the train to Brighton to be reunited with Nicole, my friend and ex-coworker from Berkeley who is studying at the University of Sussex- Brighton. She spoiled me by cooking me a lot of good meals and we had a nice relaxing weekend. We had a nice dinner on Friday night. Then on Saturday and Sunday two more girls who are studying at Warwick came down. So on Saturday we all went to this Italian place our director had taken the Brighton kids for lunch and then shopping and finally hit up the bowling alley (where we got IDed. . .to bowl?). I actually won. . imagine that. . although my score was still quite bad. Then the next day we went to the pier, ate some Chinese food (so good) and did a bit of shopping before heading home where we relaxed for a bit and then made dinner. Burrito night! California style! So much good food. The girls left early Monday morning but I stuck around until about 11 and then caught my train home and did some work before lecture.

Yay for a good weekend with a good friend!

The next week I had a lot to get done since it was the 3rd to last week of term. I caught up on some reading and started to organize my media paper. . .which is once again 4000-5000 words and worth 100% of my grade. But I organized a team social on Thursday night so took a break to have a bit of fun with my teammates. But then that weekend was dedicated to do reading for class and my paper.

Which brings us up to last week!
Let's see. . paper. . .paper. . .yep worked on my paper all week.
We had a friendly gala against another swim team on Tuesday night so that was fun but really it was all about getting ready for my swim competition. We left on Friday for Sheffield for the British University Championships. We stayed in some nice apartments since we booked our accommodation late. I shared a room with Lauren who is from Colorado but we shared the apartment with two of the guys since the girls couldnt all fit in one apartment. We went out as a team on Friday night and competed on Saturday afternoon for our division (3 since this is the first year we were a recognized team by the university). I swam in both the medley (of which I swam breaststroke) and freestyle relays, 100 meter free and 50 breast. Yes why breast? Im so horrible at it but I wasn't really given a choice. My times weren't too horrible considering I train for 2 hours a week. We then competed in the finals for our division on Sunday where I DQed the relay. Oops. . .and did worse than the day before but not by too much. We headed back Sunday night and ran into a bit of trouble with the trains since the doors closed on one of the girl's bag but we all got home and all had our stuff with us.

Basically this week has been stressful since I head off for my travels on Friday. I just got my first draft of my media paper out and still have to edit it a bit. I have reading to do for my bio psych class and am in the process of packing up my room and packing for the 4 weeks I will be traveling and all I have is one carry-on size duffel back. . . this should be interesting. I just got my final exam schedule and will be done on May 21st which gives me some time to go to the places I really wanted to go to but didnt fit in like Ireland and Madrid.

I also got my registration appointment for Berkeley but unfortunately the only 2 psych courses I know I need to take are at the same time. And since I dont know exactly how my courses here will factor in I might end up having to repeat a course. . .oy vey but Im hoping for the best and even though I got a bad appointment time at least it is once I am back in England so I don't need to stress about it while I travel.

So here is my schedule for the break:


Friday March 21st-leave for Airport
Saturday March 22nd- Depart for Rome @ 6 a.m.
Sunday March 23rd- Rome
Monday March 24th- Rome
Tuesday March 25th- AM Depart Rome for Florence
Wednesday March 26th- Florence
Thursday March 27th- AM Depart Florence for Venice
Friday March 28th- Venice PM Depart- take overnight train to Vienna
Saturday March 29th- Vienna
Sunday March 30th-Vienna
Monday March 31st-Prague
Tuesday April 1st- Prague
Wednesday April 2nd- Interlaken, Switzerland
Thursday April 3rd- Interlaken, Switzerland
Friday April 4th- Milan
Saturday April 5th- Milan Depart @ 6 p.m. to Athens, Greece
Sunday April 6th-Sunday April 13th- Greece cruise through easy cruise
Sunday April 13th- Depart Athens @ 6 pm to Munich
Monday April 14th- Munich
Tuesday April 15th- Munich to Berlin
Wednesday April 16- Berlin (celebrate my 21st birthday at midnight with a group of my friends!)
Thursday April 17- AM Depart from Berlin to Amsterdam
Friday April 18th-AM Depart from Amsterdam for Paris
Saturday April 19th- Paris
Sunday April 20th- Paris depart afternoon and take the Eurostar back to London



Monday April 21st-Sunday April 27th: Last minute editing of my paper and studying for final exams

Also my exam schedule

Thursday May 8th- Bio Psych exam
Friday May 9th- History- Politics of Postwar Europe Exam
Friday May 16th- Cognitive Psych Exam
Monday May 19th- Social Psych Exam
Wednesday May 21st- Personality Psych Exam

And then Im done! YAY!


I will try to keep you all updated as much as possible as I travel.

February may be a short month but it can fit in a lot Part 2

Okay here goes part 2. Unfortunately the internet is too shaky to load pictures, even takes ages to load them onto the internet in general, so at some point (cross your fingers) I can get some up in some form.

So I finished up Edinburgh (sadness. . .those were some good days) and now am moving onto the weekend of February 16th and 17th. I went on two separate day trips. Leeds Castle and Canterbury on Saturday and Oxford and the Cotswolds on Sunday.

So we left pretty early on Saturday and spent a few hours on the tour bus before arriving at Leeds Castle, which might I say is simply gorgeous. It is still used for celebrities and such to stay when there is an event. We had about 2 hours there. We walked through the grounds and saw hundreds of swans, ducks, and GREEN! Yes green in February. Once we arrived outside the castle (p.s. there's a golf course there; how cool would that be?!), a few of us (aka me and the other Californians who went) decided to hit the hedge maze first since we didnt know how long it would take us. After reading the info sheet, we saw that on average it takes 20 minutes for people to complete. Once inside, we decided to race, which scared me because let's face it, being trapped in a maze, not cool. . . Somehow though I managed to win and made it to the stone grotto in the center first (in about 10 minutes might I add) and watched the rest scurry around from my post (ah sweet victory. . .) After everyone completed the maze we headed into the groto which was really cool. There were mosaics, fountains, and a cool pathway which led us back out of the maze. We then headed to the castle. It was ridiculously large and it took us a good deal of time to wander through. What's nice about this castle is that it once belonged to a private family, but now belongs to Britain . It is surrounded by water, a man made moat, and since it was a nice sunny day the water spaw-kled (its better if you imagine a little british boy saying it). We could see the golfers as we approached the entrance. Once in, I was just in amazement. A lot of people liked the maze best, but just the immensity of this place and how it was furnished got me. I'm a sucker for interior design and some of the more modern rooms were just perfect. . .somehow. . .About half the castle was restored to look like it did back in the day and the other half modernized when it was purchased by a private family in the late 1920s.
One of the conference rooms was actually the site of a meeting between the Egyptian President and Israeli Foreign Minister for the preparation for Camp David Accords.
This place was amazing. There was a hot air balloon to get views of the grounds, a little train to take you up to the castle and peacocks!! Somehow that was really exciting to us.

So we got back into the bus and headed to Canterbury to see Canterbury Cathedral and spend some time in the town, after a lunch break, our tour guide led us to the Cathedral and we were able to look around for a bit before it closed. Now in all honesty I do love Cathedrals and Abbeys and all that, but they do start to look alike after a while. While Canterbury Cathedral reminded me of the one in York, it had its own personality that I really liked. We walked around the crypt portion, which is more like some seculded prayer areas and around the nave. And of course, the stained glass was one of my favorite parts, especially because the sun was out and when I rounded a corner I could actually see the colors of the glass reflecting on the wall. But it was a pretty quick visit that left us some time to look around the main street in town before heading home. We got home pretty early, which I'm not used to considering evry other tour I went on we have returned super late, but all in all it was a good day. I got some work done and rested up for the next day.

SUNDAY: We headed to one of the small towns in the Cotswolds, a popular vacation area for Englanders. It was a very sweet little town but there wasn't a lot to do. We walked around a bit, sat and watched the ducks, fed them a bit of muffin that my friend had brought along and hit up a candy shop before boarding the bus on the way to Oxford. Oxford was fun. We explored some of the buildings associated with the University including Radcliffe Camera, part of the Oxford Library, which was closed off and I didn't realize people could actually study in there until my friend Megan who studied there last fall filled me in. We saw St Marys Church but didn't get a chance to go to the top as recommeded by Megan. Our tour guide was a bit unorganized that day. He sent us off for our free time before we even got the opportunity to see what was around. But we did get to go into Christ Church, aka Harry Potter mania. Now I don't read or watch Harry Potter so I wasn't super excited, but what amazed me is that people actually eat in that dining hall. And that they have to wear appropriate attire if they go to dinner at a certain time. WOW! But most of Oxford was just a walking tour and a chance to grab some lunch. Then it was back on the bus for another early night home, which was good because I had a very long week, with Scotland and 2 tours and was in desperate need of some down time.

That week was a good week as well. One of the girls on my floor turned 19 so we had a little floor party to celebrate and all had to dress as our favorite things. I decided to dress as California/warm weather and threw on a pair of shorts and tanks top and began missing the warmness of California and the fact that I could wear that to work. We went to the Student Union all dressed as our favorite things and just had a good time hanging out and dancing. It was nice to bond with my floor mates.

I had a lot of work to get done during the week though because the very next weekend I was heading to Wales for the entire weekend!

More to come . . . stay tuned! (And once again I tried photos. . .sorry!)

February may be a short month but it can fit in a lot

Okay. . .once again I'm lagging so I will try to give a partial update at the very least. I've got lots of reading to do and need to start brainstorming for a paper but I will try to get you all as up-to-date as possible.

So on Sunday the 10th, I went to Scotland with several of the Californians. . .Edinburgh to be exact. The coach ride up there was interesting to say the least. There was confusion because there were two coaches and they were sending people every which way so by the time we got onto the right coach we were seated all the was in the back in the seats that don't recline. I was seated in the middle of the aisle next to some skinny guy who surprisingly took up a ton of space. So overall very uncomfortable. It was an overnight coach and I have no idea how I survived. But approximately 8.5 hours later we were in Edinburgh where the fog was ridiculous and it was freezing. We made out way to the hostel which was literally just next to Edinburgh Castle. We sat on the big comfy leather couches and I slept a little bit. We then went out to explore a bit before the others who were coming from Liverpool met us. Spent some time in the National Gallery and wandering through the old and new town.
Edinburgh is divided into Old Town and New Town. Basically Old Town is about a mile long and has the Royal Mile running through it and less than a mile wide, so they expanded Edinburgh to include new town which is more modern and has all the shops and such you would expect any town to have.
So after meeting the others, we checked into our room, which was Happy Days themed. My bed was Potsy. . .who I could not remember for the life of me. I guess Potsy was kind of a dork who wore glasses? It was actually a nice place. We had the room to ourselves everynight but the 1st.

(okay I wrote a huge amount. . .and then my computer froze and as a result I lost it all. I will try my hardest to remember what I wrote)
After, we ventured out once again. We walked down the Royal Mile popping into shops and small museums along the way including a ridiculously good fudge shop that offered free samples. The Royal Mile ends at a palace, which was under construction, so we went to the nearby park area and hung out for a bit before trekking back to our room. We grabbed some dinner at a nearby pub and then headed out to Grassmarket (one of the main streets which houses a ton of restaurants and pubs and was known for the murders that 2 men, who sadly I cannot remember the names of, which shouldn't be this hard, back in the day). We did a mini-pub crawl to get acquainted with the area. But overall called it an early night.

Day 2. Tuesday Feb 12-
We woke up and got some food in our systems before heading out for our free walking tour. We went all along the Royal Mile and the streets surrounding it. Our tour guide was really good so of course we tipped her. Even though we had been on our feet for close to 4 hours, we decided to hike up to King Arthurs Seat, the highest point which offers absolutely gorgeous views of the city. We spent about 45 minutes at the top and then as the sun set we decided to take a shortcut which looked like a path but wasn't. It was just rocks and dirt, which would have been easier to climb up. So at then end of it my jeans and shoes were covered in dirt from a few falls, but it was fun. We then trekked back up the Royal Mile to our hostel to quickly wash up a bit. Then we headed to dinner. I was craving Indian so we went to this nice Indian place on Grassmarket and ate everything they put in front of us. I think the cook saw us devour the food, because he came out and asked how we liked it. It was definitely worth the money.

Then while some others went exploring, Sarah and I called it a night and just relaxed in the hostel for a bit.

Day 3. Wed Feb 13

We wanted to go see the castle, but it was too expensive (no student prices!) so we went for a walk around new town instead. We ate lunch in Princes Gardens and waited for a shot that is fired everyday from the castle at 1 p.m. Since we couldnt see the procession, we decided to sit below the castle and wait for the shot. And just when we thought we must have missed it, it went off unexpectedly and made me jump a bit. We spent the rest of the day wandering around new town and going to museums. And then we went to the Elephant House, the cafe where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and had some tea and chatted for about an hour. We then went back to the hostel and rested a bit before we went to a comedy club to see some stand-up. The first act was really funny, and we understood most of his jokes. The second act had a much heavier accent and tended to mumble so most of what he said flew right over our heads but it was a nice outing. We then found a place to grab a bite to eat since we had been rushed before and headed back to the hostel

Day 4 Thur Feb 14 . . . good bye Edinburgh.

This was pretty much an independent exploration and shopping day. We all got some souvenirs and then ate a late lunch. I went with one of the girls exploring the little known streets of Edinburgh. We went to the grocery store and got a box of chocolates for everyone for Valentines Day and then headed the the hostel to collect our things. We grabbed some sandwichs to eat on the train and headed for the station. The train > the coach. BY FAR!

The train ride was long but I spent most of it talking to Rebekah who was my seat mate. About half way through we went to find the others to give them their chocolate. Once back to London we grabbed our train home and I slept for a long time. . .

Okay. . I tried to upload some of my pictures but my internet couldn't stay on for long enough for them to load. . .so I will have to find some other way. . .

I will write more later as this took way longer than expected thanks to the internet and my freezing computer.

Up next: Leeds and Canterbury Castle, Oxford and the Cotswolds as well as my weekend in Wales.