Wrapping Up London

Hello Everyone!                                                                 Monday July 22 - Friday July 26

As my time on my study abroad trip in London comes to an end, this will be my last post summarizing my amazing journey.  My last week in London was a whirlwind!  I was trying to soak up every last bit of the wonderful city of London while trying to pack and get ready to come back to the States.  Since I was leaving early Friday morning, I made sure to get all of my big site seeing trips done before this last week so I could just enjoy my time.  On Tuesday evening my friend Sarah and I went to Les Miserables at Queen's Theatre in the Soho district of London.  It was quite the impressive musical and very entertaining to see after the motion picture came out this year.  It was really nice to go out and have a relaxing evening at the theatre.  The theatre districts in London are some of the places I loved most within the city.  There was always so much going on during the day and night.  Wednesday afternoon I went to the British Museum, which ironically contains a lot of artifacts that are not British.  I got to see the real Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra's mummy.  The museum also contained this exhibit called the Living and Dead which had this display of pills that were consumed by one British couple throughout their lifetimes.  This pill exhibit stretched across the entire room and contained hundreds upon thousands of pills.  It was very interesting to see as a future nurse how much medicine one consumes in a lifespan.  The British Museum was very interesting and nice to visit as a tourist because its free.  My Thursday consisted mostly of packing and trying to figure out how to bring so many souvenirs home!  Luckily after two checked bags, a carry on, and a backpack I had the puzzle solved as  to how I would be bringing back all of my stuff to the States.  I can say with absolute certainty that my next international trip will contain much less luggage!  Traveling light is the way to go.  After a long day of travel on Friday I arrived safely back home in the States.

                                          The tube stop I lived off of in London.

Already I can say there are many things I miss about life in London.  I miss the city and all it has to offer for culture and entertainment.  I miss the general European lifestyle of slowing things down and enjoying your time and company.  I miss the accents, the tube, the sights, and even the food!  I miss it all.  I am so blessed to have had this opportunity to study in London and visit Paris and Dublin.  This truly has been a trip of a lifetime.  I will never forget my experiences and the people I had with me along the way that made everything even better.  I wouldn't have traded my time there for anything.  Thank you to everyone here at home who made it possible for me to have this experience.
Good-bye to all!

Loving Ireland: Living My Heritage

Hello there mates!                                                   Thursday July 18 - Sunday July 21

So this last weekend I was fortunate enough to get to go to Dublin for 4 days over the long weekend.  Myself and 15 of my classmates stayed in a hostel in the Temple Bar district of Dublin.  The Temple Bar area was such a cool environment.  It was full of really cool pubs with live Irish music everywhere.  I had such a good time listening to the authentic Irish music at the pubs and now have a new favorite song called Wild Rover.  I can't wait to share my new music when I get home!  On Friday morning we all took a day trip to visit the Cliffs of Moher on the western coast of Ireland.  What a beautiful trip!  The cliffs and coastline were the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  The western coast of Ireland was like going back in time.  The countryside, farming, and small cottages were so quant and cute.  We went through Limerick, Galloway, and a small fishing district on our trip as well.  It was such a pretty day trip to take around Ireland.  It really makes you fall in love with the land there.  On Saturday a large group of us decided to go sea kayaking in the Dublin Bay located in the Irish Sea.  I absolutely loved kayaking in the ocean and paddling through the waves.  We got to paddle out to a small island that had an old abandoned stone church on it.  Outside this church there was a stone that had a cross carved into it that dated back to the 7^th century.  On our paddle back we passed seals and tons of jellyfish in the water.  People picked up these jellyfish and threw them at each other because they didn’t sting.  Our adventure sea kayaking was such a great experience for us as a group.  We ended our trip in Ireland with a group pub-crawl Saturday night.  We got to stop and spend some time at the bar P.S. I Love You was filmed at!  It was a great night!  Sunday afternoon we went and toured the Guinness factory in Dublin.  It was really interesting to see the history of this beer and how it shaped the Irish culture.  I absolutely loved my time in Ireland.  Dublin was much more relaxed than London and was a nice change of pace for the weekend.  And of course I loved the countryside of Ireland and felt so at home there. 

I am now down to my last week in London.  My time over here has flown by so fast!  I don’t think I am ready to leave such an amazing city and country!  I am thankful to have got to experience all of the wonderful things I have done while here.  Stayed tuned for a wrap up of my last week here soon.  

Straddling the World and Stepping Back into England's History

Hello Everyone!                                                                            Tuesday July 16 - Wednesday July 17

As promised I have more adventures to share from my previous week in London.  Last Tuesday I ventured out to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian and to straddle the line.  My friend Sarah and I were determined to make it to the Prime Meridian before the Royal Observatory Museum closed.  We had to race out to Greenwich on the train and practically run up Observatory Hill to make it in time but luckily we succeeded!  Now I can say that I have literally stood in two hemispheres at once.  The Prime Meridian divides the eastern and western hemispheres of the world.  Every place on Earth is measured in terms of distance east or west of this line.  It was a very cool experience and something not everyone can say they have done.  I really loved the Greenwich area that I saw during my short trip.  It is outside the bustling city of London and feels more rustic.  I would suggest a trip out to Greenwich to anyone who has extra time in London.  On Wednesday afternoon I toured both the Churchill War Rooms and Westminster Abbey.  The War Rooms were so fascinating to me.  It was really intriguing to see how they constructed this underground world to navigate WWII from back in the 1940s.  When touring the War Rooms you get a slight taste of what it might have felt like to be living underground during the bombings and turmoil of WWII.  After the War Rooms I went over to Westminster Abbey for a tour.  I absolutely loved Westminster!  The outside is clearly beautiful itself, but the inside of the church is breathtaking.  Touring Westminster was like walking through all of England's history again because of all the monarchs and famous people who are buried there.  It was interesting to me that Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton are both buried there too! After walking through Westminster Abbey I appreciate England's history even more than I did before.  It truly is an amazing place and a must see while in the city.  

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures last week here in London and please look forward to reading about my weekend trip to Ireland soon!  

England's Countryside: A Trip Back in Time

Hello again mates!  

It has been awhile since I have caught up on my blog.  I have finally returned from a long trip in Ireland and will share what I did during my last week in London.  Last Monday I had a long field trip to various places outside of London in England's countryside.  We first set out to Florence Nightingale's grave at St. Margaret Church in Antioch, England and also viewed one of the homes where her family lived in the 1800s in a place called Embly Park.  St. Margaret's church is the home of Florence Nightingale's final resting place as mentioned previously.  The people wanted her buried in Westminster Abbey but Florence was persistent that she was buried at St. Margarets in her family plot.  Still today people from all over the world come to St. Margaret's church on May 12th to celebrate Florence Nightingale's life.  It was so cool to see such a big part of our nursing history in person.  Florence’s family home in Empbly Park was absolutely gorgeous!  It still is an impressive estate today but back in her time it was a Victorian splendor!  We got to eat a picnic lunch as a class outside on the Nightingale’s old estate.  After visiting Embly Park we stopped by Stonehenge on our way home.  It was so breathtaking to see this structure in person!  The history behind why and how it was created is so interesting.  I really enjoyed my time at Stonehenge and would suggest going if you are close to it during any of your trips through England.  My Monday was a full day of exploring history and England’s country scenic views.  I really enjoyed getting outside the city of London and spending my day back in time.  I have plenty more adventures to share for my next blog.  Stay tuned! :]  

London's Sweet and Scary Pleasures!

Hello everyone!  As always I was quite busy this weekend here in London.  On Friday I went out to Notting Hill to explore the neighborhood and Portobello market.  Notting Hill is just as cute as I was expecting from the movie and the market was huge!  It had everything from antiques to new and old thrift clothes.  I spent most of my day out there.  On Saturday I decided to go for a walk through Hyde Park and attempt to go swimming and lay out for a while in the park.  However since it was about 85 degrees in London the lines to get in to the pond and pool were outrageous!  So I just laid out with the locals and enjoyed the beautiful day.  I also got to see Princess Diana’s memorial while at Hyde Park.  Sunday morning I woke up early and went to the Tower of London.  I spent a good 3 hours there going through a tour and through all of the different towers.  I really enjoyed my tour there and it is definitely a must see for travelers to London.  I even learned that the nursery rhyme hump de dump de was about King Richard III.  Surprisingly a lot of children nursery rhymes are about scary stories of the old monarchs.  The Tower tour was full of interesting history about the monarchs and those who were prisoners at the Tower at some point in time.  After my time at the tower I went back to Spitalfield market off of the Liverpool St. tube station.  I got a delicious late lunch there and spent some time going through the market.  Best purchase of the day… homemade cupcakes!  They were amazing!  This week will include a lot more sight seeing as well.  I am going to see Florence Nightingale’s grave, Stonehenge, the Imperial War Museum, and Churchill’s War Rooms.  I can’t wait for all the new adventures of this week!  I will keep them posted as usual.  Good-bye for now!

Kings, Queens, and Florence Nightingale!

So for those of you who were wondering, yes I have been in class learning while in London! My class, Nursing in London, has been a great combination of in class lecture as well as educational field trips around the city of London.  My teacher is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to British history and of course Florence Nightingale.  This is because she is 1 of 5 Nightingale scholars in the world!  She has also published several books on Nightingale as well.  Needless to say I have learned a lot about the amazing person and nurse Florence was in her time.  The history of how she turned the art of nursing from something done in the home into an actual profession is amazing.  We got to tour St. Thomas hospital over by Parliament this week.  Florence Nightingale established her first school for nursing at St. Thomas.  St. Thomas has been a hospital since 1250 and was a royal hospital after Henry VIII established it so.  Unlike most people, I love hospitals!  It was so cool to tour this hospital and know that Florence had such a huge impact on how it is run today.  We have also gone through the British history starting from 1000 AD.  We learned the progression of many kings and queens all the way up to current Queen Elizabeth II, who is very close to breaking Queen Victoria's record for longest time on the throne here in Britain.  We got to go on a guided tour of Parliament last week which I found so interesting!  I loved seeing the place where the House of Commons and House of Lords conducted their business.  As most things in London, Parliament had tremendous history behind it.  We have also toured the village of Eyam which is where the Plague of 1665 occurred.  This town decided to quarantine themselves in the 1600s, thus stopping the spread of the Plague any further.  As you can gather we have been very busy with learning and field trips here.  Next week I will be seeing the Imperial War Museum, Churchill's War Rooms, Florence Nightingale's grave, and Stonehedge!  So much more to do in so little time.  I am off to explore the city some more.  Good bye for now!

Living the London Life

So I have officially been living in Central London for about two weeks now.  I have limited wifi at my apartment so it has taken me a while to get some posts up!  The place I am staying is in a great location right by a tube stop which makes it incredibly convenient to get pretty much anywhere in the city.  It took me a few days to do so but I now feel quite comfortable taking the tube around the city.  As long as you avoid the rush hours from 7-9 am and 5-7 pm then you are good to go!  I have gone to a few nice restaurants within the Covent Garden area of London and also cook for myself a lot at home to save some extra money.  As far as sight seeing goes I have already seen so much of this wonderful city in such a short time.  I have gone up in the London eye, toured Parliament, walked across the Tower Bridge, visited the plague village of Eyam, been to Trafalgar's Square, visited the London Museum, visited the Florence Nightengale Museum, and road a few of the famous double decker buses. Needless to say I have been busy!  Overall I am loving the city of London thus far.  It is amazing how many different people you come across within one city.  There are so many different languages and cultures all over London.  The London fashion has also been very interesting to adjust to as well, but it has been fun to look so nice everyday here.  Flats are a necessity and flip flops are not the way to go here.  But let's just say I will be excited for some gym shorts and a sweatshirt by the time I get home!  There is so much left for me to do in this amazing city and in such a short time span.  I am planning on visiting the Tower of London this week as well as Notting Hill, which is one of my favorite movies.  As my journey continues I will keep the updates coming.  Good bye for now from the UK!

Last Day in the City of Lights

 Bonjour for the last time in Paris!  Sadly this is the last full day I spent in Paris but it was definitely one to remember.  I started my morning off with a trip to the palace of Versailles.  I first went into the back gardens of the palace to watch the water fountain show.  The water fountains were so beautiful and the gardens themselves were so vast and amazing to see in person.  I can't even imagine how much maintenance goes into keeping grounds so beautiful!  The outside of the palace was just the surface of what I was going to see once I entered.  I have never seen such a beautiful building in my life!  Every room is adorned with gold trimmings and masterful artwork.  Each room was more amazing than the last.  My favorite room by far was their grand ball room.  It over looked the entire grounds and was filled with chandeliers everywhere.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  I am so glad I went to Versailles and would suggest it to anyone traveling to this area.  Travelers note: Go during the weekday when the crowds aren't as bad!  I battled the Saturday crowds which was a little bit of a hassle.  After I finished my tour there I went back into Paris to end my night with a nice dinner and watching the Eiffel Tower light up one last time.  Laying down watching the Eiffel tower light up is something I have always wanted to do and I can tell you that one experience made the whole trip worth while.  It is such a magical site to see in person and I hope that someday I get to come back to view it once again.  This may be the final chapter to my Paris trip but hopefully just until next time.  Au revoir Paris!

The Louvre and Latin Fever

On my third full day in Paris I got a taste of a famous tourist spot and a little hidden community of Paris.  I started my morning going to the Louvre art museum.  I got there early before it opened and hopped in line before the crowd got too big.  For those wishing to visit the museum while on your trip here my advice is to both preorder tickets and come early so you can beat the rush.  Once inside the museum the art galleries were beautiful! I have never seen such a large museum in my life.  The first exhibit I rushed to was the one that held Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.  It was such a cool piece of art history to see for myself in person.  I went through two other exhibits while there.  But if you are one that is very in to art you could spend an entire day conquering the inside of the Louvre!  After the Louvre I got to walk around the entirety of Notre-Dame again on  my way to a place called the Latin Quarter.  The magical feeling of being in Notre-Dame is still one of  my favorites here.  However, if you are looking for some none name brand cute boutique shopping, your place is the Latin Quarter!  It is this cute little shopping and food district in which the streets are much smaller and made of cobble stone. There are so many nice little places to visit there and you can easily spend all afternoon there if you like to shop, which is what I did!  I eventually ended my night with a delicious dinner over by the Louvre.  I ventured out and tried a hanger veal steak here and it was delicious!  Apparently the hanger steak is a very popular European cut so I'm glad I tried it while here.  Day 3 was another wonderful and successful sight seeing adventure.  My last full day in Paris will include going to see Versailles and watching the Eiffel Tower light up in person one last time.  Au Revoir friends!

The City of Lights, Love, and Good Eats!

It may be possible that each day in Paris tops the last.  Today was full of magical breathtaking sights throughout this beautiful city.  I began my morning by going to mass at the Notre-Dame Cathedral.  Although the whole service was in French, it was possibly the most memorable experience I have had in Paris thus far.  It was absolutely amazing to be at mass in that cathedral.  The structure itself is breathtaking and the history embedded in the Notre-Dame is endless.  I would highly suggest going to a service there if you get the chance!  After lunch I wandered down the Seine River past the Louvre until I reached Love Lock Bridge.  This is a must see sight that is not one of the well known tourist areas.  People from all over the world either bring or buy a lock for this bridge.  The tradition is to write your name or the names of loved ones on this lock and lock it to the side of the bridge.  One must then make a wish and toss the key to their lock down below into the Seine River.  It is a silly tradition but quite a sight to see especially for those hopeless romantics out there.  I ended my night with a Seine River boat cruise and Eiffel Tower tour.  The tour down the Seine was a great way to see all of the tourist spots of Paris and some new areas of the city as well.  It was a great experience to be down on the river and I would suggest a cruise to anyone planning a visit.  We ended the cruise with an Eiffel Tower visit. Note to travelers: Purchase your Eiffel Tower ticket with a tour company or as part of a package so that you can skip the long lines!!  Since I did this my wait to get to the top of the tower was about 25 minutes.  The views from above are spectacular! It is obviously a must see experience in Paris.  On my way down from the top I stopped with some new friends to grab a drink in the Eiffel Tower lounge.  I got to sit in the Eiffel Tower as the light show came on.  Now how many people can say that!  Next I of course watched the amazing light show and took many pictures with the Eiffel Tower lit up in the background.  I have always dreamed of seeing it this way and it was even  more breathtaking than I could have imagined! Overall it was quite the amazing and magical day.  The Notre-Dame and Eiffel Tower may be my two favorite spots to see in Paris.  Tomorrow will be a free day of enjoying the city.  More to come later.  Au Revoir!

Beginning of an Adventure of a Lifetime

My adventure started in Chalfont-St. Peter's outside of London, England about a week ago.  I was fortunate enough to spend some time with some family members that I have here in the UK.  It was a great way to be introduced into a new country while feeling at home.  I left Chalfont-St. Peter's early this morning and arrived in Paris, France early this afternoon.  It was quite the adventure going through all the RER and Metro lines with my suitcase to make it to my hotel.  Word of advise: Pack Light!  Once myself and my travel buddy Shelby checked into our hotel we set out for the afternoon.  We got to see so many of Paris's iconic landmarks all in one afternoon! We viewed the Louvre and the Place de Opera.  We walked down the famous Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe which was an amazing experience.  Once we made it all the way to the Arc de Triomphe we decided to make the climb to the top.  Absolutely worth the numerous stairs and small ticket price!  The view atop the Arc de Triomphe was truly amazing!  It still feels so surreal to be seeing all of these famous sites in person.  I am so blessed to have this opportunity.  Tomorrow I am off to Notre-Dame for service in the morning followed by a tour of the Louvre.  My night will end with a river boat Seine cruise that ends with us going up the Eiffel Tower!  More to come later from my travels.  Au revoir!