Paris was AMAZING!!!! Everything is beautiful and so cool to see! I already want to go back... I will tell you step but step everything we did in the short weekend we were there.
We left bright and early at 6am on Friday and got on a coach (bus) and headed to the chunnel. Our bus got onto the train that then went under the sea to France! It was so crazy! We arrived in Paris around 5pm (a very long journey!) and checked into the hotel. We had an hour to get ready for our river cruise and Lindsay, Chelsea, and I planned on going to dinner afterwards.
We went on our river cruise which was pretty cool. It was nice to see the major sites of Paris at night but it was difficult to see and get good pictures since it was covered in this clear plastic. We didn't get a seat actually outside so that was kind of a bummer. At the end of the cruise, we got back to the Eiffel Tower, and it was all lit up! It is lit up after sundown and every hour, it sparkles!! Right when we got back, it started to sparkle! I got a video of it- it was gorgeous!
Then we were really hungry and decided to find a place near the Eiffel Tower to eat at. Just Chelsea, Lindsay, and I went to this cute restaurant, which was a little pricey but so good! I tried some of Lindsay's escargot, which was pretty good! I had duck, which was amazing and creme brulee for dessert. We also had some wine with our meal- had to while in Paris. I try so hard to like wine, and I just can't! We were really tired after our 3 hour dinner and it was already 11:30 so we went home. We got a little lost along the way, but we asked some people and eventually got back to our hotel and to bed!
The next day, Saturday, was another early start with breakfast at 8am. We left the hotel at 9am to go to the Eiffel Tower, which was only a 15-20 minute walk from our hotel. We went up the Eiffel Tower all the way to the top. It was probably the coolest thing I have ever gotten to do!! It was a little cloudy but still a gorgeous view of the city!
After that, at noon, we got back on our bus and took a tour of the city. We saw Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, Champs Elysees, L'arc de Tromphe, the Louvre, and Notre Dame. We stopped at Notre Dame and had time to go in and look around. It was so beautiful! Then we got dropped off at the Louvre for the day. We went inside and saw lots of paintings and sculptures, including the Mona Lisa! It was really interesting to see all the old paintings housed there.
It started raining right before we left the Louvre and we got on the Metro to go back to our hotel. We got some champagne on the way home for later, then went to our rooms to get of our wet clothes. We went to dinner at a cafe around the corner from our hotel. I had a tomato and mozzarella starter drizzled with balsamic and pesto; beef, salad, and fries for my main course; then creme brulee with pistachio for dessert. It was delicious! After dinner, we went back to our hotel and put on some warmer clothes and headed to the Eiffel Tower to hang out and drink champagne! It was a little rainy and cold but we were sitting and looking at the Eiffel Tower and it can't get much better than that! We went back to the hotel a couple of hours after we got there because we lost an hour due to daylight savings time in Europe. We got back to the hotel and were so tired we fell asleep pretty quickly.
On Sunday, we had breakfast at 8am again and left the hotel at 9 to head to Versailles. Lindsay, Chelsea, Madison, and I paid to get into the Palace of Versailles to see the palace, gardens, and Marie-Antoinette's Estate. Madison left after we saw the gardens to visit the nearby market while Chels, Linds, and I went to Marie-Antoinette's Estate. Everything was so old and pretty! I have pictures of everything up on facebook already so take a look! After Versailles, we headed back onto the bus to come back to England.
We had to go through customs to get back into England, but not when we went into France. Our bus driver just said we were all U.K. students going on a trip to Paris and they just let us in! It was strange!
We got back around 7:30pm and it was still light outside because of daylight savings time! I love when it stays light out later!
So we didn't really have a lot of free time in Paris to go shopping or anything, but it was an amazing trip and I had a blast! I am super excited to keep traveling! I just have this week of school then 3 weeks of Easter (Spring) Break! We head to Dublin on Friday and I am super pumped for that!
I will let you all know how my experience with the Irish goes!
Au Revoir!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
I go to Paris in 2 days!!!
Hey all,
Sorry it has been awhile since I have updated!
As you all know, I went to the Justin Bieber concert last Wednesday in London, and it was amazing!! I know you all thought I was being silly going to his concert but he is seriously talented! He played the guitar, drums, piano, danced, and sang! He was crazy good and just made me fall in love with him more. Definitely worth the money and I got a sweet t-shirt to go with it. Yes, I have Bieber Fever... London was fun to walk around in and the O2 arena was amazing! I missed Brighton, though. As many of you know, I am not a big city person and London is huge. I just love that Brighton is by the sea and town is pretty easy to figure out. I know I picked the right place to study abroad to!!
Thursday was St. Pats day and we went all out! Chelsea didn't feel good and had a paper to write so she stayed in while Lindsay and I dressed up in our green get up. We had white v-necks with lime green suspenders, black shorts with tights and bright green leg warmers. We also had green stunna shades (the glasses with the lines down the middle like Kanye West wears) that we painted green glitter nail polish around the outside of the rims. Pictures are on facebook! We were the most dressed up compared to our British friends, but we didn't care- it was so much fun!
Today and yesterday have been the nicest days since I got here! The weather has been sunny at it has almost gotten up to 60 degrees each day! I know you all are thinking, well it is 80 degrees in St. Louis, but 60 is really warm for Brighton, especially in March! Yesterday, we sat out on a hill on our campus and drank a 'posh' British drink called Pimms. It was sooo good!! Pimms is a type of liquor and you add lemonade (Sprite) and tons of fruit! It is to die for and I hope we have it in the U.S. so I can recreate it this summer! Our British friends told us it is a drink they drink in the summer and since it was so warm yesterday, they thought it would be perfect- which it was!
I am so excited to go to Paris- I can hardly wait!! We leave Friday morning at 6:30 to drive on a bus to the chunnel and on over to Paris! We get back Sunday night around 8 or 9 pm. I have been looking through a traveling book, Paris' 25 best, given to me by Aunt Linda and Uncle Bill- who also sent me to Paris- thanks so much, you guys are the best!! :) I have found some awesome things that I already want to do! We haven't gotten the schedule from our advisors taking us on the trip as to what we will be doing, and we wont until the day of, so we aren't sure how much free time we will have to do whatever, but we definitely know we will be going shopping and making sure we see all of the main tourist attractions and hopefully more!! We are seeing how much it would be to eat dinner at the Moulin Rouge one night with a bunch of us, so I will let you know if that works out or not!
Well I have been slacking a little on school work lately, and I want to get some stuff done before spring break- which is in one week- so I am going to go read. Sorry this was so long! I will update again after we get back from Paris!!
Ciao!
Sorry it has been awhile since I have updated!
As you all know, I went to the Justin Bieber concert last Wednesday in London, and it was amazing!! I know you all thought I was being silly going to his concert but he is seriously talented! He played the guitar, drums, piano, danced, and sang! He was crazy good and just made me fall in love with him more. Definitely worth the money and I got a sweet t-shirt to go with it. Yes, I have Bieber Fever... London was fun to walk around in and the O2 arena was amazing! I missed Brighton, though. As many of you know, I am not a big city person and London is huge. I just love that Brighton is by the sea and town is pretty easy to figure out. I know I picked the right place to study abroad to!!
Thursday was St. Pats day and we went all out! Chelsea didn't feel good and had a paper to write so she stayed in while Lindsay and I dressed up in our green get up. We had white v-necks with lime green suspenders, black shorts with tights and bright green leg warmers. We also had green stunna shades (the glasses with the lines down the middle like Kanye West wears) that we painted green glitter nail polish around the outside of the rims. Pictures are on facebook! We were the most dressed up compared to our British friends, but we didn't care- it was so much fun!
Today and yesterday have been the nicest days since I got here! The weather has been sunny at it has almost gotten up to 60 degrees each day! I know you all are thinking, well it is 80 degrees in St. Louis, but 60 is really warm for Brighton, especially in March! Yesterday, we sat out on a hill on our campus and drank a 'posh' British drink called Pimms. It was sooo good!! Pimms is a type of liquor and you add lemonade (Sprite) and tons of fruit! It is to die for and I hope we have it in the U.S. so I can recreate it this summer! Our British friends told us it is a drink they drink in the summer and since it was so warm yesterday, they thought it would be perfect- which it was!
I am so excited to go to Paris- I can hardly wait!! We leave Friday morning at 6:30 to drive on a bus to the chunnel and on over to Paris! We get back Sunday night around 8 or 9 pm. I have been looking through a traveling book, Paris' 25 best, given to me by Aunt Linda and Uncle Bill- who also sent me to Paris- thanks so much, you guys are the best!! :) I have found some awesome things that I already want to do! We haven't gotten the schedule from our advisors taking us on the trip as to what we will be doing, and we wont until the day of, so we aren't sure how much free time we will have to do whatever, but we definitely know we will be going shopping and making sure we see all of the main tourist attractions and hopefully more!! We are seeing how much it would be to eat dinner at the Moulin Rouge one night with a bunch of us, so I will let you know if that works out or not!
Well I have been slacking a little on school work lately, and I want to get some stuff done before spring break- which is in one week- so I am going to go read. Sorry this was so long! I will update again after we get back from Paris!!
Ciao!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Bath and Stonehenge Trip!
So this past week was pretty eventful with my 21st birthday on Wednesday! I was a little sad that I was missing it in the States and with all my friends and family but my friends here made it AMAZING! It was the best birthday yet! It is still weird that I am 21- I can't believe it! We had a nice dinner just Chelsea, Lindsay, Fi (one of our British friends we hang out with a lot) and me. We got Italian because it is my favorite and had the best desert ever! Then we went out to this awesome club and had an awesome night!
On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to go on our trip to Stonehenge and Bath. It was a crappy bus ride- trying to sleep on a bus was awful with my bad back and it still is killing me! Stonehenge was really cool to see and interesting to learn about. It is so crazy that they don't even know how all the stones got there! From there, we went to Bath, which is known for the Roman Baths located there it's shopping and a setting for 2 of Jane Austen's books. On Saturday, we went through the tour of the Roman Baths, which was so neat! Everything is so old!! It was cool to think that this was all here 2000 years ago! After that, we of course had to go shopping. I didn't spend that much because I am trying to save all my money for Paris in 2 weeks!! :) We went back to the hotel around 5 and took a nap before dinner. We then went out in Bristol (the town where our hotel was) to see how the nightlife was. We basically just walked around for a couple of hours trying to find a club and gave up around 12:30 and came back to the hotel to sleep.
On Sunday, we went back to Bath and went to the Jane Austen Centre! We learned about her life and the time she lived in Bath. Her parents were married in Bath and they moved there after her father retired. Her mother, sister, and her left Bath after her father passed away and Jane wanted to leave. She was a country girl at heart and disliked the city life. She is Bath's most famous citizen and her two books Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are largely set in Bath. After learning about Bath and Jane's life, we had a tea party in the tea room at the Centre. It was the cutest little tea room and we ate scones, cucumber sandwiches, and little pastries. It was so much fun!!
We got on the bus around 2 for our 3 hour bus ride home. I have decided that I hate buses and would rather be in a car on that long of a journey, but I guess I will have to get used to it while I am here...
This week is going to be fun as well with Chelsea's 21st birthday tomorrow (Tuesday) as well as my friend from home, Allie! Justin Bieber on Wednesday! Then St. Pat's on Thursday! Then, I am missing another 21st birthday on Saturday- Sam! It is going to be another busy week, and I will let you know how it goes....
On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to go on our trip to Stonehenge and Bath. It was a crappy bus ride- trying to sleep on a bus was awful with my bad back and it still is killing me! Stonehenge was really cool to see and interesting to learn about. It is so crazy that they don't even know how all the stones got there! From there, we went to Bath, which is known for the Roman Baths located there it's shopping and a setting for 2 of Jane Austen's books. On Saturday, we went through the tour of the Roman Baths, which was so neat! Everything is so old!! It was cool to think that this was all here 2000 years ago! After that, we of course had to go shopping. I didn't spend that much because I am trying to save all my money for Paris in 2 weeks!! :) We went back to the hotel around 5 and took a nap before dinner. We then went out in Bristol (the town where our hotel was) to see how the nightlife was. We basically just walked around for a couple of hours trying to find a club and gave up around 12:30 and came back to the hotel to sleep.
On Sunday, we went back to Bath and went to the Jane Austen Centre! We learned about her life and the time she lived in Bath. Her parents were married in Bath and they moved there after her father retired. Her mother, sister, and her left Bath after her father passed away and Jane wanted to leave. She was a country girl at heart and disliked the city life. She is Bath's most famous citizen and her two books Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are largely set in Bath. After learning about Bath and Jane's life, we had a tea party in the tea room at the Centre. It was the cutest little tea room and we ate scones, cucumber sandwiches, and little pastries. It was so much fun!!
We got on the bus around 2 for our 3 hour bus ride home. I have decided that I hate buses and would rather be in a car on that long of a journey, but I guess I will have to get used to it while I am here...
This week is going to be fun as well with Chelsea's 21st birthday tomorrow (Tuesday) as well as my friend from home, Allie! Justin Bieber on Wednesday! Then St. Pat's on Thursday! Then, I am missing another 21st birthday on Saturday- Sam! It is going to be another busy week, and I will let you know how it goes....
Monday, March 7, 2011
Spring Break Trips are Booked!!
Sooooo... I finalized my plans for Spring Break today, for the most part! I have an AMAZING next two months that include three whole weeks of Spring (Easter) Break. Here is what it looks like----
Wednesday, March 9th: My 21st birthday!
Saturday, March 12th-Sunday, March 13th: Bath/Stonehenge trip with my program
Tuesday, March 15th: Chelsea's 21st birthday!
Wednesday, March 16th: JUSTIN BIEBER Concert in London!
Friday, March 25th-Sunday, March 27th: Paris trip!! (with my program)
March 31st-April 24th: Spring Break! Plans are as follows----
April 1st-4th: Dublin
April 4th-7th(ish): London
April 7th-10th: back to Brighton
April 11th-16th: Florence to visit Shelley
April 17th-20th(ish): Amsterdam (and Lindsay's birthday on April 19th)
April 29th- Royal Wedding-- I don't know if I am going to this or not, but it is still happening and we have a bank holiday because of it.
April 30-May 1st: Oxford/Stratford trip with my program
As you can see, the next few months are going to be AMAZING! There might be a trip to Liverpool next weekend to see the birthplace of The Beatles...
So looking for and trying to book flights is what the past week of my life has consisted of. Nothing else has been going on. I did get two cards in the mail- one from Kelsey Firsick and one from my mom! It was awesome to get mail! :) But super expensive to mail things abroad! Well I know I haven't written much, but I am tired so I am going to bed. I will try and update soon- if not this week, then definitely after I go to Bath and Stonehenge!
Wednesday, March 9th: My 21st birthday!
Saturday, March 12th-Sunday, March 13th: Bath/Stonehenge trip with my program
Tuesday, March 15th: Chelsea's 21st birthday!
Wednesday, March 16th: JUSTIN BIEBER Concert in London!
Friday, March 25th-Sunday, March 27th: Paris trip!! (with my program)
March 31st-April 24th: Spring Break! Plans are as follows----
April 1st-4th: Dublin
April 4th-7th(ish): London
April 7th-10th: back to Brighton
April 11th-16th: Florence to visit Shelley
April 17th-20th(ish): Amsterdam (and Lindsay's birthday on April 19th)
April 29th- Royal Wedding-- I don't know if I am going to this or not, but it is still happening and we have a bank holiday because of it.
April 30-May 1st: Oxford/Stratford trip with my program
As you can see, the next few months are going to be AMAZING! There might be a trip to Liverpool next weekend to see the birthplace of The Beatles...
So looking for and trying to book flights is what the past week of my life has consisted of. Nothing else has been going on. I did get two cards in the mail- one from Kelsey Firsick and one from my mom! It was awesome to get mail! :) But super expensive to mail things abroad! Well I know I haven't written much, but I am tired so I am going to bed. I will try and update soon- if not this week, then definitely after I go to Bath and Stonehenge!
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