Amsterdam & Brugge

I just got home from Amsterdam and Brugge and it was quite the experience.  To get to Amsterdam, we took a coach.  The coach drove onto a ferry at the Port of Dover, which was a little creepy.  I watched as semis, cars and other coaches piled off the ferry and was a little worried that our ferry would sink.  Luckily, we made it across the English Chanel and landed in France about an hour later.  From France, we drove through Belgium and then stopped for lunch in the Netherlands.  We got to Amsterdam that night and the first tour we went on was one of the red light district.  I was not sure what to expect at all, but it was actually a really cool experience. There were rows and rows of windows and we walked around for a long time and I'm sure we didn't see even close to everyone.  It was a little strange though because there is a church in the red light district and families live above the girls' windows.  Now, I realize that it is just a way of life there and not really a big deal for the locals.  The next day, we went out of Amsterdam to a small town call Volendam.  We went on a tour of a cheese and clog farm where the group learned how cheese and wooden clogs are made.  We even got to sample some of the cheese and it was delicious.  My favorite was either the garlic and onion cheese or the ham cheese (there were actually chunks of ham in the cheese...YUM)!  We went back into Amsterdam and took a quick driving tour of the city and then we took a canal tour.  There were so many canals and it was a great way to see the city.  It was really rainy and crappy so after wandering around for a while we decided to head back to the hotel to dry off and warm up.  That night, we went to a bar in Amsterdam and then out for dinner at a really cute Italian restaurant.  The next morning, we left for Brugge, Belgium.  It is a very touristy town, but also very cute.  We walked along the canals and found the Markt and Burg, which were like the city squares.  Then we ate fries, waffles and chocolate and now I know why Belgium is famous for it!  Before heading back to London, we stopped at a Belgian chocolate factory.  I did pretty well and only bought one bag of chocolate, I'm already in enough of a sugar coma from this trip as it is!

Jack the Ripper

Tonight, our favorite tour guide, took us out for one last tour in London.  We didn't leave for our tour until 7, so it was already dark when we started.  They call this the Jack the Ripper tour.  I wasn't really sure what to expect and was a little creeped out before we left but it was really cool.  We walked around the East end of London, where all of the murders actually took place.  It was like our own private detective story.  We learned about when the murders started, the state of horror they put the city in and most importantly, all of the different conspiracy theories behind all of the stories.  Parts of the tour were pretty nasty but it was still really interesting to actually learn about a time in history that is so mysterious.  It seems so strange to me that no one ever truly figured out who this man was.  We learned about several of the suspects, and one of them actually turned out to be an American!  Other then a great tour today, I finished yet another week of my internship.  I'm still really enjoying it and getting excited to see my work pay off at the spring convention.  This weekend, I'm headed to Amsterdam and Brugges, Belgium.  It is supposed to be beautiful!  Our tour takes us by bus and ferry and we are going to drive the France and the Netherlands.  I can't wait!  It's hard to believe that in one week, I have gone from Scotland, to walking the paths of Jack the Ripper and am getting ready to leave for the Netherlands!  I really have it rough = )

Scotland!

I just got home from Scotland and I can say that it is by far the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen in my entire life!  A group of us, me, Renae, Emily, Anna and Rachel, left from London at 6:30 on Friday morning and took a train to Edinburgh.  It was a really pretty train ride and as we got closer to Edinburgh we got to see the North Sea.  When we got into Edinburgh, Robin, our tour guide, met the group by the train.  He had his kilt on and he loaded us all on a bus and we went on a bus tour of Edinburgh.  When we got out to look at a castle, he led us there by playing the bag pipes.  They are such a pretty instrument and it seemed like no matter where you were in the city, you could hear the bag pipes echoing in the distance.  We ended up staying at a bed and breakfast just outside the city center and it was too cute.  All of our beds had blue plaid comforters and we even had a skeleton key to get in and out of our rooms.  The breakfast was delicious too.  On day 2, we went on a tour of the Scottish Highlands.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  It was so strange though because when we left Edinburgh in the morning, it was raining, when we stopped just into the Highlands, it was snowing and at Loch Ness, it was sunny.  One of the first stops we made on the bus tour was to see hairy coos.  They are just cows that are super fuzzy and have big horns.  They are adorable.  The 2 that we got to see up close were named Heather and Hamish.  They are expecting a calf soon, but I'm sure the babies are even cuter.  The next time we stopped, we were in Glencoe.  There are 3 big mountains there, called the 3 sisters of Glencoe, and they are beautiful.  We also stopped at Loch Ness during our tour.  I kept on the lookout for Nessie, but I didn't catch a glimpse of her.  Peter, our tour guide and bus driver for the day, told us that the Loch is 700 feet deep and contains black holes where no one knows how deep it could be.  It was also eerily still on Loch Ness.  There was no movement at all, no birds, no fish, no nothing.  We even got to get into the Loch and it was so cold.  The top of the Loch stays at about 2 degrees Celsius throughout the year so I was glad that I only put my feet in.  On our final day in Scotland, we took a tour of the Edinburgh Castle.  It is located on a huge hill that overlooks the entire city so there were some great views.  We also got to walk through some war museums, restored parts of the original castle and see the Scottish crown jewels.  

Home Cooked Meal

Hey everyone!  I just had one of the best meals ever.  Mark and Beth, our program directors, made the whole program a traditional British dinner tonight.  We had shepard's pie,  peas and bread and butter pudding with a custard topping for dessert.  It was delicious!  Yesterday was Valentine's Day and the London Eye looked adorable.  It was a red/pinkish color last night and there were some twinkling lights that were lining it.  We went off to a play last night, When We Were Married, and it was in an old theatre.  There was a beautiful chandelier and the seats were a red velour type material. This weekend I am off to Scotland.  The plan is to leave early on Friday morning and then get to Edinburgh by lunch time.  Then we are going on a tour of the city.  On Saturday, we are going on a bus tour to the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness.  Who knows, maybe I'll catch a glimpse of Nessie?

Another Week in London

Its been a little while since I have last updated my blog and it has been a pretty crazy week.  I made it through week 2 of my internship and I'm still really enjoying it.  I've been helping with travel plans so I think that is really going to help me when we start planning trips here.  On Tuesday night, the whole program went out for an Pakastani meal.  It was so good!  It was a little spicy but everything was just so delicious.  We had this giant plate full of grilled BBQ meats from lamb, lamb chops, chicken and fish, then tortilla type shells with all sorts of yummy dipping sauces and deep fat fried veggies and onions.  Then the main course came.  There was chicken, lentil, beef, lamb and vegetable curries, rice and this delicious bread.  I've never eaten this type of food before but I was really impressed.

On Wednesday night, our theatre class went to see The Invisible Man.  It was surprisingly hilarious.  The special effects were awesome too because there would be times that there was no one on stage, but props would be moving all over the place.  We got to sit in the second row and I couldn't believe that I couldn't figure out the special effects.

Thursday night was a good one too.  It is cheap mojito night and a bar in London, so about 15 people from the program ventured out for mojitos.  After we were there for a while we found another international house type place and went there.  There were people from everywhere and karaoke too.  Jason and a few of us girls sang Bad Romance.  Once we were ready to leave we realized the tube was closed and we couldn't find the right bus, so we walked home.  When we finally found Buckingham Palace, everyone was pretty excited to see the Queen's flag flying, meaning that she was in the Palace when we walked by.

Super Bowl

Go Packers!  I'm so glad that I got the chance to watch the Super Bowl last night even though it didn't get over until around 3 am London time.  I didn't quite make it to the end but I was impressed that I was able to stay awake until the 4th quarter.  It was a little disappointing though because there were no commercials!  BBC 1 would show the exact broadcast but then when they would take a commercial break, BBC would stay on the air to answer questions about football and explain what had happened during the past few minutes.  It was a little strange to watch.  I have been able to you tube some of the commercials though and it looks like I missed some pretty funny ones.  In the past couple of days I made it out to the Natural History Museum.  It was a lot of fun but we only made it through about half of the place.  It's free though, so hopefully we make it back to finish looking at everything.  I also went to the Chinese New Year celebration in Trafalgar Square and Chinatown.  It was cool to see all of the people, they mentioned on the news that half a million people attended the event, but it was hard to see or do much there with all of the people.

Cambridge

Yesterday the whole group went on a day trip to Cambridge.  It was stunning and I absolutely loved it.  We got to take a train there, my second train after the historic train rides in Boone, and I decided that I love traveling by train.  It was so quick and easy and it was a nice change of pace to be able to see where we were going.  Don't get me wrong, I love taking the tube, but when you're on the underground you have no idea where you actually are.  Once we got to Cambridge I was a little disappointed at first. Then Mark, our program director, told us that Cambridge was actually in the middle of the town and the train station was out on the outskirts.  We walked in towards the campus and the buildings were absolutely gorgeous.  We got to look around at the different colleges and even see some of their chapels.  Kings College Chapel is by far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my whole life.  There are 26 stained glass windows and the ceiling was gorgeous.  It really made you wonder how people built extraordinary buildings like this back when there was no machinery.  After our chapel tour we went out to The Eagle.  It is a famous pub for several reasons.  First, Watson and Crick announced their discovery of the structure of DNA from a booth that we were sitting right next to.  And secondly because in the second World War, American airmen and women would go to this pub a lot.  They signed the ceiling of the pub so it was a cool place to visit as an American, and the food was really good.
After the pub we got talked into punting.  Punting is when you sit in a small boat and a punting chauffeur uses a giant pole to push the boat up and down the river.  It was a great way to see more of the colleges because a lot of them have giant walls that block your view from the front, but when you are on the river in the back you can see so much more.  Our tour guide was a hoot to and told us a ton of fun stories.  The weather was a little sketchy  yesterday, no rain but a ton of wind, so our poor punter had to work twice as hard to push us around the river.  It was a blast though and I'm so glad that I got the chance to go punting.  Today, I'm off to the Tower of London which I hear is amazing.  I heard a rumor that some of the Crown Jewels are in the Tower so I'm hoping we get the chance to see them!

Cambridge

King's College Chapel Interior

Kings College Chapel

Internship

I just got back from the first week of my internship and I have to say that it is exhausting.  It seems so weird that I have to commute to get to work.  I'm so used to driving 10 minutes into West Branch that it seems so crazy that I have to leave an hour early to get there on time.  Other than the traveling I'm really liking it so far.  I'm learning to get over my phobia of calling random people on the phone which is a good thing.  Today, I was repeatedly told that my accent was fun and exciting by the people that I was calling.  I never thought of an American accent but it seems strange that we are the minority now.  The other night I went to my first play in London for my theatre class.  It was called Once Bitten.  It took place at a small theatre in Richmond where there were 3 rows of seats surrounding a tiny stage.  It was really funny so now I'm even more excited for the other plays that I'm going to get to see. Tomorrow I have the rest of my classes, only 2 actually so I will be done for the week by noon on a Thursday...rough life I know.  On Friday the group is taking a day trip to Cambridge and I'm excited to explore more of England than just London.  Cheers!