How many desserts can I eat in one weekend? And other eternal questions answered -- Paris Style

So as you all know I went to Paris the first weekend of November, again sorry for the late post but life has gotten...hectic.That's right, we successfully completed our first weekend trip that was not IES sponsored, totally on our own. And not only that but it was to Paris, somewhere we had been advised not to go because of strikes etc. But I would just like to make it clear now, it was totally safe in that regard, I didn't see one strike or riot and we had no real problems with transportation. That is not to say the trip was not without struggles, as Jenna put it our highs were very high but the lows were very low. It was definately a learning experience.. but still I had fun...let me tell you about itDay1
This day began with me waking up at about 4 in the morning or something absurd like that our flight left at 8 am and we had to get ourselves to Luton airport.  So after attempting to wait for a nightbus we jumped in a cab and went to Victoria station where we embarked on our bus ride (about a hour). Then we got on our flight to Paris (it was so short) and before we knew it we were there! So we figured out how to take a train and then a metra to our hostel (good job Rachel) and that was surprisingly painless. We got off the metra and there was the Moulin Rouge and street corner crepe men, our trip had begun! We headed to our hostel, met Jenna and then took off.

Anne enjoying the first Parisian crepe of the trip

                                                     
It was a amazing beautiful day so our first item of business was a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. We wandered down the street and bought cheese, baguettes and fruit from street vendors (yum). Then we got on the metra to head to the tower. On this metra ride, 2 of my friends got pickpocketed (and the lows began). So after dealing with that disaster and we finally headed to the tower. And it was beautiful. I had been there over the summer but was not prepared for the beauty that is Paris when the leaves are changing. So we had our french picnic under the tower and took millions of pictures.

After that we headed to Notre Dame stopping at our first bakery of the trip along the way at which Jenna and I had delicious eclairs. After exploring Notre Dame, so beautiful and moving (regardless of  the religious aspects.) Then we went on absurdly long walk to find dinner, it was good but not spectacular but the dessert was amazing. I had profiteroles (which is basically my favorite dessert of all time). Anyway when I was younger my dad and I ranked profiteroles in French restaurants around Chicago, so I am somewhat of an expert :) but these were quite possibly top 3.  (And yes this entry will in fact be a running commentary on food).

Pastry number 1

Notre Dame

Profiteroles!!!

Day 2
On Saturday Rachel and I headed to Versailles, something I was super excited about since I didn't go during my last Paris trip. It was only about a 40 minute train ride and then we were there. When we arrived we discovered the gardens were free and spent probably about a hour (in the misty light rain) wandering and taking in the beauty. Once again I was pleasantly surprised by the fall, by how pretty a garden could be without the flowers in bloom. After we wandered and took our amazing jumping pictures we were getting ready to pay the absurd fee to head inside. And we when arrived at the door the man told us because we had student visas (are students in Europe) we got to go in for free! We wandered the hall of mirrors and the rooms of Marie Antoinette. The only downside was the absurd exhibit going on at the time. Apparently the King was interested in modern art at the time so someone thought it would be interesting to juxtapose really bad modern art with modern art of Marie Antoinette's time. Let me tell you, not a good idea.  But regardless the inside was as incredible as the outside. Then we took a train back to the city.

Hall of Mirrors

After arriving back to Paris we headed to largest flea market in Paris. We stopped for lunch at cute bistro,met some fellow Americans and then headed out to shop. Parts of the market were a bit sketchy, selling knock-offs and what not but we discovered the hidden treasure of an indoor antique market (which was especially exciting given the pouring rain and our lack of umbrellas). This market was essentially unaffordable but beautiful and after that we went out the flea market and got our Parisian scarfs, jewelry, Christmas presents and more.Then we went to Champs de Elysee and the Arch de Triumph but since it was raining after getting sufficiently soaked we moved into a cafe for coffee and warmth.

Arch de Triumph

                                                            
After sitting for a while we headed back to the Eiffel Tower area to meet the girls for dinner. This was our splurge meal, 3 course of french food and even wine. It was delicious and very nice to be in a real restaurant. After our amazing dinner we headed back to the tower, to go to the top at night. Since I had been there before I think my favorite part was watching the other girls reactions, the amazement and enjoyment that is seeing it for the first time, sparkling at night. And regardless of the pouring rain the view was spectacular. The only problem was once we got down we realized how wet and cold we truly were. I had to throw out a pair of flats that day but it was so worth it.




Day 3
Our last day in Paris : ( We decided after seeing ht Louvre line that most of us didn't want to wait so I took those girls to my favorite museum in the world the  l'Orangerie. It is basically a museum solely dedicated to Monet's water colors. They are the size of the wall and overwhelmingly beautiful. After the museum we did some more rain wandering and souvenir shopping. After that we went the Cafe the movie Amelie takes place in for lunch, super cute and the french onion soup was amazing. Then we climbed to the top of the Sacré-Cœur, another incredible view. We finished our afternoon with wandering all around Paris, just seeing the neighborhoods, the houses and eating as many pastries as humanly possibly. I had gelato that was to die for and a beniget filled with chocolate (who knew that even existed). But then we were cold and wet and had to take a bus to the airport because of train closures. Also I don't recommend riding a airplane with wet shoes, no fun. But then around midnight we were finally made it back to London.

My favorite Monet

Another favorite

Jenna enjoying one of the many Parisian pastries of the trip

Scotland - The Most Beautiful Place on Earth

So I apologize to my readers, this blog entry has been a long time coming since I went to Scotland on the 28th of October (and its now November -- how did this happen?) But I would just like to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that my lack of updates is a good thing, it means I have been to busy doing amazing things to even stop and write. But since I will be here the next three weekends expect much more regular updates, as I have many things to say lately. But first since I am attempting to write this somewhat chronologically --> Scotland.
Day 1
We left the res hall way, way, to early on Thursday morning (around 6:30am) to take the tube to Kings Cross Station (a giant train station) where we boarded our train to Scotland.  Needless to say it takes 5 hours to ride a train to Scotland something someone like me (with no ability to sit still) was not that pleased with. Basically a normal person would have slept but I just didn't really know what to do with those hours (though the last hour or so of the train ride was beautiful).

First view of Scotland

So then we finally arrived in Edinburgh to meet our guide, a short middle-aged man wearing a kilt. He was driving a bright yellow tour bus with the words "Wild & Sexy" on the side and right away I knew this was going to be a strange trip. He provided us with a running commentary of profane jokes and interesting, at times irrelevant information.

Our bus

  The first place we stopped was the Warren Memorial (some sort of Braveheart reference but I am to movie deprived to understand). So we hiked up to the top of the hill and it was the beginning of the indescribable beauty I witnessed over the next few days.

First view of Warren Memorial 

View from ontop of the memorial

Me on top of the memorial -- after a long climb up the hill

 

Then we drove around the Scottish Highlands, quite possibly the most beauitful place on earth, full of roaming hills and waterfalls. I have never seen this sort of natural beauty in real life.

The first view of  the Highlands

The girls and I in the Highlands

After an entire day of traveling (and unfortunately carsickness) we stopped in our first hostel, in Fort Williams. Weirdly, we went to a Mexican restaurant that night and it was delicious. Then we went back to our cute little family owned hostel (it was pouring rain all night) and curled up by the fire. It was delightful.

Day 2
 Our day began with a train ride on a real steam train, the train that inspired/used in Harry Potter. Unfortunately we didn't set in Hogwarts Express style seats (those were the first class cars). Though I am not a huge Harry Potter fan I did recognize the romance in riding in an old fashioned steam train with a snack car and a beautiful view the whole way.  Scotland is the most naturally beautiful place I have experienced in my life. The highlands are huge cliffs and mountains (something those of us in the flat midwest don't see everyday) all covered in trees with perfect fall leaves in all different colors. I never understood people who loved fall before, and now I do.

The Steam Train

Jenna and I when the train stopped in the Highlands

After the train ride we grabbed lunch in this cute seaside town (but it was raining too hard to really explore) and then we got back on our tourbus. We were prepared for a long ride to Loch Ness when two wheels literally feel off our bus and we had to wait on the bus for two hours watching a movie. Then when we finally got a new bus it was too late and rainy to ride a boat on the river so instead we stopped and climbed a hill to the Viaduct from Harry Potter (another thing I didn't really understand) but it was another incredible view.

Jenna and Anne frolicking in the mountains (I love this picture so much)

The beautiful view

Then more bus riding and we went to a new hostel. This one was particularly cute, owned by a sweet Scottish family who cooked us a traditional meal featuring Haggis (which I was unable to eat), a delicious dessert and they then taught us how to Scottish dance (such a fun disaster).  Then we got to spend another night sitting in front of a fire.

Our Haggis Dinner (eeew -- but I tried it)

Day 3
The first thing we did that morning before embarking on another long drive was stop at the Loch Ness since hadn't the night before.

In front of the loch

Another photo of the loch

Once again we spent hours on the bus riding through beautiful hills amazed my more views. After the drive we climbed another hill, this time to see real reindeer. They were adorable and we got to feed them. This walk to the reindeer was probably my favorite part, we got to climb over little hills, bridges over rivers and then literally frolic in the mountains with wild animals.

Feeding the reindeer

After lunch and more driving we went to a whiskey factory, I think whiskey is gross but unlike the guiness factory this was a working distillery not a museum so that was interesting to see.

Whiskey factory!

After more amazing scenery and driving we went to Edinburgh which is another great city. Its a larger scenery but manages to have a natural feel. Our hostel was fun since we got to choose our roommates, have a big room and there was conveniently a bar in the basement. Since it was Halloween we all got dressed up in our makeshift costumes, I was a gypsy. Then we went on a ghost tour, which I personally didn't enjoy it was just sort of emotionally manipulative and silly but afterward we went dancing!

Make-shift gypsy costume

Going out for Halloween!

Day 4
On our last day in Scotland we woke up pretty early (thank you European early daylight savings time) and Rachel and I went exploring. We did alot of wandering (our first day in Scotland without rain) and then went to Edinburgh Castle (I love exploring old castles).

Photo on the hillside with the Castle and photo of the Castle

After going to the castle we went to a coffee shop which is famous for being the inspiration, the place were many famous writers (one of them being J.K. Rowling) wrote. i just love a good coffee shop, especially one with amazing chocolate cake.

J.K. Rowling Cafe

After this a few of us went to climb Arthur Seat (a hill with the best view of the city) even though we climbed the wrong track we still got the incredible view and a "photo shoot" ontop of the hill. Then after all of this we got on another five hour train ride and headed home to London! All in all it was an amazing trip. And there are a thousand more photos of facebook so please check them out. Uploading them all to this blog would take forever.

Me ontop of Arthur's seat, overlooking Edinburgh

"I can smell the calories" - My Adventures in Belguim (and the week before)

Sorry this post is super delayed but I am officially the busiest person in the world. I think I am about 2 weeks behind so I will try to cover everything, at least briefly. Last week (October 9-16) my family came to London! It was so much fun even though it did make me more homesick. But the week was awesome, it consisted of toursity attractions and the most delicious food I have had in awhile. While they were here we went to the Tower of London. Here's us outside the tour across from the bridge.

 

The day they left (Saturday morning) I headed out on my second IES sponsored weekend trip, this one to Iepers Belgium.  We left much to early in the morning and spent way to many hours on a coach bus and then on a ferry the size of your average cruise ship. The ferry had multiple restaurants and coach buses were parked on the bottom level. But around 3 in the afternoon we finally got to Ieper. It was beautiful town full of really cute architecture. All of the buildings looked like these ones.

We got there and spent the afternoon in a really interesting museum about World War I. We went to the Menin Gate that evening and attended a poignant memorial ceremony that occurs every night there. I definitely learned more about the war than I ever knew. Poppy's are an important symbol of remembrance and these beautiful wreaths were all over the town and the gate.

 

After all the tours and depressing (but interesting) history lessons we went to a bar.This bar is famous for its political incorrectness. It is called the 12 Apostles and features religious symbols in a tacky and ridiculous way. But this is where I had my first taste of Belgian beer (and probably my last, much too strong for me, I couldn't even finish it.

Rachel and I with our beers

After beer we made at mad dash for waffles after finding out the entire town closes on Sunday morning and none of the waffle places would be open until after we left for the day. We weren't going to leave Belgium without waffles so we ran to a restaurant at around 930 at night and made it minutes before they closed. The waffles were totally worth the running, they are covered with powdered sugar and smothered in chocolate.

The girls and our waffles

We also managed to find some time to buy entirely too much Belgian chocolate. I am obsessed with this picture of me and all of chocolate.

 

The next morning the girls and I explored the town before embarking on more depressing tours. All of the buildings looked like this, in fact this amazing building housed a simple museum. 

We spent the day touring cemeteries and war sights (trenches etc.) I know beautiful is a strange world to describe a cemetery but that is exactly what they are. It was a bright sunny day and there was something incredible about all these gravesites that were covered in flowers (like the one below). 

Our cheerful stop of the day, between the cemeteries and the executioners pole was the Talbot house. It was a place were men went for relation and fun during the war. I loved the signs/rules of the house...this was one of my favorite signs.

All in all the trip was a success, full of friends, delicious food and some actual learning. I was unsure about the trip at first, Belgium wasn't exactly on my travel list but I am very, very glad I went. 
This week (post-Belgium) has been extremely chaotic. I went to 3 shows this week, a real forum theatre performance at a homeless shelter. For Beloit people, it was essentially real theatre of the oppressed and it definitely reinforced my interest in pursuing that type of theatre. I also saw a new musical (done by theatre students about my age) called Parade and I am not usually a musical person but I was truly moved by this show.  And finally I saw Hamlet at the National Theatre, 4 hours of Hamlet is a bit much for me but it was definitely a well done production. I also went to Stratford yesterday (Shakespeare's home) and was extremely disappointed. First of all it felt like an amusement park/tourist trap and it proved that no one has any real knowledge of Shakespeare's life. We were shown many corny videos and told everything was possibly Shakespeare's. But as part of my theatre education I am glad I went anyway.
And next week is midterms so this blog entry was essentially a study break. After midterms we leave for our midterm break trip to Scotland on Thurs.
The adventures continue!

Let the Traveling Begin

This past weekend I embarked on what is to be the first of many, many weekend trips. This one was a good way to start because IES (my study abroad program) sponsored it meaning I didn't have to worry about planning or travel details. And it meant all of my friends, or at least the vast majority of them, were going as well.The trip began at 5:50 am on Friday when we embarked on a tube adventure in which I rode the tube for over a hour to get to Heathrow airport. I will spare you all the details but needless to say exhaustion was a definite theme of this adventure. That day we arrived at the Hostel in which 10 girls were in one room, which was probably one of the most fun sleepovers I have had since I left elementary school. But the first day was spent on a unfortunately boring tour of Ireland. It was supposed to be a 2 hour walking tour but it was really a 2 1/2 hour standing tour, were we would stop at one building and then get a history of Ireland for about 20 mins. Basically it was not enough seeing at too much listening on too little sleep. But the city was pretty beautiful......
That night we had a group dinner at a Italian restaurant and then explored the Irish nightlife.Rachel, Anne, Jenna and I found this really fun bar with a super cool bartender, met real Irishmen and listened to Irish musicans cover American music. Once the band stopped we quickly became the only ones dancing to the not particularly good music playing over the sound system. We then continued exploring and found....A 80s bar...that advertised free jello shots with drinks and no cover charge (my new favorite place.) And played only 80s music...needless to say the dancing continued but we quickly realized how exhausted we were and planned to come back the next day with all the girls.

View of Dublin, I love cities on the water.

Anne, Jenna and Rachel at the Irish bar (with the fun band).

Day 2 began much too early with the strangest breakfast experience I have ever had. Apparently at hostels breakfast is coffee and tea and toast. And when I say toast I mean they literally provide loafs and loafs and loafs of bread and many toasters. Watching everyone line up and freakout about bread was one of the strangest, most entertaining experiences of my life. But not a very satisfying breakfast but whatever.. We went to the writers museum that morning, I don't feel like I know enough about Irish Lit to fully appreciate it but I'm glad I went. And then that afternoon, after pub lunch 2 (of 3), we went to the countryside. I was sort of ambivalent on Ireland until that point (lame I know but besides the night life Dublin is a bit under-whelming...at least the parts I saw). But Sandycove, the area of the countryside where James Joyce's tower was, is the beautiful place I have ever been in my life. It was exactly the way I imagined it, neither photos nor descriptions can do it justice. But it was a beachfront town, complete with rocky cliffs. And then the girls and I went to another bakery, so good, I swear I'm going to gain the study abroad 15, the food is so good (so much pastry). The girls and I are planning a bakery-crawl, like a bar-crawl but for deliciousness. But anyway that night we went to another Italian restaurant for dinner and then we went out. The 80s bar was even more fun, so much dancing and Rachel did my hair and make-up, something that needs to happen everytime we go out..so much fun.

All of us at Sandy Cove.

  

Jumping Picture! Surprisingly successful!

But needless to say the going out and lack of sleep made Sunday morning rough. But all we did was go to the Guinness Factory, on Sunday morning (so much drinking so early, the bar was crowded). It was cool to see but I am lame and not really a beer person so I tried my free sample sip but cashed my free drink in for a diet coke (fail I know.) But after a final pub lunch we headed back. It's funny how quickly a place can feel like home, after only a month this has become my home.

Sorry there aren't more pictures, I am exhausted and they take way too long to load (our internet sucks). But they are all on facebook, so check them out there.

So this week is super busy, realizing I finally have to do school work...ugh. But my family is coming on Saturday, so excited and Becky's birthday was tonight so some more going out will have to happen between now and then. Also going to see 2 more shows this week (already saw one dance performance). Really even on the worst days, tube stop canceled, broken purse, rain, broken umbrella and more, I can't help but be amazed that this is my life.