Ireland - Part 1

Ok...here is the Ireland blog.  I am super wordy, and I like to detail everything, so this will probably take a few blogs.  I could make it one superblog, but that seems a little much to me.  I should warn everyone reading that I will be writing everything that happened: repeating some immature jokes, detailing European guys, not being able to describe the views as anything other than beautiful, and one major instance of deep thought that could just be me taking myself too seriously. So, if you are brave enough, here goes nothing...

On our way!

The Ireland adventure began late Tuesday night when I began packing for the four-day trip.  I am notoriously bad at packing for even the shortest of trips, and we didn't want to check anything because it would cost more.  That meant for four days, I had my backpack and my purse.  Not easy.  Somehow, though, I made it work. 

Wednesday morning was a whirlwind of making sure I had everything and making sure the room wouldn't somehow catch on fire in the four days I would be gone.  (The more I live on my own, the more I realize just how much I am my mother's daughter.)  Sam's family had been in town for the week, and they were heading with us to the airport so they could catch a plane home.  We met them at the bus station and got on the incredibly crowded bus to Victoria Station in London.  

At this point, I think it is a rule that I must sleep on buses.  I have yet to stay awake on a bus ride that is any longer than 40 minutes.  Once we were at Victoria, we had to wait about 20 minutes for our next bus to Heathrow.  That was a shorter ride, and I was getting a little nervous for the flight, so I managed to stay awake.  At Heathrow, we found our way to our flight's departure to print our boarding passes.  At that point, Sam's family realized they were taking off from a different terminal, so we said a very short goodbye to them before they headed out.

After we had our boarding passes, we headed through security.  I think something about me must scream terrorist or something because I always have something extra done at security.  On the flight from O'Hare, I was pulled out and had to go through the individual x-ray machine.  This time, they took my bag with liquids and said they needed to do an extra test on it.  It only took about 45 seconds to do, so I have no idea what they were testing it for.  

Once we got through security, we found somewhere to eat lunch.  I feel like this shows how much better I have become at flying.  Before our flight to England, I couldn't eat a thing because I was so scared.  This time, we found an amazing little Italian place, and ate lunch before heading to our gate. 

I wasn't sure what to expect for such a short flight, but our airline, bmi, was really nice.  While I have gotten a little better, I am still pretty terrified of flying.  Poor Sam tried to take my mind off it, and she held my hand the entire takeoff.  The flight was fine until we were getting ready for our descent.  It was raining in Ireland, so going down through the clouds caused some turblence.  (If I thought it was bad then, though, it was nothing compared to our flight back.)  I felt much safer and happier when we finally landed on Irish soil :)

We went through customs, and I got a green stamp on my passport :)  We had a little while to wait before our bus picked us up, so we found a little cafe to get something to drink.  I got a hot chocolate that turned out to be the worst thing I have ever had in my life.  I made Sam try it, and she agreed.  I don't know what it was, but it definitely wasn't hot chocolate.

Our bus was very easy to spot.  It was green, of course, with the word PADDYWAGON written down the side.  It took about a half an hour to get to our hostel in the center of Dublin.  Paddy's Palace may not have been the best place, but for a hostel, I've heard it is pretty good.  We stayed in a ten person room that had 5 bunk beds.  Once we checked in and put our things in the room, we left to explore Dublin.  We were only a few minutes from the main road, O'Connell Street.  We walked up and down the street for a while and immediately noticed that the main road has two McDonald's and two Burger Kings.  If that doesn't make you feel at home, I don't know what does :) 

O'Connell Street also has a very large spire in the middle that we were pretty confused about.  It just seemed to be a huge spike on the main road.  It was apparently built to commemorate the millennium, but it wasn't finished until 2003.  The citizens of Dublin are not very impressed with it, and our bus driver was incredibly excited to tell us it has nicknames like: The Stiffy on the Liffey (Liffey is the river that runs through Dublin), The Erection in the Intersection, and the Stiletto in the Ghetto.  The best part was hearing the old man on our tour get a huge kick out of these names :)  The Spire did come in handy, though.  If we ever got turned around, we just needed to walk toward it, and we could always find our way back to the hostel.

As we walked up and down the street, we found a movie theater.  We were pretty tired from the trip, and we knew we weren't up to going out that night, so we figured a movie would be something good to do for our first night in Ireland.  We found a little restaurant to eat dinner, and then we went to see The Social Network.  (GREAT movie by the way. Andrew Garfield is amazing...and British!)  The best part was hearing the Irish accents in the little commercials while we waited for the movie to start :) 

After the movie, we found our way back to the hostel.  One thing about hostels: people go to sleep whenever they want.  That means that if you are staying in a ten-person room, and two people want to go to sleep at 9, you get to try to find your way around in the dark.  It's not always easy when you are trying to get ready for bed and not slam into the bar while getting in the bottom bunk.  (Or, you could just be mean and turn on the lights.  That happened later while we were trying to sleep.)  In the end, though, we were pretty tired.  We went to sleep ready for our bus tour the next day.  

So, that's the end of day one, so I think it's a logical place to stop.  Next blog should be soon!

~Taylor  





Letting Go

I adore this.  If only we could all live like this every day.

I don't know why, but I have dwelled on this all day, and I couldn't sleep until I wrote it out:

I had a great weekend.  I might have had a little too much fun ;) but between the friends, fireworks, and fun, I actually had some moments of realization. 

I was called overprotective this weekend.  Anyone who really knows me knows it's no secret that I am a worrier.  I have to know everything that is going on, weigh every possible outcome of decisions, and have control over everything in my life.  This also tends to cross over into the lives of those around me.  I make no apologies for that.  There have been many instances where that has kept me, and those I love, safe. 

However, looking at it this weekend, I can honestly see how it might also be a negative aspect of my personality.  Not only because worrying about any little thing going wrong makes me an incredibly boring and irritating person.  (That is one major realization I came to, though.)  It really prevents me from having full, honest experiences.  If I am so worried about what is going on around me, I can never appreciate the things I may miss. 

It also has an effect on those around me.  I have been called out for worrying too much, but I have never actually been labeled as overprotective of others until now.  I can honestly say that I hadn't thought about it that way.  By needing to make sure nothing bad happens to my friends, I am possibly keeping them from having experiences that may teach them something.  Sometimes the best lessons in life come from making mistakes.  By trying so hard to keep everyone around me from making any mistakes, I might be robbing them of something they need to learn.  I need to learn to trust that everything will be ok.

In the end, this is hopefully one of the good things I can take away from this experience.  I know being here is changing me, and it has all been for the better.  One of the best parts about this whole trip is being able to look at the different aspects of myself that I need to work on changing.  If I can learn to let go and just let things happen here in a different country where things have a higher probability of going wrong, it will be so much easier to do the same at home.  I can come back a more free, easier going person.

I know a lot of people who will be pleasantly surprised :)

~Taylor   

(I promise the Ireland blog will be up this week sometime. I am just trying to capture everything that happened.)



Election Day!

(Still working on the Ireland blog(s).  Hopefully they will be up later.)

This blog gets a little political at the end, so if you don't like that kind of thing, don't read it.

It's Election Day, and there is no excuse for people to not get out and vote.  After working on a campaign all summer, I am going crazy because I am not around for today.  If I were home I would be going crazy too, but today that ocean seems so much bigger. 

I lived the campaign this summer: Put a ton of miles on my family's cars, walked door to door in 9 different counties, suffered through blistering heat, made thousands of phone calls, had doors slam in my face, had people hang up on me, got yelled at, got barked at, almost got attacked by a chicken, and had the time of my life.  The last one may seem strange in that list, but if there is one thing I learned this summer, it is that I am meant to spend my life in the political field.  It is something I truly connect with.  Today is the culmination of hard work from so many people.  Compared to others, I barely did anything for the campaign.  Today is what we worked for, and I am bummed to have to miss it.

I would not have put in the time this summer if I did not believe in what I was doing.  Senator Demuzio is such an amazing person.  She has done so much for the 49th district, and she needs to be sent back to Springfield for the good of the people. 

Getting one partisan thought out there, we need the Democrats to be victorious today.  I am not the biggest fan of every Democrat on the ticket this year, but compared to the alternatives, the Democrats are the best candidates.  There are some pretty radical and frightening people on the tickets this year, and I fear for our state financially, and especially socially, if they are elected.

There you go.  Political blog.  I was going to go much more in-depth, but I fortunately thought it through before posting the other one.  The main idea I want to get out there today is that everyone needs to vote.

I voted absentee, so I don't have my amazing sticker.  Everyone needs to go and get one for me ok? :)  VOTE!

~Taylor 

Pictures from Ireland

The blog is taking forever to write.  Also, I know a lot of people who read the blog don't have Facebook.  I can't even begin to relay the stories of Ireland without pictures because they tell a lot of the stories themselves.  As a bonus, I put them to music because it is much more fun than just clicking through them on Facebook :)  The first song skips near the end, and that really gets to me, but I guess I just have to deal with it.  I hope you enjoy it!

The whole Ireland blog will take more than one post.  I am trying to get every detail included :)  Look for them tomorrow and later this week!

~Taylor

Three Day Weekend Trip Part 3 - Lacock and Oxford (Harry Potter Day)

(Sorry this is so late and so short.  Ireland blog will be up in the next few days.)

Oxford is amazing :)

After a longer than expected delay, here is the final day of our weekend trip!

If I thought it was hard to wake up on day 2, day 3 was about a thousand times worse.  We were super slow all morning.  Luckily, I had packed almost everything the night before, so after breakfast we grabbed our stuff and headed for the bus. 

We were heading to the village of Lacock to see the Abbey and places filmed in Harry Potter.  It was cold that morning, and after sleeping on the warm bus (of course), it felt even colder.  We headed immediately into the village and got to go inside a barn that hasn't been changed in over 600 years.  The only additions made were a few lights put in so people could see.  Next, we saw the house used in the first Harry Potter movie as Lily and James' house. 

There were other houses there also, and I'm sure the people who live in the town get pretty fed up with tourists taking photos.  I'm also pretty sure the people who live in the next house we saw probably want to move.

This is the Muggle house Horace Slughorn lived in for the Half-Blood Prince.  There was a car parked right beside it, so I assume people live there.  It would be so annoying to have tourists constantly at your gate getting pictures of your house.  It is a beautiful little town, though, so I guess that makes up for all the people.

Next, we went to see Lacock Abbey where more Harry Potter scenes were filmed.  It was a beautiful place, and Sam and I decided to walk further than everyone else to see where the road around the Abbey would lead.  I'm glad we did, because we got a beautiful view of the English countryside.  There was a small church I really wanted to go see, but we would have had to walk on a busy road, and we didn't have enough time.

After Lacock, we headed to Oxford.  The first thing you notice about the town is the architecture.  Every building is absolutely gorgeous.  There are 39 colleges at Oxford, and each has its own buildings.  I don't think there was a mediocre one there.  Walking around, we got to see the library where some Harry Potter scenes were filmed, and we were taken around different areas of the city.  Once the tour was over, we got to go on our own to look around.

We ate lunch at Cornwall's, and I had my first pasty since I've been here :)  It was awesome!  When we were done, we headed to New College where a specific Harry Potter scene was filmed.  We had to walk around a while because we couldn't find it.  I'm glad, though, because the campus was beautiful.  ISU has a nice quad I would say, but this is the Platinum level of a quad.  From the landscaping to the gates, everything was spectacular. 

Eventually, we found the area where the Harry Potter scene was filmed.  You can watch the scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lEb9ZPpJbg&feature=player_embedded .

After taking enough pictures to prove we were there (like the one above), we did a little souvenir shopping, and headed back to the bus.

The trip as a whole was great.  I enjoyed almost every minute of it, and I would definitely recommend it as a great tour for someone who has never been to England before.  I really had a great time!

~Taylor

 

Three Day Weekend Trip Part 2 - Bath

The Roman Baths!

Day 2 of the weekend trip - Saturday in Bath

It was really hard to get up on Saturday.  We were pretty exhausted, and I always think it is hard to wake up in hotels.  We finally dragged ourselves down and had our first real cooked breakfast since we have gotten here.  It was great.  We even grabbed extra croissants on the way back to our room :)  We finished getting ready and headed out to the buses to go to Bath.

Bus ride = nap time.  Always.  So we woke up as we entered the most beautiful city I have ever been in.  Bath is seriously gorgeous.  The city was founded by the Romans in about 40 AD.  Everything has the beautiful old architecture, and looking past the buildings you can see beautiful landscapes.

This was the first picture I took as we headed out for our tour with Andrew.  He is such a great tour guide.  I don't think I could do his job.  He has so much information stored away.  From dates to names to places, he knew everything.  This isn't the only tour he does either.  He has to memorize things about Scotland, France, Belgium, and Germany too.  It's amazing.

He told us about the Romans who founded the city, and apparently, most of them were lazy.  They spent their days at the bath houses just socializing.  The water is full of iron, and they used to drink up to a gallon of it each day because it was thought to have healing powers.  They also had people carry them around in little box-type seats called sedans.  They could literally wake up in the morning and be carried down the stairs and through town to the baths.  I feel sorry for the people who had to actually carry them.  That would be a terrible job.  

After walking around, we headed back toward the actual baths for our tour.  On the way, we passed the Jane Austen center.  She stayed in Bath for a time, so there are a lot of references to her in the town.  We walked up and were taking pictures with her statue outside when a man walked out dressed in 18th century clothes.  Apparently, he was supposed to be Mr. Darcy.  I would have gone along with that if it weren't for the fact that he was about 50 years too old.  Other people started to get pictures with him, so Sam and I decided to also.  That was when we figured out he was probably drunk.  We were deciding how to pose with him and he started yelling out, "Darcy in the middle!"  Then, while we were trying to get a good picture, he kept bending his knees and going down, then rising back up.  The whole time he was saying, "WooooOOOoooo!"  I wish I had asked them to take a video instead of a picture because it was a definite highlight of the day.  Our pictures are so funny because we are laughing really hard in them.

 After that, we finally made it to the Roman Baths.  We had to wait outside the building in a square for a while.  Once we got in, we were each given audio guides to take through with us.  They looked like big cell phones.  For each area, you would type in the number shown and press play.  It would then give you some kind of explanation or history about what you were looking at.  They also had a different number for a kid's version, so Sam and I tried that out.  We loved it so much, we used that version for every one after that.  They were just much more entertaining.

The baths themselves were really interesting.  When we first walked out above them, the view was pretty incredible.  The water was below us, and Bath Cathedral was towering above us. 

I have a ton of pictures from inside also.  A lot of them just look like pictures of old rocks, though.  It is really something you have to experience for yourself.  Standing in the middle of something that dates back almost 2000 years is a really weird feeling.  A few times our audio guides told us to imagine what it was like to be standing in that spot thousands of years ago.  I honestly couldn't, though, because it just seemed so weird.  It was an awesome place.  I really would recommend it to anyone.

After touring the Baths, we headed out to find lunch.  We looked around for a while, but eventually settled on Subway :)  We got to walk around after that and just take in the city.  We found the most amazing fudge shop I have ever been to.  Ironically, it was a company called the San Francisco Fudge Factory.  We saw a sign that said they shipped all over the world, so I may have to look into that.  I decided to go all out.  I got a piece of vanilla fudge on a stick that was dipped in chocolate then rolled in milk and white chocolate chips.  It took me more that one day to eat it, and it was amazing :)

When we finished there, we headed toward the center of the city where we had seen a lot of shops.  They have a great shopping area in Bath, and we spent the rest of our day going from store to store.  One of my favorite parts was when we found a Disney store.  I remember being so upset when the one at the mall was shut down.  We all walked through and got very nostalgic looking at all the stuffed animals.  I was so happy in there that I almost left with a stuffed Simba, but thankfully I talked myself out of it.  (My reasoning was that it was too big, not that I didn't actually need it.)  Disney has changed a little, though.  I had to pretend I didn't see the Hannah Montana merchandise because it was making me angry that it was in there with my Aladdin and Belle.  I want the old Disney back!

After going through a lot of nice stores, we headed back to the bus a little early.  Right next to our meeting place was an old book store that we decided to check out.  I fell in love with it.  There were some new books, but a lot of them were old or used.  The second floor had a room that was incredibly messy and disorganized, but I loved that about it.  It sounded so cliche, but I kept telling everyone that it had character :) 

The buses finally arrived, and we headed back to the hotel (sleeping most of the way of course).  Once we got back, Sam and I were ready to crash.  We didn't even leave the hotel the rest of the night.  We laid in bed, watched more amazing and hilarious British television, and slept.  It was a pretty uneventful night, but it was also really relaxing after two days of tours.

That about sums up day 2, so hopefully tomorrow will be the final blog from the weekend!

~Taylor

Three Day Weekend Trip Part 1 - Windsor and Stonehenge

Windsor Castle

I had an AMAZING time this weekend.  These blogs will be broken up into the three days.  Friday was Windsor and Stonehenge, Saturday was Bath, and Sunday was the village of Lacock and Oxford.  Here is Friday...

We were set to leave at 8:30 in the morning, so I woke up at around 7 to finish packing and get ready.  It was so early for me!  We were split onto two different buses to leave from Augustine House.  It was almost 2 hours to Windsor, so naturally everyone fell asleep.  We woke up just in time to pull into a coach car park.  There we met our tour guide for the weekend.  His name was Andrew and we got to be in his group all weekend.  I didn't know until later, but I was really lucky because he was the best.  He will be there for our trip to the Christmas markets in December, so I am even more excited about that now.

We split the groups, and our group walked toward the Thames River.  When we got there, we were met by a group of birds.  Ducks, swans, and seagulls were all mingling in the water, and they swam right up to us. They even jumped out of the water and walked up right next to us.  I'm sure they thought we had food for them.  Once we walked down a little further, we came upon a huge group of them.  I had never seen so many swans in one place before! 

We walked a little more and came to a bridge that led to Eton College.  Eton College is one of the oldest and most prestigious boys' schools in England.  Most notably, both Prince William and Prince Harry went to school there.  (We could have gone there during lunch, but we were really hungry, so we ate instead.) 

Next, we headed toward Windsor Castle.  As we walked up, we caught the very end of a guard change parade.  We weren't going to be able to go in the Castle, so that was kind of a bummer, but it was good to look at from the outside.  We walked around to the gate and saw the "Long Walk" which is a three-mile long road that the royal family would use for horse riding.  When looking through the gate toward the castle, I finally got a glimpse of a real royal guard.  He had the red suit and fuzzy hat and everything!  After that, we had a break for lunch so naturally we went for fish and chips :) 

After lunch, we had a little time, so we went into a few gift shops.  I didn't plan on getting anything in Windsor, so I was just looking around when Will told me to come look at something.  When I looked at what he was pointing at I freaked out a little bit because it had the Mind the Gap sign on it.  It took me a second to realize it was a thong with the sign on it.  I was tempted to get it because I have been looking everywhere for something that says Mind the Gap, but it was 7 pounds, so I decided not to.  After that, we met up with the group, got back on the bus, and headed for Stonehenge.

The drive was pretty long, so again, everyone fell asleep.  They woke us up when we got close so we could get a first look at it from the bus.  In reality, there is a road that goes directly next to Stonehenge, so people really don't have to pay money to see it close.  They could just take a picture from the road.  Andrew gave us the whole history and background of the monument, so when we were offered audio guides at the site, we didn't take them.  Everyone from ISU brought our study abroad shirts to take a picture with and send back to the International Studies Office.  We all decided Stonehenge would be a good place for a picture so we all took off our jackets and took pictures in the freezing cold in our very obvious American shirts.  It was the most "touristy" I have felt the entire time I have been here.  The pictures did turn out pretty good though, so I'm happy we did it.  Hopefully we end up on an International Studies poster or something :)

As for the monument...it was a little underwhelming.  I understand there is a lot of history behind it and everything.  It's a really famous place that I have seen pictures of, so it was cool to get my picture with it.  In the end, though, it is really just a group of rocks.  All there was to do was walk around and take pictures from different angles.  Still, no matter what the angle, they were still a bunch of rocks.  We walked around, took a bunch of pictures, and headed to the gift shop.  For a really famous landmark, their gift shop was super tiny, and when we all crammed in there, it was packed.  I decided not to get anything there, and we just headed back to the bus.

We headed to our hotel (asleep for the ride of course) and got there in the evening.  Sam and I were one of the first ones to get our room key, so we headed up to our room.  We were really excited to sleep in different beds for a couple nights.  When we got in the room, we had one minor issue - we couldn't turn the lights on.  We had a little box for our card key where the light switch was, so we tried putting the key in a few different ways, but nothing was working.  Finally, after giving up and asking Will what to do, we realized we hadn't pushed the key in far enough.  We had to leave the key in the lights whenever we wanted them on. 

The rooms were really nice, but the hotel was in the middle of nowhere really.  There was one restaurant, a McDonalds, and a Sainsbury's (like Wal-Mart).  We went to dinner at the restaurant then headed to Sainsbury's for drinks and snacks.  After that, Sam and I spent the rest of the night watching British television in our room.  We were pretty exhausted, so hanging out in pajamas and watching TV was great.  British TV is pretty awesome.  We found a channel with a lot of game shows that were really fun.  We were trying to decide when to go to bed when the announcer said the next show was about Mumford and Sons.  That made our decision for us because there was no way we were going to miss that.  (Seriously, if you haven't checked them out yet, you NEED to.  They are absolutely amazing.)  Once that was over, we realized how early we had to get up the next day, so we crashed.

Well, that's Friday.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get up a blog about our Saturday in the beautiful city of Bath!

Night!

~Taylor

"There is no lovelier place in the world than Canterbury" - Virginia Woolf

It's just so beautiful...

Virginia Woolf is so right.  Canterbury is just amazing.  Sam and I spent most of today walking around throughout the city.  We went to different areas we hadn't seen before.  It was fun during the day to see all the people bustling around.  Then, we had a sort of "girl's night" tonight.  We went out for dinner for a change.  There is nothing like wine, italian food, and ice cream to just make you feel good :)  (Lesson learned though, rosé wine does not compliment spicy things lol)  After our trip to McDonald's for Aero McFlurries, we came back, but we were still restless. So, we went back out to just walk around.  There really is nothing like walking down beautiful old streets at night and hearing Cathedral bells ringing.  I think no matter how long I am here, turning and seeing the Cathedral lit up in the darkness will never fail to take my breath away.  It is just too gorgeous.  That also brought up one not so happy part about the night...

It finally was mentioned.  I think we have both been thinking about it lately, but it was put into words tonight.  We have to leave here eventually.  I know it sounds weird that saying that freaks me out, but it really is hard to think about.  Sure, we have about two more months left, but that seems like such a short time.  We decided that three months is probably the worst amount of time to spend somewhere.  If it were three weeks, we could say, "Hey, that was a good vacation.  Now we can go home with this great experience."  If it were a year, I would probably be ready to go home at the end.  Three months is different.  It feels like we will be able to start to fall in love with everything and really start to get to know people, then we have to leave. 

Now don't get me wrong, I do miss home.  I think Skype is the best invention ever, because I am able to keep in touch so easily.  I just really love it here.  Sam jokingly said, "Let's just stay here forever."  I know in my mind I can't do that, but it honestly makes sense.  Everyone kept telling me that this would be a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, and I always agreed excitedly.  Now, that term makes me incredibly sad.  The idea of leaving in December and never coming back to see these places and people that are so familiar now is unimaginable to me.  I am starting to realize just how much I need to make every day count.

Anyway, onto something less depressing :)  We leave bright and early tomorrow for a three-day trip to Oxford, Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor.  We get back on Sunday, so expect pictures on Facebook on Sunday, and a blog around Monday or Tuesday!

Talk to you then!

~Taylor



Dover Castle and the White Cliffs

Dover Castle

Lessons from Friday:

1. I would not do well fighting a war.  I am such a chicken, I could barely handle the simulated bomb noises and flickering lights.

2.  I am getting better with my fear of heights.  I guess I'm okay as long as I am not in a huge Ferris wheel :)

3. They are called cliffs because you have to CLIMB them.

We went to Dover Friday.  We met at the campus to take a coach (charter bus) at 9:15.  Getting up to catch that bus was one of the earliest times I have gotten up since I got here.  That's when you know you have a good class schedule :)  On the way, we had no idea what was beyond the side of the road.  The fog was so thick it looked like a gray wall was put up on the side of the road.  I was very worried we would get caught in the rain and not see much of anything.

When we got there, it was still very foggy.  A few of the others started talking about the movie Shutter Island because the fog made the castle look like it was straight from that movie.  I tried to get pictures, but none were very good.  Once we got onto the grounds, we were able to look out over the English Channel, but again, it was too foggy to see much of anything.

We went directly to the Secret Wartime Tunnels, and were brought right into a small room to watch a video.  It gave some history on the tunnels, and it told us what to do in case there was an emergency while we were in them.  (After the whole "terror warning" thing, I found myself paying much closer attention to this.  I am my mother's daughter!)  We were also told we could not take pictures while in the tunnels.  That kind of bummed me out, because I really felt they were one of the most interesting parts of the day.  That's saying something because we had a pretty interesting day!

When you are first brought into the tunnels, you are warned that there will be loud bomb sounds, and the lights will flicker and go out.  You are also told what to do if you feel too uncomfortable to go on.  I got a little nervous then.  I didn't even think about being too scared to continue through the tunnel.  I think that's the power of suggestion.  Luckily, I was never that scared. 

The tunnels begin with a tour of the medical ward.  The walk-through is accompanied by a recording.  You walk through the rooms following the path of a wounded RAF pilot as he is brought into the ward and taken to surgery.  Each room has its own recording of typical conversations that would go on in that part of the tunnel.  The further we went, the more nervous I was getting.  I was okay during the bomb sounds, but wen the lights went out (for only about 5 seconds) my heart started racing.  I couldn't help but think of the people who actually spent the war in those tunnels.  Hearing bombs going off and not knowing what kind of horrible things could be happening just outside would be absolutely terrifying.  I would never make it. 

The second part of the tour was further down into the cliffs.  It was where a lot of military planning went on.  Most famously, it was where the "Miracle of Dunkirk" was orchestrated in 1940.  One of the first things we saw in that level was the military telephone exchange room.  It had a lot of switchboards women would sit at and use to connect calls between Dover and the many different military and government offices.  The guide told us the summers would get so hot and humid, water would actually drip from the walls and ceiling.  Then, the women would have to wear coats in the winter because it was bitterly cold.  Again, I don't think I could handle all that on top of being afraid for my life in the actual war. 

Next, we got to watch a short movie on the Dunkirk evacuation, and see where that plan was created.  Then we saw the rooms in which actual war planning took place.  There were replicas of tables and maps that would have been used to track targets during the war.  With little models on the maps and even a red telephone used to talk to Churchill in the corner, it was easy to just imagine men shuffling papers and pointing at maps talking about hitting targets and evacuating men from the field.

Once we left the tunnels, we had almost four hours of time to ourselves.  We headed over to the actual tower part of the castle to explore.  Basically, the tower is a very high spiral staircase that leads to different levels and rooms.  We started by walking all the way to the top and walking onto the roof.  Each corner of the roof had a place that let you go even higher.  Surprisingly, I wasn't really scared of the height on the roof.  I was able to walk right to the edge and look out without a second thought.  I'm getting better about that I guess!  There was one point when Sam wanted a cool picture of one of us leaning out while the other took a picture, and I was a little afraid to do that.  I was more worried about being the one to take the picture for fear of dropping her camera.  At that point this really rude lady I didn't know said, "Um, that's what the strap on the end is for.  You wrap it around your wrist."  As if I didn't already realize that?  I'm not an idiot, and I hate when people talk to me like I am...ugh.  Anyway...

After touring around the castle, we ate lunch and decided to go see the White Cliffs.  It took a while for us to figure out how to get there.  We had to walk down a very large set of stairs, and then walk even further downhill on a path.  We figured out how to get to the town, and decided to walk until we could see the cliffs.  We finally saw some, and I started taking pictures thinking that might be it, but we continued down the street to try and find a better view.  We ended up walking down what seemed to be a back alley, and I was a little nervous.  It was like an old alleyway with these huge majestic cliffs behind it.  Finally, we found a pedestrian path and decided to see how far we could get before we had to go back.  

The path up was insane.  I didn't realize when we started, but it was actually taking us to the top of one of the cliffs.  It was a pretty steep uphill climb that seemed to last forever.  When we finally got to the top, though, I realized it was definitely worth it.  The view was amazing.  We could see other cliffs on both sides, rolling hills and Dover Castle in the distance behind us, and the Port of Dover and the English Channel in front of us.  It really was great.

The walk back down was a lot easier than the walk up :)  When we got back toward the Castle, though, we had to walk back up the pathway and stairs we came down in the beginning.  It really was uphill both ways!  When we finally made it back to the Castle, I got to take better pictures without as much fog...

 

...They were much better :)  In the end, it was a very exhausting, but incredibly amazing day.  It was great to be able to see in person a place I have heard my Dad talk about.  It is yet another place I've seen that is so rich in history.  It won't be the last, either, because next weekend we have a three-day trip to Stonehenge, Bath, Oxford, and Windsor.  I can't wait!

~Taylor

A bunch of random stuff thrown together and called a blog.

This puppy is to assure you that everything is going to be fine :)

First things first...yes I know about the terror threat for tourists abroad.  It is all over the UK news websites, and all American students got letters today from the State Department about the Travel Alert.  I am not worried about this at all, so no one else should be.  I am here to experience everything, so I will still be travelling to different places across Europe.  I would have been vigilant about knowing my surroundings before, so it will be no different now.  I'm here to have the time of my life, and no one is going to get in the way of that.  I promise everyone that I will be incredibly safe, so there is no need to worry.

Happier things!  Sam and I have started to look seriously into trips we will be taking in the next couple of months.  The last week in October is known as "Reading Week" here, and it is a week-long fall break.  Most people have family coming that week, and Sam's family will be here!  I can't wait to see them!  They are leaving the 27th, and then Sam and I have decided to spend the rest of that weekend in Ireland!  That means I will be spending my 20th birthday there!  I am so excited for that, I can hardly stand it.  It will be amazing!

We are also looking going to Paris near the end of November when hopefully the Christmas decorations will be going up :)  That should be awesome.  Then of course there is the Belgium and Germany trip in the beginning of December!  I am also hoping to squeeze Italy in there somewhere, so we will see!

Sam and I have found some pretty cool new friends here.  It is amazing how much we can learn about differences in culture by just having a few conversations with people our age.  For example, Sam and I already knew they do not have regular lemonade here.  Their lemonade is Sprite.  Apparently here they have "cloudy" lemonade.  We still have to go looking for that to see if it is the same.  They also do not have any idea what Kool Aid is.  I never thought about it before, but explaining Kool Aid to someone really does show how bizarre it is.  "You see, it's this flavored sugary powder stuff that you mix with regular sugar and water.  Also, the mascot is a giant jug of Kool Aid that bursts into people's homes."  I can completely understand why they thought we were crazy when we told them about this.

We have learned things from them too.  Sam had never heard the phrase, "take the mickey out of someone" before.  (I was too embarrassed to say that I only knew it because they said it in the Harry Potter books.)  It usually means to pick on someone or give someone a hard time.  Also, football (soccer) here is very important.  I have now learned the names of two teams.  I already knew Manchester United, but I am supposed to also know Arsenal now.  Because of all the rain, we learned in the last few days that rainboots are called "wellies".  That goes very well with "brollies" (umbrellas).

I'm sorry this blog has been sort of a cluster of things, but I thought I would make up for the lack of blogging lately.  On Friday we are going down to Dover Castle and the secret war time tunnels.  Then on Saturday, Chris Stupples and her husband, Pete, are coming to get me and show me around their town near Dover.  There will be a lot of stories and pictures I'm sure!

Cheers! (A way to say thank you or goodbye :) )

~Taylor

They aren't kidding...

I wish I shared those feelings.

It rains here. 

A lot.

That's all.

~Taylor 

Blogging for the sake of blogging...

One of the few pics from the last few days

I fell behind on the blog again.  Sorry.  I had a full day of classes on Wednesday, then we went out that night.  Being old enough here to get into pubs and clubs has a lot of positive aspects, but the main one for me is the ability to meet so many people.  It seems I am meeting a ton of new people every day.  I knew that would be part of this, but I didn't realize just how many cool new people I would get to know.  Everyone is super nice here too.  I just love it.

I was reminded today that I only have ten weeks left.  To some that may seem like a long time, but looking at it now feels like I only have about ten seconds.  We have started booking our trips, and I know that adding those onto our schedule will make it go even faster. 

I just booked a three-day tour of Christmas markets in Belgium and Germany.  It sounds like so much fun!  Being my mother's daughter, I absolutely LOVE Christmas, so I really can't wait for this.  Here is a link to that trip if you want to see it: http://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/brussels-christmas-market-aachen.html  I am really looking forward to it, but again, after that trip I will only have a few days left in Europe.  Crazy to think about that. 

Better go make the most of it while I'm here!

~Taylor

Brief Lessons from Canterbury Christ Church University

The CCCU

As of today, I have had all four of my classes at least once.  The master plan looks like this:

Monday: 3-5 - Uneasy Neighbors: The United States, Latin America, and Canada

Tuesday: 11-1 - The Modern Presidency

Wednesday: 11-1 - British Literature

                     3-5 - Modern Britain

Let's start with the first.  I initially thought the course was just going to be about the U.S. and Canada, so obviously I was wondering what was so uneasy about Canada.  When I finally got to the class yesterday, I learned my first lesson of the English University system:

1. Classes here are not done by "terms" (what they call semesters).  They are full year classes.

For my first class, this means the year is broken into two parts.  The first term is focused solely on the U.S. and Latin America.  Next term will be Canada, so I don't get to learn what we are so uneasy about with Canada.  (I mean seriously...Canada?)  Anyway, I think I am the only non-Brit in that course, and it's pretty big.  It seems pretty interesting, though, so I think I will be fine in that one.  Also, in case you didn't notice from the top, lesson two is:

2. Most classes are two hours, and they always start at odd numbered hours, 9, 11, 1, 3, and 5.

My next course is the Modern Presidency one.  I had my first class in that today.  It is taught by the same man who teaches my Modern Britain class, so I have come to the conclusion all his classes have the word Modern in them.  There are four of us Americans in that class, and it is smaller so I don't feel as awkward in it.  Will has it with me, but I got there before him today and a crazy old man sat by me and didn't stop talking to me.  I usually like meeting the new people here, and I usually love older people, but this man was really crazy.  I am waiting for Will no matter what from here on out.  I did get to meet some nice British people in that class after learning about lesson three:

3. Classes usually have a ten minute break in the middle.

Everyone gets to leave about halfway through the class to go get coffee.  I don't drink coffee, so in my class yesterday I got a water.  Today, I took advantage of the time in which the crazy old man left to get to know some of the Brits in that class. They actually began the conversation and were very interested about what I thought of England.  We talked about the weather.  It gets colder here earlier, but when I told them how cold it can get back home in Illinois, they were astonished.  No below-zero temps for me until I come home!  Another group of students had apparently heard there were people from ISU and done some research on it.  They told our "tutor" (not professor) that it was in the middle of a cornfield.  I think they meant surrounded by corn, which is kind of true.  Everyone got a kick out of that.  He even worked it into some of the lecture.  (Crazy old man was actually late coming back from break, and he then proceeded to breathe heavily like he ran about a mile to get back to the class. I am seriously a creepy person magnet.  Why is that?)  The actual class will be pretty fun I think.  It covers presidents from FDR to Carter, but since I am only here for a term, I only make it to the beginning of Kennedy.  I also learned lesson four in that class:

4. There are no tests.

None. Zero. In any of my classes.  There are small papers due once a week in my Monday and Tuesday classes, and averaging one big paper in each of my four.  No tests though.  I am really enjoying that right now.  We will see how I feel when I have huge papers due at the end of the semester.

My other two classes will meet for the third time tomorrow.  I have my first ever small paper due in Brit Lit tomorrow.  I am a little nervous about it.  Since I have nothing really to base it on, I am just kind of hoping I did it how she wants it.  We will see how it goes. 

I should probably sleep now.  I have had a pretty nasty cold for a few days.  I need it to go away because I have met new people in the last few days, and they probably remember me as the girl that sounds like a freak.  It would of course be me who gets sick.  I blame this English weather :)

Cheers!

~Taylor



For those not on Facebook...

I wanted to post a video of the London trip for everyone who can't see the pictures on Facebook.  Here you go:

A new blog will be up tonight!
~Taylor

The sights, the sounds, and how we got stuck on a movie set in London!

This is going to be a super long post. If you don’t have a lot of time here are the main highlights:


1. This details two days. We went to Canterbury Cathedral on Friday. It is really beautiful.

2. Saturday in London was AMAZING. We walked a LOT. London weather is cooler right now than Illinois weather so it was pretty cold most of the time while we walked.

3. We were on a movie set! We saw Rowan Atkinson filming Johnny English Reborn.

4. McDonald’s is much nicer in London. They had flowers on the table!

5. I LOVE Parliament. I want to go inside so badly.

6. A lot of tourists don’t speak English. We actually walked for a while intently listening for someone speaking English. No matter what language they speak, though, everyone knows Mr. Bean. (See #2)

7. The London Eye is beautiful at night, but if you are anything like me, it is super scary no matter when you go up in it.

8. I finally got to see a public proposal! My future husband better do a good job with the proposal. I will be holding him to a high standard :)

9. I have yet to stay awake during the entire trip between London and Canterbury.

10. I can’t wait to go back the two times the school is taking us.



Ok…now for the long version. Grab a cup of coffee (or if you are like me, hot chocolate) and relax. We will start with Friday…

We had a long day of tours on Friday. Our group started with the Cathedral. It was pretty spectacular. I realized then that I take lots of pictures. Everyone else has a lot of pictures, but I took double what some people took. I guess I want to remember every detail. After the Cathedral, we went on a tour of the city. We thought we would be going to new and different places, but really, we walked down the same streets we have been walking down for a couple weeks now. The tour guide was nice but really long-winded. Plus, after not really experiencing the typical “English” weather for the last two weeks, it rained while we were walking around outside. So really, the Cathedral was the best part of the day.

Saturday, I woke up very early. I realized that since it was 6:00 AM here, it was midnight back home, and a lot of people wouldn’t even be asleep yet. That made me tired, but I was so excited that I didn’t mind. We got to the bus station and took off at about 7:30. This was my second trip between London and Canterbury. The first was the drive from the airport. Just like that day, I was not able to stay awake the whole time. I guess I’m just not meant to see everything between them.

When we got to the station in London and walked outside, we didn’t know where exactly we were. Thankfully, Sam had a trusty London map, and Will had internet access on his phone. We figured out we were near Buckingham Palace, so we decided to go there first.

It was pretty much what I had seen in pictures. There was a flag on the Palace, so that meant the Queen was there. We wondered if she ever just gets bored and looks out at all the people that come to see her house. I was expecting to see the big guards with the red outfits and funny hats, but apparently they are somewhere else. The guards at the Palace are behind the gate. We did get to see them switching the guards out, so I have a video of that crazy tradition. There is a lot of stomping and shuffling. They also walk in circles a lot. Just standing there all day must be a terrible job. There was a big fountain in the square next to the Palace. We tried to get around to the front, but we kept being told we couldn’t go to that side. They finally let us around for about five minutes before they ushered us back again. We wondered what was going on, and we had to go around through a park to leave the area.

Once we were about to leave the park, we were stopped again. We were told no one was allowed that way. Finally we saw a production crew and realized they were shooting some sort of film. We initially thought it would be some documentary. We waited around to see what the shot would be. When they finally called out that they were rolling, a bunch of cars sped out of the square in Buckingham Palace and drove away. That was it. We were then allowed to walk down the street toward Trafalgar Square. Walking past the people from the set, we caught a glimpse of the movie clapper, and it said JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN. Will Googled it and started giving the names of the cast and the movie synopsis. Rowan Atkinson was the only name we knew in the cast. I laughed at the thought of Mr. Bean in an action spy movie, but I guess it is supposed to be a parody. I never saw the first one.

We continued walking down the street and came to the Duke of York pillar. It was at the top of a set of stairs, so I told Sarah to run up the stairs like Rocky. I have a good video of that :) We decided to move on to Trafalgar Square, but we were once again blocked by the movie crew. Because of that, we took a detour toward the old Admiralty. A crowd had gathered around some horses, so we stopped to see what was going on. There was a Horse Guards Parade about five minutes after we got there, so that was fun to see. Next, we walked through St. James Park. It was really pretty, but we were getting pretty hungry so we decided to walk back to where the filming was going on to see if we could get to Trafalgar Square.

When we got there, we waited around a while to see if they were going to film something, and as soon as we tried to go past, they wouldn’t let us through again. We were told we would have to take the back way to get to Trafalgar Square. We knew that meant they would probably be shooting something soon, so we waited with the small crowd of people to see what it would be. After waiting for a while, and almost giving up and leaving twice, the crowd started to move forward. I looked up to see what was going on, and a few yards away from us was Rowan Atkinson! It was so funny because a lot of people in the crowd didn’t speak English, but everyone knew him. All you could hear were a bunch of different accents and, “Mr. Bean” “Mr. Bean” “Mr. Bean!” After hanging around and taking pictures and video, we left to find somewhere to eat lunch.

We ended up just off of Trafalgar Square at an American-Italian restaurant named Little Frankie’s. It was cute, and the food was pretty good. Next, we went to the Square because I really wanted a picture climbing on the lions. But, when we got there, everything was blocked off for a concert. Hopefully I can get that picture when we go back to London. From there, we decided to head to Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye.

We knew where to go, and we got to see the Eye from across the Thames on our walk toward Big Ben. I saw the side of Parliament, and we turned a corner to stop and talk about which way we should go to get a good look at it. As we went around the corner, I wasn’t really paying attention. All of a sudden I looked up, and I was looking directly at Big Ben. I think because I was so surprised to be right in front of it at that moment, I had a very self-aware moment. There I was, 4000 miles from home, looking at this huge iconic clock. It was a pretty cool feeling. We decided to walk onto the bridge toward the Eye to get a good look at Parliament. That was another thing I had been dying to see in person, so I was really excited to be looking at it. I had gotten a text from my mom and decided to call her. I think the first words out of my mouth were, “I’m standing outside Parliament right now.” It was super amazing to be able to see Parliament and Big Ben and then turn around and look at the London Eye – definitely something I won’t forget.

Next, we walked back toward Big Ben to head to Westminster Abbey. On our way, we walked around behind Parliament. We finally got to the abbey about a half an hour after they closed. We ended up just taking some pictures, and then we decided to go to Hyde Park. It was getting pretty cold and windy at that point, and we stumbled upon one of many Starbucks in London. We went in for some hot chocolate and to take a break from all the walking we had done.

Once we were done we continued the LONG walk to Hyde Park. It is a huge place, but I really just wanted to see the Diana Memorial Walk. Luckily, that was the first thing we came to. It was really pretty and peaceful, so we sat by a fountain there for a while. Then as we walked on, we found a cool tree whose branches had grown like an umbrella all the way to the ground. There were openings to go under it, so we did. Sam always wants to climb trees, so she immediately hopped up into the branches. There were carvings and names all over the trunk, so she got creative and carved ISU into the tree with one of her keys. Next, we found a stump that we took posed pictures with. In the end, we spent a lot of time in the beautiful park just hanging out and relaxing. That was one of the best parts of the day.

We had decided to try to get to the Eye around 7 PM to ride it in the dark. Once we left Hyde Park, we started to walk that way. We were getting hungry, and didn’t want to wait for a restaurant meal, so we decided to go to a McDonald’s we had seen on our walk. It was very American of us :)  The McDonald's was nice.  There were even flowers on the table!  After eating, we made our way back past Parliament and Big Ben, and walked across the bridge toward the Eye.

When we got across the bridge, I realized that I hadn’t heard anyone speak English for a while. Sam had noticed too, so we decided to see how long it took us to hear it. It took a lot longer than I thought. I think it was because we were close to the Eye, so it was a prime spot for tourists, but it was still weird to hear nothing but different languages for a good amount of time.

We waited in line for tickets, and I was worried that the line would be really long. They sell fast pass tickets that you use to jump the line, but they are way more expensive. I shouldn’t have been worried though. We got our tickets and waited in line for no more than 10 minutes to get on. While we were waiting, we saw a couple people get in a capsule that looked pretty empty. We started talking about how cute it would be if a guy was proposing to his girlfriend. I told everyone that would be awesome because I had never seen a public proposal before. After that, I was getting pretty nervous because I hate heights and Ferris wheels, so the Eye was not the greatest thing for me to be on. I knew it would be great, though, so I got on with everyone else, and the door shut behind us.

Once I realized exactly where I was, I started to freak out. My legs got really heavy, and I was too scared to stand up. I sat in the middle while pretty much everyone else walked around. About halfway toward the top, Sam hit me and told me I had to look out the window. There were a bunch of people holding a sign on the ground that said, “Vienna, will you marry me?” It was adorable. So, I finally saw my public proposal. (We saw them back on the ground, and she said yes!) After that, I sat down again. I really was terrified, so Sam took my camera and took some pictures for me. Around the top, I got the courage to finally stand up. After that it wasn’t so bad. London at night is beautiful. It was also really cool because one way you look it was nighttime and really dark, but since we were up so high, looking the other way we could still see somewhat of a sunset. That was gone by the time we got around, though. All the buildings and Parliament and Big Ben were lit up and really pretty. I got a lot of pictures, and I am really glad I didn’t chicken out.

Once we were done, we had to head back to the bus station. We stopped to take a few more pictures of Parliament at night before passing by Big Ben. I had been annoying everyone since we got to England by constantly saying how much I wanted a picture with a red telephone booth, and we finally got them on our way back to the station :)

Our bus back was much nicer than the bus there. It had leather seats and played amazing lite rock music :) I was mesmerized as we drove back through London and South London. I had another moment of realizing just how crazy it was that I spent the day in London. It was crazy to comprehend. Again, though, the ride was long, and I was just too tired to stay awake. I am really not supposed to see everything between here and London!

Well, this is almost 4 pages on Word, so if you are still reading congratulations. I know some of you are reading the blog and don’t have Facebook. For you, I made a picture video with some of the more important pictures from yesterday along with a song, but it wouldn't let me upload it.  If you want it, email me at taylor_garrison@hotmail.com and I will get it to you :)

Thanks for reading!

~Taylor

When all else fails...write about food!

My cabinet of cooking supplies.

Once again, nothing too huge happened today.  We had our two "American" classes, so that took up 4 hours of the day.  I promise Friday and Saturday will be better blogs with much more to talk about.  The one thing I could think of to write about tonight is how the whole "fending for myself when it comes to food" is going.

If you know me at all, you know I can't cook anything unless it comes with microwave directions.  Frozen pizza is the one exception to that, but sometimes even that doesn't work out too well.  So not having a meal plan to depend on here was something I was nervous about. 

Our food shopping trips have been almost a daily thing because we had been buying things one or two meals at a time.  The problem here is that the food expires really quickly.  Sam pointed out that probably means it's healthier because it has fewer preservatives to keep it good for an indefinite amount of time.  But, when the only bread you want expires in three days that can be a problem.  We have solved that by sharing bread.  I have also been eating a lot more sandwiches in the past week and a half :)  That's pretty boring, but it's just so easy to rely on food that take less than a minute to prepare!

A few nights ago I was feeling ambitious.  We had gotten better at shopping for food that didn't include meat, cheese, and bread.  I had bought pasta, and I decided I should try to make some just to prove to my family I could.  (There is a pretty famous story in my family about a pasta misunderstanding.  Some will tell you it shows just how inept I am at cooking, but really my dad was just being mean. :)  Ask him the story sometime.  He loves to tell it.)

I can honestly say I did better than expected.  Yes, I did use the smaller pot, and looking back, that was a bad idea.  I had too much water, and it decided to boil over the side and get all over the top of the stove.  I should have probably turned the heat down before that happened, but at least I learned something.  In the end, I had edible food that wasn't really bad at all.  Hopefully my next try doesn't require as many paper towels to clean up. 

We went grocery shopping tonight.  I finally have enough food to last a few weeks, and this time there is more variety.  I will still need to go to the store for bread, though...those sandwiches are just so easy to make! 

~Taylor

Major blog delay...

I haven't been keeping up with the blog :(

So, I promised myself and others that I would blog once a day.  That hasn't turned out very well.  Sorry about that.  Honestly, there hasn't been that much to tell.  Sam and I have concluded that the past few days we haven't been feeling as "up" as we had been.  I think first and foremost, the newness and excitement has started to wear off.  Also, since two of my classes don't start until next week still, it feels like we are doing nothing.  We have explored our territory, gotten comfortable, and are now waiting for the next thing to happen.  I am 100% surprised to say this, but I have had a few fleeting moments of homesickness.  They have lasted a few seconds at most, but, having thought that I would never get homesick, they surprised me.  They said there would be a period of adjustment, so I guess this is it.  I haven't had actual classes since the end of April, so believe it or not, I am just waiting to jump into school mode again.  I think then we will be in a routine and actually doing something, so everything will fall into place.

I just realized how whiny that paragraph sounded.  Believe me, I love it here.  It has just been weird the last few days.  I know I will look back on this blog, though, so I want to make sure I detail the whole experience, not just the amazing parts. 

Now for the fun stuff!  We are touring Canterbury and the Cathedral on Friday, and I could not be more super excited for it!  Expect a ton of pictures.  Then, on Saturday, we have bought bus tickets to London.  It will just be a day trip, but we will be going to as many places as possible.  Expect even more pictures after that. :)  We are also looking at a trip for the weekend after that, and a big final trip the last week in Europe.  The schedule is going to get pretty full!  I will find some time soon to go down to the coast for a special visit.  The woman who came to stay with us during Dad's teacher exchange, Chris Stupples, lives just 25 minutes from me.  I am going to get in touch with her soon.  I haven't seen her since 8th grade, so we have a lot to catch up on.  Should be fun! :)

There.  It ended happy, right?  In case you need something else happy, check out the band Mumford and Sons on YouTube.  They are British and awesome.  You can thank me later ;)

~Taylor