Crunch Time!

Friday morning I woke up reallyyyyy early and went to the Covent Garden area with my friend Hannah.  We wanted to get in line for 5 pound Matilda tickets because the first 8 people get them for only 5 pounds! But we were #8 and #9 so one of us wouldn't have gotten a ticket.  So we walked away and found a cafe to go to for some coffee! We wanted to go shopping but the stores didn't open until 10.  So we sat in the cafe for about an hour and a half and told loads of stories! It's so much fun meeting someone new and catching up on life stories.  Hannah and I have really become close friends these last few weeks and i'm definitely going to miss her & everyone else here when I leave.


So we shopped around until about 12:30 and guess what ladies and gentlemen! I finally bought a leather jacket! I've been looking around forever but haven't found one I really liked yet. Luckily I found one and it was for a great price so I jumped on it! I absolutely love it too. Pictures to come later :)  On our way back to the tube we stopped at Ben's Cookies...okay BEST COOKIES EVER! I don't know if this place is everywhere but it's definitely the bomb.com.  They are so soft and well yeah it's a cookie, it was good.  But we headed back and picked up Subway on our way back to school.  I went and worked out before dinner and then we spent the entire night in the library. 


Saturday I got up kinda early again because I had to attend a worship service at a Jewish Synagogue for my world religions class.  The experience was really interesting so i'm glad I did it. It's been fun visiting new churches with class over here because you learn about their different rituals and see how other people are passionate about their faith.  This class has been my favorite class this semester which is surprising because I didn't expect to enjoy it as much.  But anyways- after the service I went to Borough market again with Hannah.  This time I had a sirloin steak sandwich and then cheesecake again... it's my downfall. I got apple cheesecake this time and damn was it good! (excuse the language). But I am really going to miss going to that market- it's convinced me to start going to the farmer's market though so I hope to be enjoying that this summer! (mom are you surprised? haha).


After this market we went to another market we hadn't tried out yet.  This market was called Portabella Road market and it was very eclectic jewelry, artwork, clothes, etc.  I bought a uk blue dress and Hannah also got a dress.  We walked around there for a while and then headed back home because it was starting to rain.


Saturday night was probably the best night i've had out yet! We pregamed starting around 8 and then went out to the Rocket at 930. It wasn't too busy though so we walked to Camden. We started at World's End, then went to The Monarch.  This is my new favorite bar. They played great music like Mustang Sally, Johnny Cash, Shout! It was just some great dancing and sing-a-long music. We had a great time there but decided to leave because we were with some friends on a pub crawl and it was time for them to go to another bar. We walked to a place called KoKo but it was 20 pounds to get in so we went to Belushi's instead, and then Wheelbarrow (which was packed!). I know you don't know where or what any of these places are and I could spend hours telling you stories and about the bars, but I think that would bore you. Instead you can just follow my path haha.  We had a great time and met some great people in Wheelbarrow.  The boys we were with left around 3, and then Liz and I got a taxi at 3:30. Yes we're talking AM, like I said best night we've had out so we stayed out a long time! Hoping to go back to Camden again this weekend- that is if I get my work done!


I have 3, 6 page papers i'm working on right now and 2 finals next week. I just realized yesterday I leave next Thursday ahh... and have finals next week on top of these papers and everything else I want to visit here in London. My time is flying by too fast- there's so much I still want to see! Guess i'm going to have to come back someday :) 


Gotta start back on these papers though, I needed a quick break! Talk to you guys soon! 


Y.O.L.O -- Court :) 


"live in such a way that if someone spoke badly about you, no one would believe it." -- unknown

Begin & End Everyday With A Smile :)

Me, Hannah & Andrew in the Student Bar Tuesday! 

The countdown has begun! You can look at it either way: 13 days, 323 hours, 19439 minutes or 1166330 seconds...that's when i'll be flying into the good ole' bluegrass state. But before I do that...these next two weeks are about to be cRaZy! So I hope your ready to keep up with me because I will be updating you lots like I did the first two weeks I was here! 

Brett & I at our Friend's Apartment!

Yesterday followed a good night out at the bars. Tuesday I had class all day and then we went to my friend's apartment to pregame before heading to the Rocket! We all had a great night out and made it back safe and sound however the next morning wasn't our brightest day! That's okay though because we managed to get up for lunch and head out into London! Screw classes the last two weeks, right? Okay well maybe not but one day out won't hurt. So we took the tube and went to the Museum of London! I had already been there with my History of London class, but there was a special exhibit on Charles Dickens that I had to go to for a paper i'm writing. 

Dickens Exhibit at Museum of London

The exhibit was actually really cool and had lots of artifacts that were talked about in his writing. He was all about London and often took late night strolls though different areas. For all of his books he followed exactly in his characters footsteps so he would depict London very accurately as he was writing.  I thought that was really cool and unique as a writer. 

On Top of Saint Paul's Cathedral

After we went through there we headed to Saint Paul's Cathedral where we managed to climb about 500 stairs to get to the very top! It was definitely a hike but totally worth it.  The main floor of the Cathedral was beautiful. It's hard to decide which I like better Saint Pauls or Westminster...I mean if I could get married in either I would do it in a heartbeat! Westminster had more wood and was more detailed though I decided. But I loved the dome in Saint Pauls. It was supposed to be mosaic but that was going to cost too much so they painted a mural and it was really neat.  

Saint Pauls Cathedral

My favorite part was walking up to the Whisperer Gallery and yes it's true you can hear someone speaking all the way across the room! How do I know? I tried to sneak a picture of the top of the dome and the security guard on the other side whispered NO PHOTOS and I literally had no idea where the guard was standing. Kinda creepy if you ask me but I put my camera right away haha.

Afterwards we headed back and ate dinner in the refectory. I decided to have a lazy night so I caught up on some shows and then hit the hay really early. This morning I woke up and had class from 9-130 and I just ate lunch with a group of girls. I am going to be working on some papers today seeing as we are getting in crunch time...and then I am going out to dinner with the Tamers and their dad who is in town for the week! Unfortunately the weather sucks and it's been raining all day and supposedly it is going to rain until next Friday...but I'm crossing my fingers that won't happen! We shall see though!

Y.O.L.O -- Court :)

2 Quotes Today!

"A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you'd never be able to do" -- unknown

"in life we have a lot of ups and downs, but i think ultimately at the end of the day thats what makes you who you are.." -britney spears

I Know What I Want, I Have A Goal, I Have Opinions, A religion & Love. AMSTERDAM 2012!

I AMSTERDAM

A for "Ann"

            Well I just got back from my last trip studying abroad.  This past weekend we traveled across the ocean to Holland!  First of all it’s really confusing because we went to Amsterdam, in Holland, in the Netherlands… too many names for one place.  But anyways we had a great weekend!  We left Friday morning at 230am… this started off the trip not so hot because none of us slept before we left.  We were in bed…intending on falling asleep but it didn’t happen. So I was up from Thursday morning at 8am til Friday morning at 10am when we checked into our hotel 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam.  It was quite the experience and we were all very exhausted. So before we could get into Amsterdam we all decided it would be best to take a short nap. After we checked in we slept until 12:15 and then tried to figure out how to get into Amsterdam. We took the hotel shuttle to the airport and then from the airport took a train into Amsterdam.  The trip took about 45 minutes total but once we were there it was worth it.  First we went to the I AMSTERDAM sign!  We took lots of pictures on top of the sign, in front of the sign, at a distance from the sign…you name it, we took it! 

            Afterwards we headed towards the Van Gogh museum.  This place was 5 stories and really neat. It’s amazing how many pieces of art he completed and with so much detail.  The museum was really interesting and definitely worth going to.  It also had a few other pieces by other artists. 

            At this point it was around 6 so we headed to Heineken! Our brochure told us the last tour was at 8…but it just so happened it was wrong and the last tour was actually at 530. So we went through the shops and then decided to go get dinner and call it a night.  All the local pubs around us were absolutely packed! So we ended up eating at a smaller Italian restaurant and had pizzas.  They were good but we decided we’d want pancakes allllll day tomorrow! After all that’s what you have to get while your there! Pancakes and Fries with mayo…yeah it’s weird but actually not too bad. You should probably try it next time your in Amsterdam haha.

Anne Frank House

            Okay so we went to bed after dinner that night and got up the next morning bright and early! We heard you had to get to the Anne Frank museum early if you didn’t want to wait in line for hours.  We ended up waiting an hour which wasn’t too bad…especially since the museum was totally worth it!  The house wasn’t like anything I expected. The first floor was the warehouse, the second floor contained the offices and the 3^rd & 4^th floors were the hiding rooms! The third floor had a storeroom in the front and straight back down the hall was a bookcase on henges.  This is what hid the hidden staircase! It was sooo freaking cool! In her parent’s room the wall still had markings from where Margot & Anne were measured growing up as kids.  It was surreal walking through the rooms imagining having to stay quiet all day locked up in a dark room.  It was super cool and was everyone’s favorite stop on the trip.

            After we toured the house we were all hungry so we went to a local pancake house.  I ordered a ham & cheese pancake that was delicious.  Our waiter said try putting syrup on it, it’s good that way…and I looked at him and the table and said I mean why wouldn’t I put syrup on? I guess because I was the only one at the table that did everyone else doesn’t eat syrup on their pancakes…I decided they were all psycho… I need to find some new friends! Haha just kidding : ) But anyways we had lunch here and then headed off to the red light district.  It wasn’t as creepy as I thought it was going to be, it was actually a neat area if you take the girls out of the picture. The main drag had lots of restaurants, souvenir shops (both regular & sexual) and then the shows of course. The side alleys were where most of the girls were lined up in windows.  But we walked through there and then our group split up into two smaller groups.  Half went back to Heineken and then I went with the Tamers to get some drinks and shop around. 

            Around 7 we met up with some guys and their friends we met last weekend after coming back from Barcelona.  We had dinner with them at the Pancake Bakery where I had a chicken, cheese & pineapple pancake! YUMMM. Afterwards we walked back and hung out with them in their apartment and then walked the red light district again at night.  It was a completely different atmosphere at night but still not as creepy as I thought it would be.  It was a lot more crowded and lots of curtains were closed… but we were all glad we saw it both at night and during the day.  Around 11 we jumped back on the train and headed back to our hotel.  We all took showers and went to bed knowing we would have a nice mornings sleep ahead! 

We chose to sleep in until 11am and leave for Keukenhof around 12. We spend a few hours there walking the grounds looking at the gorgeous tulips and other crazy assortments of flowers.  

It was miserably cold and windy unfortunately so that made it not as fun…but it was still amazing to see all of the flowers and walk the gardens.  It was a really nice area. There were so many different kinds of flowers and they were all so beautiful i can't even pick which one was my favorite. Not only were there tulips but also crazy ones like the raggedy edged one on the left. It was really neat to see; i just wish it had been warmer so we could've enjoyed being outside longer.

So the end of the trip consisted getting back to the hotel and shopping in there for a bit. The airport in Amsterdam had victoria secret…which London doesn’t even have. Then we stopped in some other souvenir stores before getting dinner at the Amsterdam Café.  Our flight got delayed but luckily we still got home at a decent hour! So the trip went really well and we had a great time! It was a great ending to our crazy 12 weekend travels… very bittersweet though knowing we were done but at the same time glad to be done. Traveling takes a lot out of you and is very exhausting.  Although I’ve learned more taking trips that I probably would’ve learned in a classroom in one year… I’m glad to be done and ready to get back to enjoying London before I head back home to the states. Only 18 more days left until I’ll be back in the good ole’ bluegrass state!

Y.O.L.O – court :)

“I’m becoming more and more independent of my parents. Young as I am, I face life with more courage and have a better and truer sense of justice than Mother. I know what I want, I have a goal, I have opinions, a religion & love. If only I can be myself, I’ll be satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inner strength & a great deal of courage! If God lets me live, I’ll achieve more than Mother ever did, I’ll make my voice heard. I’ll go out into the world and work for mankind”

– Anne Frank April 11, 1944

Barcalona, Spain :)

HI! So I am awful because I haven’t updated my blog in forever! I guess that’s because I’ve been running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off wondering why in the world I am going to have to leave this amazing city in 21 days! Yes I only have 21 days here in London left! 3 weeks! I can’t believe it the time has absolutely flown by.  So as much as I know you love hearing me talk about how I’m not ready to leave… I’ll get to the point of how life is going over here.

            Last weekend I went to another part of Spain, Barcelona!  Although I had a good time I’m glad I’m not studying abroad there because it just wasn’t my scene.  Barcelona was very touristy, dirty and the people weren’t as nice either (at least those that we encountered).  We left Regent’s Thursday night and got on the plane- landed around 930 and got to our hostel around 10:15.  The guy at the desk was a complete and total idiot and no I’m not being mean or exaggerating…he really was an idiot.  Upon arriving the first thing he said was your going to have to wait 5 minutes…and then another five minutes after that because those guys there have to check in before you.  So we said okay and went and sat down in the lounge.  25 minutes later he still hadn’t gotten us so Emily went up to the counter & asked if he was ready.  He had forgotten about us and said oh sorry please wait 5 more minutes and I’ll be ready.  So were like this has got to be a joke…but finally he was ready. We go up to get our rooms and pay and of course the guy can’t do math.  We wanted to pay separately on credit cards and it was like we asked him to fly to the states to get some tea or something.  I mean I’m not kidding it took at least 15 minutes and liz and I ended up calculating it for us and explaining to him how to split the check.  So when we finally got it done he showed us to our room and which beds were ours.  He looked at liz’s bed and said “oh it looks like someone might have slept on your bed today would you like me to change the sheets?”  WELL DUHHH. Okay people there was long black hairs all over her sheet.  How freaking disgusting is that and your asking us if we want the sheet changed?  So he said he would in….you guessed it! 5 minutes.  We came back downstairs about 20-30 minutes later and reminded him because of course he still hadn’t been up.  We sat in the lounge because there was a creepy guy in our room staring at us and we needed to charge electronics.  So he finally comes back down and tells liz he changed the sheets but funny story! (you had to have known this was coming) the clean sheets were actually dirtier than the dirty sheets so he had to change them twice.  Okay first of all we didn’t need to know that and second of all that’s still disgusting… so that was the start of our first night in the hostel.  We didn’t go to bed until 2am once everyone else was asleep and then we were up at 930 the next morning for breakfast.

            Breakfast consisted of toast or cornflake cereal but it was free so that worked for us.  We headed to the metro to meet Bri (our friend studying in Sevilla) and she got there around 11.  We took her back to the hostel and told her about our previous night and told her we were ready to get out in the town!  So we dropped her things off and headed toward “La Rambla” street.  This is a popular street in Spain that is lined with market vendors, souvenir shops and restaurants.  So we shopped around for a while and then went down a side street to get lunch at a small café.  It wasn’t authentic Spanish food though and our meals were just alright.  Afterwards we kept walking and passed the Casa Lleo Morera which was a house designed by Gaudi.  We decided not to go in though because we wanted to go in his other casa.  So we continued to walk and went through Catalunya Square and some other areas until we came upon La Casa Pedrera.  The line to get in was about a 30 minute wait though so we went next door to this dessert place and got a treat to eat while waiting in line.  I had an apple crumble and it was delicious!

            When we finally got into the house there wasn’t much to see inside except a museum on one floor.  But the neat thing was the roof of the building that was full of really neat statues and architectural design.  So we hung up on top for a while before walking through the museum and back outside.  At this point it started to rain a bit so we were heading back towards the hostel in case it poured but luckily it was just cloudy for a little bit and cleared back up.  We went to the Cathedral, which had a very gothic look.  The area was packed with a lot of people walking around and sitting on the steps of the Cathedral so that was a fun atmosphere.  At this point, 2 guys that Bri had met on the plane (also studying abroad) had texted her and asked if we wanted to meet up for a little bit.  So we met them at a Metro stop and then hung out with them for about 2 hours.  They took us to the beach and we walked along there and then stopped at a bar for a drink.  Afterwards we split up with them and started walking around again deciding where we wanted to eat (looking for a tapas place).  We finally found “Lonja de Tapas” and the food was delicious!  We had croquettes, paiya, grilled veggies, a chicken teriyaki skewer, sangria & break!  It was really nice and there were heating lamps outside so we were able to sit out and people watch. 

            After dinner we were exhausted and ready to head back to the hostel.  We got back around 1030 and showered.  Liz and I pushed our twin beds together so Bri could sleep with us because she was put in a separate room and the hostel was not the place where you’d want to be alone.  So we had a little sleepover and were in bed by 1230 or so!

            Saturday morning was also another packed day! We got up around 930 again and had breakfast before grabbing the metro to go to Plaza d’Espanya.  Here we walked around, looked at the fountains and looked at the arena that used to be an old bull-fighting arena (now it’s a shopping center with restaurants).  Afterwards we headed around and climbed up the hill to see where the Olympics were held.  We toured the stadium and grounds for an hour or so and then had Icees outside at a small café. 

            Next we headed to Park Guell which was another design by Gaudi.  Before we climbed the steep hill to the entrance of the park we grabbed sandwiches at a café to take with us.  When we got to the park it’s like nothing you’d imagine a park looking like. I was thinking I would sit in a patch of grass with architecture statues around or something…no its this spiral concrete hill you climb to the top that has different paths leading off into different directions.  We walked the square inside the park and saw the old marketplace.  We also went into Guell’s home.  The park was originally supposed to be a square but they turned it into a park because things went wrong with the design or something.  So it was really neat to see and we spent quite a long time walking around there.  On the way back to the metro we stopped at a dessert place and I had my first waffle with chocolate ice cream. It’s a big thing there but I had yet to try one…woods will definitely be benefitting from my experience with that when I get home! Haha.  But anyways, we grabbed the metro for one last stop to see the Sagrada Familia (another large church).  The wait was 3 hours though so we just walked around the circumference of the building.  We also walked through another nearby market before heading back to the hostel.  We dropped souvenirs off and rested for about 30 minutes.  Then we went to a water fountain show in Plaza d’Espayna.  It was really cool and the plaza was packed with people so we had a good time.  Afterwards we crossed the road and went back in the arena for dinner.  We were going to meet the guys for drinks afterwards but that fell through so we went to a convenient store, grabbed some drinks and went back to the hostel for the night to hang out.  So we had a great day very exhausting though.

            Sunday was our last day there and since we had done the majority of tourist stuff we decided to go to the beach!  We had to be checked out at 10 am but we could leave our things at the hostel until our flight.  So we did that and stayed on the beach until about 3 in the afternoon.  We also had lunch somewhere along there.  It wasn’t super hot out but it was warm enough for us to sit outside with a tank top and shorts so we enjoyed ourselves. 

            At 3 we headed back because Bri’s flight was at 6. The tamers were exhausted but I decided to go out on my own and walk around some more.  I went up and down La Rambla again and was hoping one of the markets off that street would be open because it had been closed all weekend.. but it wasn’t.  I still enjoyed being alone and walking around.  It was a really nice day.  I came back around 5 though and we had dinner near our hostel at a tapas restaurant and then headed towards the airport.  On the way there I get a text from Bri saying her flight was at 6am not pm and she missed it! Haha…so she ended up having to stay another night there and catch a flight home the next day so that really sucked for her… But luckily we were able to get home.  We waited for over an hour to get through customs so we missed our national express bus back that takes you into London but luckily we were able to get on a later one.  We also met two guys in line that had been in Barcelona for the weekend and were going to Amsterdam this weekend, which is our next trip too! So we might meet up with them sometime too.  It’s funny you shouldn’t trust people you meet and just go out with them but here most everyone is college students and everyone is always looking to meet up and have a good time! I have met so many people from all over the world through our hostels, tours and malfunctions in airports so it’s been really interesting meeting people and learning about what they are doing here because most college students are studying abroad or working here. 

            But anyways… so this week I have been frantically catching up on papers. We have at least one in every class that is due by finals week! Tuesday night I went out to a bar called Rocket and had a great time!  We hung out there until it closed and then went to a friend’s apartment for a few hours after that.  Other than that though I have just been trying to enjoy every minute! We are going out tonight for a friend’s birthday for dinner but not staying out.  We have to leave here at 330am to get a bus to get to the airport for a flight in the morning.  Amsterdam should be quite the experience so I hope to update you about that much sooner than later like this blog.  Hope that catches you guys up with everything! I hope everyone had a great Easter.  Seeing as I was on the beach all day it didn’t feel like Easter, but I enjoyed getting lots of Easter cards so thank you to everyone who sent me something! Miss & love ya’ll J I’m outta here.

Y.O.L.O -- court :)

“Cause I am not a word, I am not a line; I am not a girl that can ever be defined” --Nicki Minaj

Bonjour de Paris!

Paris!

Bonjour! Paris was quite the hectic trip because my friends & I lost our letter to Regents saying we were students so they arrested us thinking we were illegal immigrants until our headmaster at Regents could clear things up...It was a total mess & the scariest thing I've ever been though...

Haha just kidding! April fools!
       Paris was amazing! We left Regents at 6am friday morning & we took a train that brought us there around 1130 pm. We had to get metro tickets, take the metro a few stops & get the the hostel. We got to the hostel around 1pm but we couldn't check in until 2. So the tamers, a guy named Christian we met, and I walked down the street to get an idea of where we were & to grab lunch! We ate at a small patisserie and had great sandwiches on homemade French bread! Yum! We got back to the hostel a few minutes before 2 & headed to our room of 12 girls from school! Luckily we got to organize the rooms ourselves so we were all friends & has a great time rooming together! (oh this was a Regents organized trip so there was a total of like 60 people on this trip!)

We left the hostel around 215 to explore! We started at the Arc de Triumph which was sweet! We climbed up top & got a good view of the city & the cool octagon circle streets that surrounded the Arc. We also got our first glimpse of the Eiffel tower which was just incredible! So we headed back down the Arc and walked down the Champs de Élysées street that was right next to the Arc. This is a big shopping street and also one of the streets that the Tour de France runs though, so it was very neat to see. The street was very wide & lined with trees along the road which made for a nice atmosphere.  After we walked both sides of the streets we headed to the long anticipated wait to the Eiffel tower! The line to go up was 2 hours so we decided to take pictures & look at it during the day, & then try again later. So we crossed under the Eiffel & headed towards the Seine river where we sat on stairs for an hour enjoying each others company & people watching. At 6pm we got up & found dinner at a place called Cafe Central. Half the group went here & the other half went somewhere else since there was so many of us. We all had great meals though & went back to the Eiffel after.
        On the way back to the tower however we saw this older man leaned over forward taking out a tissue from a tweety bird package, very slowly. We were wondering what was taking him so long or if he was sick until we realized his pants were on the ground, his butt in the air, hunched over...oh ding ding he just pooped! Yeah people I'm not even kidding he squatted next to a tree on a main road...& went to the bathroom. We held our breathe as we crossed the street & bursted out laughing. However once we got that out of our system we talked about how sad & embarrassing that had to have been seeing as he was homeless & old and could've been confused. If I was in a desperate situation I think I'd at least try to find an alley or bush to go in, instead of on a main road! But anyway...we made it to the tower at 8, and at 830pm they lit it up! Then at 9 & every hour on the hour after that, it sparkled for 5-10 mins. It was absolutely breathtaking, none of us had the words to describe it we were all just so happy to be there! It was super romantic but oh wait... most of us are single so we had to enjoy each other! & we did!
      Two guys, Andrew & Christian climbed the 669 stairs with Elana & I- then we took an elevator to the summit! The view of the city lit up was awesome & so much fun! If it hadnt been so windy or cold, I would've stayed up forever! The other half of the group made it up too so we got to meet up with them as well, & the Tamers waited for us at the bottom bc they're dad is taking them later! So it was a great group & loads of fun! We made it back to the hostel around 1130pm, showered & went to sleep!

       Saturday we got up & ate breakfast at 930. We started at the Louvre museum and saw the Mona Lisa first. The painting was a lot smaller than you would expect which we were made aware of beforehand. It's a little larger than a sheet of paper so pretty small but still amazing to see! We also saw the Venus de Milo (aphrodite) statue and walked the wings of the Greek & Egyptian artifact rooms! It was all really neat! The louvre was huge & each different was so uniquely designed, it was just amazing how detailed the ceilings were in each room.

      Afterwards we headed to the LongChamp store where 9 out of the 12 girls bought purses all in different colors! Yeah the store had that many colors...it was awesome & we were so excited because they are much cheaper in Paris!
Then we walked down the street & ran into a main square with the obelisque statue! We grabbed a few pics & then crossed the river to go to the musee d'orsay! Here we saw paintings by van gogh, claude monet, edgar degas & more! We also saw Rodin's "thinker" sculpture which I was extremely shocked by! This thing is not on it's own, instead it's sculpted in on top of a large mantelpiece.  I was very surprised by its size maybe a foot tall, if that? But it was really cool getting to see all those famous pieces.
        By this time we were all exhausted because it was 4pm & we had been walking all day so we decided we needed a pick-me-up & what better than a crepe! So we all got nutella crepes at a nearby cafe before hitting the metro for one last stop! The Notre Dame Cathedral!

        The outside of the cathedral was really cool because there were lots of gargoyles on top! Luckily we were able to go inside & I say this because the next day was palm Sunday of course & they were about to have a Saturday evening service. But inside was dark & very different from other churches ive been to. There was a lot of detail but the arched ceilings really caught my eye & distinguished it from other basilicas. Most of the church was wood and there was a lot of paintings & smaller rooms off to the side to light a candle or pray silently. It was very peaceful & beautiful.
        So that was our last stop but we did run into a souvenir store outside the church. We grabbed falefels (a hummus type thing fried & mixed in with veggies on pita bread) for dinner on our way home. Half ate there & half (me included) went back to the hostel to have a drink with our meal. We all met in the room after & showered & had girl talk before going to bed early! I stayed up until the UK game started at 1am here but ended up falling asleep. Luckily I woke up to good news & lots of stories from friends back home! I was super jealous I wasn't there for such a great victory but I know I'll be even more jealous after Monday night! I'd love to be celebrating at home!

But anyways...

      This morning we woke up at 730 & had breakfast at 8. We left the hostel by 830 and Hannah, Lindsay, Scott, Risa, Sam, Lia & I went to Versailles to see the palace & walk the gardens. We took a train that got us there by 1030 and we walked the gardens, saw Marie Antoinette's home & had lunch in a cafe by 1230. We did a little souvenir shopping and then took a 130pm train back to Paris. We had to pick up our things at the hostel and get back to the Eurostar train station at 430 to catch our 558 chunnel ride home! 

      Now I am getting organized for the week & updating all my followers! Its April 1st meaning I will be home in 34 days! I can't believe it! But I've had such an incredible time & Paris was just another bundle of memories to add to my journal & view of life! We had a great weekend & everyone got along. We were also all able to see what we wanted & more which never happens! I would love to go back and explore other parts of France because minus the language barrier (which so far was the worst here), it was a great experience & a beautiful area! 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

                      Y.O.L.O -- Court :)