Recently...

Lets see...I left off with Paris. Since then I have been to several different places.

The first of which was Stonehenge. Before even arriving, sense we went with the entire program, we were told to simply remember how old the structures were. By remembering such things we would understand why they were so small and not as gradiose as we always imagined. Upon arrival, in the snow mind you, I was amazed. The landscape was hilly and covered in just an inch or so of white, making the entire place magical in my eyes. The structures were lightly covered in moss,detailed with the lace of the ice and stood high above our heads. There was no need for the introduction that we would be disappointed.

However, due to the fact that it is a "magical"place, our spirits were lifted and we had to take silly pictures in efforts to withstand the cold.

After about an hour of silliness surrounded by beauty we were back on the bus to Bath. If you don't know, back in the time of Jane Austen and her glorious publications the people of London went to Bath for their holidays and rendezvous with their lovers. It was all quite scandalous. However, now it is a beautiful little town that is surrounded by country side and filled with everything possible to do. From shopping to museums to light night clubs. Some of the girls let the history of Bath come alive when it came to having a splendid holiday. Lets just say that someone gave away their first kiss. Not at all reluctantly, I might add.
While in Bath I had the opportunity to see my first rugby match. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to walk around without my jacket on. Then we sat down. Though sitting in the sun, all our toes were freezing off simply because our legs werent getting a peak of sunlight. However, despite getting frost bite (just kidding) the game was so much more interesting then American football. These guys were so incredibly rough. I highly recommend that you watch some rugby yourself.
Oh! I must help you visualize the ghost tour we went on. Imagine a group of college kids, all bundled up in a small town they don't know standing around listening to a lady tell us ghost stories. Got it? Now imagine that she walked around this little town for a good hour and a half, in the freezing cold, telling these ghost stories that haven't happened since the 1980's, NOW! Imagine this same group of kids standing around in a field with their hands up in the air trying to "feel"something. Besides feeling our hands turning blue we felt absolutely nothing and was trying not to start laughing because our guide was WAY to into her job. All in all, no one saw anything and I am absolutely positive that she blamed us for it.

After Bath we made our way to Lacock, which is pronounced lay-cock. This, of course, gave many of the members of our program a laugh. This town has been preserved as it was in the 18th century and is absolutely beautiful. The feel of the place is just filled with charm and history. The gorgeous little town completely filled my heart with the joy of the country and how much I miss it. To smell the air without a bit of exhaust was delightful. The flowers are just beginning to push through the damp dirt and beginning to spread their petals to the sky. There has been many movies filmed here simply because of its upkeep with the history.

After we returned to London and the weekend was over I have just been living the life of a londoner.  Going to school, shopping every now and then on Oxford street, going to the theatre and going to the pubs. You know, the average life of any girl from Texas at my age. Oh? Is that right? This isn't normal? Of course its not! My god! Look at me go, I actually feel as if I live in London. I have no idea what I am going to do when I get back and there is no tube to catch to quickly get wherever I want to go. No store to walk to that is just down the street. No weekend holidays to foreign countries. Whatever will I do? I suppose I will just have to wait and find out. Two months and two weeks in counting until I return.

Tata for now,
Hope

Three hats, two scarfs and a some bruises.

Paris.


Alright, grab a water and something to eat if you really want to sit down and read this one because its going to be long! Good luck!

It all started with five other girls and me arriving at Victoria station an hour early to obtain our tickets for the bus. However, before even leaving the city, we got lost in the station.We were looking for the buses instead of the coach station. So! After asking some very polite worker and them pointing and explaining that we were meant to be down the street at the COACH station, we followed directions.We got our tickets and were seated comfortable on our coach,not bus, coach before turning into hopeless romantics at the sight of a couple leaving each other. We watched from our window as the woman cried at the parting of her love. He kissed her, held her and stroked her hair. We imagined he was whispering sweet nothings and explaining that they would see each other again soon enough and that there was no need to cry. All in all, our imaginations ran off and we were close to tears ourselves at how utterly romantic it was. After the woman got on the bus reluctantly the man soon followed, simply to get a few more kisses and I love you's in before they had to go different paths. As soon as he was asked to get off the bus he walked to the window where she could see him and watched his love ride off into the night. It was terribly romantic and the fact that we were on our way to Paris, the city of love, just made it oh so much better.
So we were off to a good start! The bus was comfortable, new and no where near as bad as I thought. The bus driver on the other hand was not as much. Before we even left, he had yelled at atleast two passengers simply because he didnt speak english and they didnt understand each other. As we began our trip and before even leaving the city he began smoking, on a non-smoking bus. We were not the only ones who were shocked. His driving was just as rude as his character. He turned so quickly that no one could sleep comfortably when we were actually in any city, cars honked at him getting in their lane and I swear we almost had three accidents before we left London. However, once we got on the highway, it was much easier to attempt to sleep. The reasoning for us getting such a late bus, we left at 9:30, was so we could sleep on the bus and not waste our money on another night at a hostel. There were a few stops made that didnt affect anyone, picking up people here and there but once we got to the france border check-in it all went wrong.
By this time it was, I believe, midnight and we werent actually aware that this was going to happen. We all had to get out of the bus, take everything with us, wait in line for a guard to give our passport a two second glance before stamping it and then making us wait for our bus driver to pull up so we could all load back on. Sleepily, we did so. There were a few mumbles but once we got on the warm bus,we were fine until we realized we would be getting on the ferry soon. Because of this we didn't go back to sleep in excitement. However, after an hour of waiting in line for this ferry and the cars were finally boarding, our bus driver had fallen asleep! We stayed parked for a good fifteen minutes before someone got up and went to him and asked very rudely, "Are we going to go?" He grumbled and drove on and we all had to get off again and sit upstairs on this ferry.  So we tiredly get on the ferry and wait until we pull away from the dock but what do you know? Something else goes wrong! The captain comes on and askes if there is a doctor on the ship because one of the passengers got sick. We wait for another thirty minutes before they announce that they care calling an ambulance. Two hours later, it is announced that because we were waiting they found that there was a problem with the hydrolics and they couldn't shut the doors. THREE HOURS LATER, we leave. The doors are fixed, two people are now sick and staying behind and we are just now leaving. It is now three o'clock in the morning. Can you imagine how excited we are at this point? Through sleep deprived laughter we made it though. A couple of hours later we make it to Paris, its probably around nine o'clock in the morning now and we have barely had any decent sleep and our food involved candy, water and cookies. You can imagine how happy our little group was at this point. Now, we had to find where our hostel was...in the cold...while we are starving...and sleep deprived. Despite all that was against us, we found it in a decent amount of time with our huge backpacks that made us look like turtles.
Upon arrival we found out we couldnt check in till three, so we sadly dropped off our bags in the luggage storing room and went off to try and find something to do for the next five hours that didn't involve a nice warm bed. Food was what came to mind. After finding that the cafes were a bit too pricey and some werent even serving food at this time, we made due with a sandwich shop. I, personally, am not a fan at all of sandwiches. So, I was going to sit down and let some of the other girls eat and eat at a later time. Sounds resonable right? Oh no! The owner comes out yelling in french and the only thing I pick up is ,"This is not a picnic!" We ALL had to buy something to stay...So what did we do after being treated so rudely? We stayed...I had to buy a crossiant for a whole Euro. Oh! I must explain the transportation system. In France, it is called the Metro. This is the equivalent to the tube if the tube was soaked in urine, dunked in a garbage disposal and set to dry in a dump with a side of BO and drug deals.
Moving on! We decided to go to the Louvre after the wonderful bakery that was so very friendly. It was amazing but as the hours went on the paintings began to blur, the statues all looked the same and the Mona Lisa was not as amazing as I hoped. I don't know why but for some reason they put the Mona Lisa, which isn't a huge painting, in this gallery with wall to floor length paintings. It all seemed very off. Anyway, I wish I had had more energy for this wonderful opportunity but my feet were dragging, my stomach was growling and I needed a nap. Oh! Had I mentioned that I was slowly getting sicker and sicker as the day past? Yup! After we all decided that we simply couldn't walk anymore and our senses were WAY overloaded we tried to get out of the Louvre. This was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life! The signs for the way to leave this place were ridiculous and we spent a good thirty minutes just trying to get out. At one point, I remember tapping on the glass of the window, saying "Help us!"
Eventually we found our way out, made our way back to the hostel and checked in. How was the hostel, you ask? Well let me tell you. It was wonderful, actually. It was clean and the atmosphere was very friendly. There were people of all different nationalities lounging about, families with kids and students, just like us. The only major problem was that there were six floors and no elevator. I'm sure you are thinking, well that isn't so bad...Well you are wrong! The stair case was an old, wooden, spiral staircase that had definetly had its day. What floor were we on, you ask? The sixth! Naturally. After climbing the mountain with our bags, we sat and had our cold peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that we had made the night before for this adventure. At this point, I was very happy. Naps were a must after our little lunch but we couldn't sleep all night so we got up for dinner and went to the Arc de Triomphe for pictures. At this point, I could finally say, "Hey Look! We are in Paris!" Everything was so much better after our naps. Though it was cold, we walked down the Champs Elysees and enjoyed the shops and the people and the fact that we were in France. We stopped and ate at a French hamburger place, which was interesting, and continued on until it started to snow! The girls that I was with are all from places in which this happens every year but this girl from Texas was amazed! I was standing in Paris and it was snowing. I was in france and there were flurries on my coat. They laughed at my childlike wonderment but I couldn't help it! It was gorgeous. It didn't last very long, just enough to coat everything in a fine layer of white but it was marvelous. We continued walking until we saw the eiffel tower. It really is as magically as I hoped. This ended our night and we went back to the hostel.
I told you this was a long one!
Continuing! The next day we went to the Notre Dome, as all tourists should do and then do you know what we did? I'm sure you can't guess...We went ice skating! In Paris!! I was not as light on my feet as the two other girls who went with me but I still did it. No broken bones, no twisted ankles and no bruises. It was so much fun to just be in the situation. After my sad attempts at learning to ice skate, we got cotton candy and the oddest thing happened. As one of the girls explained, " The only pick pocketers we had a problem with was with our cotton candy." There was a lady, trying to get us to sign something that followed us around and kept picking bits of our cotton candy off! She would ask and we would say no and then she would just take it! It was so strange! We rushed off and found the lane of pet shops. It was a horrible idea but we went in every single one and Awed at every single puppy and kitten. We found that the french are very proud of their animals and the cheapest puppy was atleast 600 euros. This was probably a blessing in disguise.We went to Moulin Rouge, had dinner and made one of the girls very uncomfortable by going into a European sex shop for that reason exactly.
We headed back and actually had the chance to listen to a three guy band from Argentina that were playing in the hostel for a gig. They were gorgeous, of course. However, because I am madly in love with my boyfriend they didn't have a chance at all. Though I must admit, I believe that they did wish to try because I am simply that gorgeous. ;) Anyway! We stayed downstairs and played table tennis and met a couple of other travelers. It was so much fun. There was a sing along involved, need I say more?
Sunday we planned on going to Versailles and as I was heading down the stairs for breakfast, I fell down those horrid stairs...This is where the bruises came from. I now have a lovely set of bruises on my arm and on the top of my bottom. Thank you, sixth floor. We made it to the Palace later on and at this point, all the wonderful palaces/castles/apartments that are in these rather large estates are beginning to blur together. I'm sure it was gorgeous and the accidents were extrodinary, so on and so forth but I had one major problem that was keeping me from enjoying the palace. I had finally gotten my cold. I was sneezing, coughing, sniffiling, aching...dying but did I give up! No Sir or Madam! After returning back to the city, we went to the Paris Opera house and it was gorgeous. Despite my bad state, it was so very pretty. After that, I could not walk any farther and we just headed back to the bus station. The ride back was a lot better and so much less time then the ride before until we got to the UK border. It, honestly, is harder to get into the UK then it is to get into the US. They asked all sorts of questions, I was the lucky one. I only was asked questions for about ten minutes. Some of the other girls were not so lucky. There was even a man who had to do the walk of shame and was not let in. We arrived back in London at 4:30 and had to walk back because the tube wasn't open yet. We had not planned on being early on the way back since we were so late arriving to Paris. However, it was so and we walked back and sickly, I crawled into bed and haven't crawled out until now.

All in all, I think it was a pretty adventurous trip. I had a blast and I'm glad I got to go with the girls that I did go with. Next, is Bath.

Au revoir,

Hope