Home at last!

Since I have been home now for 3 days, and had plenty of time to unpack, do laundry and finish up my Christmas shopping. The 2 weeks away from home was an amazing experience but I was ready to come home. The welcome home by my family and my boyfriend was much appreciated. I was so happy to see them after much anticipation on the long journey home. I am not much of a cold weather person but I was over joyed when the plane finally landed in Ohio.

The one thing I did not like about traveling for such an extended period of time, is that I started to get SO TIRED of eating out and spending so much money on food!! The days after the trip I ended up catching up on my sleep. Since I did not complete all of my Christmas shopping while in England since everything was so expensive. When looking at the prices of things it was nice not to have to think about the conversion and if I was really getting a good deal. Over all the trip was amazing and a worth while experience that I would probably never get if I had not taken this course.

A big Thank you to all who planned the trip and to my classmates for a wonderful and memorable experience!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Home, Sweet Home

Well, we've been home now for 3 days, and had plenty of time to unpack, do laundry and get back to the normal grind of things. For me, this was a very welcome thing. 2 weeks away from home and my normal schedule teeters on the edge of being too long! The trip was absolutely AMAZING, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but landing on the snowy runway in Columbus was something that I never imagined that I'd appreciate so much!
My Mom and brother greeted me at the airport, and then took me back to my apartment for a homecooked meal! LOVED IT! One thing about traveling for such an extended period of time, is that I started to get SO TIRED of eating out and spending so much money on food!! Yoga was also re-introduced into my routine on Wednesday morning...and after 2 weeks without it, it was completely refreshing and mentally relieving!
Thank you to all of the professors and all of my travel buddies! It was a memorable experience...welcome home! Happy Holidays!

French Lesson

Ok so earlier on the trip Kaylin gave a British vocabulary lesson so I am going to give you a sample of the vocabulary we learned while in Paris.

Entree = entrance
Sortie = exit
Mercie = thank you
Publique = public
Wi = yes
Toilettes = toilet
Escargot = snails

Goodbye England!

It is our last night in England. I am sad to be leaving but more excitied to be going home finally. It has been an amazing journey and I have learned so much about myself. I have learned that I can do things on my own...like navigate a large city and a subway system! More important I have learned how important the people I love in my life and love me back for who I am are to me. I am so blessed to have been able to go on this journey but even more blessed to have family and my amazing fiance to go home to.

Today we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a great way to close out our trip. Even though it was yet another church it was beautiful. We climbed to the top and it was so rewarding! The view was amazing and I was so proud of myself for braving those narrow spaces and spiral staircases! I think it showed how far I have come on this trip becasue that is not something I would have done before now.

Home tomorrow to all the snow and bitter cold...and I won't even mind because I will be home :)

Walking in the path of a Princess

Well, today was our final day in London. The morning was ours...so many of us chose to sleep in after the busy traveling Parisian day we had yesterday. Woke up for my last UK morning run, and it was an adventure!...and super chilly. After a shower and some breakfast, our little group set out for our final tour. This was of, yet another church. St. Paul's cathedral is BY FAR my favorite! It's the cathedral in which Princess Diana and Prince Charles exchanged vows in 1981. It was so awesome to see the aisle that she walked down, with her huge train!! AFter the tour of the church, a small group of us decided to climb the 500 some stairs to the tippy top, for some WONDERFUL pictures. The view was priceless. I am so privileged to have had the opportunity to travel and experience so much history and beauty.

After the tour, some of us stayed in the area of the cathedral to shop and mill about. It is SUCH a neat area!! I'm so bummed that we didn't discover it before now! Oh well, that's how it goes! TIme for a final dinner as a group, then to bed...O-H-I-O, here we come :)

Wow! What a climb!

The group of us decided to make the climb up the 528 stairs to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. This picture was taken on the second level. We did a total of 1056 stairs today, what a work out. We all made it to the top with the support of each other. 10 students and one professor.

Yesterday we had an adventure in Paris. What a trip, up at 7am and back at the hotel by 11pm. We walked the city all day and a few of the major tourist attractions. I would have to say may favorite part of our trip to Paris was being able to see the Effiel Tower. We were able to see it at night which made it that much more exciting because it was all light up.

We will be headed to the airport in 18 hours. I am ready to be back in the states. I have enjoyed my time here but ready to see all of my family and friends as well as my personal belongings. I am glad I decided to make the trip across the pond. I have had the opportunity to see many sights that I would not have gotten the chance to see if I had made this trip on my own.

Where did the time go?

So. Where to start? It's a little bit hard to believe that as I'm typing this, I'll be on my way home in less than one day! As amazing as this trip has been I think home sounds pretty good right about now.

The past few days in England have been great, visiting museums (Natural History Museum and British Museum), seeing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, watching The Nutcracker and other very wonderful amazing things. I have to admit, that while we were at The Nutcracker I spent some of that time thinking about how much my life has changed in the past year, because my grandmother used to take my brother and I to see productions of both The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol in Columbus when I was little. The museums are amazing partly in that they're free! The part of the Natural History Museum that I saw, though factual was designed to also be interesting to children including interactive aspects.

Yesterday and our day trip to Paris was amazing! We got to see so much of the city by walking and using their Metro (subway) some. It was great to get a chance to go see another country in addition to the one we've been staying in for two weeks now. It was kind of really cool to think that we had a short train trip from London to Paris, and that we got to see as much as we did in Paris. Our trip to Paris was a very brisk tour, more of a flavor for things we may like to one day come back and visit. I think, coming from the United States where our country is so big it is a bit of a shock to be in Europe. Granted from my house in Ohio I can be in Canada in less than four hours, but in the time we would travel from one state to another or two away from home we were traveling from country to country! Still somewhat amazing to me. Additionally, one REALLY nice thing about Paris was that though I barely understood any of the language when speaking to Parisians, the cars drive on the road in the same way that we use in the United States! Made crossing the street really easy in that for the first time in two weeks I didn't have to force myself to look the opposite direction from what I am used to at home.