Recovery and Another Adventure...

I don't know about you, but after any big trip, when I return it always takes a bit to recover from all the fun that was had. So, as you might guess, it took a while to fully recover from our great adventure to Paris. Let me just say that last week was kind of a blur of trying to get back into the swing of going to class. It also took a bit to realize that we were actually in Paris.

Last Tuesday was Lauren's birthday. Esther and I asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate, and she wanted to have dinner. So, Esther and I cooked Lauren food similar to what she always has at home for her birthday: lasagna and chocolate pound cake. Both turned out quite well after we got the recipes from Lauren's mom. I'm glad we got to help her celebrate :-)

During our trip to Paris, Esther, Lauren and I grew very accustomed to all sleeping in the same room. So, we decided to have a sleepover at Lauren's Wednesday night since all three of us have history lecture together at 9 am Thursday morning. Prior to the sleepover, we went to a Zumba Cardio Party. It was 2 hours of non-stop, dancing, sweaty, Zumba fun! Esther and I have been going to classes most of the semester, but this was Lauren's first encounter with it and I think we got her hooked! In fact, next week Rachel is coming to visit me from Copenhagen and we are going to have a Zumba party in the living room of my flat with all of my girl friends!

Friday Esther, Lauren and I went shopping. We took H&M by storm and I may have bought three dresses, but in my defense they were on sale and I didn't buy any souvenirs in Paris. We had fun trying on silly clothes and making decisions on what to buy.

Saturday Lauren and I embarked on another Scottish adventure: we took the bus to St. Andrews. It is about a 30 minute bus ride so it was a nice day trip. Well, it would have been a better day trip if the weather had cooperated. In the morning when we were getting ready to leave, I happened to look out my window to see that it was snowing. Lauren and I discussed and we decided to go ahead with our adventure because if we waited for a nice day, we may never get to go. Also, what is more Scottish than braving the elements?

So, bundled in our jackets, rain coats, scarves, and gloves we headed to the bus station and then to St. Andrews. Upon arrival, we found the information center and the nice man working there gave us a map and some good advice on where to go and what to see. Once again we headed out into the freezing wind and rain. We made our way around the town and saw the Old Cathedral, the beach, the St. Andrews Castle, and for all you avid golf fans, the Old Course. Oh yes, we also saw the university and the square where Will and Kate were a few weeks ago. After lunch and pints in a nice pub we decided we were wet and cold enough for one day and we headed back to Dundee.

St. Andrews Cathedral

More of the Cathedral
Some beach

Soaking wet and freezing cold in St. Andrews.

St. Andrews Castle. We couldn't go in because it is under some repairs. Hopefully when we go back it will be open!

I'd like to think that Will and Kate sat on this bench.

The Old Course for all the avid golf fans out there.

It was a nice day, full of us laughing at why we were silly enough to be outside on such a day. We also got to laugh at the fact that we went to MUSA which is the St. Andrews University Museum and we couldn't open the door. Then, one of the workers (who we could see inside not doing a whole lot) opened the door and told us it was closed. So, we went and looked on the gate at what the hours were, and apparently it didn't open until 12 pm. After realizing this, I looked at my watch...IT WAS 5 MINUTES TIL 12!! We just burst out in laughter at the fact that they would not let us in 5 minutes early when we were clearly soaking wet and freezing cold. Oh silly Scotland.

Needless to say it was a fun day in St. Andrews and we most definitely will be returning sometime in the near future when we hopefully have better weather. Saturday night, Lauren came over and we had pancakes for supper, they were delicious after a cold day outside. Also Saturday night, Minna, Christina, and Greg had a Lord of the Rings Marathon, complete with a fort built in our living room. I did not participate in the movie watching because I was too busy catching up on Glee and America's Next Top Model episodes. I did crawl in their fort for a bit, it was a pretty great fort!

The epic fort that was constructed in my living room. I love these guys!


Sunday I slept in really late and then went to the gym. After the gym I had the urge to bake something because I didn't really have anything else to do. So Lauren came over once again and we made chocolate chip cookies! We also had been craving pizza for the past several days so we ordered some pizza hut for dinner, it was a wonderful investment! As per every Sunday, Minna, Christina, Lauren and I got our weekly dose of Jersey Shore. Ahh the TV I am able to watch online...I love technology!

I should also say that I spent much of Sunday in a state of confusion. After seeing many people's statuses on facebook regarding changing their clocks ahead an hour I began to wonder if Scotland did this too. I hadn't heard anything of it, but I didn't know. So, after googling it and coming up with mixed answers, I finally asked Minna and Greg. Apparently, Scotland does participate, but they don't change their clocks for another few weeks. So, for the time being, I am now only 5 hours ahead of home and 4 hours ahead of Guilford. Goodness, goodness.

I would now say that I am fully recovered from my Paris adventure and even the smaller St. Andrews one. This week I need to get started on my second (and last!) essay for film class so that I can have all sorts of fun once Rachel gets here!

I hope everyone had an adventure of some sort this past week!

Cheers!

Bonjour, Merci, Oui Oui, Paris!

My first excursion out of Scotland was a huge success!! Let me share the experience with you...

A week ago, Lauren, Esther, Christina, and I embarked on our adventure to Paris. Here is a day-by-day account of what we did.

My "magic" backpack all ready for the journey!


Wednesday:
At 6 pm Lauren, Esther, and Christina met me as soon as I was finished with my film screening. We were all so excited to finally be setting out on our adventure that we had been planning for the past month. I was especially ready for the trip because the film we watched that afternoon just so happened to be in French and set in Paris, it is like my film professors knew my plans. After we were all gathered together, the four of us set off for the train station. Our walk was frequently interrupted by shouts of joy saying "We're going to Paris!!!!"

We got on our train to Glasgow a little before 7 pm and arrived about 8:20. At the train station we were met by Jada, one of Lauren's friends from home. She gave us a nice walking tour of downtown Glasgow as we made our way to her flat, where we would be spending the night with Emily, another one of Lauren's friends from home. Once we dumped our stuff off at the flat and got acquainted with Emily and Jada, the six of us went out for a late dinner. We ate a Ketchup, which is a delicious burger joint (there is one in Dundee too). Then we went back, watched a movie, and went to sleep.

Thursday:
We awoke at 7:15 am and got ready for our big day of traveling. We called a cab and by 8 am we were on our way to another train station in Glasgow where we took the train to the airport. This was all fairly uneventful. Once we got to Glasgow-Prestwick airport reality set in: in just a few hours we would be in Paris! After some Starbucks we made our way through security and waited to board our flight!

About 1 pm our plane landed at the Paris-Beauvais airport. Upon arrival, we were immediately overwhelmed by the fact that we were not in an English speaking country. Luckily Esther came to our rescue. She had mentioned to us that she knew a little French while we were planning our trip, but a little was an understatement. That girl is practically fluent in French and very confident about her speaking skills. She was a life-saver for the weekend, I cannot imagine going to Paris without her :-) With Esther's help, we found an ATM, got some Euros, and bought our bus tickets.

After about an hour bus ride, we were finally IN Paris! In a daze, we set off on our mission to find our hostel. We found the metro and bought tickets for the weekend. Once we got to our metro stop we were slightly shocked at what we found once we emerged from underground. The good news was that our hostel (Friends Hostel) was right across the street from the metro station. The bad news was the neighborhood unnerving, but we managed to make our way through the crowd by ignoring them. Once inside Friends Hostel we felt a little safer. Our room was not that bad and there was a small courtyard and kitchen where we could keep food and eat meals. While we were checking in, Christina went to find her hostel. She did not stay with us because she booked her trip a few weeks after us and Friends Hostel was full.

As soon as we dumped our bags off in our rooms (Esther and I were in the same room and Lauren was upstairs) we decided to go find a grocery store to purchase food for the weekend. We decided to do this so we could pack lunches for everyday and therefore save money. Luckily the grocery store was very easy to find and not far away. It was slightly discombobulating being in a grocery store where nothing is in English, but it was fun once we got used to it. Lauren and I managed to buy enough food to split that would cover all our meals for about 15 euros! Gotta love France where you can buy a package of 15 croissants for 1.35!

We also found the best chocolate granola ever! I wish you could get it in Scotland and the U.S.


After the grocery store experience we went to McDonald's where we could use the bathroom for free and get coffee and ice cream. We discovered that McDonald's was our friend on this trip because if we could find one then we knew there would be a bathroom. I have never been that thankful for McDonald's before! Esther, Lauren, and I then went back to our hostel and made pizza and drank wine for dinner. We texted Christina and decided where to meet up with her the next morning. Then Lauren, Esther and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and found another grocery store and bought the most delicious strawberry water and some wine for the following day.

Friday:
Finally our first day of sightseeing! After meeting up with Christina at the metro station downtown, we headed for Notre Dame. We saw some other really cool buildings on the way and even stumbled by an astronomy store! It was really cool. Once we arrived to Notre Dame we were in awe. It is gorgeous and huge! We went inside and walked around, most of the time looking up at the magnificent stained glass windows and arched ceiling.

Astronomy store



Me in front of Notre Dame
The inside
At night


After Notre Dame, we walked along the Seine on our way to Champs Elysees. The river looked beautiful in the sunshine and we felt very Parisian. We walked by the Louvre and saw just how big it is and gave us something to look forward to for that afternoon. We walked along the Champs Elysees and soaked up our first day in Paris. We found a cute candy store and bought assorted sweets to eat throughout the day. At about 12 we sat on a nice bench and people watched as we ate our lunch of ham and cheese croissants. We then continued on our way and ended up at the Arc de Triomphe (after going through a tunnel to get to it). It was really cool and we took quite a few pictures.

Walking along the Seine


Arc de Triomphe

Our next stop of the day was the Eiffel Tower. We walked back along the Champs Elysees and then turned off on a side-street, which just so happened to have more fancy stores along it. We didn't go into any of the fancy stores because we didn't think we would feel welcome, because obviously we weren't going to buy anything. Before we knew it, we looked to our right and there was the Eiffel Tower! However, we couldn't go to it right away because we had to find a bakery and buy baguettes to eat with our wine.

Cute Parisian restaurant


Baguettes and wine in hand we went to the Eiffel Tower. We found a nice bench and sat in awe as it was still just setting in we were in Paris! After eating our baguettes and drinking some wine we walked around a little and then found another bench. As a few hours passed, we decided it was time to leave the tower and make our way to the Louvre.



Once back on the Champs Elysees we walked along the opposite side and then found yet another bench to sit and eat dinner (yet another ham and cheese croissant and more wine). By this time it was about 5:30 pm and we needed to get on our way to the Louvre. We had discovered that on Friday evenings if you are under 26 you can get into the Louvre for free, so that is what our plan was. En route to the Louvre, we just happened to stumble upon Paris Fashion Week. We were a little confused as to why there were lots of nicely dressed, tall people being followed around by photographers until we realized what exactly was going on around us. We think we saw someone famous (we don't know who it was though) because they were being chased by paparazzi.

We finally made it to the Louvre. We took some fun pictures in the gardens outside of it and then made our way inside. By this time Lauren, Esther and I were exhausted. We had walked A LOT and didn't have any time to re-group. Christina, on the other hand, was full of energy and was loving every minute of the Louvre. After a group discussion, we decided to see the Mona Lisa and then be on our way. Mona was beautiful and I now know what people mean by it being rather small. However, I think the size is more obvious just how it is displayed. In the gallery Mona is in, there are GIANT paintings all around and then the Mona is on a separate wall all alone behind lots of glass. It was still really cool to see. At this point, Christina decided she was going to go off on her own because there was a lot she wanted to see, and Lauren, Esther, and I decided to head back to Friends Hostel.

Posing outside of the Louvre

Saturday:
We met up with Christina at yet another metro stop and then went to catch a bus to Versailles. We arrived to Versailles about 12:30 pm. As we approached the palace the mere size of it upon first glance is astonishing. Also there is a lot of gold. Gold everywhere. We made the group decision to walk around the gardens (because they were free) and then see how we felt later if we wanted to go in the palace or not. We wandered around the gardens for hours. It was amazing and one of the highlights of the trip for me. We found some steps and sat to eat our packed lunches (ham and cheese croissant and sangria). It was so peaceful in the gardens looking out onto the lake where people were rowing around and out onto the paths where there were countless runners and bikers.

Front of the Palace of Versailles

We walked and walked and walked and didn't even make it all the way around the lake. We headed back toward the palace to where people were renting the boats. We found a bathroom and the gift shop. We weren't ready to leave, but we decided not to go into the palace. We figured it would turn out just like the Louvre were we would all be really tired and not enjoy it as much as we could have. So we just decided to gallivant about the gardens some more. We bought crepes and ate them by the water. By 4:30 we decided we should probably head back toward the bus so we could make it to our next stop of the day.

Mmmm crepes!


Our Saturday evening activity was the Great Canadian Pub! It was so fun and right along the Seine and you could look out and see Notre Dame across the water. The pub was really cool. We enjoyed the fact that everyone in there was speaking English and that we could order a burger and fries. We were all a little silly by this point because it had been a long day, and we were in the sun quite a bit. Lots of laughs were shared and an elaborate plan for our futures was developed and recorded on the place mat. After our burgers we went to the bar and drank a Canadian beer, Moosehead to be exact. Once we finished our drinks we decided it was time to head back to Friends, even though it was a little early.

Great Canadian Pub!

Back at Friends, Lauren, Esther and I went in search of more strawberry water and then spent the evening laughing and reflecting on the past few days. We were in very jubilant moods...I guess that is what Paris with friends does to you :-)

Sunday:
We woke up and went to McDonald's for some coffee and to the grocery store to replace a few food items some hostel friends at Friends Hostel ate of ours. We then met up with Christina and walked to Sacre Coeur, which is another cathedral. It just so happened that it was very close to our neighborhood. It was beautiful and since it is up on a hill, we got a nice view of the city despite the fact that Paris always has this nice haziness to it.

Sacre Coeur

After Sacre Coeur, we went in search of Moulin Rouge, the cabaret theater. It turned out that Moulin Rouge was on the same road as our hostel, just quite a ways down. It was really fun to see the red windmill. Maybe one day we will have enough money to go to a show there. Although, we might be waiting a while, because all the people in the line to go in were at least in their 60s.

Moulin Rouge


That afternoon, we decided to take a little time to regroup and rest in our hostels. We went back and changed clothes for our nice dinner that evening. After much needed rest and relaxation, we met up once again with Christina downtown and went to a really cool bookstore. Esther had read about Shakespeare and Company bookstore, as one of the top bookstores in Europe. We just had to check it out! It was wall to wall books and was the most amazing bookstore I have ever seen! One could spend a day just in there looking at all the different books! After the bookstore we found a nice French Bistro to have dinner. The meal was delicious and a nice ending to a great trip.

Menu from the French Bistro


Monday:
We got up early and checked out of our hostel. Since it was early, the creepy French men (or hustlers as we so fondly referred to them) were not there, which was a nice change. We met Christina at the metro station close to where we needed to take the bus to the airport. Our traveling was uneventful and before we knew it we were back in Edinburgh. Since we had a few hours to kill before our train to Dundee we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant and walked around looking in the windows of a bunch of shops. I definitely want to go back to Edinburgh before leaving Scotland to buy some tartan and whiskey. Speaking of whiskey, we went into a whiskey shop and got samples, so now I can cross that off my list of things to do. I decided I will bring back an assortment of small bottles since they won't take up as much room in my suitcase as a big bottle would.

A taste of Edinburgh

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, that we saw the coffee shop in Edinburgh where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter. We are going to go back and have coffee there at some point!

Back to Dundee!!

We then made it back to Dundee and it felt good to be "home." It was an amazing trip and even as I write this, and look at my pictures it is hard to believe that I was actually in Paris.

I hope you had fun reading about my adventure and looking at the pictures! Sorry it was kind of long, but I just didn't want to leave anything out!

Cheers!

I love Sunny Scotland!

It is 10:56 am Wednesday morning and the sun is shining once again! I have been very productive this morning and it feels great! As many of you are aware, I am heading off to Paris tomorrow morning. However, we are taking the train to Glasgow this evening so I am trying to get everything in line. I woke up about 7:30 this morning, did laundry, went to the gym, submitted my off-campus housing application for next school year, and have started gathering all my important papers for my big trip. Being productive is such a great feeling!

I have been in a great mood recently, it might be due to the fact that I had a great weekend, a great start to this week, and I finally have a break from school-work. Let me backtrack a little and fill you all in on last week since I realize it has been a while since my last post.

Last Monday I had to turn in my first film paper. I wrote it about the femme fatale in Film Noir, and I think I did alright. In the end it may have ended up being a rant about how men are easily manipulated by women, and how women can be downright evil. I will have to let you know how I did on it. Anyway, after turning my paper in I relaxed a little by laying in my bed all afternoon and watching t.v. on my laptop. It was a much needed break. Oh, I also managed to make home-made potato chips (or crisps depending on where you are) as seen below! I hope to bring this new talent back to the states!


The break did not last very long because I had to get started working on my history paper that I had to turn in yesterday. I decided to write about immigration to Britain during the 1960s and why it became such a big problem. I concluded that basically, up until this time, Britain was very used to people leaving it that when there was a huge influx of immigrants the government and people did not know what to do. So, after working my buns off on this paper, I turned it in yesterday and it was such a great feeling. There is nothing like turning in a big assignment and being able to relax!

Over the weekend was my flatmate Minna's 22nd birthday. Friday night we had a rather large party at our flat for her. It was very fun, complete with lots of people, some snacks, lots of drink, and lots of fun! It was a great night for everyone! Saturday was her actual birthday and I told her I would bake something for her. She said she loved carrot cake and luckily for her, I happen to make one heck of a carrot cake. So, Saturday morning, I cleared a corner in our VERY messy kitchen/living room and made Minna a delicious cake! It turned out very well and she loved it!


Christina, Minna, and me before going out last week for a pre-birthday-mid-week celebration.

Minna's delicious carrot cake.

After cake baking on Saturday, I spent much of the day relaxing and watching movies with Christina, Minna, and Greg. Oh yes, we also had to clean up our flat...boy was that a task. Saturday evening, I went out to dinner with Lauren and Esther. We decided to have a lazy family potluck this week since all three of us were busy writing our history papers. We went out to this burger place called Ketchup. It is really good and I can't wait to take Tucker there when he is here visiting in May. I had a chicken sandwich and onion rings! Over dinner we discussed what we wanted to see while we were in Paris. We decided to go to Versailles, the Louvre, and the Great Canadian Pub, among other things. I will have to fill you in on what we actually did next week.

Sunday and Monday was spent in the library finishing up my history paper. By Monday night I was done except for having to re-read it and make needed corrections. I finished these up yesterday morning before my class at 9. I was finally done with it!!

Let me just say that yesterday was an amazing day!! First of all let me say that no matter how bad your day is, if it is sunny then it is automatically way better. But I didn't have to rely on the sun to make my day great because it was wonderful all on its own. After classes yesterday, I met Esther and we went and turned in our history papers. We then went to a park and sat on a blanket in the sun and had some great conversation.

Sunny Scotland!!

Esther and me basking in the sun!

I like to call this picture "Toes and the Tay" because you can see the river Tay in the background.

Oh hey big house thing that looks like a castle...and probably actually is a castle.

After the park I had to get ready to go to a meeting about a service site I plan on volunteering at. It is called Advocating Together and basically it provides a facility and a means for adults who have disabilities to come together and hold advocacy groups. It is really cool because three of the group members, who have disabilities, sit on the City of Dundee council meetings and voice their opinions and the feelings of the advocacy groups. The organization is really about showing people that people who have disabilities are just like anyone else and they deserve to have their voice heard. The meeting went really well and I am excited to start in a few weeks and get to know the Dundee community a little better!!

After my meeting I skyped with Steve, one of my physics professors from Guilford, in order to get everything set up so I can skype with the whole physics department in a few weeks. It was really nice to see a familiar face and see Frank Family Science Center!! I miss that place! I also got to briefly talk to some of my physics friends because they popped their heads into the classroom and saw me on the big screen. Oh yes, when I will be skyping with the department, I will be on the giant projector screen, and my voice will be heard over the surround-sound in the classroom. Let's just say I am happy to be on this end of it because I'm not sure I would want to see my face giant on a projector screen, actually, I'm not sure I would want to see anyone's face that big.

Oh, I should probably mention one of the most exciting things that happened to me yesterday! So, as everyone knows, yesterday was March 1. This just so happens to be the date that lots of the internships for which I applied send out their offers. So I checked my email yesterday and I was happy to see that I had an offer!! I got and internship! I am very excited and I am still waiting to see if I get any other offers before I make a final decision. I will be filling you all in on that as the semester continues.

So after an amazing day, to celebrate our papers being done and the fact that we are leaving for Paris soon, Lauren, Esther, Christina, and I went out to a pub for a pre-Paris-pint! It was very fun and nice that the pub just happens to be like a block away. The four of us sat excitedly sipping our pints and discussing what we are looking forward to about our trip. Hopefully we will frequent the pub a few more times before the end of the semester. I should probably mention that I found it fun that for whatever kind of drink you got a pint of it came in the proper glass...

My Paris buddies: Esther, Lauren and Christina!

So here are the glasses...

I had a pint of Strongbow, which is a cider, fittingly it was in a Strongbow glass.

Tennents in its proper glass...

Can you guess what was in this glass??

Well, I hope you all are having great days too!! Enjoy the sunshine and the fact that spring is just around the corner and go enjoy a pint!

Until next time when I fill you in on my Paris adventure!

Cheers!