I'm sitting at my work desk on my last day of work, and am sad that this amazing opportunity is coming to an end, but happy that I'm almost home!

I can hardly believe it- I've felt like I've grown up so much and learned LOADS from this job and this trip overall. This trip was so good for me because it forced me away from everything and practically everyone I know and have become familiar with. I had to navigate a new town, a new job, two new schools, and travelling across the European continent every weekend. And I did it- I feel like a real adult now. It's hard to explain- this trip has just helped me in so many areas. I feel like my relationship to God has grown so much, and I feel so much more closer and in touch with Him because I've had to rely on Him so often to get me through the tough times and scary moments.

It has made me appreciate you guys, my family and friends, sooo incredibly much- like I knew I loved you before of course, but now, being without all of you guys for four months, has just made me realize how very important you all are to me. I absolutely cannot wait until the day I'm back with you, but am so happy I took this chance and that God has allowed me to grow up and change through this experience.

Just wanted to let you know that this trip has absolutely been worth every second- even when I've felt down and didn't think I could do it. I knew that would come, but it did hit me hard at times, and make me wonder if I'd made the wrong decision about coming. But I know now that I didn't make the wrong decision- it's hard things that make you grow. So all of those lonely, sad, or confusing times forced me to keep pushing on through them.

Anyway, I know I'm kind of rambling- so let me tell you about Paris!

Stace and I left for Paris early Friday morning, and took the Eurostar train to get there. It was so cool! Definitely my favorite way to travel. It was this big, comfy train with assigned seats (after Italy, I really learned to appreciate those!), and it's only a three hour journey until you come out in a completely different country. Weird!

Paris was unusually hot- swelteringly so- like, gave Texas a run for its money, hot. It was strange- and kinda hard when we had to drag our luggage all over town looking for our hostel. Paris, as cities I've been to go, is HUGE. And definitely the most confusing- every street has about six names that change the further you walk. Yeesh. And somehow I became the official navigator, which, if you know me at all, is a pretty laughable thought. But I did it! And we found everything! So ha! See, another thing I've gotten better at- directional skills!

Our first hostel was just the typical bunk-bed, army barrack style one, but it served its purposes. We dropped off our luggage, and walked to North Paris to see the Sacre-Coure (this awesome old church) and the Moulin Rouge cabaret and nightclub. The Moulin Rouge was a little smaller than I had expected after seeing the movie, but it was really neat. They still have shows there every night! But it was like 170 euros apiece for dinner and a show- so we...uhh...passed on that one. Plus, the Moulin Rouge is really nice and fancy, but it is in the seediest part of town- sex shops everywhere, and like creepy people coming out of doorways trying to get you to come in...didn't really want to be there at night anyway!

After that, me and Stace made the loooooong trek to the Eiffel Tower on the other side of the Seine River. After being accosted by gypsies (I'm completely serious- we had so many weird encounters on this trip!), we finally made it to the tower. So gorgeous- and so weird to see it in real life! We got cotton candy (me) and ice cream (Stace) and just on benches nearby because we wanted to see it lit up at night. They did light it up with these gorgeous sparkly lights around 9:30-10-ish, and it was amazing!

After that, me and Stace decided to head home because we were dead tired. We had another super-weird encounter with this like almost naked guy in a park--geez, Paris was so weird. Let's just say we walked home as quickly as possible!!

The next morning, me and Stace set off to find our other hostel (the first hostel lost our reservation for the second night, so we had to stay somewhere else) and it turned out our second one was much better anyway! It was actually a hotel, not a hostel, and me and Stace both got our own beds, we had our own bathroom, and a TV. Isn't it funny that that's become like luxurious accomodations to me now? This hotel was in a really cool part of Paris, but it was really far from everything. Me and Stace estimated we walked about 7 miles a day, everyday. Riiiidiculous.

So by the time we found our hostel, it was already mid-day. At first, me and Stace thought about splitting up to go on daytrips, but we kinda lost the motivation for it and decided we'd rather shop around Paris instead! It was so nice- finally a day with no schedule- we just ambled around to all these really cool shops and malls, and it was mostly stores that we don't have in the states (or London, for that matter) so we had a great time. I got these awesome white stovepipe jeans that are totally crazy, but totally cool, and all this amazingly gaudy costume jewelry (think Carrie Bradshaw) that was so big and blingy it set off security alarms when we were trying to go home. Hahaaa--good times!

After our fun full of shopping, we headed back to our hotel. It was so funny- we had this really sketch TV with like five fuzzy channels, but while Stace was taking a shower, I thought, what the heck? Let's see what's on. So I turned it on, and lo and behold! Smallville was on! In French, but still- cool! It was an episode I'd missed while I've been abroad, so I was trying to follow the plot, and could basically get what was going on. It was hilarious! Especially, there was this part where Lex gets really mad and yells alot, and it sounded SO funny in French! I could just imagine the little voice-over actor spitting everywhere.

The next day was our full sight-seeing day. First, we went to the amazing Opera Garnier, the opera house that "The Phantom of the Opera" is set in. It was incredible- seriously, like walking back in time. It was all dimly lit and quiet, with gold everything, dozens of chandeliers, these amazing gothic paintings, an actual room of mirrors, and the famous theatre with the chandelier and all! Soooo cool. That was definitely my favorite thing we saw.

After that, we went to the Louvre museum. Stace had already been with her parents a few years back to see all the really famous stuff, so we split up. It was actually fun just exploring by myself- that museum is HUGE. I saw the Mona Lisa, and took a picture (which you're totally not supposed to do- but come ON! how many times am i going to be in paris?), saw the Venus de Milo, and then just kind of wandered around, stopping at things I liked. That museum really is incredible- that and the Vatican Museums are the two most impressive, for sure.

After the Louvre, we high-tailed it to Notre Dame. An actual thunderstorm started brewing, seriously the first time I've heard thunder in four months. It was kinda funny- we were halfway across town and we just looked up at this huge rolling stormclouds like uh-oh...

So we went and saw Notre Dame, I had endless flashbacks to the Disney movie, and then we hurried back to our hotel just as the storm started. So, soaked and running late, we picked up our luggage, and tried to figure out the public transport system to get us back to the train station.

Seriously, God must have been looking out for us, because we didn't even know which Metrorail to get on and just kinda guessed, and it turned out to be the one that took us straight to the train station.

Once we were there, we had about ten minutes to get through security and customs before our train back to London left. It was so funny- my little customs officer was being really chatty and friendly, and I was just like NO TIME!

But we made it, safe and sound! We must have looked hilarious, running to our coach in the pouring down rain with our little backpacks, passports in one hand and train ticket in the other. Such tourists! Oh well- it was seriously such a blessing we made it at all. Like seconds after Stace and I found our seats, the train took off. ::phew::

After that, it was a rainy ride back to London town! All in all, I liked Paris for all the sight-seeing and shopping, but it's just a yucky city. Homeless people walking around with their pants down, gypsies getting up in your face and tricking you into talking to them by pretending they're lost- just tons of weird people and weird things. Not NOT somewhere I'd want to live, ever. It was nice to see everything, but really nice to head back to London- clean, bright and shiny London. This wasn't one of my favorite trips, but it definitely had it's awesome moments and me and Stace had a blast together. And we made it everywhere we wanted to see. So yay us!

All righty, that's all for now. This weekend- relaxing on the beaches of Greece! Next time I update this blog- I'll be about to head home! Unbelievable!

One more week guys!
Love you all so much
Everlee

The City of Lights! remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I just had probably one of my fave weekend trips ever, but first let me tell you about something crazy that happened to me during the week.

I went to go see Mamma Mia! because I'm trying to fit in all of the West End shows before I leave (I think Mike and I going to go see Avenue Q tomorrow, and then I'll be done!), but anyway. Mamma Mia. A great show, one I've seen before in the States. But the production I saw in London- I could just tell it was one of those nights where nothing was going right for this poor cast and crew. Being a girl who's been in many a show, I could just picture how nutso everyone must be going backstage. First of all, the main character, Sophie, totally forgot one of her lines within the first ten minutes of the show. Yikes. I have never seen that happen in professional theatre, or if it did, the actors have covered it better. This poor girl just stood there like a deer in headlights for the longest ten seconds of my (and probably her) life, until another actress saved her bacon and tried to cover the slip. Then, the guy playing the lead male role was an understudy and he was just...off. Mamma Mia is supposed to be all fun-loving ABBA-ness, and this guy thought he was in Phantom or something. He kept trying to belt the songs in this weird, faux-opera voice and it sounded awful. Especially when his voice cracked. Twice. Clunk. But then- the worst thing of all happened. In the middle of act two, a techie is supposed to wheel out this tropical bar with like three shelves of drinks and a huge umbrella on the top. He did so, but in the middle of the scene, this bar (on wheels) starts rolling towards the audience. Before anyone can even react, it rolls right off the stage and lands on this girl who's like six seats down from me! It was so scary! There was this huge crashing noise, and then everybody just froze. Like no one knew whether to laugh or scream or anything, so everyone (including the actors) were just frozen in place. Finally, they snap out of it, and the techies and actors pulled the bar off this poor girl, who's now hysterically sobbing and clutching her head and obviously hurt. It was terrible! So they like escort her out of the theatre, and after ten minutes, make this announcement that she's okay and that the show will go on. But she never came back, so I don't know if she just went home or went to the hospital or what. I just kept thinking, I sure hope she got some free theatre tickets or something out of this whole deal. And that if we were in America, she would have sued the pants off of that theatre.

So anyway, that was insane. But on to the weekend:

Me and Stace went to Nice, smack dab in the middle of the French Riviera. It was such an ideal trip- perfect weather, miles and miles of beaches, an amazing bed and breakfast, and such a good time together. We honestly had our first trip that felt like a bonafide vacation- we didn't have to do anything, be anywhere at any specific time, or stress about anything. We could just lay on the beach, shop around, eat crepes and pastries, ride the bus around...it was so wonderful.

On our second day, we took a daytrip to Cannes, home of the famous Film Festival. I, of course, loved this and Stace just kinda had to bear with me while I geeked out and bought t-shirts and postcards from the festival. It was so cool- they were preparing for this year's festival, which is in May, so we got to walk by the auditorium, and see all the decorators getting stuff ready. It was just so randomly awesome because I had no idea Cannes was anywhere near where we were going to be until Stace suggested it as a day trip.

After that, we went back to Nice and had more good times just hanging out, chatting, reading magazines- basically having girl time. So nice. It felt like paradise- palm trees and sunshine everywhere.

It was a wonderful answer to Spring Break's craziness, and I can't believe I have now swam around in the Mediterranean Sea. It definitely felt surreal to be eating dinner with one of my best friends on the French Riviera- we just kept looking at each other, like "Can you believe this?"

Anyways, now I'm at work, and Friday morning, Stace and I leave for Paris! Yay! I can't wait to see the sights!

Two weeks until I'm home!
Love you all
Everlee

Week 13 remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I just got to my London home after 10 days of insanely hectic travel, and I feel just as you should after a great Spring Break- tired, sunburned, broke, and happy!

First of all, before I dive into Spring Break craziness, I'm so sorry for not updating about Week 10. I was very busy planning for all that was to come. In the 10th week (my last official weekend in London), I did do some things other than pack everything for Spring Break into a teeny tiny backpack. I went to see the musical "Cabaret" with my friend Mike, and while it was pretty crazy, we both really liked it. I did miss Liza Minelli (how often do you say THAT in your life?) and Joel Grey though. Our program also took us to a real English football match for a team called Charlton, and they totally won! It was very exciting- people stand up, cheer, and chant the entire game. Craziness! We also went on a tour of Parliament, which would have been super cool, except that our tour guide was terrible. He didn't even show us the Magna Carta. It was so funny- Emily, one of our program directors was with us, and she kept getting so angry and whispering all the things he was passing by, and telling us the stories behind them. Our tour guide was just this little strange man who we could barely understand, and who kept talking about how he didn't like his wife. It was so weird, but pretty funny looking back on it all! Those were the notable happenings of Week 10, so I'll move on to what you really want to know about- SPRING BREAK!

I'll give you a day to day breakdown, since that's the easiest way to manage this. But overall, the seven of us (Me, Stacey, Stephanie, Whitney, Chelsey, Hilary, and Katie) had an amazing time. We caught all our flights, trains, buses, etc (with some difficulties along the way- more on that later) and we all arrived safely back in London. So that's the first thing to praise God for- we're home and with amazing stories and pictures!

So here we go- Ev's Spring Break 2007

Day 1
London<Milan<Verona

The seven of us met downstairs at 2:45 am in the morning- I had taken a nap during the day, but couldn't sleep a wink at night. So my marathon day began on absolutely no sleep. We hurried down to Victoria Coach Station to catch the 3:10 train, and believe it or not, it was booked full even that early in the morning. So we anxiously waited, and caught the 3:30. We got to Stansted Airport at 4:45, and made our 6:00 am flight to Milan! Whew!

Then we got to Milan, there was even more craziness because apparently there are only certain trains you can take with the Eurail student passes we had, so we kept getting on the wrong trains and sitting in people's seats, and the people there at the station spoke next to no English. Oy vey. But apparently, we made the train and took it to Verona (fair Verona, where we set our scene...)

It was such an amazingly beautiful city. Stacey and I set off by ourselves (we mostly broke into groups during this trip- seven is just too much to manage) and we got lunch at a nice little cafe. The weather was absolutely perfect, so we just walked around for awhile, trying to forget that we had 50 pound backpacks on our backs. We eventually made our into the Piazza in the middle of town, and there were tons of cool things to see. We went to the Juliette House, which is basically where the family that Shakespeare based the Capulets on lived. So cool! After we ate dinner and looked around, we went back to our amazing hotel- it probably wasn't even that great of a hotel, but when you're used to living in hostels, any kind of hotel feels fabulous! And after over 24 hours with no sleep, I was ready to just pass out on any kind of flat surface, hotel bed or no!

Day 2
Verona<Venice<Bologna<Florence

Oh, Venice. What an amazing place- probably the prettiest city I've ever seen. Sparkling waters, beautiful sprawling villas right on the water, gondolas floating by everywhere, and glittering Carnevale masks on every corner...such an amazing place.

Me, Steph, Whit, and Stace rode a gondola around the city, and it was so cool! One of those iconic things you always hear about people doing but never actually see yourself getting to...amazing. Our gondolier didn't speak much English, so it wasn't like the most illuminating tour I've ever had in my life, but oh well! We were in a gondola!

It was so crazy- no buses or cars anywhere. Public transportation in Venice is by boat- like you go to the dock and wait like you would at a bus stop.

I got to have my first taste of gelato in Venice...oh man. Yummy. I think we had some every single day we were in Italy!

After Venice, we left for Florence. This was a bit of pain of a trip, just because things kept getting delayed and we didn't get to Florence until around midnight-thirty. But all was well, and even though our room kinda resembled army barracks, we had it to ourselves, which is a rarity in our hostels, but one that you really begin to appreciate.

Day 3
Florence

This was a nice restful day- it was Easter Sunday, so everything was pretty much closed. Italians, if you give them any excuse, will close anything, so an actual holiday was definitely reason enough. We went to a market in the morning, and I shopped til I dropped! After that, the seven of us ended up going to these amazing royal gardens, full of statues and fountains and enough little paths for you to get happily lost for a whole day.

After almost a whole day in the gardens, we went and got Italian pasta and were ridiculously overcharged for it (4 euro for a Coke...I was furious). After that, as we wandered around, we happened upon this girl who looked like a student around our age (Florence is apparently a big college town) singing opera in the middle of a piazza. She was absolutely amazing. It was so cool to A) hear someone sing opera live, and B) hear someone our age sing that incredibly well.

Day 4
Florence

After going to more markets in the morning, Whit, Steph, and I made the trek up to Michelangelo's Lookout Point. It was amazing up there, and so the three of us just set up in a little park and planned the rest of our trip. It was so fun!

That night, we decided to go out to this club someone in Florence recommended called "Twice." It was pretty funny- we went around 9:30-10:00, and it was this amazing club...black leather couches, strobe lights, two bars, etc etc...but there was absolutely no one there. Apparently, Italians don't go out until like way way WAY later. It was so funny, we just set up on this gorgeous leather couch and sat and talked until like two hours later when people finally started filtering in. It was hilarious- this one Italian guy asked to take a picture with us, and then asked us our names, so we all made up names...

Hilary- Elizabeth
Chelsey- Megan
Stacey- Sara
Steph- Victoria
Everlee- Amber

Me and Steph thought our names were the funniest because mine sounded kinda white trash and hers sounded like a proper English lady. Heee...good times.

Day 5
Florence<Pisa<Rome

This was another deathly early morning (especially since me and Steph had stayed at the club waaaay past everyone else in our group), but it was the only train to Pisa that worked with our schedule.

We made it to Pisa, which was a much bigger town than you would think, high-tailed it to the Tower, took pics, got gelato, and hurried back to the train. There are only certain trains you could catch with our little pass, so we had to stay on a pretty strict schedule.

The ride from Pisa to Rome was pretty much awful...my iPod broke within the first twenty minutes of a three hour train ride, so I had to listen to this enormous Italian man who was sitting right across from me in a little sleeper cabin screech into his cell phone for two and a half hours. When he got really excited, he would spit all over me. Like I could actually wipe it off my face. Eeeeyuck. And then he started talking to me after he had called about four thousand people on his cell phone. Geez. It was just terrible.

But who cares, because once it was over- we were in Roma! I have wanted to go to Rome my entire life, and it was so incredibly exciting being there at last. The first thing we saw were the ruins of the ancient Roman forum, which was just so cool. It was kinda interesting- the forum was like their ancient version of a shopping mall, and it was right next to the Colosseum. So you had like a day of shopping, and then a "show", just like we do- only bloodier.

After that, we were all pretty spent, so the last thing we did before retiring to the hostel was go to the Trevi Fountain. I made a wish (as if I'd tell!) of course and then we all went back to the hostel.

Day 6
Rome

This was probably our craziest day- you would NOT believe all the things we packed into this one day. I'll list them for you:

1) The Vatican City- We woke up at 6 to make it to the Vatican City (on foot) by 7. The lines were already huge, because the Pope was speaking that day, and we couldn't figure out which lines went where so we accidentally waited an hour in the line to go see the Pope speak, which is not what we wanted, so then we had to switch lines to see the Vatican Museums. Oy. We waited like two hours to get into the Museums, but they were incredible. It housed this amazing Egyptian collection, hundreds of Roman statues, and ended up in the Sistine Chapel. Wow. After that, we went back to the main part of the Vatican, waited until the Pope was done blessing everyone from babies to businessmen, and went into St Peters Basilica. What an amazing church- its absolutely enormous!

2) The Spanish Steps- None of us could really figure out exactly why these are so famous, but apparently they're something you should see because they were in all of the guidebooks, so we dutifully went along and took pictures at them. They really were gorgeous, with purple flowers blooming all along the sides and this awesome Spanish-style building at the top.

3) The Pantheon- Incidentally, not the "Parthenon". I totally got these confused, and don't think that two monuments should be that similarly named. Annoying. Anyway, the Pantheon is this cool dome-shaped building that apparently houses tons of different kinds of architecture all in one building, and its most famous for its domed ceiling with an opening at the top. Pretty neat- kinda sends this Indiana Jones-ish shaft of light through the building.

4) The Colosseum- My favorite, favorite thing we saw. I've been dreaming of visiting this place for so long- it was absolutely incredible to really see it. I took like a million pictures. Kept thinking about Gladiator, of course. It was really neat- they left half of the wooden, sandy floor where the gladiators fought up, and the other half was gone to show you all the stuff going on underneath the main stage- it had all these crazy maze-like structures for storing the animals and props that would pop out during the show.

After that long, looooong day, we headed back home and collapsed happily in our bunkbeds!

Day 7
Rome

In the morning, Stace wanted us to go to this garden where supposedly the first rose was found or something, so we traipsed all over Rome looking for it. No dice. Or it was privately owned or something, because there was definitely no open garden like that. Oh well. After that, we left Stace at this garden in front of the Circus Maximo (actually the biggest ampitheatre, but mostly in ruins, so not as famous as the Colosseum) while Whit, Steph, and I went to the St. Callisto Catacombs way-the-heck outta town. We rode the bus most of the way, and then had to do a 900-m climb (some uphill) to the actual entrance to the catacombs.

It was crazy...like I even love scary stuff, and it gave me the creeps. These particular catacombs have 300,000 tombs in them, and 13 popes were buried there. You walk through these narrow, dark hallways, and its like your shoulders are literally brushing against the graves. It was freezing cold down there too...so creepy. Plus, there's this famous saint buried there, who, when they excavated the tombs 500 years after her burial, her body was still completely intact. Like her skin, eyes, hair, etc hadn't decayed or aged at all, and they still haven't to this day. Weird!!

After that, we met back up with Stace at the Colosseum lawn, and I took a little nap while the other girls were planning some other thing we were supposed to do later. It was so weird to wake up, and BAM! there's the Colosseum.

Then we spent our last night in Rome just walking around and talking, and got our last scoops of gelato- me and Steph went for three scoops, just to commemorate the end of our Italian adventure!

Day 8
Rome<Geneva

We got up at 2:45 to catch our bus out of Rome, and then when we got to the airport, Stace discovered she had booked her ticket for the wrong day. And that all our credit cards that were Visas were declined when we tried to help Stace pay for the charge to fix her ticket. Ugh. But finally Steph's credit card, a Mastercard, was accepted and it all got worked out, thankfully. But not a fun way to spend your morning...especially when it's like barely 5 in the morning and you already having to deal with catastrophes.

But we all got on the same flight, and it was totally fine. Our hostel in Geneva was really huge- it looked almost like it used to be a hospital or school or something that they converted into a youth hostel. (oooh, scary movie idea brewing in my head...) but anyway, it was really nice and we had the room to ourselves the first two nights.

Me, Steph, Whit, and Stace went on a boat tour of Geneva's Lake and accompanying chateaus, and it was really cool. Freezing cold, but really pretty and interesting.

It was funny- the prices in Geneva were totally out of whack. Which was actually fine, because the dollar is worth more than a Swiss franc, so for once, we didn't get slammed by the exchange rate. But like a Value Meal at McDonalds was 11 francs. Craziness!

After that, we walked around and saw this clock made entirely out of flowers that actually kept real time...it was weird. Apparently Swiss people love three things...clocks, flowers, and Army knives. Oh, and chocolate. Which- hey, fine with me!

That night, we just went and sat by the lake and talked. It was such a beautiful, beautiful town.

Day 9
Geneva

The four of us went shopping most of the morning (I did some serious damage at H&M because for once I didn't have to double every single price tag in my head!).

Then we took a Cable Car up to the Alps...it was so amazing! We went hiking around the Alps, which was actually pretty steep and difficult- we were so high up it was hard to catch your breath. But so gorgeous- the views were incredible. It was so cool...we all sat down on this ledge overlooking all of Geneva, and these parasailer guys were just strapping into their suits and leaping off the Alps right next to us. How awesome would that be?? If we had been there another day, I might have tried to get a lesson or something!

Then we went to this amazing garden that had all these beautiful flowers, enormous trees, and old mansions (not sure what they were for, but they were amazing) placed all over. We ate dinner there at a little cafe inside the gardens.

Later that night, Steph, Whit, and I tried to go out to this club called MOA, but apparently, people in Switzerland start going out even later than in Italy. The clubs didn't even OPEN until 11...I don't know how these people do it! So we just walked around downtown Geneva instead and happened upon this totally random carnival, like complete with rides and games still operating that late at night. It was totally surreal.

Day 10
Geneva<London

End of the road! We woke up around 4:00 am to catch our bus to the Geneva airport, caught the plane with no problem, and headed back to foggy London town!

I gotta say, it's good to be back. I'm exhausted, but thrilled with all the experiences I've gotten to have. This whole trip was absolutely incredible, and I appreciate so much all of your prayers.

Love and miss all of you so much
26 days until I'm home!
Ev

Spring Break! remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well, in the beginning of this week, my mom and I's blissful weekend in Bath came to an end, and she had to go home, so I was a little blue. But it was a pretty good week- I did a presentation in my LMU class, and felt like it went well.

But the best thing about this week- I went to Ireland! It was so amazing! Me, Chelsey, Katie, Hilary, and Whitney flew out Thursday night and arrived in Dublin around 8:00. We went to an Irish pub, tried some Guiness (they're like obsessed with it there because Dublin is where it's made), and checked into our hostel. This was my first true hostel experience and let me just say...yuck. It was a 20-person dorm room, and I had this creaky bed with bed bugs. It was very odd-I slept with all my stuff around me, holding onto everything.

The next morning our Shamrocker tour began- basically, these two girls who are Irish take us on a tour bus around everywhere. Very cool- and not a bad way to travel at all! Our tour group was about 40 people, ranging from age 19-30-ish. It was really cool to talk to everyone- they were from Germany, Canada, Italy, New York, etc etc.

One of our tour guide, Ivonne, was really nice. She even went out to dinner with me and my friends. She was about Kate's age (my sister, Kate) and has just been traveling around for like the past 5 years. With no wish of settling down. It's strange- I totally don't have that nomad spirit in me, but it was interesting to talk to someone who did.

Our other tour guide, the head guide, Karen, was very annoying. She like was happy happy all the time, but it kinda seemed fake, because one on one, she was very unfriendly. And she would scream into the microphone to wake us up when we were sleeping, and then laugh. It was so bizarre. She'd like get mad at us for sleeping, and want us to sing songs and play games. We were like, lady. Give it a rest. Oh well...can't have everything, I suppose.

Some of the cool stuff we saw:

• Blarney Castle- Gorgeous castle, with a beautiful forest all around it. Got to kiss the Blarney stone- supposedly gives you the gift of eloquent speech. We'll see, I guess! It was scary doing it though, you basically hang up upside down 300 ft in the air and lean backwards. Yikes. It was funny though- this little old granny did it, so I figured how bad could it be? Went up the Wishing steps too...it's funny, Irish people are very, very superstitious. Like some of them actually believe in fairies and all that.

• The Rock of Cashel- Ancient old fortress. Very cool- looked very Lord of the Rings.

• The Cliffs of Moher- probably the most stunning views I've seen in my life. The Atlantic Ocean crashing up on these huge rocks- wow. Plus, we went at sunset. It was amazing.

• Irish Beaches- This was crazy- we went to this warm, sunny, sandy beach in Ireland- I never really thought about them having those- but it was so cool! We all just played around in the water, and it was such a nice respite from foggy, rainy London town.

• Irish disco- This was funny- it was actually much nicer than some American clubs. There's no smoking allowed, and it was this big group of us from the tour all dancing together, so it was really fun! Chels can bust a move- her mom's a dance teacher, so she's danced like her whole life, and she just went crazy- it was hilarious.

• Clomacnoise- The ruins of this ancient monastery. It was really cool- Celtic crosses everywhere, amazing views of the countryside.

• The Most Westerly Point of Ireland- This was cool- it was commemorated with this big statue of Christ on the cross. In the Old World, it was the most westerly point of the world.

Also, I didn't know that there's an Irish language? Like some people actually speak Gaelic. I knew it existed, but I didn't know people still spoke it. It was pretty cool. All the road signs had the other language on it as well. Our nice little taxi driver on the way to Dublin airport told me that they have to take the Irish language in schools, and a lot of jobs require that you speak it.

Overall, it was a great trip. The Irish people on a whole, are just very unusual. Far more different than American to British. It was great place to visit, but it would be hard to adjust living there. Probably the most beautiful countryside and beaches I've ever seen. I'm so glad it all worked out, and that we're all home safe and sound, but now I am pretty tired. Our flight and ride home got done around one o'clock last night. Ugh. Darn late flights being cheaper!

So glad I got to go back to my roots. Here's to Ireland!
Cheers!
Love you all
Everlee

Ireland! remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I got to really play tour guide this time- planned itineraries, tube map instructions, and the like. It was fun, but kinda weird. Usually my mom's the one who has everything all planned out, but this time, it was all on me. But thankfully, everything went really well and we had a terrific time.

I'll give you all a little sampling of what we did every day:

Friday- Kate and Mom arrived, and we had a little problem all finding each other- I told them to meet me at the Starbucks at Victoria Station. One problem- Victoria Station has three Starbucks. It was pretty funny- we were all three Starbucks hopping, and kept missing each other. Teehee. Eventually, we met up and went to Kensington Palace and Gardens. So pretty, and very interesting. After that, we went and rode the London Eye as night fell- gorgeous. By that time, they were getting pretty tired and jet laggy- so we went and settled into our very cool hotel. Literally, you walked out the door and could see Westminster Abbey. Incredible.

Saturday- We took a tour of Leeds Castle, Canterbury, Dover, and Greenwich. Leeds Castle might be one of my favorite places I've been so far- it's this ancient old castle that was totally renovated and revamped, so it has modern decorations interspersed with older stuff- so cool. Canterbury was this quaint little town with a HUGE cathedral. Dover was incredible- we saw the famous white cliffs. Wow. Greenwich we just kinda ran through on the way to Thames River Cruise. We got to see all of London as the sun was setting. Breathtaking.

Sunday- Kate and I went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the Sherlock Holmes Museum while Mom went off and explored London by herself. We all met up in Trafalgar Square, and just kinda explored that area for awhile. That night, we met with Chelsey, Katie, and Stace for church and afterwards, yummu yummy dessert. It was so fun for my family to meet my awesome friends that I've made while I'm here.

Monday- Kate's 23rd birthday! I had boring old class in the morning, so mom and Kate went to the Tower of London. Afterwards, I took them to East London, to see how the other half lives. I don't think mom liked it too much- for once, she didn't talk to strangers! Hahaa- I cured her at last! After that, Kate and I went to Camden Market and shopped til we dropped- it was super fun. We found all these cool hats, these old Ramones t-shirt with this crazy embroidery, shoes, etc etc. Mommy took a little nap while we did this. After that, we went and saw "Wicked" and it was amazing, as always. It nearly made me cry, the fact that I was seeing my favorite musical, with my family, in London. So surreal.

Tuesday- Kate and Mom went to the Tate Modern and St Pauls while I was in class again- it was pretty funny- they walked all the way to the top (900-plus steps) and were definitely paying for it later! We all went to the British Museum, and saw the amazing Egyptian, Greek, and Roman collections- including the Rosetta Stone. Wow. After that, we were pretty beat- so we went and rested until that night, when we got to go see "The Phantom of the Opera." Seriously, the best live singing I've ever heard in my life. They were so talented- it blew me away.

Wednesday- Katie left- boo. And i got a cold- double boo. I basically had a sickie day, watching TV and just chilling in our new hotel in South Kensington while mom went out and about.

Thursday- Feeling better, so I went to work. Mom and I met for lunch at the Tower of London- it was so cool! We just shopped around, walked around the Tower, and got Ben and Jerrys ice cream. I could get used to this, haha. It was such a fun day- we saw "Becoming Jane" that night to get us in the mood for Bath- Jane Austen and her sister lived in Bath for about five years.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday- We left for Bath! Mom and I have just been having the best time here- we just went to Bath Abbey and saw this amazing three hour concert- oh. my. gosh. Incredible singing in this ancient old church- wow. We saw "Factory Girl" which was very good. This city is so amazing- it's just a great mix of the old and new. Architecture is all beautiful- we're staying in this great little bed and breakfast- and it's a total college town, because Bath University is here, so it's mostly all college students. I just love it here. I don't know if they're going to talk me into leaving...

That's all for now!
Love you all
Ev

Week 7 & 8 remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Okay, Thursday night, me, Chelsey, and Hilary took our Ryan Air flight from London to Frankfurt, which is about an hour flight. Everyone's told us horror stories about Ryan Air (basically a super-discounted airline), but everything went swimmingly for us, so I don't know what all the fuss was about.

We arrived at Frankfurt-Hahn airport, and Garret, our unofficial tour guide, met us there. Garret lived with my roommate Hilary in Michigan when he was a teenager on a study abroad program, and they've stayed in touch. It was so great to have someone who 1) spoke German 2) had a car and 3) planned out an entire weekend for us! He was the best tour guide ever- every morning, he had a little itinerary of all the sites we needed to see. On long car trips, he even brought us treats! And, other than the first night in a hostel which was a renovated castle (more on that later), Garret arranged for us to stay with his parents and then at his apartment, so we had free accommodations!

Okay, so anyway- our first night, Garret picks us up and drives us to this cool town out in the middle of the German forests called Bacharach. It's now pitch black with a full moon out, and he drives us up this long winding road to a castle at the top of the hill. It looked like the castle from Young Frankenstein, with the big moon behind it. It was so surreal to go check in and go to sleep after walking down these long castle corridors. I felt like I was dreaming.

So we wake up the next morning to this spectacular sunrise over the Rhine River. It's probably the most amazing view I've ever seen. We spent the rest of the morning exploring Bacharach- such a cool little town- goats on people's roofs, little German restaurants and churches- it was so nice to be out of the hustle and bustle of a huge town like London. That was one of the best parts of having someone drive us around- we weren't stuck in big cities all the time.

After Bacharach, Garret drove us to this town called Osthofen, and took us to the first Nazi concentration camp. It was super creepy- he just dropped the three of us off there because he had to go take a phone call. There was no one else there but us- no one greeting you, no tour guides, nothing. It was just this big empty camp, quiet as a graveyard. So scary. Very eerie feeling just walking around- like something choking you. You know when bad things happen places and it just leaves an imprint of sadness behind? That's totally what this was.

Then, we went on to the far more cheerful town of Heidelberg! Again, Garret had to go to work (he's a lawyer) so he dropped us off there and we were left to explore for ourselves. It was pretty cool- everyone mostly spoke German, but I picked it up really fast! Garret even asked if I had German heritage in my family because I did a good job pronouncing the words- never would have known that skill existed, haha! The three of us went to Heidelberg castle- amazing! It was only 1.50 for admission, and it was enormous! Plus, we had our first bratwurst and this amazing butter-basted fries- oh, so bad for you but so wonderful. Plus, we just walked up 300-plus steps, so we earned them!

Then, the three of us were pretty exhausted, so we stopped in this little cafe/bar and got cocktails. It was so fun- our bartender barely spoke English, but he really took a liking to us and made us the yummiest drinks- he even put sparklers in the glasses! So cool!

We caught the bus back to Frankfurt all by ourselves, and Garret showed us around the city- including the tallest skyscraper in Europe! It kinda looked like every other big American city though- not my favorite part of the trip. Although the name kept reminding me of Dr. Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror, which cracked me up. So that was good!

Then, he drove us to his parent's house, and we took the famous highway, the Autobahn. Garret was driving 180 km/h (about 111 mph)- and people were still passing us! It was crazy!

Then we arrived at Garret's parent's house- it was so nice to just be around a mom and dad who took care of us! They made us little cots to sleep on, and basically mommied us- breakfast, snacks for the road, etc etc. It was so fun! They lived in this adorable little house, and it was so nice to sleep in a real house instead of a hostel.

On Saturday, after we had breakfast, we went shopping in Mainz. We went to an enormous H&M, and then Garret took us to German Wal-Mart. It's really funny- Wal-Mart like hasn't caught on in Germany at all, and they have to shut it down! It was nice to have a little piece of home though- even if all the writing was in a different language!

We then went to a German market and to this old beautiful cathedral where they filmed a Sean Connery movie called "The Name of the Rose." Dad, ever heard of it? I was so ashamed not to recognize a movie! Garret let me attempt to read the Latin inscriptions off the wall (Garret knows German, French, English fluently, and has good knowledge of Swedish and Latin- we felt like very stupid Americans around him!)- I did all right though.

Then he took us to a German mall that has this random exhibit in the basement of an ancient Roman temple they discovered while constructing the mall! It was so cool!

After that, we met up with Garret's best friends, this amazingly fun couple, Claudia and Christian. We met them at Claudia's parents' house, which is this amazing old mill in the middle of a German vineyard. So cool! They took us out for coffee and treats, and I fell so in love with sparkling mineral water from Germany! I hope I can find something like it back home, because I'm completely hooked!

Then, while Claudia and Christian picked up their one-year old Nicklas, Garret took us to statue of Germania and the Castle of Johannisberg. Both such beautiful places- I felt bad, because it was rainy and freezing, so we didn't really get to enjoy them as much as we should have.

After that, we went to Claudia and Christian's house and played with their adorable son Nicklas. It was so nice to play with a baby! He did this adorable little trick where he'd blow out a candle with his nose- made us laugh til we cried!

After he went to bed, we played this really fun game called Carcassone. While we played, we had German wine and schnapps- we couldn't keep up with these Germans! But it was a blast- we even saw a lunar eclipse!

Sunday morning- we slept in, had a German breakfast, and then watched "Friends" in German- it was great! Sooo nice to watch a show from home.

After that, we caught our flight and came home to London- such a wonderful trip! A perfect way to start our weekend vacations!

Until next week
Love you!
Ev

From Germany, With Love remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I finished my first paper for a class- it was odd- up to this point I've kind of just felt like I was on vacation. But finishing a homework assignment for a class really kinda got it into my head that I live here now.

This week I just basically spent a lot of time with my girls, and just hanging out around London. I feel like everyone feels so guilty if they don't go do a million things everyday- but I'm starting to realize, with all the travelling coming up, maybe I should relish these quiet weeks.

I did get to go see the National Gallery though- just on a whim. I popped in my Celtic Women CD (thanks mom!) and just strolled through. It's an amazing place- so much incredible artwork under one roof. Plus, it was pretty cool- I walked home from Trafalgar Square to St. James. No tube required! It was one of the prettiest walks I've taken here- you go right by Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and then home!

This weekend was fun as well- my friend Kirk, who's studying in Nottingham, dropped by London for the weekend! It was fun getting to play tour guide! I took him to St Pauls and the Tate Modern, and then we got to go catch up at a pub. So nice to see a familiar Austin face!

Hope everything's going well with all of you back home!
Next weekend- Germany!
Until then,
Everlee

Home Sweet Home- Week 5 remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Sunday was so good- I absolutely love the church we've found here. It's in this amazing old gothic cathedral, but has modern worship, oodles of movie clips (yay!) and great speakers. The first time we went, our speaker talked about how Mission Impossible 3 shows us how we have to be on fire for Christ (it worked, I promise!) This week, the main pastor guy talked about a character in London history I had never ever heard of. His name is William Wubberforth (sp?) and he abolished slavery in London far before it was abolished in the Americas. A new movie about him is just about to come about called "Amazing Grace"- it looks like it has a great cast. Wubberforth is played by the guy who played Lancelot in "King Arthur" (dad, you know who I'm talking about) and the guy who played Truman Capote in "Infamous" is the bad guy. It looks really cool- and totally unabashed about the fact that Wubberforth was a devoted Christian. His story was absolutely fascinating, and I can't wait to see if the movie does it justice. I don't know if the church has some promotional thing tied to the movie, but somehow we got to watch all these clips of it and it hasn't even come out yet.

Monday was class day, and three hours of class are NOT so fun. But it was pretty cool- our class is split into two hours of class, and one hour of seminar, but I have an hour break in between. I'm the only one in my group of friends in that seminar, which I thought would be annoying, but it's actually pretty cool. There's this enormous bookstore called Waterstones (kinda like Borders on drugs) right next to our university, so I always go over there on my break and get coffee and explore the five(!) stories. I love it. After class, it was this awesome dark, stormy day, and I felt soo inspired to write. Something about all this history here really makes the writer in me come alive again. So I went off in the rain to this amazing old pub that's been here since the 1600's and just wrote for three hours. It was one of those amazing experiences I couldn't have somewhere else, and it was just the perfect day for it.

Tuesday was my bad day- I got miserably lost on the way to my class (again) and ended up only being able to show up for the seminar. It was so frustrating, but hey, it happens. It was also Amy's birthday, and I missed her really bad. The whole rest of the day was just one of those days you feel like you shouldn't have even gotten out of bed. But hey, I went to bed, and the next day was great!

Wednesday- Valentine's Day! They celebrate it here, but it's not nearly as big of a deal as it is in the States. Me and my four girls went and got Haagen-Daaz ice cream and went to see "Music and Lyrics" at the Odeon Theatre. It's the new movie with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, and it was actually a really good romantic comedy. Kinda predictable, but Hugh Grant is just so hilarious you don't really care. Plus, I saw the Harry Potter and Ocean's Thirteen previews on the big screen. So I was happy. Weird thing about Harry Potter- yesterday, this play opened here that he's in. And he's naked in it- the whole of London is in a tizzy over Harry Potter in this play- it's so funny. There's posters for it everywhere, every single paper has an article about it, it's the biggest deal. It is pretty weird- he's only seventeen. Our little Harry's growing up so fast...

Thursday was just an average work day- I feel like I'm really getting the hang of things. It's funny- they're in awe of my typing skills. Keyboarding classes are not mandatory in England, so practically none of them can type fast AT ALL. So whenever I type up things, they're just like ::jaws drop:: Mom, I finally found a practical use for my weirdly fast typing!

Friday was such a great day! Hilary and I went to the Tower of London. It's strange- I was kinda picturing a huge castle once we got inside, but it's like an entire village. The tour guides (Yeoman Wanderers- a name they've had since Henry VIII) have to serve 22 years in the army and be promoted to Sergeant Major or above, and then can even apply for the job. So it's a BIG deal to work there. And all 36 of the guys live there, in the actual Tower, with their wives and kids. How cool would that be for those kids? Someone at school asks where you live, and you can actually say "The Tower of London." Weird! Once you're inside, it's sort of like the place in Lord of the Rings where all the humans live- a castle, but with streets, and divided into different towers. There's houses for the Yeoman guys, a main square that used to be used for beheadings (people like Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII's fifth wife got the axe there), and some assorted little shops. Then there's a tower for all the queen's jewels (that was pretty awesome), a tower for the armoury, the infamous Bloody Tower, and a handful of others, and some that you're not allowed in for some reason. The Bloody Tower was pretty cool- it's the place where the two princes mysteriously disappeared, and everyone called it a conspiracy. Recently, they excavate around the tower and found two little boy skeletons. Creeepy. It was cool- in that Tower, they have this little place where you can vote on what you think happened to the Princes. It took Hil and I almost the entire day just to get through the place- by the time we left, it was dark!

That night, the whole gang reunited (Stacey, Chelsey, and Katie had gone shopping) and we all stayed in and watched "The Illusionist." That's such a good movie, and we had the lounge all to ourselves, so it was nice to just sprawl out on couches and watch a movie. Felt like home... ::sigh::

Saturday we went to Notting Hill. Hil's a bit obsessed with that movie, and wanted to see the places where they filmed it, plus they have a really cool market there called Portabello. The market ended up being kinda overpriced and overrated, but the town is ADORABLE. Rows and rows of the cutest little apartments you've ever seen, flowers sold on every corner, kids everywhere- it would be the best place to raise a family. Hilary and I eventually found (after much searching) the Travel Bookshop that Hugh Grant owns in the movie, and the owner of that place (who kinda had a Hugh Grant vibe to him, it was weird) happily pointed us in the direction of the apartment they used as Hugh Grant's. It was fun- I just recently watched the movie, so I could recognize everything really easily. Plus, we discovered a place that makes Nutella Crepes. Oh. Wow. Ridiculously good.

Saturday night, we tried to go out, but every club/pub/restaurant was PACKED. Like lines around the block. It was sad. So me, Hilary, and our friends Jeremy and Mike just ended up walking around Piccadilly Circus for two hours, trying to find somewhere to go. It was funny- but the four of us had a really good time on our endless search, haha.

And now here I am, writing this, Sunday morning. I hope everything is great with all ya'll back home... love and miss you!

Cheers,
Everlee

Week 4 remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Plus, I got to see my first London snow! It was crazy- all these kids from the Midwest studying abroad with me thought I was being the biggest wimp, but I'm from Texas! We barely even know what snow looks like, and there I was, trudging to work in a blizzard. But work was pretty cool this week- they send me hunting through all these old legal documents- I felt like a little detective.

I really like my LMU class- Media, Society and Culture. The way English people do school is completely different from America- everything here is very self-structured, and if the only homework you ever have is just reading. Assessments only come once or twice a semester, and are usually a presentation or paper, or both. I like it, and I think this will be a really good class. The first day we were already in a heated discussion about how much media affects us, so it should be a fun debate-y class.

Interesting little anecdote about LMU- I got COMPLETELY lost going to class, and started praying that I would run into someone, anyone who knew where they were going. And what do you know- I practically ran smack into a girl who's been going to LMU for three years. She led me practically to the door, and was so nice, and was studying law like me! It was crazy! Thank God for little everyday miracles!

It was so cool- this weekend, we took a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was kinda boring- but it's something you have to see or you feel like you didn't have the whole English experience. Another cool God thing- it was a rainy, dreary day, but for the hour we were at Stonehenge, it cleared up and the sun was shining!

Then we went to Bath- I loved it there. I could totally see myself living there. it's this very chic, small town right outside of "Jane Austen country"- where she grew up, and with all the cool houses and countrysides she wrote about in her stories. It was so beautiful! And the whole town was this very neat mix of new, ultra-fashionable stores and gorgeous old Roman architecture.

The tour was such a good buy- we drove probably six hours that day, but it was on this warm, cozy coach with rain pouring down outside, so I slept like a baby! I loved it!

I think I finally got most of my travel plans ironed out (except Stace and I may go to Paris and Nice some weekend, as yet unknown)

So far:

March 1-4- Frankfurt, Germany
March 22-25- Dublin, Ireland
April 5-15- Italy and Switzerland
May 4-7- Greece

I'm so excited!

Week 3 remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The second I walked through the door, I was in meetings, typing up legal briefs, organizing, copying, pasting, binding- it was crazy! I think they thought I was already in law school- not many people in England do internships, so everyone at Systech is a little confused about what it is exactly I'm doing there.

But even though it's challenging, I like it. I feel like I learned a lot in two days, and can't wait to see what I learn in four months.

Plus, I took the tube all by myself for the first time to Systech. The tube really isn't hard to figure out- it's just a little intimidating. But the more you use it, the more you realize there's really nowhere in London you could go that you can't get back home from. Sometimes, I like it better than driving myself, because if you take a wrong turn, you just hop on another tube line at the next station. You're never just stuck with nowhere to go.

The best part about this week? Seeing Wicked! Me, Chels, Hil, Stace, and Katie got third row seats! It was AMAZING! It was pretty funny to hear all the songs I know by heart in British accents though- some lines/lyrics sounded completely different.

The weekend of our second week we went to Skipton and York. It was pretty cool- we saw our first castle in Skipton! York was a little boring, and I got stuck in a bed and breakfast a kinda weird group of girls- made me miss just rooming with Hilary. York was gorgeous, I just don't really like small town life. Made me want to go back to London. What can I say- I'm a city girl!

Week 2 remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Stacey and I luckily found a nice porter to help us with our myriad of bags- it was craziness! We probably had eight bags between us- but looking back, I don't think I overpacked. The weather in London is very unpredictable, and three suitcases later, I was ready for anything!

Where we're staying in London is so SWANK. It's right by Buckingham Palace, and even though the inside of Vandon House is just normal, the location could not be better. My only complaint about the Hotel itself? No showers. Just baths. I thought I loved baths, but now I'm starting to think I'll never take another one when I get back to America.

My roommate Hilary just could not be cooler. She and I have so much fun together, and always are finding new little (or big) adventures to go on in London. Our first week, we went on this Jack the Ripper tour of all of London's creepy haunts- it was so fun! (I know, I'm weird.) Our tour guide knew everything about everything, and it was so cool to see all of these places I've heard about practically my whole life.

The first week we went to a production of "Evita" which was...interesting. And that's putting it nicely. I love love love musicals, and I thought I liked Evita, but watching it on stage instead of in a movie, I realized that it's just the same three songs over and over again. And without Antonio Banderas to distract me, all of its weird little plot contrivances and shrieky songs really started to get on my nerves.

It's nice though- I've found such a good group of Christian girls. Me, Chelsey, Katie, Stacey, and Hilary formed this instant bond and have been hanging out all the time.

I could not be happier with the way things are going- jet lag aside. It's really hard to sleep when you cross about four time zones, strangely enough.

Cheers,
Ev

My first week in London remains copyright of the author EverleeC, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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