I have been putting off this post for far too long now and I think that it is finally time for me to just sit down and write it. I am not exactly sure why I have been putting it off, maybe because I was afraid it would be too hard to write, or maybe in writing this post, I myself have to realize that this incredible journey is coming to an end. Either way, writing this blog post makes me sad. I have also been really busy as I was only home for a day and a half, during which I had my annual Yankee swap party with my hometown friends, before I then headed onto Wisconsin to visit family members. I got home from Wisconsin on Friday and then went to Rhode Island with my parents and best friend Chris for New Years to celebrate with family friends. Today however, I am finally home on the couch and ready to write this blog post.
I left Edinburgh a little over a week ago. My friends and I had an “I didn’t get to do it yet day” in which we went to a bunch of different places that we just never got around to doing during our semester. We woke up early and saw the sunrise on Calton Hill (well sort of, the sun rose behind Arthur’s seat, but the colors were pretty!) and then went to Chocolate Soup for some coffee and hot chocolate. Afterwards, we went to Holyrood Palace and then had lunch in this adorable tea shop at the bottom of the Royal Mile. Jordan really wanted to go into the Scottish Parliament gift shop so we visited Parliament for a little bit (as ugly as it is on the outside, its kind of cool on the inside). We ended the day with a little bit of last minute holiday shopping, cupcakes, a delicious dinner at a tapas style Indian restaurant, and some champagne. It was an awesome day and we had a lot of fun.
On my last night in Edinburgh, we had one final dinner at my flat. We decided to make it a take-out dinner since no one really wanted to cook anything and everyone brought their own take-out meals. When it was finally time for goodbyes, we played some sentimental songs and cried. Saying goodbye was a lot harder than we had all anticipated and we just sort of lost it a little bit. Kristen, Grace, Jordan, and I had spent almost every day together during the month of December and almost every weekend hanging out in someone’s flat or Teviot, the student union, for the three months we had been there. We took trips throughout the UK and Europe, ate dinner every Sunday night in someone’s flat (and sometimes even on Friday and Saturday nights), had weekly Wednesday lunches at cafes and restaurants throughout Edinburgh, and supported each other in all of our endeavors. I formed a very close relationship with these people and not knowing when I would ever see them again or if we would ever be together as a group again really hurt. While I don’t have an answer as to when we will be together again, I do know that I am going to do everything in my power to keep in touch with everyone. These people mean too much to me to lose contact with.
Studying in Edinburgh was one of the best decisions I ever made. Not only did I meet some incredible people, but I also got to live in an amazingly beautiful city and travel to some awesome places. I gained so much confidence in myself and was able to reassure myself that I could live and travel on my own. I would not have traded this experience for the world. I constantly long to be back in Edinburgh. It is truly a magical city and there were times when I really felt like I was living in a fairy tale. Someday I know that I will be back in Edinburgh, whether it be two years or thirty years from now (though I hope it does not take that long), I know that I will be back there. Edinburgh is a hidden treasure and I encourage anyone who is able to visit to do so.
I know that my friends will always just be a click away and hopefully we will be able to meet up again soon. I can’t wait to hug my Colgate friends and say hello to them and hear about their adventures. I only wish that I could bring them, along with all of my other friends from both Holliston and the UK, back to Edinburgh with me. I am truly going to miss Edinburgh so much, but I will miss the people even more.
I have been back from Paris for about a week now and am “studying” for my three finals, one of which I took this morning. I SO wish I could be back in that beautiful city. I had an absolutely incredible trip and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I saw so much and experienced so much that I don’t even think I can type it all up (plus you’d probably get bored after another paragraph or two, but I am going to try anyways).
It was so nice being in Paris in the Winter time as there really weren’t many tourists there at all. This actually surprised me as I expected to see a lot of American students studying abroad or families taking trips like we did in Dublin however, we only ran into about one other American on the entire trip (except when we were in the touristy areas such as the Louvre, Versailles, and Notre Dame). The hostel that we stayed at was in Montmartre, an incredibly beautiful and interesting part of Paris. There are tons of shops and cafes everywhere and the people are all so interesting. We felt very Parisian walking around Montmartre, stopping in the patisseries to buy some baguettes or pain au chocolats. It was cool to see that the shop owners thought we were French as well, that is, until we opened our mouths. We arrived in Paris late Sunday night and went directly to the hostel where we crashed (however not after some cake and champagne which Kristen and Sebastian had waiting for us of course :-)).
The first day in Paris was definitely the busiest. We walked to the Louvre (which was my first experience of Paris) and spent the whole morning there. It really is incredible the amount of history and art that is one place (and yes, I did see the Mona Lisa). After that, we got croque monsieurs (think really fat grilled cheese sandwiches with ham) along the Seine before walking to Notre Dame. I didn’t really know what to expect upon seeing Notre Dame however once I was inside, the cathedral took my breath away. After about a million pictures, we got gelato on this adorable little side street and then went to an awesome British bookstore called Shakespeare and Co. We rested our feet there for a little while before taking the metro to the Eiffel Tower where more pictures ensued. We then got some baguettes, champagne, and cheese and sat in front of the Eiffel Tower while it twinkled on the hour. This was by far everyone’s favorite part of the trip. The moment almost felt magical. The amazing day was ended with a stop by the Arch de Triumph and a walk down Champs Elysees. We ended back at the hostel with a late snack across from the Moulin Rouge (which was right next to our hostel pretty much) and a few more bottles of champagne back at the hostel before bed.
The next day, we all got up and went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. The cemetery was beautiful and we lucked out with yet another gorgeous, sunny day. We visited the graves of Jim Morrison, Gertrude Stein, Chopin, Moliere and Edith Piaf, to name a few (it was a really big cemetery). After a hotdog in a baguette for lunch, we took the train to Versailles and spent the entire afternoon there. Versailles was absolutely breathtaking. I only wish that I could have seen the gardens in full bloom and that we weren’t so tired as you could really spend the whole day hiking the grounds. We ended in Montmartre at a very French brasserie and after dinner, walked around Montmartre a little bit more.
On our final full day in Paris, we spent the morning exploring Montmartre. We hiked the steps of Sacre Coeur and explored the quaint surrounding shops. After saying goodbye to Sebastian and Kristen who headed back to Edinburgh, Grace, Mallorie, and I stopped by the hotel that we were staying in for the last night (thanks for the holiday present Dad!) and then visited a friend of mine from high school for lunch. Our luck with the weather finally ran out and we spent all afternoon in Musee D’Orsay. I especially enjoyed the Impressionists gallery and I got to see SO many famous paintings which was really neat. We were so tired by then that we stopped at a little cafe along St Germain Street and had some crepes under a heat lamp outside. That night, we crashed in the hotel room with room service. :-)
Sadly, our trip back to Edinburgh wasn’t even half as pleasant as our trip overall as after spending 13 hours in Birmingham airport where we had a layover, our flight was cancelled due to the crazy wind storm that had hit Scotland. Luckily, we got a hotel room for the night for free and took a train out the next morning.
This trip was probably one of the best trips that I have ever taken. I had an incredible time and wouldn’t change any of it for the world. I shall really miss Paris and I hope to go back there some day in the future.
All of us Americans know that last week was Thanksgiving and being away from the US, I was worried that I wasn’t going to get to celebrate it this year. However, I was most definitely NOT disappointed. Thanksgiving this year was AWESOME! We had a giant potluck dinner and the food was all delicious (except maybe for the grape jello however, this jello was actually bought in a store that sells American foods and was the American Jell-o brand so of course it would be terrible). There were people from all over the world and we had a great time. Two of my friends from Colgate who are studying abroad in London were visiting and joined us for dinner as well. There were lots of laughs and everyone really seemed to get along great! Haha I am used to more arguments with my family dinners! I feel so lucky to get to have celebrated Thanksgiving with so many interesting and unique people from all over the world. It was truly a night that I will never forget. :-)
Slainte, which is pronounced “slhan-cha” is cheers in Irish Gaelic. I just got back from a weekend in Dublin with my friends Jordan and Kristen and I had a blast. We did so much in such a short period of time!!! I definitely got the full tourist experience of Ireland’s capital.
We arrived relatively early on Friday morning and dropped off our stuff in the luggage storage room at the hostel. I had never stayed in a hostel before so it was definitely an experience. This one was very clean and nice however and I slept fairly well each night so all was good. Plus I had a top bunk so I was happy about that. I really like having my own space. There were some nice hang-out spots as well downstairs and a tv where we hung out after a long day of walking around.
After dropping off our stuff, we walked around A LOT. We explored some of the cool shopping areas, did a tour of Dublin castle, walked around Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells, and did a tour of the Guinness factory.
-Dublin castle is still used as a government building today which is really cool as we got to see a lot of the rooms where important meetings happen. I feels more like a palace than an actual castle though. The only thing I didn’t like about it though was that it is surrounded by modern buildings and architecture and is sort of hidden behind some of them which I think takes away from the beauty of the castle.
-Trinity College is a beautiful college and looks like it would be a nice place to go to school. The Book of Kells is housed in the old library at the college. It is comprised of the four gospels from the New Testament and was written around 800 AD or earlier. The beautiful depictions in the book make it especially unique. The old long library is the most beautiful library I have ever seen and I SO wish that I could have taken a picture of it, but we weren’t allowed to. I bought a postcard with a picture of the library on it to put on my wall back home. If you get the chance, you should google the old library, Trinity College. Its just magnificent.
-The Guinness factory was a lot of fun. You see Guinness literally EVERYWHERE in Dublin as they are very proud of it. I must confess though that I am not a fan of Guinness. I don’t really like beer very much despite wanting to like it. I did drink as much of my free pint of Guinness as I could at the factory just to say that I had some as everyone says it tastes better from the source, but in the end I gave about half of it to Jordan to finish. Not my fave.
That night we went to a pub in a cool and hip area called Temple Bar where two guys played some traditional Irish music on a guitar and a banjo. After a long nights sleep, the next day we did a walking tour of Dublin and even though it was rather long, I’m glad we did it. We learned a lot about Dublin as well as the history of Ireland and its quest for independence over the years (for those of you who are ignorant about Ireland, in 1916 Ireland succeeded in gaining its independence from Britain however, Northern Ireland remains a part of the UK while the rest of Ireland is its own country and is a part of the EU). That night we had a nice dinner in a really cool pub called O’Neills. The food in Ireland is very heavy, but yummy. I am going to be on detox this week most definitely before I go to Paris next weekend!
On our last full day in Dublin, we went to Christ Church for services. Jordan goes every Sunday so I thought it might be interesting to go along as well just to see what it was like. I enjoyed it overall however, it is very different from temple, that is for sure. The church was just magnificent and incredibly beautiful. Sometimes I wish Jews would put a little bit more effort into making temples a bit more interesting and aesthetically pleasing. I loved just sitting and looking up at the architecture and stained glass around me.
So I am now home and back in my room. I just took a long nap which was much needed given as our flight left at 6:30 am this morning. Its nice to be back home in Edinburgh. As much as I liked Dublin, I still think that Edinburgh is better. Dublin was a bit too much like a city for me and I missed the familiar and comfortable feeling of Edinburgh.
