Tag Archives: london

10 London Things

I can’t believe that it’s already the third week in March. Mainly because it means I only have ONE WEEK OF CLASSES LEFT. Yup. One of the craziest things about UCL is that unlike at Penn State, where I would’ve just been coming back from spring break, I will have no more official classes after this week. I have a four week break (!) before term three, or the examination period, officially begins. Many full-time students haven’t had any sort of exam all year because it all comes down to one exam per subject during this period. Luckily for me, I only have one exam to prepare for (which is 100% of my grade for the course) and one essay. Such insanity coming from a school with 16ish week semesters. Most British unis are like this, but some are even worse–Oxford and Cambridge only have eight week terms! So as you can probably imagine, I have some pretty major plans for that time.

Before coming here, a common thing that I heard from people who had studied here in the past was that I shouldn’t forget London. After all, I didn’t just come here to jet off to other European countries every weekend (well, not entirely)– I came here to experience London. I’m so incredibly lucky to be living right in the center of London, where I can casually walk to Soho or Covent Garden to go shopping, pop into the British Museum after class, or be in Notting Hill or Shoreditch in less than 15 minutes on the tube. I’ve fallen into a routine here, so sometimes I have to step back to pinch myself and realize that I’m actually here. I realize that I haven’t really written about the city much (I hope to change that) and that I’ve mainly been focusing on my trips, so here are just 10 amazing things I’ve done in London in the last three months!

Shows, Shows, Shows!

It was on my to-do list to see a west end show, and almost three months in, I’ve seen The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Wicked, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Bend It Like Beckham The Musical. It’s definitely possible to get reasonably priced tickets for most shows, especially if you go on a weeknight–I paid less for all of those shows combined than I did to see the Book of Mormon in Chicago. We also went to the ballet at the Royal Opera House, and ironically it was one of the cheapest activities I’ve done in London at only £4 (for literally the worst nosebleed seats in the entire place, but hey, you get what you pay for!)

Shoreditch/Brick Lane
Brick Lane

Shout out to Ouarda Paluzzi for being the first to show me the wonders of Shoreditch and what a unique place it is. Home to awesome street art, the best Indian food in London, my favorite chocolate joint Dark Sugars, rainbow bagels, the famous Cereal Killer Cafe, and probably hundreds of vintage stores, Shoreditch is a hipster’s paradise and is one of my favorite places to just walk around because the surroundings are always changing.

Holland Park and Notting Hill

Portobello Road in Notting Hill

It’s not the biggest park in London, but it’s a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle–and it’s also the only park I know of in London to have peacocks roaming around. It’s in Notting Hill which is probably the prettiest (and most expensive) neighborhood in London, with its iconic ivory and pastel houses and Portobello Road market.

Soho (always)

Because of how close it is to where I live, my friends and I find ourselves there multiple times a week. Whether it’s to eat, grab a drink, shop, or just walk around, all roads seem to lead back to Soho. My favorite street is Wardour Street, which is packed with restaurants that all look SO GOOD (including a Hummingbird bakery and one of London’s only Chipotles).

Covent Garden

Another place that I can walk to (which is awesome because the tube station there is always a nightmare), it’s my favorite place to shop in London. It has any and every store you could think of, including iconic British brands like Cath Kidston, Barbour, and Jack Wills.

Sky Garden
Sky Garden

Don’t buy tickets to the Shard’s observation deck–make a free reservation at Skygarden! On the top three floors of what is affectionately known as the Walkie Talkie (I have no idea what the actual name is), it’s a huge urban garden on top of a skyscraper with panoramic views of London. There’s also a restaurant and bar, and I’ve heard they do morning yoga there sometimes!

Markets!

Borough, Old Spitalfields, Southbank, Covent Garden, Greenwich, Leather Lane, Camden Lock, Columbia Road, Portobello Road–the list goes on. Exploring different markets is my favorite London activity, and each one has their own unique vibe. Markets will get their own post soon!

Westminster at night

It’s great during the day, but on a weeknight the crowds are gone, and you’re free to walk around and enjoy the most iconic London landmarks all up in lights, from the Houses of Parliament to the London Eye.

Bakeries

I don’t know how much weight I’ve gained since I’ve been here. I don’t want to know how much weight I’ve gained since I’ve been here. Calories aren’t supposed to count while you’re on vacation, so I’m extending that to apply to study abroad as well. That being said, bakeries! London has so many! I watch too much Bake Off not to try to go to as many sweet stores as I can, and some are dangerously close to my flat. Lola’s Cupcakes, Ben’s Cookies, Hummingbird Bakery, Kontidor and Cooke, and Choccywoccydoodah have been some of my favorites!

Greenwich
The Prime Meridian

I love Greenwich because while it’s still in London, it feels a million miles away. It has a cute downtown area with tons of restaurants and shops, and a beautiful park that has spectacular views of the city if you climb to the top of the hill. It’s also where the Prime Meridian, or Longitude 0, passes through, so you can stand with one half of yourself in the eastern hemisphere and the other half in the western.

That’s all about London for now–next up, Copenhagen!

Location: London

Hot Chocolate

Dark Sugars

I’ve done a lot in the past month and a half. I could write about all the crazy things I’ve done in London, my day and weekend trips, or my life at UCL. But for some reason I really just want to talk about one thing, and that is hot chocolate. I don’t know what happened, but my friends and I have somehow found ourselves on a quest to find the best hot chocolate in London, and maybe, the UK. It all started the chocolate store Dark Sugars in Shoreditch. I’m a chocoholic. It’s my favorite food. I eat it every single day. And I’m telling you this store changed my perceptions on chocolate, and possibly even MY LIFE. Maybe it was the insane

Dark Sugars

generosity when it came to free samples (and this store isn’t exactly cheap), maybe it was trying the raw cacao beans they have in store, maybe it was the pink champagne or gin and lime truffles. But their hot chocolate is a chocoholic’s DREAM. We tried just the plain flavour (but they had several spice flavors like cinnamon and chili). They take big blocks of dark, white, and milk chocolate and chop and grate it down, mix it with warm frothy milk and cocoa powder and put even more shavings on top. When you get about halfway done it turns basically to thick, melted chocolate. This store is truly my happy place.

While I’ve yet to find a hot chocolate in London that has surpassed the one at dark sugars, that hasn’t stopped me from trying to find one. The most memorable are as follows:

Choccywoccydoodah

-Choccywoccydoodah, Soho: this place is insane–the vibe is a mix of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory, the tea party in Alice in Wonderland, and a Hot Topic. With a name like Choccywoccydoodah, we knew it had to be good and it didn’t disappoint. I got the dark chocolate and cherry hot chocolate and a slice of their six-layer taster cake. Need I say more?

Chin Chin Labs

-Chin Chin Labs, Camden Market: I’ve heard that this is the best place in London for hot chocolate–while I don’t think it topped my Dark Sugars experience, I can definitely see why it has such a good reputation. The place gets points for location alone– smack dab in the middle of Camden Lock Market, one of the best street food scenes in London, and their Nitro ice cream is supposed to be phenomenal. Their hot chocolates were delicious and not too sweet, and the dollop of bruleed marshmallow fluff on top made my day.

Mary’s Milk Bar

-Mary’s Milk Bar, Edinburgh. Okay, so this one isn’t in London, but I couldn’t not include it. This little place wasn’t far from our hostel in Edinburgh’s grassmarket neighborhood, and is Buzzfeed and Insta famous. They serve their hot chocolate as floats, with a scoop of any one of their homemade ice creams. They suggested the salted caramel. It was a good suggestion. The only thing I didn’t like about this place was their limited hours so we couldn’t come back and get it again!

Said

-Said, Soho: This was a bit of a different take, but was still great. Served in an espresso mug, this little shot of chocolate was intense and super thick, and it tasted like drinking brownie batter. Heaven.

Location: Wc1x 0hd

One Month Later…

I’ve really been slacking on my blogs. I know. I thought when I went to study abroad I would be blogging non stop, but I’ve been busier than I ever thought I would be. This is a big reason why:

This is a map of every place I’ve been since I’ve last blogged. List wise, it goes like this: Oxford, Dover, Cambridge, Salisbury, Bath, Paris, Edinburgh, Melrose, Roslin, St. Andrews, Anstruther, Pittenweem, Glasgow, Luss, Glencoe, and Fort Augustus/Loch Ness–in short, I’ve been exploring England and Scotland and I went to France for a weekend. Whew. I’ve no idea how to go about describing all the incredible things I’ve done over the past month, so I’ll give a list of a few of the highlights.

-Scotland. Just Scotland. I hope to get a blog up on my week excursion up north soon, so stay tuned!

Dover

-Climbing the Cliffs of Dover: It may have seemed like maybe not the best idea to head down to Dover in January, but the weather that day was 100% on our side–which in England means any day that is over 40 degrees and not raining! We climbed along the tops of the misty cliffs and it was absolutely breathtaking! I still haven’t gotten all of the mud off my shoes though!

-Cambridge: Cambridge is simply gorgeous. The old buildings, the boats punting along the river, and the random professors walking around in full academic regalia is an amazing change of pace from London, even if it’s only an hour away!

-Drinking the water from the Roman Baths in Bath:

Bath

don’t worry, it was the filtered stuff at the end of the museum, not the algae-riddled water in the main pools. It certainly wasn’t great–something about the taste of sulfur and iron is generally not refreshing. Did I mention it was warm?

-Theatre in London: We saw the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Wicked in London’s famed west end–relatively inexpensive tickets are not as difficult to come by as one might expect in London!

Champagne at Louis Vuitton

-Paris: Paris isn’t a new city for me, but it was awesome to go with friends (and to get away from the pound for a while– it might not be great for the global economy but the state of the euro right now is great for a student budget). Croque monsieurs, steak frites, macarons, french onion soup, crepes, champagne, the Mona Lisa, and the Eiffel Tower at night is how I want to spend every weekend ever.

-Market Crawling: Old Spitalfields, Borough, & Camden Lock markets are a foodie’s paradise–aka my paradise. You can get full on samples alone, but it’s impossible to leave without picking up something amazing.

-Pub culture and Icebar: I’m really going to miss being able to drink when I go back to the states. Pub culture is just awesome, sitting back and enjoying a pint with friends is a great way to end a day. Some friends and I went to a bar in Soho called Icebar (I believe they have multiple locations), and everything inside was made from ice, from the bar itself to the cups we were drinking out of! A poncho and gloves were included, seeing as it was around 25 degree in there–but as chilly as it was, it’s still warmer than Penn State.

That’s all for now–cheers!

Location: wc1x 0hd

Hello From the Other Side!

I can’t believe that two weeks ago, I was lugging my 60lb suitcase up my flat’s five flights of stairs. My cab had just dropped me off, I received my keys at reception, and I began my first day of 180 in London. Since then the time has flown by, but at the same time I feel as though I’ve been here for months. I’ve made a great group of friends (including some fellow Penn Staters!), enrolled in classes at UCL (which was in no way a simple endeavor), and have been surviving without a meal plan (!) for the first time ever.

I live in Bloomsbury in the borough of Camden, which has long been the academic hub of London (you may have heard of the famous Bloomsbury Group, which included British intellectuals like Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes). It’s a great area within itself, but it only takes a few minutes on the tube to reach popular tourist stomping grounds like Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, and Soho.

University College London

University in England is more different from Penn State than I ever could’ve imagined. For one, British uni students only go for three years, and gen eds are a foreign concept all together. They’ve come into college knowing what they’re going to study, and then are given their classes (no waiting lists at all). The biggest difference, by far, is the level of independence that it expected of students. For most classes, you’re given a reading list of an average of 60 titles (including articles, books, and full textbooks) that you’re expected to read–there’s no homework or reading quizzes, but essentially how well you do on your assessments is tied to how widely read you are. My entire course grade (depending on which class) is based either on two 2,500 word essays or a single two-hour exam in May. For what will transfer as 16 US credits, I only have eight hours of class a week (and no class Fridays!), and I get a no-class “reading week” in February and four week break in March/April before exams (but after this break I also do not have any more class!). Ultimately, I haven’t decided if this way of operating stresses me out more or less than at PSU, but it definitely allows for time to travel around England and Europe. Because I have so much free time during the week to do schoolwork, I can fill my weekends and breaks with trips–and I’ve got quite a few on deck (stay tuned!)

Tower Bridge

So far it’s been nothing but a dream, and I have a harder time thinking about leaving London than I do missing America. I’m extremely grateful to my parents for supporting me while I’m on this crazy adventure of a lifetime, and it’s crazy to think that the next time I’ll be in America I’ll have lived abroad for almost half a year.

I want to take advantage of everything the city has to offer, because this will be the only time I’ll ever be able to live as centrally in London as I do now. I want to take advantage of everything that Europe has to offer, because I could never book a week vacation to Scotland from the US for less than $150. I want to take advantage of this adventure that I’ve literally been waiting my whole life for, and I want to be able to look back and say that I went to bed every night absolutely exhausted.

Cheers!

Location: WC1X 0HD

Adventure Is Out There

In less than 24 hours, I’ll be embarking on the trip of a lifetime, one that I’ve been looking forward to my entire life. What am I doing to prepare? Watching Penn State football of course! Never mind that my clothes that are lying on the spare room floor have yet to see in the inside of a suitcase. This is the last football game of the season, and the next time I’ll be watching the Nittany Lions I’ll have had 5 ½ months of living in one of the world’s biggest and busiest cities under my belt.

My name is Bella Fordyce, and I’m taking a break from my Penn State public relations coursework and spending my sophomore spring semester (and then some) at University College London. It’ll be the longest I’ve ever gone without visiting home back in South Elgin, Illinois, and my first time visiting the United Kingdom. I’ll be learning how to navigate a big city, how to independently travel, how to cook for myself (bye bye, campus meal plan)–all across the pond.

And I can’t wait.

It honestly doesn’t even feel real–I’ve wanted to study abroad all my life and tomorrow it’s happening, after nearly a year of preparing, seemingly endless applications and forms and a Living in London Pinterest board later. Tomorrow is the first of 160 days I’ll spend away from the US, and I look forward to sharing my experiences in London and Europe with you!

Location: South Elgin, IL, USA

Moments of the Month

Now that it’s the last week (and almost the last day) of my abroad trip, I wanted to recap my top four favorite moments from the past month (one from every week).

Week 1: The London Eye (or the view from it)

The most beautiful view of Big Ben from the London Eye

View of Big Ben/House of Parliament from the London Eye

Although the London Eye itself was not my favorite part about this first week, it did serve as a reality check that I was officially in London. Riding the Eye and seeing all around London was beautiful and disorienting – I didn’t think it would be possible to experience all of the city sights in such a short period of time.

Week Two: Stonehenge Day Trip

Stonehenge

Standing at the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

This day trip was easily the longest day out of the month – yet entirely worth every tiring second of it. I loved not only learning a lot about Stonehenge, Glastonbury, and Avebury from our guides, but also visiting each place and seeing the famous circles of stones and abbey ruins. It still amazes me that so little is known about places like Stonehenge, even though they are SO ancient and frequently studied. I also included Glastonbury Abbey in particular because the ruins of this church were absolutely ornate and beautiful, even in their crumbling state.

Week Three: Tower of London

The Queen (and the monarchs before her) sure do have great taste in jewelry, though sadly we weren’t allowed to take any pictures of the Crown Jewels. Even so, seeing the Tower Bridge, meeting an authentic Beefeater, and touring the Tower of London was definitely another wonderful full day adventure. In addition to seeing the Crown Jewels (twice), we saw the ravens that legend states that if they were to leave the Tower of London the kingdom and tower would fall. We also were lucky enough to stumble on a type of inspection similar to the Changing the Guard ceremony, although with less pomp and circumstance.

: Me, standing with a guard of the Crown Jewels

Beefeater giving us a tour of the Tower of London

Week Four: Paris

Without a doubt my weekend in Paris has (so far) been my favorite part about this week. Click here to read my last blog post on why I loved Paris so much!

The Eiffel Tower on my last night in Paris

Stay tuned for my final week thoughts and reflections on my London trip in my upcoming blog posts! Cheers, love!

Location: London, England

Where Art Thou?

I am not an art person.

I will admit that I can appreciate fine music, theatre, dance, and performances of the like, however art has never been my thing. Sure, Picasso, Da Vinci, Monet, and other famous painters can hold their own in the art world – but all I see is a painting. Yet I still couldn’t pass up the opportunity to explore a few art galleries while in London (and it just so happened that these galleries were also required for our classes) and I finally found some art that I can fully appreciate.

“My Bed” at the Tate Britain by Tracey Emin

I never expected to view a person’s unmade, messy bed as art, however Emin’s bed does just that at the Tate Britain. According to our guide, Emin was in a deep depression at the time and had just won an award for her previous works. When asked to compile her best work she presented her bed, viewing it as a self-portrait. Though it may be hard to believe that this is art, Emin shows just how limitless art, especially modern art, can be.

Antony Gormley’s “Breaking Bread” at the Tate Britain

Another modern art piece that may not seem like true “art;” I was purely amazed when I first saw this piece. Notice the dark spots on the bread? Real mold. Apparently there’s so much sugar in this bread that it naturally preserves itself (although it is still kept in an airtight glass case). If you look closely, you can see that Gormley ATE the bread to outline the shape of his body.

“Young Woman Powdering Herself” by Georges Seurat at the Courtauld Gallery

Georges Seurat has officially become my favourite painter. One day of looking at his paintings and I was sold. It’s hard to tell in the above picture, but Seurat does his work using a technique called “pointillism” where he creates each part of the painting using one dot of paint. The coolest part is that when you look closely at a specific part of the painting you can see something like five different colors, but when you step back it appears as one complete shade of paint.

Close up of pointillism

The above picture is a closeup of the Seurat painting and the detailed pointillism.

“Vase of Flowers” by Claude Monet at the Courtauld Gallery

This post wouldn’t be complete without one Monet. The flowers in this painting are absolutely beautiful and Monet’s combination of colours to create this piece is phenomenal.

Thanks for reading and continue to look out for more posts about my adventures in London! Cheers, love!

And That Means I Can Do Anything, Right?

In the closing scene of the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, the main character is adamant about his ability to be able to do anything he dreams of. After only a week in London, I feel the same way as Christopher did in the play. Growing up in a suburban town, my choices of, “Oh let’s go explore/learn/discover/see this today” were pretty limited, however London is the complete opposite. Today is my first real day that I’ve decided NOT to do anything, primarily to catch up on school work and reflect on this past week. SO, here is my first week in review!

Day 1: The First Full Day

The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum

Today our class visited the British Museum which happens to only be a block from our flats. The museum was expansive and the exhibits all had a lot to offer, like seeing the Rosetta Stone, ancient Egyptian artifacts, and how money has developed throughout time, to briefly name a few. This is definitely a place I’ll have to return to and explore more throughout the month. We also visited Trafalgar Square (any Doctor Who fans?), went on the London Eye, and got a first glimpse of Big Ben.

Day 2: Wait, We Have Classes Here?

A more low-key day, we had our classes for a few hours in the morning (a reality check that this is not just a very long vacation) and then had free time for the rest of the day. A bunch of us decided to go to the Camden Markets, a massive flea market with endless stalls and food to eat.

Me, eating my crepe at the Camden Markets (picture taken before the crepe leaked and stained my pants)

Day 3: From Students to Spies

At first, our class visited the Tate Britain (an art museum) to learn about modernism in art, as per the theme of one of our classes on this trip. Then, we all stopped at a pub that has an upstairs room decorated like an old style saloon with binoculars to spy on London’s secret service building which was right across the Thames and in perfect view of the pub. Though we didn’t see much, the atmosphere was awesome and we all loved it.

The MI6 building (London’s Secret Intelligence Service building)

Day 4: Insanity and Imagination

As another class trip (this time for our Insanity and Imagination class), we visited the Bethlem Museum to see not only how people with mental illnesses were treated in the past, but also current treatments and approaches. Before our trip, our class learned about the history of Bedlam and the terrible treatment of people with mental illnesses in the past, but also how this “insanity” has been closely related to creativity. The museum also displayed how mental illness and imagination still have a very close relationship, but of course without the same stigmas and in a different manner than in the time of Bedlam. For example, the museum displayed a lot of art that people with mental illnesses have created in order to express themselves and use their imagination as an outlet for their diseases.

Day 5: Piccadilly Circus

Our free time today led us to wandering around Piccadilly Circus and finding Hatchard’s, a beautiful, four-floor book store in which I found (and bought) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (to the excitement of our whole group of HP lovers). We also stopped in Fortnum and Mason, a department store that’s been around since 1707! Then, a few of us bought tickets to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which was PHENOMENAL. Though I knew it was nominated for a lot of Tony Awards in the States, I had no idea what to expect, yet I left the play ready to turn around and walk back in to see it again. The others from my class who went had very similar reactions as I did, and the best part was we only spent 15 pounds for our seats (about $25). The play, cast, and set was innovative, simple but sophisticated, unique, unexpected, and amazing all around.

Me, outside the theatre for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

Day 6: Defying Gravity

Today may have been my favorite day of this week. First, we went to see Big Ben/the House of Parliament and then went inside Westminster Abbey. Though I expected a beautiful church, I never expected such a gorgeous church with a rich and interesting history. People like Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, kings/queens, and famous poets were all buried underneath the floor we walked on. My childhood dreams of wanting to become a princess suddenly reemerged as I could only imagine how Kate Middleton felt gliding down the grand aisle at Westminster Abbey on her wedding day. Sadly, they don’t let you take pictures of the inside, so you’ll have to take my word (or visit yourself) to fully grasp the detail and grace of this building. Later in the day, we also went to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Again, tickets were relatively cheap, and entirely worth it because our London cast was just as wicked as the Broadway cast. This was at the top of my list of things to see in London, and it did not disappoint.

Me, in front of Westminster Abbey, dreaming of marrying a prince.

The House of Parliament a.k.a. Big Ben and a typical double decker bus

Day 7: Leeds, and Dover, and Greenwich, oh my!

This day was our busiest by far, as we took a planned bus trip with a bunch of other tourists. We started off by visiting Leeds Castle, a castle primarily owned by queens. The castle was set on a beautiful piece of land (500 acres) that had ponds with black swans imported from Australia. Next, we went to the white cliffs of Dover with a “beach” made up of stones (no sand). The coolest part about this beach was that you can see France from shore and Dover Castle on top of the white cliffs that is used for the military. Next, we travelled to Canterbury (the scene of Canterbury Tales) and visited the historic cathedral. Lastly, we walked through Greenwich Park where I was in two places at once. Well, sort of. Greenwich Park marks the division line between the eastern and western hemispheres, so I was technically standing on two separate parts of the world at one time! We ended our trip with a boat ride where we got quick glimpses of the Millennium Bridge (as seen in Harry Potter), the London Bridge, and the Tower Bridge. After this long day’s journey, and a week of adventures it’s no wonder why most of us are taking a personal day to recuperate before our next week begins!

Me, standing in two places at once in Greenwich.

The Tower Bridge as seen from our boat ride

A glimpse of the beautiful property at Leeds Castle

Once again, thanks for reading, and stay tuned as I continue to ‘do anything’ I dream of and discover in London! Cheers, love!

Location: Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom

A Very Long Update

I’m not sure how many more of these I’ll write–I’m scheduled to fly out of Seville two weeks from tomorrow. I feel as though I haven’t posted enough during this semester, and yet when I look back, my posts are long and filled with detail. I’m surprised at how little time I have had to write, especially since I have wanted to produce quality posts. There was always something exciting going on, and I would always say to myself, “I’ll write after it’s over.” But I kept falling behind, and the more I did, the more I had to write. The task grew bigger every week and so my time to fill in all of the additional details shrunk. That said, here are some updates on the things that have happened since my last post!

Trip to the UK

What a cool week. It was only 5 days in actuality, but including my travel days I was gone for almost the entire week. I flew into London to meet my friend Kim from Penn State. I explored London for a day and a half–just walking around the city, seeing some of the main sites (Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey), eating ice cream on the Thames. It was cloudy and cool there, which I expected. But I’m glad I got to see it.

A bustling Trafalgar Square.

At the end of the weekend, I took a train from London up to Stirling, in Scotland, to meet a friend from my Seville program. We took a 12-hour tour of the Scottish highlands, which was amazing and beautiful and most of which was spent driving and looking out the window at the pretty landscapes. Our tour was guided by a wonderful driver, who had a microphone attached to his head and who would talk while driving for all of the 12 hours about the names of all of the sites. It was, however, the coldest weather I had seen since leaving the U.S. (there was snow!!!! I may or may not have mentioned at the beginning of this blog that my goal this semester was to escape the snow. But, the views were worth it in the end).

me, at Loch Ness during the highlands tour

The highlands tour included a stop at Loch Ness!

Finally, I ended up in Edinburgh for a night to see one of my best friends from high school who is studying there (hi, Jes!!). While I was only there for a total of about 18 hours, in that amount of time I got a view of the cityline, tried an ice-cream float, and saw a little bit of what Scottish nightlife is about (hint: cold if you go in March. But a lot of fun).

Semana Santa

In Spanish, Semana Santa translates to “Holy Week,” and is celebrated in a big way in the days leading up to Easter. Due to the fact that I was in the UK, I missed the beginning of it, but I purposely planned my trip like that because my host parents told me that the end of the week was best anyway. I arrived back in Seville on Wednesday night, and some of the more important pasos–the “floats” with representations of Christ and Mary (on separate floats, and usually one of each per church) began to “salir”– to leave their home churches and proceed to the city’s old, enormous catedral. This is what Semana Santa in Seville is all about: men from each church position themselves beneath these heavy pasos and carry them on their shoulders from their home church to the catedral and back. They literally shuffle the entire distance, and depending on how far the church is from the catedral, it can take half a day–12 hours. The men switch off so they can take breaks, but it is an incredibly challenging (and rewarding) job. Additionally: these men pay to carry the pasos, because it is considered a privilege to do so.

Though I didn’t take this picture (credit: apartclick.com), it gives you a better idea of the enormity of the celebration and the amount of people who pack the streets to see the pasos.

The Thursday after I got home from the UK, my host mom sat me down for dinner and said we were going to watch the church of La Macarena–another very important and old place in Seville–begin its procession. Well, they started late, and as it was getting on 12:30, 1 AM, I was wondering if we were still looking for this to start or if it had already happened. I debated asking my host mom if I could go to bed, since she and I would be getting up at 4:45 the next morning to get a good spot to watch the pasos. Finally, I said (as politely as I could), “Just wondering, are we still waiting to watch this paso leave the church? I’m a little tired and was hoping to get a few hours of sleep before we leave tomorrow.” For some reason the lights in the room were off but I could tell she was slightly annoyed because she didn’t respond right away. Oh my gosh, I have offended her, I thought to myself. And we have to spend the entire morning together tomorrow. She told me we were still waiting for this paso to leave the church, but since it was late, I could go to bed if I wanted. I apologized and waited a few awkward minutes before leaving the room. The next morning, however, we were both so tired that we had forgotten about whatever awkwardness there was the night before and rushed into the center of town to see the processions. We ended up spending a really nice 8 hours together that morning, with a churro/coffee break somewhere in-between. I have no idea what time that happened, but I do know that we left home at 5AM and came back around 1:30 in the afternoon. You bet I slept well the next night.

Travel break

The weeks in-between Semana Santa and the next holiday week, Feria, were spent in Sevilla. I was so relieved to not be traveling for a while, because after that week of returning from the UK and watching all the Semana Santa activity, I was wiped out.

…then back at it in Rome

The weekend before Feria, I went to Rome for a few days. It was fantastic! I had been there once before, when my family went to Italy, but had actually not spent too much time there since we were mostly traveling around Tuscany and did not stay in the city for more than a few nights. Notably, the first night I was there I ate an entire pizza by myself. I’m pretty proud that I did that. This time, again, I only spent a few days in Rome, but I didn’t make an agenda. I just walked around and took streets not knowing where I was going. My friend from my Seville program joined me on Saturday (I got there on Friday) and we saw more things we wanted to see and ate things that we wanted to eat (pasta and gelato). Two awesome things that happened on this trip: a) we climbed to the top of St. Peter’s basilica and I had a really breathtaking moment when I looked down at the church with music playing and b) also at St. Peter’s basilica, it started to rain while we were outside in the square but the rain was glittering in the sunset and a rainbow formed. It was a cool moment.

a rainbow down the street from St. Peter's basilica in Rome

I feel so lucky to have seen this happen.

Feria

The second of the holiday weeks, called Feria, originally began in the mid-1800s as a gathering for farmers to trade animals and other agricultural things (technical term). After a few years, the casetas–the little temporary houses set up for Feria where traders could do business–became really popular not for the animals and other agricultural things but for the drinking and eating and merriment. Now, over 150 years later, the only animals present at Feria are the horses that drag along the carriages. I spent a lot of time at Feria, as I wasn’t traveling any more that week; I probably spent between 20 and 25 hours there, over the course of the week. There really isn’t too much to say about it other than that it is a delightful mix of dancing, drinking (rebujito–a mixture of 7-Up and a wine called manzanilla), eating, and more dancing.

A view of the street during Feria

The “portada,” or entrance gate, to Feria. This is a temporary structure and a new one is designed each year.

Paris, France

The weekend after Feria, I took a spontaneous jaunt to Paris with my friend from Scotland. It was so great, but there was truly an endless amount of things to see. We spent two and a half fairly busy days making our way around Paris in the rain, seeing of course the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre but also walking along the river, visiting a section of town called Montmarte (making a stop at the Sacre Quor, which gives you a great view of Paris) and sampling crepes. While it was rainy and we were exhausted, I’m so glad I was able to visit.

the Eiffel Tower in front of a cloudy sky

This photo was skillfully “auto-awesomed” by Google.

This post is a little shorter than the others, but is also chock-full of my activities, which included so many other moments of laughter and coffee-driven craziness. I wish I could recount them all. Two quick funny and sad stories to part. First, the funny one. About a week ago I was watching a Spanish celebrity-pranking show (like Punk’d, but better). There was a really funny moment when one of the celebrities ended up having to unexpectedly host a funeral, and the family kept making her do increasingly weird things, like watch a strangely upbeat polka band perform and taking a picture with the casket (“I don’t know if I should clap,” she said after the band stopped playing. Then in regards to the picture: “I don’t know if I should smile. I have never taken a picture with a casket before”). My host mom and I were laughing so hard that we could not breathe. We both had tears coming out of our eyes Oh man. I still laugh thinking about it.

Now, the other story. The night before I left for Paris, I got back late and was very tired, especially since I needed to wake up the next morning at 3:45 to catch a bus to the airport. When I got in, my host parents were still up. I had just been to see a flamenco show, and they wanted to hear about it. “Come on! Come in! Tell us about it!” No, I said, I’m very tired and I need to get up early tomorrow. But they made me come in anyway. I told them a little about the show and then all of a sudden my host dad started saying, “Why do you have to leave so soon? Can’t you stay here a little longer?” Again, I said no, my date was already set, it costs a lot of money to change it. I could feel the tears welling up. He kept pushing me and asking why I couldn’t stay, and as I tried to explain that I wanted to, the tears started flowing. “Oh no,” I said out loud, and laughed through my tears as they handed me a tissue. “Look, she’s crying!” they said, also laughing. “All of the students cry when they leave. We cry with them.”

Well, now, why did they have to go and tell me that? Goodbyes will be so hard this time around.

Location: Paris, France

Whilst in edgy England

12 hours of sleep – 3 nights. That’s what happens when you are a study abroad student. Well, at least, similar stories happen pretty often. There are two parts to the name “study abroad (travel travel fun travel fun fun) student (finals come and you have a slam load of papers)”. AKA, I’ve learned if you’re not doing some homework, errands, or traveling; you’re planning and booking your next week’s trip. Having booked our most recent London tickets I seem to have just believed the papers would somehow find a way to get done. Welp – they did…as I brought along one to London on my laptop. Allocating my time with sightseeing and walking during the day and then dedicating at least 4 hours a night to my paper, I had some sleepless nights showing up to my hostel room at 2 AM with laptop in tow.

But after turning that paper in on Friday, it was time to go to a club. Actually a club ranked the #2 and #1 best club in the entire world for four years. We made our way to Fabric, home to drum and bass DJ’s. We travelled between the three rooms to experience the stellar DJ’s playing and upon entering one room felt the feet shake beneath our feet – literally! The club has a vibrating dance floor attached to, “450 bass transducers which emit bass frequencies,” according to their website. The music was incredible and you could tell that people came here solely for the music.

The employees all wore shirts that said “Is your phone safe?” because apparently there is a high issue with phone thieves in all of London’s clubs. I always am very protective of my belongings (concealing a money belt and a purse in front of my body with my hand glued on the zipper), but it was interesting to see the clubs acknowledgement of the issue. We had so much fun and returned to the hostel by 2:30, slept for an hour, and were up at 3:30 AM to grab our train to the airport and fly home.

I’m now writing this blog on the bus ride home from the Basel, Switzerland airport – in my state of giggle exhaustion and subtle crankiness. But with our great price deals on our flights, you can’t always choose what time you want the plane to fly. A bus, train, plane, bus, tram later and we are home in Freiburg by 1 PM.

Whilst in England – the meat of our trip

“England isn’t known for their food” – true, but I was surprised to find a HUGE ethnic food variety and organic healthy options! We ate at

Wagamama – a Japanese restaurant and noodle bar I have always heard about
Pret a Manger – a favorite that I’ve had in NYC; a homemade natural food place similar to Panera Bread Co., but better
fish and chips stand
Brick Lane eatery – known as the street of Indian restaurants
Borough Market (where we bought English tea!!!)

And it was all delicious, one of my favorite cities for food selection – I really miss having so many diverse and endless food options!

Wagamama Dinner!

The hostel we found via TripAdvisor was recently built and very hip – HIGHLY recommend it. The Wombat’s in London had gorgeous interior design, like a hotel, brand new facilities, helpful staff, secure private lockers in our rooms, and great lounge area to meet people. Writing my paper in the lobby for several nights, I really got to use the facilities and ultimately is my favorite hostel thus far.

Wombat’s London – hostel lobby

In all – Loved London: full of edgy, urban-hip and posh-dressed individuals; yummy food; and a great first exposure to Great Britain.