tom, libby and I at a restaurant in Paris! 

eiffel tower <3

perspective picture 

shopping in Paris!

l’Arc de Triomphe

Elesa and I at the Louvre!

Now, the next exciting this to occur after Paris was the visit from my parents! My dad had a business meeting scheduled in London so my Mom flew along and they came down to Bognor to visit me! Thursday of that week I got the chance to show them around the town, the university and my homestay location. Then (almost) the entire group of CIRT students went out to lunch so that my parents could meet everyone! We went to Fox’s, a delicious pub near the university, and had an awesome time! That night, my parents and I went to dinner with my host family at a Spanish restaurant called “Sen”. We had a lovely tapas style dinner and enjoyed getting to know each others families!! That night, my parents and I drove to a hotel near the gatwick airport (brand new built right on the edge of a horse racing track) and got about 5 hours of sleep before we took a cab and plane the next morning to Edinburgh, Scotland!

We spent 3 days in Edinburgh, shopping, seeing the sights and spending time together. It was such a treat to get to see my parents while being abroad! We saw the Edinburgh Castle, the royal palace in Scotland, the pubs, the shopping strips, the old village, and many other tourist sites. We had wonderful meals (one night we went to a delicious Italian restaurant called “La Bruschetta” and ate one of the best meals I have ever had!) There were also plenty of Starbucks to keep me sane :). I had an extremely special treat as well, to meet up with two of my friends from middle school (The International School of Lausanne in Switzerland) who now both currently attend the University of Edinburgh. I met up with Bianca and Henri for dinner and reminiscing, where we spent most of the night in Henri’s bouncy castle (yes… he has a bouncy castle in his flat. it was incredible.) Overall, I think the trip with my parents was my favorite trip yet! 

mom and dad in Edinburgh

me and mom!

me and dad!

all 3 of us!!!

me and mom at the castle in Edinburgh

Scottish Nittany Lion?? 🙂

I bid farewell to my parents, with the promises of seeing them in 2 short months for Christmas, and immediately began packing for my next adventure… a 6 day trip through Ireland and Scotland during half term. We left late Thursday night and arrived in Dublin, ready to begin a new adventure. The following day, my friend Jen and I met a soccer team from Italy, explored the town, and conveniently met up with the rest of the group to join in on a free tour of the city. Alas, the tour, we found out, was destined to be 3 hours long and realizing that the Gilligan’s Island tour was also the same length, some friends and I did not want to risk a similar fate, so we skipped out early. Jen, Heather and I explored the city more on our own, and ended up at the Guinness factory. We took a tour, tasted Guinness, realized how absolutely terrible it tasted, and continued on in hopes of finding our friends for dinner. We did, and spent the night listening to traditional Irish music in traditional Irish pubs. The next day, our large group of 14 split into 3 smaller groups. In my group was myself, Heather, and two of the Swedish boys, Isak and Erik. We rented a car in Dublin and once we picked up the “dream machine” we made the rash and spontaneous decision to drive clear to the northern coast of Ireland to see Giant’s Causeway, the northern shore, and torture Erik with about 11 hours total of driving in one day. That night, we stopped for Domino’s pizza and continued down toward Galway, where we spent the evening and the next day. Then we began out drive back toward Dublin, where we stopped along the way to see the Cliffs of Moher, some castles, and occasionally eat. The next night, we flew from Dublin to Glasgow on the smallest plane ever invented by man (I literally thought we were going down every time the plane moved… I was utterly petrified. At the start of the flight the stewardess asked a few rows of people to move to the back so the plane would be BALANCED :-O!!!) When we arrived in Glasgow, I began breathing again and we spent the next two days driving through the Highlands of Scotland, trecking through rain storms, and JUST missing about every single tourist site by no more than 5 minutes. We had quite an adventure and were very ready to return home and actually do some work for a change 🙂

isak, heather and I at the northern coast of Ireland

me with an Italian soccer team!!!

the whole gang!

it rained one day… 

i was a little nervous to do the roap bridge… 

cool panoramic view!!

looking for Leprechauns 

Guinness Factory!

me in Ireland!

ROOMIES! Heather and I at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland near Galway!

Last night, we celebrated Heather (my roommate’s) 21st birthday at a Halloween Party in downtown Bognor. We went to our favorite pub, William Hardwicke (now called Willywicks for short), and I dressed up as a nerd. I ended up adding dance moves to my costume, and won a free dinner for 2 (plus dessert) for being best dressed!!!

Now, being more than half way done with our term, I am sitting in my room thinking of all the exciting things I have done in a mere month and a half. I am sitting here (and don’t plan on moving for a while seeing as I took two classes at the gym this morning and seemed to have lost the ability to move my legs) realizing that the time goes by faster every day, and I am thrilled to have had the opportunities that I’ve had thus far. I have one more trip planned for a weekend (I will be traveling to Switzerland to reunite with some old friends) and I also plan on doing a few day trips into London and Oxford, but for the most part my traveling has calmed down and I can really start focusing on school. Until next blog, peace, love, and CIRT.