London, a final reflection

I'm back in America.

I was afraid that my life would now pale in comparison to the past few months, and I am slowly finding that to be true. But I've learned a lot over the course of the past semester, and would like to recall some of that here.

Firstly, traveling.

The world is crazy. awesome. huge. There are so many places to explore. Every city has something new to bring to the table, something new to discover. It is difficult for me to choose a "favorite" city I traveled to, but there are select things I will always remember about each place I traveled to.

Berlin - There is so much history and cool buildings around every corner. Also, they don't accept Deutsche Mark currency there even if the ATM mistakingly gives some to you. The Berlin Zoo also houses the scariest tiger I have ever seen. But Berlin was a welcome surprise, I went in not really knowing much about it, and left with a real appreciation for the city.

Oslo - Don't go camping with only tents and no sleeping bags/relevant gear and expect to sleep that night, however, Oslo was one of the most fun/craziest adventures of my life. Oslo is also the most expensive place I visited by far, no idea how people actually live there. The fresh air was definitely a welcome change and I would love to go back to Norway someday to hike among the giant fjords!

Rome - I loved Rome, and Italy in general. I definitely hope to return there to explore some of the smaller cities one day. Rome is big, rustic, raw. The amount of ruins and history in Rome is unreal. Our apartment in Rome was also super fun. I had gelato 5 times in 3 days and also learned that my body literally rejects absinthe. It is death.

Paris - This was the second time I went to Paris, and I loved it just as much. I love crepes and speaking French and the Eiffel Tower makes me go weak at the knees. Only in France can you buy 1 euro bottles of champagne and pop it while the Eiffel Tower is sparkling at night. Paris is also the first time I have stayed in a one star (yes - ONE star) hotel. Probably will try to avoid that experience next time...

Amsterdam - Amsterdam is a crazy place, certainly the most liberal, progressive place I visited. Although I'm not so fond of all the drug paraphernalia and the Red Light District, Amsterdam is actually really quite scenic. The water is extremely pretty, and fresh stroopwaffel is one of the greatest foods on the planet. The trolley system is also quite nice there.

Barcelona - Although the rainy weather dampened the overall weekend, literally and figuratively, I still loved Spain. Barcelona is a perfect mix of sand and city. We played in the ocean and went to some of the best bars/clubs out there. I now can tell the difference between good sangria and bad sangria. Our hostel in Barcelona was also top notch.

Prague - Prague is a most compact city, which makes it easy to walk around. The public transportation there is great, with both trolleys and an underground system. I stumbled upon some absolutely fabulous hot chocolate in Prague. It is also crazy cheap there, with a really fun night life. Also the only city where people can smoke indoors... crazy.

Edinburgh - Edinburgh was adorable. I don't know whether it was the Harry Potter atmosphere or because Zack and I splurged on a fairly classy weekend, but it was a great little city. Taking the train was fun and convenient, and Scottish people are very friendly.

General tidbits about Europe:
-Bathrooms are luxuries. Finding free bathrooms in Europe is extremely difficult and time consuming.
-Sparkling water is no good, and they love to give you sparkling water as opposed to regular water. In some places, water actually costs more than alcohol! (i.e.: 1 euro bottles of champagne in Paris)
-Most people throughout Europe were very welcoming and accepting of Americans. I didn't really ever sense any cultural discrimination.
-Public transportation is great in Europe.
-Some places are cheap and some are super expensive, it totally depends on the place.
-Markets are always fun no matter where you are.
-Any chance you get to walk up something and get a view of a city, do it.
-RyanAir and Easy Jet are a little ghetto, but definitely worth the cheap flights.
-Cabs are so great even though they cost more.
-Traveling in groups is fun, and it's nice to mix up the groups you're with. Sometimes it makes it a little trickier to travel when you're with a ton of people, too.

Even though I traveled all over, my favorite city is certainly (drum roll) ... London. London is my favorite city in the world. Yeah, it's expensive and busy and a little bit more rough around the edges, one could say. But London has so much to offer, to anyone. I can go a museum, see a play, hit a jazz bar and then go clubbing all in the same day. It is so bustling and multicultural and diverse and interesting. I loved being busy all the time in London because I feel like I really made the most of my study abroad experience. It is certainly difficult to do homework in London, which I figured out immediately. I will definitely have more motivation to go to the library once I am back in South Bend.

I love British accents, pub culture, the easy ability to travel, the tube, the mild weather, nutella, cafes, walking across the Thames and seeing a beautiful view everyday, the history, the markets, the pubs, the Notre Dame London Program, London theatre, English tea, London during Christmas time, cider (Strongbow and Bulmer's, I will miss you so much), English fashion, how cute the English one pound coin is, looking out my bedroom window and seeing the London Eye, the Globe theatre, The Mulberry Bush, Las Iguanas, Piccadilly Institute, O'Neill's, shopping at Topshop and Zara, fish and chips, the ability to walk anywhere at anytime, working at NBC, family dinners, and probably many other things about London that I am forgetting.

I am coming back from studying abroad with many things. I have a much better sense of direction and ability to navigate through cities. I'm better at asking for help. I somehow now magically have an interest in cooking, and I like almost every food I try, it's a miracle! Most of all, I am coming back with some of the best times with the best people. I went in with a lot of friends, but I also made so many new ones! London gave me a chance to break out of my usual friendship circles and meet people I never would have met otherwise. I miss it already, but I know I will be back someday, hopefully soon. I also can't wait to go back to Notre Dame's campus. I miss that a lot, too. As for now, I will continue to enjoy all things American.

Edinburgh and a thespian week in London

I can't believe the semester is almost over.

I'm a bit behind on blogging. Two weeks ago, I was still taking it pretty easy because of the casual seizure issue. I now feel completely fine but it took me a good week to feel better again. Therefore, I didn't go to work that week and did a lot of hanging around. I wrote a couple of papers and ran some errands as well. I also checked out The Lion in Winter, which was my final play for my theatre class, at the Royal Haymarket Theatre. It was fantastic: early England meets modern day suburbia. Thursday, we also hit up East London to check out some different bars that are less touristy and attract more Brits, including this one dance bar and a dubstep place called Plastic People. Even though we were proud of ourselves for branching out, the "hip" places to go to are actually a bit too cool, and borderline boring. Nevertheless, it was good to try something new.

Friday, Zack and I left for Edinburgh, Scotland. Even though we were only there for a little over 24 hours, it turned out to be one of my favorite excursions. We took the train, which made for a great view of the UK, and arrived in Edinburgh around 1:30pm. We checked into our (very classy) hotel and made our way towards the Edinburgh Castle before it got dark. We took a mini guided tour and hit up all of the different rooms inside the castle, which was pretty cool. The castle gives you a great view of the city and we stopped inside the cafe up there and drank some warm coffee while taking in the views. Once we left there, we walked through a bit of the downtown area, which had a really cool Christmas market going on, very similar to the one on South Bank here in London. Edinburgh is a quite compact city so it makes it easy to walk around everywhere.

Top of the Edinburgh Castle

It was pretty cold, so Zack and I went back to the hotel for a little while and hung out. We made a reservation at this really nice restaurant, The Ship on the Shore, for dinner. It had excellent reviews and was supposed to have excellent seafood. As it turns out, dinner was fantastic. We ordered a gratuitous seafood platter between the two of us which was absolutely enormous, but we ate all of it. (Anyone who truly knows me should not be surprised by this fact...) We also ordered some nice wine and it turned out to be a fabulous evening. We splurged a little, but we don't usually do that much splurging while traveling so we thought we deserved it.

The Ship on the Shore

After our meal, we took a cab back to the hotel and stayed in for the night. We ended up watching No Strings Attached which was actually really good. Our hotel room had a giant TV so that didn't hurt either. The next morning, we woke up, checked out, and walked along High Street where there are lots of cute shops and some government buildings. At the end of the street, we saw this giant cliff that leads to Arthur's Seat, the highest point in Edinburgh. We weren't actually planning on climbing it, seeing as I was in skinny jeans and leather boots, but we couldn't resist once we were there. It turned out to be totally worth it. The views were phenomenal and there was even a rainbow once we got to the top. It was also extremely windy at the top to the point where you could barely stand upright without getting blown over! Overall, definitely worth the hike.

Arthur's Seat

We climbed down and walked down another street to locate The Elephant House, which is the famous cafe where J.K. Rowling first wrote the Harry Potter books. I obviously had to go. The place was very popular and busy. We ordered some coffee and some desserts and sat by the window where J.K. apparently got the inspiration for Hogwarts and things like that - so cool! We left there and continued to walk around for a bit and grabbed some food from the markets before we caught the train again at 3:30pm. Overall, a very successful and fun trip and a great way to finish off my travels for the semester.

Sunday was more boring, I wrote papers the entire day...

Monday, I worked 9-5 and did a lot of verbates for NBC, including one that involved Hugh Grant and the phone hacking scandal. I also trained one of the news interns, very cool that I now know enough to be able to do that!

Tuesday, I went to classes, had a nice time just hanging out at a cafe for lunch, and had my final theatre class. London as Theatre Center - definitely one of the best classes the London Program offers. That night, Allie and I went to Phantom of the Opera! Ok, seriously best thing ever. So phenomenal. It changed my world. I've been singing the songs ever since in my head.

Wednesday was my last day at NBC! I did a bunch of errands, including tracking down a DVD at a store in London and making multiple trips to a cake shop in order to attain cupcakes and cakes and other baked goods. It was bittersweet leaving NBC. I'm glad to have finished a successful internship, but I got to do so many awesome things working there! Later, Zack and I ate some kebabs and then headed off to Les Mis! We stopped by a pub beforehand and then grabbed standby tickets (tickets they sell to students an hour before the show at a really cheap price). We got tickets in the center, sixth row, for 27 pounds each! Our seats were actually incredible. The show was so good! I didn't really know the story beforehand but I definitely need to download all the songs immediately. Also, every single word in the play was sung, which was very interesting.

Thursday was a crazy but awesome day! I had my final theology class (thank God - no pun intended), met with the internship coordinator regarding my internship, then rushed off to the Globe for rehearsal before our performance. The performance of Macbeth kicked off at 6pm and almost the entire London Program came to attend. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences I have ever had, and so much fun. The performance went off so successfully and everyone seemed to really like it. I never thought I would be able to say I performed scenes on Shakespeare's Globe! Ahhh, I seriously wish I could do that for the rest of my life! After the performance, the London Program rented out a pub for the night where to got some free food and bought some drinks to celebrate the end of the semester. It was a great time and the pub had a great atmosphere. We returned to Conway Hall to get ready to go out, and different rooms were having Christmas celebrations. We played some classic tunes and wore Santa hats and then went out for a final hoorah at O'Neills. It was a good time.

Friday, Zack and I went to have tea at an extremely classy establishment in the heart of downtown. It was on the fourth floor of this nice department store, and they had over 130 different kinds of tea and many delicious things to eat such as scones, little sandwiches, desserts, tarts, etc. We devoured all of it and were stuffed and each enjoyed a different tea. Mine was Russian and in this giant fancy teapot and was really good. Definitely a British experience to say the least, and something I could get used to if I make enough money in my future!

Some of the goodies during tea, we had already eaten half of them at this point...

That night, we stayed in and watched a movie. I was still recovering from my crazy week. Saturday, I got up and went shopping on Oxford Street for some Christmas presents. Oxford Street is so festive and crazy busy during the holidays! The roads were all closed and there were people everywhere. I had a very successful shopping trip and came home to get ready for drinks and dinner with Jon's uncle. We met up with Alan, as we called him, at a pub and shared some drinks before going to dinner with Jon, Zack, Collin, Allie, Allison, Katie and me. Very ideal group. We went to this place called Gaucho. Let's just say they took our coats when we came in, had flaming torches as lighting and had cow hide on the walls. Definition of classy. We enjoyed some delicious food. Probably the second best meal I've had in London, second to the first meal I had with Jon's uncle! We came home and Zack made some cherry jubilee (flames included) to finish off the night. This day almost happened to be the one year anniversary for Zack and me, so he surprised me with some goodies. Zack, when you control-f your name in my blog to find it, know that the goodies were much appreciated!

Today, Sunday, everyone is busy studying for finals. Everyone except me! I have one final, and am not too stressed out about it to be honest. It's in theology, which has never been my favorite, so there's only so much I can do to prepare for this one! I've been procrastinating studying by hitting up the South Bank Chocolate Festival, doing laundry, skyping, blogging right now... Anyway, we have a flat secret santa tonight which should be a good time.

And we leave on Thursday! WHAT?! What happened to this semester?! Where did it go?! I will most likely write one or two more blog posts to reflect on my entire experience once I get back in America, but all I know is that studying abroad in London was the best decision ever. I have never had this much fun or learned so much in my entire life. From the amazing classes I got to take, to crazy travel experiences, to working at NBC, to living on South Bank, to hitting up every market and festival in sight, to going to some of the greatest clubs in the world, I can now confidently say that London is my favorite city in the world. As much as I am excited to return to the land of the American dollar and Taco Bell, I will miss London so much. Anyone who is contemplating studying abroad should go for it, without a doubt. You won't regret it.

Thanks for the best semester ever, London. I've had the time of my life.