Back in Black

Betcha weren't expecting to see me again, huh?

Well, turns out I'm moving to China (holy shit!), and I thought it was time to dust off the ole' travel journals.

Expect to see something more useful... eventually.

Another Winter Day Has Come and Gone Away (Paris)

Sorry for the wait, everyone. I’ve needed some time to recover back in the States.

So anyways…Paris.

Paris was a slow week but we did a few cool things. The food was really good in general, and I had a crepe and French Onion Soup almost every day. The Louvre was beautiful, and the Musee d’Orsay was pretty cool too. I’ve been chasing Monets all over the world.

The room with the Mona Lisa is pretty crazy.

We also, of course, did the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame. The Ferris wheel at the end of the Champs Elysses was very nice and there are Christmas markets everywhere right now. My favorite was outside Sacre Coeur.

Christmas Market at Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur at Sunset

View of Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame at Night

View of Champs Elysses and Arc de Triomphe from Ferris Wheel

Seeing the Palais Garnier, the opera house that inspired Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera, was really cool. It was an ornate as one would expect. I loved it.

The ceiling in the theater, with the famous chandelier.

We also spent one day at Disneyland Paris.

Paris was nice, but it’s not on my list of places to go back to. Things were overpriced and overdone, to me. Perhaps it doesn’t help that I just don’t like French. Getting by in German, Italian and Spanish was easier for me, personally. I really wanted to see a few things in the Normandy region, though, so maybe next time.

 Getting back to the States was surreal. I celebrated with a giant Frappuccino.

 I desperately miss Europe, but I’m glad to be home for Christmas.

So ends another chapter. Thanks for reading, everyone ~

Glad You Came

Today is my last day at Harlaxton Manor. Tomorrow, I go to London, and the next day will be the last time I step foot in the UK for a long time. That being the sad truth, here is my official farewell blog.

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A month ago, I was excited to go home. Now, I’m feeling the same trepidation about getting on the plane as I was in late August.

Pretty soon, I’ll be back in the States. I’ll get funny looks when I ask for hot tea with milk. I’ll have to stop spelling words with extra “u”s, and change all of my “s”s back into “z”s. Pence will be cents again. Everyone will drive on the wrong side of the road, that is to say, on the right. The dry wit will disappear. The Indian food won’t taste right and the fish and chips won’t even come close.

No longer will I play sardines in a Victorian manor on boring nights. No longer will I take spontaneous weekend trips to the continent. The streets won’t be cozy but wide, and parking will actually exist. So will indoor heating that works, but I won’t wake up to a view of the English countryside.

I am leaving England, and it’s more surreal than arriving was.

It’s hard to measure how far I’ve come this semester, but writing a farewell blog, it seems appropriate to try. I can quote all kinds of European history that I never knew before, and I’ve read more literature than I care to even think about. I’ve made some amazing friends. I feel stronger. I guess surviving the gauntlet of moving to a foreign country, having travel fiascos all semester, school work, homesickness, drama, and going hungry in the refectory can do that. This semester has proven to me how much more I am capable of.

Well, I’m happy to be going home soon (visiting Paris first!) but I wouldn’t trade this for anything. In trying to keep the trite yearbook-ish sayings to a minimum, I’ll be short. There is little I have done for myself in this lifetime more worthwhile than these past four months. I will miss everything about this place, and carry it with me throughout my life. As Dr. Kinglsey has famously made us sing this semester, “Someone bless these seeds I sow…til the rains come tumbling down.”

Well, England weather has started in earnest now, so I guess our time has come.

Farewell, Harlaxton.

May you see many future generations.

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Jesus, there’s so much I could still say. I made so many friends! We got into so much trouble! We have a few songs that are now so special to us. We’ve all been teary for a week and tomorrow it will be the last time we all wake up in the same Manor. It really is like they say: "The nights I'll never remember with the friends I'll never forget."

My Window in December

 This semester is finally done. I got a chunk of my literature requirements out of the way, mostly. That entailed something like 12 Shakespeare plays, 3 other plays, 3 epics, 6 short stories, 6 novels, 10 poems, and a textbook on British history. I’m kind of amazed it all got done.

I’ve watched summer change to winter, and the next class will get to watch the opposite. How can a semester go so quickly? Did I really go to all of those places in just five months?

My Window in August

 Leaving is incredibly bittersweet. All the same, I’m excited to see the family on the way, and expect to see an update once I’m home for all of the Paris adventures!

Until then, packing means the room became a fort.

World at Large

Well, readers, here's a funny thing about me: I love taking photos of benches. I enjoy the linear quality and playing with those angles. So, I've prepared a tour of Europe for you composed entirely of benches I saw this term.

Without further preamble...

Runnymeade, Great Britain

Stratford, Great Britain

Edinburgh, Scotland, Great Britain

Harlaxton Manor, Great Britain

Holy See (Vatican)

Frankfurt, Germany

Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain

Tarragona, Catalunya, Spain

Sitges, Catalunya, Spain

Montserrat, Catalunya, Spain

Conwy, Wales, Great Britain 

And, a few places I've been, but not this semester...

Ephesus, Turkey 2008

St. Andrews, Scotland, Great Britain 2008

Anyways, that's all :) Hope you enjoyed.