ready for this?!

last night, well, actually 5 hours ago, Kristen and I said goodbye to the American friends we made as they drove off to the airport. It was very sad to see them go, and even weirder to not be with them. But, we're off. Katy, Erin, and Becca got here last night and we leave very shortly for London where we'll catch the train to Paris! and then...the itinerary.

chelt to london, london to paris, paris to venice, venice to rome, rome to athens, athens to london, london to chelt, chelt to london, london to dallas, dallas to home! ♥ let the adventure commence! :)

can't wait to tell you all about it! 

home in about 11 days!

photo blog entry...I think so! :)

Happy December everyone! :)  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and has a great Holiday season! 

Here's what has happened...

it's already December and I leave for an amazing adventure with the MC girls in about a week! I cannot wait to see the girls again and travel with them! We are going on the train under the water from London to Paris, Paris to Venice, Venice to Rome, and Rome to Athens. From Athens we will fly back to London, and then home! :) I'm the living embodiment of the movie "I'll Be Home for Christmas!"  :) I cannot wait. Especially right now. Since the semester is officially winding down, I have 4 papers, one down, 3 to go.  I'm writing writing writing....

promise I'll describe the photos soon! 

love youuuuu

update:

MOM AND DAD COME IN LESS THAN A WEEK!!!!!

can you tell I'm excited?!

IRELAND!!!!!!

IRELAND!!!!!!!! :)

On Friday morning at 2:45 AM, a taxi picked Kristen and I up from Regency Halls, where we live, and drove us to Bristol International Airport (about a 45 minute drive).  We had a very nice old man driver named Roy, who was very talkative, but also observed our lack of wanting to converse, so we had a quiet drive. :) (A back story to this, Kristen and I had not slept at all yet. We did try, but to no avail.) Anyways, when we arrived at the airport, we got there really early for our 6:30 flight. So, we checked in and then waited. Since we were both so tired, we were pretty much delirious. Everything was funny. We gave in and got some coffee and just had some good laughs as we people watched for 2 hours.  We then were called to our gate, and in England, you walk on the runway to the plane.  We got on the plane and were off, on our way to Ireland! I have an iPod touch, which looks like an iPhone, which caused me many problems with the flight attendant lady who kept yelling at me to turn off my phone. "But, it is an iPod!" So...long story short,  I didn't sleep on the short flight either.

After we landed in Ireland, we found a bus that would take us to the middle of the city and got on.  When we were dropped off outside of Trinity College a big rush of deja vu hit me, once again.  I had been here before and I knew where we were. We looked up the directions to our hostel and set off. When we found it we crossed our fingers and hoped they would let us in early, for it was only 9AM, so that we could sleep, since we had now been up for 24 hours! AHHH!

The man at the desk was SO nice! He was from New Zealand and we explained to him that we had a booking under a name of a girl that wasn't with us, but that would be arriving later that night and could we please get in and sleep? He laughed and said of course. He gave us our keys and was so friendly, Kristen and I were so thankful and relieved.  We made our way up to our room, found it, climbed into bed, and slept! (because we were so tired, some things happened while we were napping, but it is all in a dream-like state, that I don't really remember them!) haha

Anyways, after we were somewhat, emphasis on the somewhat, refreshed, we grabbed some lunch and met up with Katy, Erin, and Jules, and a friend of theirs from their school in Derry named Michelle, at Trinity College. We said our hellos and then set off to the guinness factory! :)

It took us awhile and a lot of walking to find it. But, when we got there, we met up with another one of Katy's friends from the summer, named Sam.  We then went on the Guinness Factory tour.  (As many of you probably already know, or have tried for yourself, Guinness is NASTY!) gross. But, it was a really interesting place, and cool to see how the national drink is made. We were given a free pint at the end, which I ended up passing off to someone else, for that drink is disturbingly disgusting. 

After the tour, we had a reservation for something that I found while researching what to do in Dublin, which was a Traditional Irish Pub Crawl.  We figured we were going to be late if we walked all the way back, so we ended up getting in a horse drawn carriage! :) Since there was 7 of us, I ended up sitting up front with the driver, and learning all about his horse, Molly. I laugh about it now. When we got to Temple Bar street, we found the pub we were supposed to meet at and waited for the fun to begin. (This musical pub crawl was the best event of the trip! I had so much fun on it!)  Two men from Dublin, who are musicians, take you to 3 pubs and sing nad play music while showing you some traditional Irish music. These two men were SO funny and we all had a blast! They even encouraged us to sing along with a song, and so the rest of the weekend, we had, "Oh never, oh never, oh never again, If I live to be a hundred or a hundred and ten, For I fell to the ground and couldn't get up, After drinking a quart of that 'Johnny Jump Up'!" in our heads. It was so much fun. At the end, they invited others to get up and sing a song, and Katy's friend, Sam, got up and sung a song, and the older women in the audience fell in love with him and became his back up singers. It was pretty much adorable.

  

We then went back to the hostel and slept.  The next day, Kristen went with Erin and Jules to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone, which I had done 2 years prior, so I opted out of that choice. Instead, Katy, Michelle, Sam and I explored the town of Dublin. Katy, Michelle, and I bout the Irish Claddagh ring, which is a symbol of love and friendship. (also, if you wear it one way, you are searching for love, and the other, you have found love).  It was really cool. We went to the National Gallery and looked at some Picasso, Renior, and Monet, and then went and saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was really cool.  Afterwards, we ate dinner in a pub and met up with the girls that went to the Blarney Stone, had a drink, and then crashed for the night.

 

On Sunday morning, we woke up and met at the tour place to take a day tour to Glendalough, which I have been to before, the Wicklow Mountains, and Kilkenny.  We drove to Glendalough first and explored the beauty of this medieval place, which was also a film set for the movie, Braveheart.  I ended up taking a picture on a rock, which I took a picture on 2 years ago.  

 Same spot, same picture, ...two years later!     

    

It was really cool to be there with my friends from MC again! We then went and explored the medieval capital of Ireland, Kilkenny.  It was a beautiful day that we were granted and we loved exploring the town and the grounds of the castle.  We then got back to Dublin that night and said good bye to the Ireland girls and called it an early night, because we had to get up at 4 in the morning the next day to catch our plane. Before we went to bed though, Kristen and I set out to find an Irish man to say a "hello" to her mom on video. We found two really nice guys, one from Dublin, the other from Lithuania, close, and they were so kind and said a nice message to Kristen's mom! It was fun!

We then got up the next morning at 4, caught the bus back to the airport, and landed back in Bristol at 9 in the morning. We got back to Cheltenham around 10 and I couldn't wait to sleep! :) It had been a long weekend! But, of course, on this day, they were testing all of the plumbing, electricity, and fire alarms of my dorm. So, not heat, no hot water, and no sleep. BUT! ....it was a wonderful weekend! :)

ALSO....this last Tuesday, the BCA group went to Stratford-Upon-Avon and watched Shakespeare's Twelfth Night! It was seriously one of the highlights of this trip! It was amazing to watch one of Shakespeare's works be performed in his hometown! :) AMAZING!

Afterwards, my friend Jenna was completely star struck and wanted their autographs, but was too shy to ask, so I did for her. We then got into a conversation with the actors about why we were here, where we were from, what we were studying, etc., when I noticed the rest of the group had left us.  We then ran through the streets of Stratford to catch our bus! :D It was an amazing night!

 <-- (this is the playbill that we got them to sign for Jenna!)

That's it for now...time is going by so fast. Today, marks the 2 month mark. I have been here for 2 months! I can't believe it! Pretty soon, my parents will be here, and then, before I know it, I'll be back at MC. But for now, I'm enjoying every moment here!

love you all!

week of Halloweeeeeen.....

These last two weeks have been SO eventful! Last Wednesday I went to Wales and got to see Tintern Abbey, which was one of the most amazing and beautiful places I have ever seen. For those of you who might not know, Tintern Abbey was the major inspiration for the poet William Wordsworth's poem, Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.  It is a beautiful place, and we lucked out because the sun broke through the clouds and shone through the windows of the Abbey. It was miraculous and I was so excited to do something that I had read about in class back at Manchester. (So, I'm a nerd.)

                                                                          

After Tintern Abbey, this past weekend, on Saturday, the BCA group was taken to Stonehenge. (It was also Halloween!) This was my second time being here, but it still is a magnificent site.  The mystery behind Stonehenge is really interesting as well. There are many stories about the significance of Stonehenge. It may have been an astronomical observatory or used for sacred rituals linked to the sun, successful crops or even the dead. But, in the end, we simply don’t know.  When Mom and Dad come, we are going to go back and see it, which will make the third time for me...so hopefully, after 3 times of walking around these rocks...I might gain some insight to their significance? :)

    After Stonehenge, we went to a town called Salisbury.  Here, we pretty much just hung out for 3 or so hours. Everyone was real tired, so we walked around town, there is a house there that they filmed Emma Thompson's Sense & Sensibility, which was neat, and then we relaxed in the nice weather and watched the swans. (Which are owned by the Queen, and if you kill one, well, "off with your head")  When we got back to Cheltenham, we got ready to partake in the Halloween festivities. Earlier in the week, Kristen and I, along with 3 other girls from our BCA group, dressed up as the Spice Girls. Kristen was Ginger and I was Baby. Ironic right? Americans, in England, dressing up as the British Spice Girls!!!?? :) But, for Halloween night, we pulled out all the stops. (not really) :) At the last minute, we decided to be cats. WOOT! Pretty much black cats and nerds are the easiest costumes...BAM! Instant Halloween. Anyways, we celebrated All Hallows Eve with some of the people in our dorms and of course, a fire alarm went off. It ended the night on a laughing matter. And that was Halloween.

And now, for this week. On Tuesday, WE WENT TO A MANCHESTER UNITED GAME!!!!!
 It was so cool! It was a reallllllyyyyyyy long drive though! We left Cheltenham at 3 in the afternoon, when the game started at 7:45.  Manchester is about two and a half hours from Cheltenham, so we figured we would get there early and enjoy the stadium before it filled up. Wrong. Apparently, there was a 40 mile traffic jam on the motor way that we had to take. We ended up missing kick off and getting to the game 30 minutes late. Not too bad. But we did drive for 5 hours! SOOOOO LONG! But it was worth it when Man United scored the tie goal with only a minute of so left in the game.  Manchester and Moscow tied the game at 3. And then, we got in the car for the long drive back! It was long, once again, because of a 30 mile traffic jam! But, our driver, a student here named Jack, was awesome and we owe it to him for driving us for that long. We didn't get back until 3 in the morning. But, like I said, worth it!   And now, it's the 5th of November, or Guy Fawkes day.  "Remember, remember, the 5th of November!" It's also known as Bonfire Night, and apparently tonight, (and most of this weekend) there should be tons of bonfires, where they burn an effigy of Fawkes. weirddddd. Anyways, many fireworks have already gone off and I assume will keep going. It's pretty outside my window, and it kind of reminds me of July 4th. But, we'll give this one to the Brits! :)

Kristen and I leave for Dublin, Ireland tonight at 2:45 AM! We're taking a taxi to the airport in Bristol and then when we arrive there, we are meeting up with Erin, Katy, and Julia again! Should be fun!

Until next time....

the longest post ever...

To my most devoted readers, Grandma & Aunt Yvonne, this LONG post, is for you two lovely ladies! :)

So, I am going to recount my last 4 weeks. In order. With pictures. Get ready! ....

On Saturday October 3rd, the BCA group was taken to the city of Bath. The historical site known for its natural hot springs, where many people flocked to religiously.  For me, it was my second time getting to see this beautiful place. And I loved it the second time around even more! It was nice to experience it with friends, new and old.  When we arrived in Bath, we were taken to a place called Sally Lunn's.  This is the oldest house in Bath. It is also the home of the famous Sally Lunn Bun! (A bun that was, at least, 5 inches in width that we ate with butter, clotted cream, and jam! Also served with the best tea I have ever had!)  It was delicious!

After eating our mighty breakfast, we were taken to the Roman Baths for the audio guided tour. The audio guide looks something like a big cellphone that you listen to around the entire place, and it is really informative.  They even had "actors" that would walk around the baths pretending to be in the Roman times. It was really cool.  

Although I have been to Bath before, this time around was even more special because I got to do a lot more in the town that I had when I came the first time.  For any of you Jane Austen fans, Austen lived in Bath for a few years, and it gave her the inspiration to write two of her famous books, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.  I got to visit the Jane Austen Center, which showed a lot of history on Austen and how she lived in Bath. I even got to see one of the houses that she lived in while in Bath.  For the English major, this was WONDERFUL!  After visiting Jane, we went to a place called the Royal Crescent. Which is a huge piece of land, which is covered, (only half way) by apartment buildings. Sounds weird, but it was beautiful! :) We ended our day in Bath successfully by finding this nice little cafe where they served us the most delicious panini sandwiches! 

That was weekend 1!

On Wednesday, October 7, a few BCA girls and I caught the 94U bus and took it to the next town over called Gloucester.  In this pretty town, there is a HUGE cathedral, where, wait for it, some of the HARRY POTTER films have been made!!!!! AHHHHH! :) We got to go to the cathedral and walk the hallways where immediately we recognized the sets from the movies! It was amazing! And, being with other Harry Potter lovers, it was such a fun day! And on top of all this, it was a BEAUTIFUL day out! It was meant to be! 

Done with week 2! :)

On Saturday, October 17th, Kristen and I went back to London for our second time, where we would meet my cousin, Mandy, and her friend, Anu, who had been traveling Europe for the past two weeks. (Back story) I promised Kristen I would write about this experience...

Friday night, October 16th...Kristen and I were eating dinner and planning out our trip for 

the next day, when she realized she had no idea where her credit card was. We searched her entire room! And, we made a 

HUGE mess! But, two hours later, many drawers and other things all over the ground, we found it, in her wallet, which we checked 3 times. SO...the moral...when something is lost, stay calm, look EVERYWHERE, and check everything multiple times! ;)

Anyways, the next morning we woke up and caught the 9:45 bus to London! When we got to Victoria Station, we met up with Mandy and Anu and were off.  We ate lunch at a pub called The Shakespeare. :) It was wonderful! I love being immersed in this culture! After lunch, we went to The British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone (2nd time!) and the other wonderful things. Something that is really great about London, the museums are FREE! It was really cool to see the museum again and experience it with my cousin and friends. (Side note: this is the SECOND time Mandy and I have met up in Lond

on. The last time was almost 2 years ago when I went on my January term trip and she was studying abroad in London. Now, our roles were reversed!)  After the museum, Kristen and I begged Mandy to take us to the Millennium Bridge, where, in the 6th Harry Potter movie, the bridge is destroyed by Death Eaters. (I feel like my entire study abroad experience has so

mething to do for my love of Harry Potter).  After crossing the bridge, Mandy showed us the Globe theatre, which is now closed, sad day, and the actual place where the real Globe stood before they tore it down.  It is so hidden in the city that many people don't even know about it! Afterwards, she took us to the OLDEST pub in London, called The George Inn where we all enjoyed a drink and some laughter.  It was at 7:10 that we realized we should probably hurry back to the station so we could catch our 8PM bus back to Cheltenham.  For some reason, the transportation system in London was crazy on Saturday night, and so, long story short, we ALMOST missed out bus. We pulled up to the station, by taxi, at 7:59, and ran to our gate. We ran on to the streets and caught our bus right before it was to leave the station. Close 

call, but we made it! :)

End of week 3!

 

And finally, this weekend! :) We're almost caught up!

On Thursday, October 22, our friends Katy, Erin, and Julia, who go to Manchester with us, and who are studying in Northern Ireland for the semester, came to visit us here in England! We picked them up from the rail station and it was SO WONDERFUL to see familiar faces! We went to dinner at a pub and then enjoyed catching up and hearing all about Ireland and them about England on Thursday night.  On Friday, after my classes, we all went to Gloucester Cathedral (my second time!) and experienced the thrill of Harry Potter again! :) hahaha. On Friday night we all got to go out together and have a good time! It was really nice to be reunited with the girls, even though we miss our girls back home! (WISH YOU WERE HERE!)

On Saturday, we took it easy and slept in! We then went and showed the girls around town! It was neat to see it through a newcomers eyes, as well as seeing some things I had never seen as well. We then made dinner together and watched a movie. 

Today, we woke up and went to Starbucks for a pick-me-up and breakfast! :) We then did some shopping and then went and explored Pittville Park, where there are still some hot springs. (Cheltenham is also known as Cheltenham Spa, because it also was a spa town, along with Bath, where people would come to enjoy the springs). After the park, the girls had to leave to catch their train back to the airport.  Kristen and I then went out to dinner with some of the other BCA girls to a T.G.I. Friday's (AMERICAN!) 

AND>.......you are now caught up in the life of Cambria abroad.

:)

oh! I've been working on my first paper of the semester, (I haven't written one since May!), and I spent 7 hours in the library writing it, and plan to devote my entire day to revising it tomorrow in the library again! It's due on Tuesday, where there is a WHOLE complicated procedure on how to turn in assignments. I'll let you know how it goes! :)

This coming Saturday, HALLOWEEN!, the BCA group is going to Stonehenge! It'll be really cool! 

Hope this suffices my devoted readers! :) Love you all!

-Cam

overdue: London, class, and new friendships!

I'm sorry it's been awhile since I last posted anything! There is just SO much to write about, I decided to save it all for now! :)

LONDON!!!

So, the back story on our trip to London, is that Kristen and I only got max 2 hours 

of sleep the night before. Mainly to do with laundry, (and our flatmates), but by 4:15, when the alarm went off, we weren't feeling to "bright". But we were on our way to LONDON! We ended up being on the bus with 9 other students from the BCA program who had decided to go to London that day as well.  We walked to the center of town to catch the bus and from there we were off!

The bus ride took a little over two hours from Cheltenham to Victoria Station in London. But, when you're tired, it flies by! 

When we arrived, it was around 8 in the morning and so we got to explore the morning light and life of the city. A group of us, some of our new friends, walked from the station to Big Ben. Meanwhile, thanks to Dad and the blackberry, I ordered tickets for all of us to get in to Buckingham Palace for a tour, because we learned that it closed on September 30. So, kudos to the blackberry. Our tickets were for the 12:15 and the changing of the guards was going to take place at 11:30. So, we had time to kill.

So, we took pictures...When we got to Westminster Abbey, a whole rush of deja vu hit me. Not even two years ago had I stood in the same place. I am a very lucky girl. Thank you parents. But, the weather was a lot nicer on this trip to London than the last. 

We walked across the bridge to get a better look at Ben and the London Eye. It was really cool to be there with all of these friends, new and old. It's moments like this when you realize, "Oh yeah, I'm in England!"  After we took a million and one photos, some of the group went to go look inside Westminster Abbey, and the rest of us walked the streets of London a bit more.

We met up at 11 to walk back to Buckingham Palace. And when we got there, it was packed! I was glad I had seen the changing before, because being short was not to my advantage this day. I used my camera to see what was happening. But, everyone was real excited to see this special event. The flag was also flying on top if the Palace, which we heard means

 that Queen Liz is in. Cool. 

After watching the guards, we walked to the side entrance and started out tour. Sadly, you aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so it's a mental picture memory. But, the palace is gorgeous, and HUGE! There are over 200 rooms and each is more beautiful and extravagant than the next.  We took the state room tours, which are guided by individual headphones for each person. The tour lasted around 2 hours, and was a real nice treat to the day. But, it tired us out! When you exit the Palace, you are in the back at the gardens, where you then walk for awhile to get back to the streets. The gardens, (and these were the ones public can see, so who knows what the Queen's Gardens look like), are 

GORGEOUS!

And it was a lovely day on top if everything, so it made it even more fantastic.

After the tour, Kristen, Khouri, and I decided to walk to Covent Gardens which is a nice little shopping area. Here, we ate a late lunch and then decided that it was time to walk back.

We met everyone at the station, and got on the bus, and made our way back. It was a long day, and so it felt glorious to be back "home".  It's funny how the term 'home' becomes part of your vocabulary after only such a short time of being away from your "real home".

And that was our London trip... :)

So, this week we started to dive into the planning stages of where we would like to travel while we are here.

Kris and I got a hold of our friends Katy and Erin who are studying abroad in Northern Ireland this semester to plan some trips with them. They are going to come visit us near the end of October, and the first weekend on November, we all are going to meet in Dublin! We all can't wait to see each other! It'll be great to see familiar faces!

Kristen and I are also planning on another trip to London where a friend of mine, Kevin, lives. We will stay with him for the weekend and, to our luck, my cousin Mandy will be visiting at the same time. This will be the second time that I see Mandy in London. The last time, two years ago, I was traveling while she was studying abroad, and now the roles have switched. Funny how things work out, right? 

Also, my parents told me this week that they booked their flight to come visit me in November! I can't wait to share this experience with them! (Dad's convinced he's going to rent a car and drive all over...we'll see)  But, since neither of them have been here, it'll be really neat to show them around!

Classes have been getting more and more interesting, pending on the fact that I've only had 2 of each... but still, it feels good to be a student again! And today, my American Literature class was a lot of fun! Our homework for class for today was to read the Declaration of Independence,...interesting. And then today in class, our tutor was sick so she had a sort of substitute come in, who in fact, was American. We then discussed with her and the rest of the class, who are all British, besides two other girls and I, what it means to be an American. It was really interesting to hear what they had to say.

And on a good note...IT'S FRIDAY! :) Another week down. I can't believe we've been here for 3 weeks, and I left home 4 weeks ago. Time really does fly.

Tomorrow the BCA group is being taken to Bath. It'll be nice to see everyone again. 

And then on Sunday, some of us are planning on going to Gloucester to see the Cathedral where some of the Harry Potter scenes were shot. (side note: Sonny, aka Slumdog, or kid across the hall, was an extra in the HP movies. nice! Also, he's in some wii commercials here! I'm living next to a star!) Gotta love England!

love.