I was feeling a little bit French today. Take me back to Paris.

Today we went to Idaho. And came back. All in about 12 hours. We started the journey at 6am. Bright and early! We drove three hours in the RV with a group of 15 people. We slept, played tetris on the N64 , played cards and watched movies all while in the RV. We made it to Lava, Idaho and got right into the hot springs there immediately. It was so cold out that the pools made us look like we were aging because our hair would turn white and freeze. There were a few different pools that varied in temperatures. It was the best!

Made It

Traveling is rough:

11:30pm Scottish time- go to bed.

3:30am- wake up.

4:30am- load bus.

5:00am- arrive at the airport in Glasgow and say goodbyes

6:00am- wait in line to check in for flight.

find out flight is delayed.

find out the plane hasn't even left the States.

find out our flight will be five hours late for leaving.

Around 7:00am to 1:30pm- wander around Glasgow airport.

sleep on a bench.

get some food with the voucher they gave us.

sit.

people watch.

wait.

1:45pm-board plane.

2:15pm- plane leaves.

watch The Lucky One.

watch The Avengers.

watch 30 Rock.

watch Hunger Games.

sleep.

sit.

wait.

4:30pm Newark time- arrive.

4:30 to 6:00pm- go through customs.

welcomed into the US.

go through security.

leave phone at security,

run through the airport to get phone.

call my mom (phone works now!)

get parfait. 

6:10pm- board plane.

6:45pm- plane leaves.

sit.

listen to music.

read.

sleep.

9:45pm Portland time- plane arrives. 

jet way malfunctions and we are stuck a foot away.

get that fixed.

leave plane.

greeted by parents.

get luggage.

say goodbye to my traveling buddy, Mckenna.

10:30pm- leave airport.

11:00pm- arrive home.

Over 24 hours of traveling and hundreds of miles. I am home. 

From Scotland to Portland.

Journey

    Not much to report for today. Which I knew would happen. I mean, we leave tomorrow. (I can’t believe we leave tomorrow.) And so we went to church, drove around Scotland’s countryside, visited Loch Lomond and checked into our hotel in Glasgow.  Packing was a high priority of the day. Most important Tetris game of my life. (Why did I buy some much!?) Kind of stressful because we have no scale, so who knows what my luggage weighs… I guess we will see tomorrow. (TOMORROW! I leave tomorrow. I think I am in denial.) 
    I know it is cliché but the only way to describe it is bittersweet. I have made friendships and memories that I know will last a life time. The big things like the castles, cathedrals and museums were important and really changed my perspective on the world. That aside, I don’t want to forget the little things. Card games like Moa, where Anne got a dozen or more penalty cards for “spreading germs”, randomly dancing in nearly every country we went to, hardcore parkour down the streets or England, watching Olympics, Dr. Eddington’s jokes over the microphone on the bus, Dr. Dewey always running everywhere, 360 degree photoshoots with Anne, buying so much chocolate and other crazy things we did. The trip really has changed me. Not in a way that those around me may notice, but I have seen a difference. My whole world has opened up. I know myself better, I know the world better, I think I understand life just a little bit more. Let’s just say, no one will understand all I have seen and done, and that is just fine. I realized this trip was about myself. I mean, when am I ever going to have a time like this again in my life? It has been so great. Survive and thrive is what Anne and I always said. It was tough, worth it, hard, awesome, crazy, and the best journey ever. 

 This is Caleb. He is my professors son and he is awesome.

Loch Lomond.

Nessie is My New Best Friend

   Lots of riding in the coach today. Scotland is gorgeous though. Rivers, and streams, and waterfalls, and mountains, and valleys and hills and even hairy cows. I just sat out and stared out my window in awe. I kept taking pictures of all the beauty but I mean, they were from the seat of the bus so they don’t look so great. The highlight of the day was our stop at Loch Ness. Whaa whaa. I am now best friends with Nessie. We were able to go down to the water’s edge and put our hands in, and even skip some rocks. An embarrassing story of the day was that I accidentally hit my professor’s son with a rock in his arm while I was teaching him how to skip rocks. Oops. He was fine though. I promise! We are staying in Inverness tonight, the town in beautiful. Reminds me of Cork out on the water front. And Anne, Meg and I had the best smoked ham chowder. No complaints here. 

 One of the many stops we made on our drive. 

Our first Nessie sighting.

 The beginning of Loch Ness.

 Hey, I am in Scotland.

Loch Ness and fun times with Nessie!

In the Motherland for Independence Day

   I am in love. London is the best. I might not come home. My apartment has wood floors and a window facing the street that shows the trees and the people and London life. We have a cute bathroom and beautiful kitchen. It looks like it was recently redone and everything is just so nice, clean and pretty. I don't even mind that I had to lug my suitcases up seven flights including a semi spiral like one. It was worth it. It is perfect. I am living with Anne, Meg and Jessica and our room is big! After we scoped out the flat we immediately started unpacking. No more living out of suitcases! We each have a closet, some drawers and a little night stand. So perfect. The place we are staying is super posh. Their words not mine. Apartments in this neighborhood go for 130 million pounds, you can rent a flat for 200,000 pounds a week. A WEEK. Kensington Palace is a stone throw away so that means William and Kate will be our neighbors soon enough.
   I guess I should talk about what I spent the beginning of my Independence Day doing before moving into the flats. We went to visit Windsor Castle. This is were the Queen and other royalty stay quite often. It was huge! And very ornate and beautiful. You can't take pictures inside but believe me it was very royal.
   We made it to our apartment and I won't bore you with more details about how beautiful it is. I swear I have done that enough. But because today is the 4th of July we decided to have a party. We made Frankfurt's, had fruit platter and very patriotic strawberry's. It was fun to be all together on the first night and to celebrate the American holiday! We sung Proud to be an American and other Patriotic songs at the top of our lungs. And maybe a little Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. We also watched some firework shows on Youtube so it was an all out traditional 4th of July party! Just study abroad style. 

 Windsor Palace. 

 Our flat.

 My bed by the window!

 Kitchen and bathroom.

 McKenna is such the little homemaker. 

 Food. 

 Singing Star Spangled Banner.

The whole group!

Where is Mr. Darcy at?

   Stonehenge was the first stop of the day. It was pretty cool to see because I feel like I have grown up always seeing pictures and then it was like BAM! here I am. The thing about Stonehenge though is they don't know a lot about it and it is just some rocks in the middle of nowhere. You just walk around and take some pictures and call it good. There was an audio tour to go along with it but I am kind of tired of listening to people talk so I thought I would just enjoy the view instead.
   Then we made our way to the land of Jane Austen. I have loved reading Pride and Prejudice but I wouldn't consider myself a huge Jane Austen fan. After learning more about her life I appreciate her work so much more. She never married, she died 41 years old and was not well to do. Seeing this house, watching Becoming Jane, and watching the movie they showed before seeing her house made everything more meaningful. We also practiced writing with a quill. It is very difficult! I could not imagine writing novels with one. I could barely get out a few words. We also watched Sense & Sensibility as well as Pride & Prejudice on the bus today. I pretty much want to go home and read and watch all her works now. It also might have to do with the fact I am in England and love it here. Probably a mixture of all the above. 
   We managed to have some random fun in the rain today too. Playing on the swings in the park, as well as on a rope swing that we probably could have died on. We ran after some sheep, Molly almost jumped over the fence when we were pushing her on the rope swing, and Shayla fell off the teeter totter. We took some pictures on a log and Dr. Dewey walked by as we were doing a model shot. Good timing. A wee bit embarrassing. It was Dr. Eddington's birthday so we wrote, practiced, and performed a birthday rap for him on the bus. We went to an Italian restaurant in which we were the only ones there. Most of us split a pizza and it was divine. All of us seem to have a sweet tooth, we walked 10 minutes in the rain to Tesco for some ice cream. Totally worth it. Good day, good day.

Stonehenge. 

 Jane Austen's house. 

Trying to get to the sheep.

Welcome to England!

   I loved today. I adore England. I loved Bath. We were given extra time this morning to soak in every last every few minutes of Wales. And by soak, I mean it literally because it rained and rained. We walked around Cardiff and did some last minute shopping before we said goodbye to Wales. I can’t believe I already have two countries checked off. I feel that I have been gone forever but it also seems to be flying by.

   As we drove to Bath and crossed over into England we watched Becoming Jane on the bus. How appropriate is that? I had never seen it before so it definitely got me in the mood for England! Jane Austin used Bath a lot in her writing so it was a perfect introduction into the city. Bath is so adorable. The streets and shops were great. I just loved the whole vibe of it.  I also had the world’s best cream of chicken soup. Like seriously people. Come to Bath just for the soup. Not that I am an expert on cream of chicken soup or anything but it was amazing. And I probably could be an expert now. Definitely much needed warmth after walking through the rain all day.

   The Roman Baths were pretty neat too. The Roman Baths were a destination spot many years ago for the Romans. Hence the name, Roman Baths. They were a place of worship and of healing. We were given a self-guided audio tour while we explored the whole building. You can’t touch the waters that are there because they are not healthy but at the end of the tour they give you really warm gross water to drink that is filtered bath water. Hopefully it heals us because everyone seems to be falling apart as of late. A lot of the girls have been getting sick. Cross your fingers it doesn’t come to me!

Shopping in Cardiff, Wales.

 Rainy rainy Bath.

 The Roman Baths.

Anne and I shopping in Bath.