I'm coming home...

I feel horrible for not updating you all this week. It has been a crazy crazy week of red bull, study guides, exams, eating on the go and turning in the last of my papers. The last 24 hours have been so bittersweet. Everyone is so sad to be leaving but happier than you can imagine to go and be home with their families for the break.

It is 3:35 am here, and I have to be up in 3 hours to get to the airport.....good news....all my stuff fit!!

I love you all so so much, and will post pictures asap when I get home.

Thank you as always for all your love and support, I would not have had such a happy and wonderful 4 months here without it.

Lots of love and hugging soon :o)

-Kate

Home from Rome...last day of classes tomorrow!

Wow, it's really coming to an end. I spent last night disposing of shoes that couldn't survive Rome, backpacks that have too much dirt from Vesuvius, and sweaters that frankly the washing machine tore to shreds. I'm cleaning and clearing the way to pack...I have some amazing memories, and I still have ten days left!

Rome was incredible. We got to see the Pope!! He blessed the people on Sunday in over eight languages....it was amazing. We toured the inside of the Colosseum for over 3 hours, saw the Trevi all lit up at night, saw a wedding taking place in the Pantheon, climbed St. Peter's Basilica (544 steps), and ate just about every kind of Italian food you dream about (pasta, lasagna, pizza, espresso, gelato, pizza, wine, olives, caprese, pizza....more pizza). We popped our heads in every church that we came across, probably near 15, they're all stunning. Rome is so beautiful, incredibly romantic and breathtaking. I have some great pictures to post in the next two days and cannot wait to write all about it.

Anyways I'm just figuring out my lists of things left to do and see here. There's still so much....and lots of stuDYING and packing to do.

Miss you all, perhaps a little less now that I know I'm seeing you sooooooo soon :o)

Lots of love,
Kate

A London Thanksgiving

It has thus far been an amazing Thanksgiving. Tim and I got an early start on the day and got student tickets 10th row for The Lion King tonight! We then headed across town about ten minutes to St. Pauls for the 'American mass of Thanksgiving'. The Ambassador for the US gave part of the homily and exclaimed that it is the best day filled with 'the best food, people and sports'...I think everyone is missing American Football today. The cathedral was filled to the brim, thousands of people crammed in wall to wall as the London American community came together to celebrate. The sun has been shining since first thing this morning and came seeping in through the windows of St. Pauls, it was beautiful...London feels so much my home it is wonderful to come together as a community for the holiday.

I am off to class right now, then packing for Rome tomorrow morning. The dining hall is having a full Thanksgiving meal for dinner...and its FREE (my favorite word) so after that Tim and I will be off to The Lion King!!! I'm so excited!

This is a brief note I know, but I want you all to know I'm having a wonderful Thanksgiving and can only hope you have the most amazing day with each other.

As every year, I'm most thankful for you :o)

Lots of love,
xoxo
Kate

PS Hope we'll be skyping later!!!!!

3 weeks!

Hi!!

I'm sorry I'm trying to update as much as I can, lack of camera and the closing of the term are preventing me from doing so as much as I'd like. Some stories may just have to wait until I'm home. I will definitely write about this weekend tomorrow though! Thursday I walked with Tim for about 4 hours around the city trying to find scenes around the city for our History of London class. It's getting chilly but I can't help but try and walk the city as much as I can in the closing weeks. Friday was getting some work done, St. Pauls for evening mass and then walking Fleet Street, Covenant Garden and Leicester Square in the evening. Saturday I walked to Notting Hill and shopped Portobello Road market with Tim, Stu and his fiance, Bri, who is visiting. Then we headed to Clapham Common amongst massive tube closings for Tapas.

I'm trying to do as much as I can these next 3 weeks. I'm heading to Rome on Friday with Tim for 3 nights. I'm excited to get pictures and see the Vatican!

Still trying to get a lot done is hard, we're all really bogged down with final papers and presentations. Please forgive my lack of chit-chat...I promise to update as much as I can, and if not will bring photo albums and stories for Christmas :o)

Lots of love,
xoxo,
Kate

Amsterdam

Hello!

So last weekend was Amsterdam. Tim, Ashley and I had an awesome time. Flying from Heathrow airport made us feel like we had money as we usually use the far away airports that fly budget airlines (Stansted, Gatwick or Luton). Heathrow is nice and easy because you can take the Picadilly Underground all the way to the Terminal from here in Kensington, pretty nice!! Anyways we left around 7am, and got to Amsterdam by around 1p.m. The nice think about not packing heavy and just carrying backpacks is it saves so much time checking your bag and having to wait for it after the flight. So once in Amsterdam we grabbed some food and then headed from the airport to the center of the city by train. (figuring out the train system in every city has been an adventure, I have now ridden local train transportation in Barcelona, Paris, London, and Amsterdam.

So we figured our way to the Crowne-Plaza by 2pm, the streets of Amsterdam are really easy to navigate. We decided that a nap was a good idea and enjoyed the comfort of non-dorm beds for a change!! We awoke to head off into the city and explore for dinner and the nightlife. Amsterdam doesn't sleep that's for sure, and you get that impression even at the very beginning of the night. We found a place for dinner and then headed off to explore the bars and see that famous 'red light district'....well if you've been to Amsterdam it certainly is an experience, that's for sure! Anyhow we ended up having a really good night and heading back to the hotel after enjoying some late night waffles (which they are famous for as well).

Next morning alarm clocks failed us and we ended up sleeping til just after noon - which we ended up not being too too upset about as on most trips its 'go, go, go' it was nice to relax on a trip. We got ready and headed out for a late lunch across the way at a pub. Unfortunately the entire time we were there it rained and was slightly freezing but at this point on Saturday we decided we needed to accomplish something in terms of seeing the city so we rented 'yellow bikes' and headed off to explore. Okay first, biking in Amsterdam is dangerous....there are more bikes than cars and there is an entire lane of every road for bikes. It's crazy! We basically biked down to where the Van Gogh Museum is and where the 'I AMsterdam' sign should have been , but they removed it for the first time in months as there was a function or soemthing. We followed the canals exploring back streets and even came across a candlelight march against hate crimes which was interesting. Also, nice part about Amsterdam is everyone speaks English!

We ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe for a 3 hours dinner a little bit later. It is located right on one of the canals so it was the perfect place to warm up and grab some food! At the end of dinner we made our way to a bar for a few drinks and decided to call it a night early. Sunday morning was waking up to go souvenir shopping and enjoy the sun for the first time all weekend. Sadly all good things must come to an end and we had to make our way to the airport for a 3pm flight home. Amsterdam was definitely a lot of fun, and a nice weekend was had by all.

Here are some pictures from our trip, as it rained almost the whole time the cameras weren't pulled out as much as normal:


I'm jealous as Thanksgiving approaches for all the fun you will have! I hope you have an amazing time together!!

Holidays are here in London

Really quick entry. I walked Oxford Street tonight! They had the official 'light ceremony' last night but I was in class. I grabbed some pictures it is really beautiful!

Anyways I'm definitely off to Amsterdam in the morning! So I shall talk to you all on Sunday!

Okay I have come out of my shell of embarrassment over missing out on Dublin. I was lucky that Tim was there for fall break so he took me through photos and postcards....it's almost as though I went myself...but not quite, it's an adventure for another time.

I have posted my fall break update below...it's quite long but I've sectioned it off my city so you can read some and come back to it later. I'll have to tell you all about my weekly trips the past three weeks later I want to give you all a chance to read below but two weeks ago I climbed to the top of St. Pauls, last week was Sommerset house and this week was Greenwich! I got to stand on the Prime Meridian! Really cool. Anyways I'm off to the gym and packing up for Amsterdam tomorrow....I double checked the flight date/time...so we're good.

*4 weeks, 2 days*....unbelievable...still so much to do!

Lots of love,
Kate

Fall Break

Mediterannean Cruise


Okay so I've decided to do the cruise this way...I originally typed out the first two days and it was sooooo long, almost as long as my Wales entry. So I'm just going to post brief descriptions and pictures and would love to talk to you more about it when I get home, because there's just so much to tell...so many great things that I got to see. Anyhow I'll post brief descriptions of each city/day/port etc. with the pictures I've stolen from my friends! Sorry it took so long, the semester has really picked up and things have gotten so busy.

Day 1 - Villefranche/Nice/Monaco/Monte Carlo
The first day we woke up off the coast of Southern France at a port called Villefranche. First impressions of the French Rivera...you need to win a few lotteries to live down there. Bill gates recently bought a house there, it's the most expensive house in the world now officially (550 million?....something crazy like that). Anyways the port if gorgeous and it almost looks like a movie set its so perfect and colorful. We make our way along the coast to Monaco, the smallest sovereign state next to the Vatican in Rome. It is the wealthiest place in Europe, lots of tax benefits if you live there but you need tons and tons of money obviously. We saw the roads where the Formula One tracks are for racing...it is literally the streets of Monaco. You can hear the engines of the ferraris making their way around the streets. You can rent one for one loop of the track for something like 200 Euros. Anyways it was a beautiful day! We made it up the hilltop to Monte Carlo which is a lot smaller than you would think. I played slots and walked when I was up 1 Euro! The tour driver talked a lot about Grace Kelly, she is Monaco's Princess Diana. We saw the church she was buried in and also the Palace of Monaco.

Port of Villefranche in the morning
Race Track of Formula One on the streets of Monaco

Driving up Villefranche looking back over the port...our ship is the furthest/biggest oneMonte Carlo!

Palace of Monaco.
Day 2: Pisa/Florence, Italia!!
So quickly having switched from Spanish/Catalan in the cab in Barcelona, then French in Monaco, now we were onto Italian! We pulled into the port of Livorno in northern Italy. We hopped a but that would bring us to Pisa and Florence for the day. Our first stop was Pisa...we got to see the leaning tower! It really is funny walking up to the tower watching everyone doing 'the pose' for their cameras holding the tower up! It is a lot harder than it looks! I don't think we ever got it right. I had better ones on my camera but thats a story for Rome. We took some fun pictures and then headed onto Florence. Funny fact, Pinocchio is everywhere in Italy...he is the official Disney star of Italy. So Florence was beautiful. We would up is a piazza (Italian for 'open space') and spent about 3 hours eating lunch...a typical Italian meal lasts for hours so we were carrying on with that tradition. We got Italian pizza and calzones...so delicious. If you have read the description in 'Eat, Pray, Love' about how she believes the food actually loves her back...that's how it is. After lunch we wandered the back alleys and lively streets of Florence. Florence smells entirely like leather, this is one of the things they are famous for. There are leather shops everywhere! Also Chianti wine has its home in Italy, it is sold absolutely everywhere as well. 'The David' is located in Italy however museums are closed on Mondays so there was not a chance for us to go view it. The streets are filled with statues and street performers though. We made our way to the Ponte Vecchio a famous bridge that is only allowed to sell gold in its shops. A street entirely of things I cannot own! This day was the beginning of the realization that the Italian people are some of the nicest in the world (though some of my friends would swear Ireland has them beat). Everywhere you go if you look lost, people try to help you...they offer up English without being asked and everyone calls you 'bella' (beautiful) and 'carina' (cutie). Italian culture is addicting. I wish I had had more time in Florence, but alas it was time to move on.

The leaning tower of Pisa

Trying our best...
Wine and a cappuccino in Florence (I needed caffeine badly)
Playing around at lunch with Ashley while waiting for our food...
The Ponte Vecchio
The girls and I on the Ponte VecchioDay 3: ROMA!
We pulled into the industrial port of Civitavecchia (took me so long to pronounce properly). This would be the day that I quickly figured out how to so..'where' 'right' 'left' 'at the end of' 'how far' etc. because Rome has to be one of the most confusing cities in the world. Doesn't have a grid system at all...streets curve at their own will and change names without informing you that they have done so. We got left off just outside the Vatican and made our way down and across the Tiber. Finding the Pantheon took the better part of the next hour even though the map told us it should have taken 10 minutes...oh well....adventure. The Pantheon is huge, amazing, I could use every adjective to describe the sites of Rome but I'd rather leave it to the pictures and my second trip back (November 28th-December1st). We enjoyed a lovely day finding the majority of the monuments that makes Rome so famous.

There were two mishaps that I should note. Upon leaving the Spanish steps with Ashley while walking I felt a very sharp pain in the bottom of my foot, knocked the wind out of my a little. It was a piece of metal...it had gone through my flip flip and about a cm. into my foot! Enough to have touched a nerve, because I lost feeling in my two smallest toes (left foot). So we were too nervous to pull it out on our own, a policeman noticed and motion that he called for help....so then I hear and ambulence and I'm like 'greattt'...because as chance would have it...I had left my passport on board that day and had no form of ID...oh well I'm here, I'm fine...it all worked out! So the paramedics show up and I ask 'Parla Ingels' and they all laugh but then seriously say 'No'. So though painful, this event was serious comedic relief...because we all had no clue how to communicate...I had also left my translation book on the ship (the few phrases I was getting were from a tour book). HAHA, really its funny right? So they count down in Italian and yank it out...fun fun...then they really need to say something and its not working so I start yelling to the street' DOES ANYONE SPEAK ENGLISH PLEASE?!?!" My friend Ashley is laughing pretty hard, but someone responds, helps with translations enough that we successfully leave the situation, me limping, but not in an Italian hospital. I saw a few more sites, made it back to the bus, left my camera on the bus, ended up needing a tetanus AND penicillin shot when I got back to the boat that night....but hey dinner was great that night....and I think I got to watch Enchanted on tv while I rested my battle wounds from Rome.

The Pantheon


The Trevi FountainThe Paramedics!!

Spanish Steps
Arch of Constantine
The Collosseum
Day 4: Naples/Vesuvius/Pompeii
Probably my favorite experience since being here in Europe and definitely my favorite day of the cruise. We docked in Naples...a beautiful city...didn't actually get to see it but I hope to get back there when I go to Rome again. Ashley and I hopped a bus to make our way through Naples to Mt. Vesuvius. There was a morning fog and though sunny it was originally hard to see. It eerily crept into view the closer we got. The climb in the bus up Vesuvius was interesting! The roads are soooo windy and the bus has to beep the horn before every turn...which was about 40 turns...because if there is an oncoming vehicle one of us would need to back up a ways. So we made it a good portion up the mountain and began our climb to the crater. It was about an hour to an hour and a half total...the entire hike was stunning. You can look down over the city of Naples and as you slowly make your way up to about low cloud level it looks almost heavenly. I just can't do the pictures justice but the climb was probably the most amazing thing I've done since being abroad.

After Vesuvius we made our way to Pompeii which is equally as creepy sitting in the shadows of Vesuvius it literally looks like everyone just decided to pack up and left everything exactly how it was. The roads, houses, stadiums, bars, temples, town squares etc are all still in tact like you couldn't believe. In the groves of the road you can see the marks carts made almost 2000 years ago. The wall paintings in homes are still visible and vivid in color. If you don't know the story Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Pompeii is far enough away that they were clear of lava flow however the volcanic gas and ash shot out for miles. Though 8000 citizens fled to safety it is estimated that 2000 lost their lives...mostly children, women and the elderly (those that couldn't run). They were killed by the poisonous gases which is why the body casts that have been found are mostly of people covering their faces trying to protect themselves or their children in their final moments. The city was covered in about 20+ feet of ash and excavation will not be completed entirely for several more years.

Driving towards the Volcano

Upon reaching the crater....just to give you an idea of size...it would take over an hour to walk around the edge.
Playing around on a volcano....why not.
Yes, it's still active....volcanic gas rising.
Above cloud level...beautiful
Me and Ashley
Incredible
City of Pompeii as those left it in 79 AD
Stepping stones and groves in the street
Wall paintings in houses
Me and Pompeii
Cast of a victim of the 79 AD eruption.
The volcano always watching over the city.
Day 5: Sicliy
I can successfully say I saw Palermo, Sicily for 20 minutes. There is not a whole lot to do if you didn't book a tour and after getting metal stuck in my foot and hiking Vesuvius I was limping so we got off...said hi...and got back on the ship to rest by the pool for the afternoon.

We really did have an amazing time. I was ambitious enough to set my alarm from 7:30 every morning and saw the sun rise in almost ever port we made it to. The southern coast of Europe is truly beautiful, a completely different world that I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of.


Barcelona was absolutely beautiful as well for the final two days of our vacation...the majority was spent lounging around local cafes or mozying around the city to see some sights. The Segrada Familia is a beautiful church that was the idea and project of Gaudi a famous Spanish architect and artist. He is responsible for much of the art in and around the city including Park Guell and Casa Batllo. Again I didn't have my camera so I'll pull some pictures from the internet. I hope I make it back to Barcelona some time it's very beautiful and full of culture.


The End.

JUST KIDDING!

So you know how everyone has one of those travel stories that you're like 'ughhh, you're an idiot'...

well today was my day...YAY

Got to the airport in time...hand my passport to the agent. He says 'You're not listed as on this flight'. I hand him my reservation. He says 'Oh the ten a.m. flight?'...'yes'...'well mam, you're flight was ten a.m....YESTERDAY'

Note to self - check not only the time of the flight, but the date as well.

Hope you can laugh as much as I did.

Enjoy your evenings!!!

<3

-Kate

Dublin...

The photos are coming I promise, my hard-drive decided it hated me once I put them on my computer so I've been transferring them off to have enough space.

Anyways I'm heading to Dublin for the night to see the sights. I'll be home tomorrow in time to say hi and goodnight!!....

Love you lots,
Kate

(Insert theme song to Boondock Saints) :o)

Cruise Photos......and update today!!

....get pumped. (please note I posted 2 entries late last night)

ANYWAYS I got a hold of my friends photos finally!!! They are great so I'll be getting those up with the cruise update later today. I'm mid-working on an essay I have due for my history of London class and updating this, as well as going to Dublin early Saturday with Ashley...busy busy.

So I have the pics on my computer now, can't wait to share them with you....I think what I'm going to do is do an entry per country/port because there are so many great photos and things I want to share....I'll do my best!!!

Lots of love,
Kate

Remember, Remember....

“Remember, remember the fifth of November,

The gunpowder, treason and plot,

I know of no reason

Why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.”

Tonight being the 5th of November was Guy Fawkes Night...this night commemorates the night that Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the House of Lords at parliament in London in the 1600s. This is typically celebrated with fireworks and bonfires with the burning of effigies. Tonight our school sponsored a boat cruise on the Thames as a costume party/celebration. I was originally not going but changed my mind last minute as my class for the evening got canceled!!! So I quickly put on a dress, found a mask...called it a costume and ran out the door, to the tube, and down to the river. The evening was a lot of fun had by all.

Obviously more exciting even is the electing of a new president! Last night we had a party in the common room of our dorms where they had balloons, live CNN and free beer...they really know how to draw the crowds. Either way it was a fun coming together for the American students to watch and see how the election unfolded. I called it a night around 3 a.m. my time and left my computer open next to me while I fell asleep so I could re-fresh it straight away in the morning. The British public would seem to be very happy with our decision as a nation...Obama is the change that the world wants to see in our country. I have high hopes and even an ocean away was very excited by the fun graphs on CNN...don't lie you were too!

Anyways it is late late, but just wanted to pop in to say hi and I miss you all

Love you,
Kate

Wales Pictures...

Me...taking the plunge (from 30 feet above sea level)