The Aftermath

So I'm home now

Friday was such a wretched day. I cried so much; I'll admit it. I never thought that I would become attached to so many people within a short amount of time. I think that's a weakness of mine: I become easily attached.

The Christmas party was a blast. I was going to wear my Santa costume, but it was really hott and itchy so I decided not to wear it. I still had an amazing time last night. I took some time to have a heart to heart with some people, but there wasn't enough time to do it with everyone. I miss Emma so much. She became my best friend over there, and it was extremely difficult to say goodbye. There were like 10 or so people who walked with me to the taxi that brought me to the airport. It was so sad saying goodbye, but really powerful to see how many people really cared for me.

It really sucks too because I don't really know when I'm going to see all those people again. The majority of them either live on the east coast or in England, so it's quite expensive to meet up with them. I'm going to try to save my money. I know for a fact though that I'll be going to England in my future many many times just because it became a second home for me.

My flight on the way back was kind of bad. I was hungover, and when I got on the plane it took 3 and a half hours to take off. It was so hot too ugh! So my flight was delayed that long, and I didn't get home home until around 7 something when I should have arrived at about 4pm. Our incredible family friend Terese was here with my older sister Erica who had food ready for me and my friend that picked me up from the airport. I'll admit it again, I cried later on that night. It's just really really hard.

In a way, it feels like I never left America and did all those things that I have done within the past 3 months. It feels like it was a dream. Like the world stopped, and I did all those trips etc. I feel a little disconnected with some of my friends already. I don't really know what to talk to them about. We had different lives for 3 months, but it's going to take awhile to re-create memories and get back into the relationships we once had.

I have a lot to do over here now. My room is a HUGE mess. I have to unpack/pack for college and find some days over break to bring things down to my apartment. It'll be fun though because my friends are going to come with and help me. That'll be the beginning where we can start some new memories :)

It felt weird driving over here. I keep thinking in pounds. American money feels so weird. I miss chips and cheese. I miss all my friends. I miss hearing their accents everyday. I miss being able to buy my own booze. I miss so much.

I have all this to take with me in my future though. I have so many memories and so much experience now. I'll never ever ever forget these past 3 months.

On the plus side though- I lost a little bit more that 15 pounds while I was over there! It feels great because I didn't realize it until everyone said I looked like I lost weight and I stepped on a scale. It's even better because I didn't even try to loose weight while I was there. I should go back for another 3 months! haha

I'm not sure what else to say. This is probably the end of this blog...I think...unless I think of something else to say.

I'm going to go workout now with some friends.

I want to thank everyone who has followed my blog and given me outstanding support while I was away. I know I could have done this on my own, but it was so much easier with the love and support so many provided.

Cheers

This is it...

:(

I can't believe I have 13 hours left here in England. This is too sad!

As of now, I'm in my Santa costume waiting for my friends Christmas/going away party to start. It should be a good night. We're planning on not going to bed tonight and just staying up, drinking, chatting, dancing, laughing, loving, crying etc.

This has been an amazing experience here in England. I'm always going to remember the lovely little town of Canterbury and all the blessings it brought with it. I'm always going to remember my crazy British and new American friends who have made this time so enjoyable. I'm so emotional right now.

I don't really know what else to say...this is my last entry from abroad.

So Sad :(

Yesterday (was) and the next few days will be some very sad moments.

Yesterday was 4 months since my dad passed away. I was so proud because I didn't shed a tear about that, but my friend Nina came over, and it was her last day here. She was planning on going out to BAA Bars with us for the last time, but then changed her mind. I responded with "You do know that we'll probably never see each other again right?" and she started to cry which made me start to tear up, which made everyone else start to cry. This was while we were pre-gaming at my house, so it probably looked like we were a bunch of emotional drunks or something haha. Today, Nina left. Again, we all started to tear up. Nina was one of my closest friends while I was over here, and it was so hard to say good-bye to her. I really hope I can see her sometime later once I'm able to save up some money for a visit of some sort.

I started packing today. My bags are so heavy! I can't believe that I leave on Saturday. It's really upsetting. I don't want to leave yet; it feels like I just got here. Everything that I've done so far seems like it really didn't happen and that these past 3 months were a dream. Everything kind of happened in a daze. I wish I had more time.

Monday, some friends and I went to Chill. I might be going one more time tomorrow because my friend Rob is having a huge Christmas/Going Away party and they are planning on stopping by Chill for a little bit. Monday was a lot of fun though. Amber did something crazy, but it's inappropriate to talk about on here haha. That was just a little reminder for me so I don't forget about it. Wednesday, I had my final for one of my classes. It went alright. I don't think I did horrible, but hopefully I'll get an A in the class :) Then last night we went to BAA Bars for the last time. Again, I had a blast while I was there.

I have a load of laundry in the dryer right now. That's the last of my clothes. My room is beginning to empty little by little. It's sad because it's going to feel like I was never in this room once I move out. I just need to know that the impact that I had while I've been here was with the friends that I made. I will always remember them, and hopefully they will always remember me (ha, who am I kidding...of course they'll remember me! ;)

P.S. The picture is just some of my friends at BAA Bars last night. Their names are Caroline, Jenn, Shannon, Amber, Rob (whos is cut off haha), Amy, Mandi, and Christina) We didn't have enough room to fit everyone in sadly.

Scotland :)

Scotland is so pretty.

On Friday morning, the bus left for London at 3:30am. It was a REALLY early start for us all. After we got to London, we had to take a 5 or so hour train ride up to Edinburgh, Scotland. Scotland is beautiful. There are so many old buildings, hills, stairs, roads that twist and turn etc. It was a wonderful place.

The first day, we were all so so tired. We did as much as we could. We started by having a little guided tour on the coach. Our tour guide was this little old man that was wearing a kilt and played bagpipes (could the stereotypical view get any...stereotypical?) It was very short, but it was a decent introduction. We stayed in this bed and breakfast place. It was nice. Nothing amazing though...the house was huge. I couldn't believe one person used to own the entire building.

We took some time and walked down the main road of Edinburgh. There was a carnival and a little Christmas Market. In the carnival, there was a psychic, and I've never been to one, so I had her read my tarot cards. It was interesting...but I still don't know whether it was a bunch of rubbish or not. She seemed to have repeated some sentences to us, but there were strange moments where she was dead on. Hmmmm...it was crazy though because there was a guy in the booth with her before it was our turn to go in, and when he walked out I asked him how much it was and if it was any good. He was really short, and had a thick Scottish accent. When he was talking to me though, I couldn't help but think that he looked oddly familiar. I turned to my friend Jen, and her mouth was hanging open. When he walked away, I turned to her and was like "WAS THE SEAMUS FINNIGAN FROM HARRY POTTER!?" Of course it was; and we didn't realize it until he was off in the distance so we weren't able to get a picture with him :( Oh well...I've had such the best of luck with famous people while I've been here haha.

It was so cold that night though, and we were so tired. It felt like it was midnight, but we realized it was only like 9pm. We decided to turn in early just because we had an early start to the next day.

Saturday morning, was an all day trip to the Highlands and Loch Ness. The Highlands are a bunch of mountains. Beautiful mountains though. The view was incredible. I have so many pictures of mountains on my camera haha. It was gorgeous though. Words cannot describe! I'm not really sure what else to say. When we returned around 8pm, we just grabbed some dinner and walked through the carnival again.

On Sunday, we reserved tickets to go to Mary King's Close. It's basically a village that was built on top of. It was really dark, dusty, musty, and kind of creepy down there. We had a guide take us around, and she told us about the murders and what it looked like originally down there. It is supposedly haunted, but we didn't see any ghosts. Although, we were looking into this one house, and we heard footsteps. I don't know if the tour made the noise so we would get scared or if they were actually real. After that, we grabbed some lunch and went to the Elephant House. This is where J.K. Rowling wrote her Harry Potter books. It was a very nice and upbeat cafe/coffee house, so we got some hot chocolate and a little desert. It was so cool though just to be there and see where she wrote her novels. Very cool...

It was such a long ride back though because some worker was killed by a train as we were making our way back. The trains were all backed up, so it took like an extra hour than it should have. I'm so tired right now!

I think our group of friends are starting to get annoyed with each other though. I don't really care though because, even though this is sad to say, I probably won't see any of them again, it's sad that it's happening at the end of our trip. I think it's just cause emotions are running high though. We all want to go home and want to stay at the same time...

I know this is random, but I'm so excited because Erica booked Britney tickets! AH! Can't wait!

I have to go to bed though because I have to get up early and work on my final! I can't believe I come home in like 6 days! CRAZY!

Thankgiving-Germany-London

This is going to be a bit of a long entry. We just got internet today, so I'm able to catch up on everything that has been happening since about last Thursday (Thanksgiving). It's a little after 2am, but I'm not tired because I had an AMAZING day...

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving. The first turkey that I ever cooked was delicious. I'm a freakin' pro. It was juicy and slid right off the bone...perfect. It was really hectic though because it was at my house, there were about 15 people, and at first I was running around like a turkey with my head chopped off because no one was helping. Thankfully, Shannon, Emma, and Amber started to help me because they saw I was panicing. It was so stressful. Everyone had made their food and brought it over to my house at around 3pm, so then it was just sitting on the counter, and then I had to make sure everything was warm and ready to be served while trying to cut the turkey and entertain everyone etc. AH! At one point, my roommate Emma had put a plastic measuring cup on a hot warmer and it started to melt...that was my breaking point so I left the kitchen to have a cigarette and take a breather. Everyone thought I was pissed, but I just needed a break because it was way too much, and I was a little annoyed that everyone was sitting at the table just watching me. All in all though, everything was delicious and turned out very well.

After dinner, I needed a drink so bad. We ended up drinking a lot, and then made our way to a pub called The Jolly Sailor. I got absolutely trashed. I can't remember much of that night, and this was so bad because our cab was picking us up at 2:30am to take us to the airport for Germany. I got home, fell on the floor, and was given so many cups of coffee...thrown in the shower and dressed by my roommates...my roommates even packed for me because I forgot to, and they even made me a turkey sandwich :) They are the best ever! I was still so drunk when the cab came that I passed out on the ride to the airport. By time we got there, I was beginning to get the hugest hangover ever...once I got out of the cab, I tried to make myself throwup but nothing would come out. That plane ride was the worst. It was only an hour, but it seemed like forever. Once I got off the plane, I threwup so so much; it was disgusting.

Christina, Mandie, and I arrived in Frankfurt. We were welcomed by snow! Sadly, we had to take a bus ride right after the airport. We then met up with 2 of Christina's friends at the train station and walked around Frankfurt. Then we took a train to Fulda...took another train the Hamburg...then met up with Christina's half sister that lives in Hamburg. It was a horrible day...I'm never doing that again...so we basically went from plane to bus to train to train to car...ya

We stayed at Christina's half sister's house. Lisa (her sister) was so so nice. Her English wasn't bad at all either. By time we got there, it was probably around 8pm, so we just got a nice dinner at a restaurant called Einstein and went to bed. The next morning, we went to a mall and did a little shopping...met up with her sister/her sister's step son...and went to a bunch of Christmas markets. It was so so pretty. I wish my camera took really nice pictures at night because I wasn't able to take too many great pictures.

We tried some hot wine at this stand. It's like red wine mixed with herbs, and obviously it's hot. It was good, but somehow really strong. One little cup and you felt a little dizzy. After looking around at the many Christmas shops, we just walked around, stopped at this restaurant that brewed their own beer. I tried it (it was alright, nothing special), had a bratwurst and pickle (it was delicious), and then we went to a carnival. The carnival was HUGE! There were so many rides and shops there. It was a lot of fun. We went on this roller coaster that had 5 loops. It was totally worth the 6 euros. I wanted to take a video of it, but the seats shut so tight that I couldn't reach my camera :( After the carnival, we then made our way to Reeperbaun (if that's how you spell it). Reeperbaun is this street that has a bunch of sex shops, clubs, pubs, stores, and prostitutes...it was full of people, many of whom were drunk, and at times it was a little scary. I was so glad Christina's sister and her sister's husband were with us...otherwise who knows what could have happened just because there was a footbal game Hamburg vs. Amsterdam or something like that, so there were a lot of people from Holland who were starting fights etc.

We looked at some more Christmas shops, and before we knew it, it was past midnight and we were so tired. The next morning we woke up and made our way to the airport...only to find out that Christina had said the wrong airport. Luckily, we made it to the right airport on time and caught our flight. The weekend just flew by while we were there. We absolutely didn't have enough time in Germany. I feel like I did get to see that much, but I'm still glad I went. It was nice.

Monday, I began to do some more research for my last paper. I'm so excited because I'm almost done with it, and then all I'll have left to do is prepare for the final. That night, some friends and I went to Chill night club. It was a lot of fun. They played Britney Spears at midnight in honor of the release of her new album and 27th birthday...it was freakin' sweet. We even made Britney a birthday cake not only because it was her birthday, but also because we had a taste for chocolate cake. Tuesday, nothing really happened. I had class and began to write more of my paper.

Wednesday (today) though was INCREDIBLE! AH! I had so much fun today...ok so I skipped my class today just so I could go to London one more time before I left. It was totally worth it. Nat, Emma, and I caught a bus at 6:55am. When we arrived, we ate some breakfast and just relaxed because we were really tired. We then made our way to Hyde Park where the Princess Diana memorial is. We followed the memorial walk, and thankfully the fountain was open! It was very cool. It isn't really a fountain; it's kind of hard to explain, but it was very modern looking and meaningful to Diana's life. It is a very nice memorial. I'll show pictures when I get home :) We walked around the fountain, then made our way to Winter Wonderland which was basically just a bunch of shops and rides that you could go on. We just walked through and got some candy because the rides were too expensive to go on.

After the Wonderland, we went back to Victoria Station because we got tickets to see Wicked...yes I saw it again! It was AMAZING! I was in complete shock just because Kerry Ellis came back to the London show this past Monday, and I had no idea. She really isn't famous, but she kind of is in the broadway world. I was in shock when she ran onstage. I couldn't believe it. I took some videos of her singing. Her voice is so powerful and pure...so good! After the show, we went to the stage door to meet her, but she was in a rush because she had another show to do later, so she only signed like 10 of the 20 people's playbills (of course I was one of them). I was upset though that I couldn't get a photo with her :( It was alright though because so many more excited things were going to happen later on that night.

We then made our way back to Picadilly Circus (my favorite part of London) and walked around. We came across a huge group of people and saw signs that said TWILIGHT all over. Of course we made our way through the crowd to the front to see what was going on. I guess there was a release of the movie over here, so we were able to see the main character of the movie! He also plays Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter 4. It was really cool, but I was too far to get a good photo of him.

After that, we made our way to the stage door of Rainman to see if Josh Hartnett was going to come out. Of course he did! There had to be like 75 people there waiting to see him and we 3 were at the front of it all. I got so many good pictures of him, and I also got his autograph! When he was signing my playbill, I asked him how his Thanksgiving was and he laughed and said "Oh it was fine thanks...and yours?" and of course I responded with "It was awesome!" Ya that's right, I had a 5 second conversation with Josh Hartnett...jealous? He only gave out like 20 signatures, and I'm so glad my friends and I were able to get them. He went back inside because it was too crowded, and people were like "We should stay here, because he has to come out to get home!" Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the van that almost ran me over the last time we tried to see Josh Hartnett. So I grabbed my friends and I was like "WE HAVE TO FOLLOW THAT VAN". We did, and I was right! Josh came out a different side of the building, so I was able to get a few last photos. A bunch of girls were screaming and banging on the windows so I screamed "LEAVE HIM ALOOOOONE...HE'S JUST A PERSON!" being sarcastic...it was funny...guess you had to be there. Then the van drove away :)

Oh today was such a marvelous day! So much fun! So much excitement!

I can't believe I come home in like 10 days or something...carazy! Oh well, I had a blast while I've been here. I can't wait to see all of you! It's really late now, and I'm going to attempt to post some photos on facebook of Josh Harnett to make everyone jealous haha...

Miss and Love

Great...

So we lost our internet yesterday because somehow we used it all up. Ya, they have limits to how much internet we get to use over here...LAME! Now, I won't have internet until December 3rd :(

I just completed the bibliography of 2 of my papers, and I'm going to hand them in now. It feels like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders, but I still have a final to get prepared for and one more 2,000 word paper. My work load isn't too bad now.

I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Of course we don't get a day off here because they don't celebrate it, but I'm skipping my one class tomorrow because I have to be home to make sure the turkey is delicious and cooking well. I hope that goes well.

I'm going to Germany on Friday! I hope it's fun. It should be; I'm just worried that we won't have enough time to actually see Germany...I'll let you all know how it went once I get back :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Wish I could be home for it! Miss and love you all!

London Visit

Friday, we had out last field trip to Windsor Castle where the Queen lives. It was so pretty there, and very cold. It was nice to go inside some rooms though that the queen and other people actually use. The trip went by very fast, but it was cool because we went in this room where they had all these goblets and candlesticks with diamonds and made out of gold, and I asked a guy if the queen or anyone else is still able to use these, and he told us to go look at these candelsticks because you can still see the wax that was left on there from them using them last week! That was very cool. We had a lot of extra time there, so we did a little shopping, and I got some comfy sweat pants.

Yesterday, Nina, Jen, Amy, Shannon, and I went up to London for the day. It was so cold, but it was nice to go up there probably for the last time before I leave.



We met up with Nina's friend who is studying abroad in Spain, and walked around then made our was to Westerminster Abbey. We paid to go inside, and it was so beautiful in there. I was upset though because we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside. It was a great time though. There are so many dead people buried in there; it's kind of creepy, but they also had a section of memorials dedicated to certain British writers so that was very cool to see.



After that, we made our way to Abbey Road. It really is just a road. It was nice to walk across it though and sign the wall that's there for visitors. Time flew by so fast though, so we had to make our way towards the Apollo Theatre because we booked tickets to go see Rainman.



We had a lovely lunch at Mcdonalds and met up with Amy and Shannon there. It was actually the best fast food I've had since I've been here haha. Then they showed us where the stage door was so we could rush to it after the show and get some photos and an autograph of Josh Hartnett since he was the main character of the play.



When we got the stage door, there were already a few people waiting there so we just chilled there because we had nothing else to do. Then a silver van pulled up, and it looked like it was going to hit me so I got back onto the sidewalk, but it stopped. The door opened, and JOSH HARTNETT WAS IN THE VAN! The four of us couldn't believe our eyes just because we were in shock that it was actually him. I don't think any of us made a sound just because we couldn't believe that it was actually him. He looked kind of pissed, but I guess he had food poisoning the past week so maybe he wasn't feeling that great. I was so upset though because I wasn't fast enough to get my camera out for a photo. It was so cool that we got to see him in person though.



The play was rather good though. Personally, I liked the movie better, but it was so cool that Josh Hartnett was the star of it. After the show ended we rushed to the stage door to be first in line, but sadly Josh wasn't going to come out because he wasn't feeling well, and he had to do another show in 2 hours. I was SO SO SO upset and incredibly pissed. We still waited there though in the cold for like 45 minutes just to see if he would show up, but he didn't. I got an autograph and photo with the other main character Adam Godley who plays the character with autism. I told him to send Josh a message and tell him that 'We were going to invite him to our Thanksgiving next week, but since he didn't come out it's his loss'. He laughed and said he would pass on the message, but I doubt he did.



After that, we met up with Nina and made our way to the Princess Dianna memorial fountain, but instead of being under construction, it was closed! AH! I can never win in London :( It was altogether a nice day though.



Right now, my head kind of hurts. I don't know what's wrong with me. I have mixed emotions right now just because I wanted to meet Josh Hartnett so bad, I'm going to be leaving so soon, I have a decent amount of work to do, Germany is coming up and I think it's going to be expensive and I'm worried that I won't have any money when I get home, I miss people back at home though, and other stuff is going on. It's probably what usually happens when there isn't much time left here. I hope the rest of my trips are fun though, and everything runs very smoothly.



I have to do some research for a paper now though.



Miss and love