Bonjour Paris!

February 27- March 4^th

This week has been one of the best weeks while studying in London! Each week I feel as though I become more and more accustomed to the style of living. Before this week I really enjoyed living here, but now I LOVE living here and everything about it! I believe traveling to Paris this past weekend is what really made me appreciate and realize just how much I absolutely love London. Although Paris was a blast and weekend trips are super fun, after traveling all weekend, unable to speak the language, unsure of your where about, etc. returning to London was the best feeling. I kept saying how good it was to be home when it hit me I had been referring to London as home. It was such an eye opener and one of the best feelings I have been able to experience since living here. I am finally to a point where I feel very confident! I am ecstatic that my boyfriend arrives at the end of next week. I can’t wait to show him around, I can only hope that he loves London as much as I do!  It is going to be a great week and I am really looking forward to finally seeing and getting to spend time with him!

Looking back upon this week, many good memories were made. My best friend Ashley, who is currently studying abroad in Granada, Spain, came to visit for 3-4 days! She was greatly missed by all of us! Tess, Lindsey and I showed her around. We took her to all of the must-sees of London. We walked and walked until any of us could walk no more. We took her to a few markets. She expressed that she loved Camden the best, which came to no surprise to any of us. Camden definitely describes Ashley perfectly. While she was here, Ashley was able to experience fish and chips, strong bow, the tube, a club, the telephone booth, and much more. I am really glad that she was able to come to London and hang out with us! It was time with her that was much needed. Also this week my best guy friend Nolan who is studying abroad in Wales made his second appearance to London and he is not stopping there! Nolan came Thursday night. His main reason for returning to London was to pick his girlfriend up on Saturday, however I am glad he decided to come a few days early to hang out! Because he came early he was even able to go on our day trip with our group to Canterbury and Leeds Castle which was a really neat experience. 
We began our excursion in Canterbury, Kent where we visited the cathedral.  The Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest most famous Christian structures in England. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. My favorite part of the cathedral was the architecture and beautiful stain glass windows. I also thought it was interesting to see all of the tombs inside the cathedral with past religious leaders, etc. within them. Our next stop on the tour was Leeds Castle. This was my favorite part of the day, as I had loads of fun exploring Leeds and partaking in the many activities offered around the castle. I learned that Leeds Castle was home to much royalty. I also learned it was originally built in 1119 by Robert de Crevecoeur. The castle became a royal palace in 1278 for Kind Edward I of England and his Queen. My favorite part within the castle was the queen’s bedroom. She had a beautiful satin canopy bed, comfy furniture, fire place, and even a beautiful vanity for hair and makeup. My favorite part around the castle was the maze. It was so much fun! I had never actually done a real one before, but had read about them in books and seen them in movies. After wandering around with absolutely no idea where to go at all, we received some guidance from Tess and her parents who had already found the center. They helped show us the way! Assistance or not the maze was a blast. Also while on the excursion I learned a few fun facts about London and particularly the monarchy which was fitting as we had just discussed it previously in class. I learned that all swans in England are owned by the Queen and the monarchy; meaning they are the only ones allowed to have them killed and or eat them! It reminded me a lot of the bald eagle only no one is allowed to hunt them at all.  After a full day of touring we headed back to London to rest up for our big weekend trip to Paris!
Our flight was set to leave for Paris at 6:30am which meant we had to meet the bus at 4am in order to get to the airport by 5 am which meant we had to get up at 3am. Needless to say we did not get much sleep that night and practically ran on zero sleep all weekend; however it was well worth it. Lucy, Lindsey and I arrived in Paris around 9:30ish with the time change and decided right from the start we were going to make the most of our time. We wasted no time at all locating and purchasing tickets to a bus that would take us to the center or Paris. After arriving in the heart of Paris our adventure had begun. Our French speaking abilities were limited and we had only a city map. At first we walked around in a few circles getting absolutely no where. Once we gained the courage (well Lindsey) to speak some French as well as others if the spoke English we found where we were headed in no time. While in Paris we made it around to all of the main attractions. We also climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower and went on a four hour bike tour around the city of Paris. The bike tour was by far my favorite part of the trip. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to see the beauty of Paris. At the end of the tour we even got to go on a boat tour it was such a cool experience. Of course you can’t travel to Paris without at least a couple things going wrong. For starters our hostel was a bit shady. I’m just going to leave it at the bathrooms flooded and we cuddled with our bags and purses all night and you are welcome to fill in the rest J Another story, which is more of a blessing happened on our way back to the airport. We were unable to purchase a ticket to the airport via train due to absent ATM machines, ticket machines not accepting cash, and our cards not working. So while Lucy went to investigate Lindsey and I went to ask for change. Long story short the man at the shop did not speak English, however the lady in front of us did. She was able to help us and was so generous that she gave us 3 free train tickets to the airport. We were extremely thankful and blessed! Once we arrived back in London, it felt like we home! Everything was in English, I could operate the tube, and I knew exactly where to go to get home!