Weekend in London for Kara

As the week progressed I grew happier and happier that I was not traveling. I knew it was going to be so nice staying in London and mark a few things off my “to-do” list. Thursday came and work passed quickly (thankfully), and eight girls from our group met at Alexis’ internship office. She works for Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution (aka the Naked Chef). I was in amazement. We walked up the stairs into the most amazing, rustic kitchen and were greeted by three young women (who worked for and are personal friends of Jamie’s); it was surreal. We talked for a while and then started cooking. That night we made fajitas with peppers, guacamole, salad, and salsa (which Maggie and I made). Eating dinner was the best part. The conversation was awesome as well. This night is by far my most memorable with the girls in the Auburn group so far. We returned home and waited for the arrival of Ben and his group. Their plane was delayed so it was a late arrival. Once they finally got here my group was leaving to go to Croatia for the weekend. It was a convenient swap for me considering I never had to be alone ;).

            Friday Ben, Matt J., Scott, and I woke up and went to the local coffee shop for breakfast. As we were still waking up we made a plan and easily conquered each part of the day to come. First, we went to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. Even though I was too short to see any significant activity take place I am still happy I went because I got to see the guards parade into the Palace gate. Then, we walked through the Horse Guards (where beach volleyball will be held at the Olympics next summer), passed Downing Street to see the police carrying huge machine guns (this is where the Prime Minister lives), all the way to Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. After a few photographs we ran into 3 more people from Dublin (Ben’s group) and decided to head to a pub for lunch. The pub we chose had delicious food, but very interesting beer. They brewed their own beer and it was to be served at room temperature with no carbonation; hence, the reason I was not a fan. After lunch we journeyed to the British Museum where the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra are stowed. We spent almost 2 & ½ hours in this Museum before we decided to head home to freshen up. After a nice break for our feet and freshening up for dinner we headed to a nearby Mexican restaurant which was very fun and went out on the town to Brick Lane.

            Saturday morning came too early. Ben and I met Matt, Scott, and Dennis at Tower of London to enjoy the complimentary tour (given by the cutest tour guide dressed up as if he was from the 1800s). 

We then explored and saw the crown jewels. There is nothing I can say to describe the crown jewels except that I walked by each one three different times to get as great of a look possible; I knew I would NEVER see any stones or jewelry as big, beautiful, or expensive in my lifetime. Ben and I broke away from the group after the Tower and went to an inexpensive Italian place for lunch (we were great bargain huntersthis weekend J), which was delicious. Right next to the restaurant was the Natural History Museum but the line was too long so we decided to come back on Sunday. That meant we made our way to the London Dungeon (basically a haunted house about Jack the Ripper). It was entertaining and amusing when I saw Ben get scared at a few parts (such as the one where the crypt is filled with mirrors so everything becomes a delusion and I had no idea where I was going…Ben was in a state of panic…HILARIOUS). The rest of the tour was a little educational but mostly an attraction and tourist trap. We are both glad we did it solely because of the souvenir we acquired:

After the London Dungeon, Ben and I did the London Eye. It was amazing seeing London from the highest point-you truly can see everything. By the end of the wheel it was already 9 p.m. and we were tired and hungry. Therefore, that is exactly what we did: ate dinner and went to sleep.

            Sunday morning we woke up to finally go to the Natural Hisotry Museum. The dinosaurs were on “holiday” so that was disappointing, but the other things were amazing. I am a bit of a science nerd so I especially enjoyed this museum all about life, environment, and animals! We went to lunch at Hamilton Hall (a pub right near our home-tube station) to meet my group returning from Croatia. Ben loved everyone and everyone loved Ben. Saying goodbye came next. It was bittersweet because we would see each other soon, but goodbye is always a stinker! It was an amazing weekend in London and I could not have asked for any better! 

Noja, Spain (elle)

I did not realize how much I loved Spain until I went back. Kara, Britt, Mary Margaret, Alexis, Jessica and I went to a small town outside of Santander, which is North Spain. I found this place and hotel, so I was really interested to see how it turned out...it ended up being perfect. The hotel was phenomenal. Sooo clean and on the beach!! We got there in the evening Thursday, so we went to dinner down the road next to a campsite. I stupidly asked for tap water and our waiter was like nooooo you can't drink that. DUH i had a parasite last summer from the tap water. I got to test out my spanish skills and they improved as the trip went on. Everyone that knows me knows i HATE to order/talk to waiters/ask receptionist questions etc. but this trip I had to do most of the talking haha.

The first night we met a guy named Diego and we ate at his restaurant. He told Zach all the good surf spots etc. The next day we met Bruno who turned out to be Diego's brother and we saw them off and on all weekend! Their family basically owned Noja. They were so sweet to us. It was nice to meet some genuinely caring people. If we stayed Sunday night they were going to throw us a party at their family house! Britt even cried when we said our goodbyes haha.

A lot of the people I went with had never been to Spain before and I told them that the experiences on this trip were the most cultural we could ask for. We ate traditional spanish meals....no jamon for me...and we saw a Flamenco show! Old spanish men taught Alexis and I how to properly dance. In the midst of dancing the restaurant cut the lights and everyone lit candles. Thennn they sang a song to a shrine of the Virgin Mary. It's hard to explain without it sounding creepy but it was really moving.

The song went like this: 

Dios te salve, Maria, 
del Rocio Senora, 
Luna, Sol, Norte, y Guia y pastora celestial. 
Ole, ole,ole,ole,ole, 
ole,ole,ole,ole
ole,ole,ole,ole
al Rocio yo quiero volver a cantarle a la Virgin con fe con un ole.

The night we went out was a traditional Spanish all-nighter. We ate dinner from 10-12:30 then went to the bars until 5. That is when we called it a night because we were exhausted and I took a bit of a tumble....I'm sad we didn't make it to the discotecha but it's good we got some much needed rest. OH I forgot a cap on my tooth fell out at dinner!! The bread was a little hard haha. This would happen to me. I called Bill & Beth at 5 am (my time) and drunkenly asked them to fly Dr. Von Zyl who is my dentist in Chattanooga over to Spain or I would settle for London. Wooooopsies.

Every single person I met were amazing. The cab driver who took us from the hotel back to the airport to leave was a precious old man who told us that his only daughter who died used to be great friends with Diego and Diego is now like his son. This tiny old man gave me the biggest hug and kisses on both cheeks when I got out of the cab. It was a great way to depart Spain, but getting on that plane was the last thing I wanted to do!

Spanish Revival-Noja, Spain (Kara) {another new blog post below this looonnnggg one, sorry!}

        
Noja, Spain (slightly Northeast to Santander)

        Last Thursday was a great day-I finally got to sleep in on a “work day,” then leave for Spain—could I have asked for anything more?  Zach, Elle, Mary Margaret, Brittain, Jessica, Alexis and I had booked a trip to Santander, Spain for a relaxing weekend in the sun. We flew Ryanair (which never fails to amuse me) and arrived to Santander (on the coast of Northern Spain) around 4:30 p.m. We made our way into the city of Santander and figured out the bus to Noja (a small ocean-front town not known by many foreigners)—our final destination. It was about a one-hour bus ride from Santander to Noja where we witnessed the beautiful Spanish countryside. Once we were dropped at the bus stop, exhausted from traveling, we began to search for our hotel. This was a challenge. Our tired minds could barely speak English, nevertheless Spanish (especially mine which had to dig Spanish up from 8^th grade, so I just followed).  We walked, and walked, and walked until we FINALLY reached our BEAUTIFUL/CLEAN/SEASIDE hotel. It was called Maritimo Ris, was brand new, and was the nicest place I will ever stay (that was CHEAPER than our nasty hostel in Amsterdam). We walked outside to take a view of the beach, which happened to be right at sunset, and the splendor of the water hitting the land left me speechless; I was in heaven. This miraculous scene was a great reminder of how blessed I am and to remember to thank God for everything He has given me every day of my life. This spiritual reminder for me was greatly needed. Friday was the beginning of the summer season so not much was open for dinner Thursday night except the restaurant at the campsite on the edge of the beach. We were starving and stuffed down bread, fries, and pasta (EW CARB OVERLOAD). It was all basically microwave dinners I believe. We made friends with our waiter, Diego, who was one of the only residents of Noja who spoke English. This is when I realized the language barrier would be EXTREMELY difficult for me. We went back to our hotel rooms (mainly because we were so excited about them) and went to bed.

Maritimo Ris Hotel

        Friday we woke up around 11:30. Consequently missing our one and only free offering the entire 1 & ½ months living in Europe—breakfast. We walked down to a cafeteria only to have Diego’s brother, Bruno (who also spoke English), wait on us. We soon figured out Noja was a very small town and that Diego’s family ran most of it. After visiting with Bruno we ventured to get ice-cream. This ice-cream was not just any ice-cream, their coffee cream (Moka) flavor was unbelievable. I ate my whole cone as Elle dripped her whole cone all over herself due to the strong winds. We then decided to face the beach (always a bad idea after eating a meal and dessert). It was a big windy, but nothing laying in the sun and sand could not fix. We lay on the beach for about two hours until people wanted to explore. I, on the other hand, was not feeling so well with a terrible migraine so I took a nap. Once I woke up we took showers and got ready to head to dinner. We went to an old Spanish cinema which had been converted into a restaurant for dinner. There was even a stage in the middle of the tables to do flamenco dancing. It was awesome—we really immersed ourselves into the Spanish culture and even learned how to flamenco dance on the stage and stung a traditional Spanish song to the Virgin Mary. 

After a late dinner, around 12:30 a.m. (they do not eat until 9 p.m. at the earliest), we headed out to the Spanish bars. We finally found the strip of 3 bars after about one hour of looking. It was a fun and interesting night. The girl who taught us how to flamenco dance ended up meeting us out and was a lot of fun until the end of the night. We were gathering our troops to go home (we did not make it to the Discotheque—which begins at 4:30 a.m.—thankfully) and this Spanish woman (around 24 years old) asks us to “sing a song in American with her please” Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Hanson, Backstreet Boys, and any other cliché American artist that comes to mind IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Needless to say when we got to the Titanic soundtrack we were more than ready to go home.

        Saturday we woke up at 11:00 and it was cloudy. We went down to Bruno’s cafeteria again and sat and visited while he made up ham and cheese sandwiches (the only thing that did not gross me out on the menu by that point after eating “cafeteria” food). He discouraged us when he said he did not think the sun would be making an appearance that day. Little did he know, the sun really was working in our favor because she came out shining bright! Although it was windy, we found a spot in between the rocks that blocked the wind so it was perfect for lying out (or getting burned in my case). 

As our group split up Alexis, Brittain, and I found the most adorable, colorful cabana with a gorgeous view of the mountains and see. The sight was breath taking. We sat there to take in the view for about an hour then headed back to get dressed for dinner. 

For dinner that night we had decided to go to the square (which was basically the entire town). This is the night where the language barrier really affected all of us. There were no English translations on the menu, therefore, we made educated guesses and hoped for the best. Everyone’s meal ended up coming out just right! I got tuna (which was not exactly what I was expecting) but I am glad I got it! We were so tired from Friday night and the sun that we decided just to go home. This was a bad decision because we told Diego and Bruno we would meet them out…and the poor fellows waited on us at each bar. 

        Sunday we woke up and finally made the free breakfast! It was good—like any continental breakfast but with a lot more bread, meats, and fruits! Some people went to the beach more, but I knew that was a bad idea considering I already looked like a lobster so Alexis, Mary Margaret, and I went into town to look for souvenirs. We found the cutest hand made Spanish bracelets for only 3 euros! We then found a little “ma-n-pa” café where we sat and took in the clean, Spanish air. Alexis and Mary Margaret got chocolate churros to munch on while I finally got paella (which I had been wanting to find all trip). The best part about this paella was it was only 1 euro and was about 5 bites (the perfect size for a little taste to satisfy my tummy). Once we finished (and the owner of the store had laughed at our churro and paella combination) we headed back to our hotel to say goodbye to Diego and Bruno.  When we saw the brothers, they had told us they were planning a farewell barbeque for us later that day because neither of them realized our flight was Sunday (both thought it was Monday, which sadly was not). The beauty of the beach and the kind hearts of Diego, Bruno, and all the people we met made it extra sad to leave—Brittain even cried! We exchanged facebook names, numbers, emails, and hugs before we gathered our bags and headed back to London.

The girls with Diego

        This trip was the first I have ever experienced arriving in a place that does not rely on my language. It showed me the importance of language in every day life; the small things in life that are overlooked, but without them there is no simple communication. The difference in culture was shocking to me as well. In Spain, the people appreciate tradition, spirituality, and gracious smiles. We did not meet one person that was not willing to work with us to overcome to language barrier in order to understand our wishes, and then contribute more kind words, information, and introductions even if the language caused a bump we could not defeat. Even the prices reflected the spirit of the Spanish culture: the food (mostly fish and beef) was expensive, while their hand made jewels/souvenirs and alcohol were much cheaper (3 euro bracelets and bottles of wine)!  This trip came at the perfect time. I love London, but sometimes the combination of rain, work, and buildings brings you down. Spain uplifted me physically and spiritually. I truly have a deeper appreciation for my nationality and the diversity of cultures across the world. I also have a stronger nagging to learn other languages (I heard Rosetta Stone works wonders!) and travel the world (sorry mom and dad ;)).

When I got back to London and opened my Bible this is the passage I opened up to:

“The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,

which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,

like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other;

nothing is hidden from its heat.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul.”

~Psalm 19: 1-7

Time is Slipping Away (Kara)

            My time in Europe is flying by. I only have two weeks left of my internship, one week to explore more of London, two days in Paris, and I will be back home in Athens. I have loved traveling around Europe and taking advantage of what could possibly be my last true summer, but I sure will be ready to be home with my two sisters, parents, and dog.

            Work has become a lot more enjoyable (on some days;)). I have worked my way up the responsibility pole. It started with cutting and pasting as well as filing (I also did one press release, but was never asked to do another so I don’t include it on my stepping stones), then moved to stuffing and addressing envelops, next up to create an organized list in order to count the number press passes needed for a music festival we are doing PR for, and finally, last week I was able to take some press into my own hands. Nona Hendryx, a former member of LaBelle (the original singers of ‘Lady Marmalade’) came to London for three performances. Stuart, one of the senior publicists at our office, was too busy working on press for the music festival that I was asked to write an email to send to different media publications pitching interviews and press featuring Nona Hendryx. They even made me (DRUM ROLL PLEASE) my own email address for the company: kara@9pr.co.uk. I told everyone about my new email address when I got home that day because I felt so professional only to discover that for most interns this privilege was given to them on Day 1 of work. Oh well, I finally felt like I contributed to the company as best I could. I set up 3 interviews for one day as well as created an Excel spreadsheet displaying Nona’s schedule. I was proud of myself.

            This week, since Nona has left Europe for the States, has started slow once again. I have made better friends with my co-workers (which is of course nice for me considering I cannot shut-up). I even attended a “gig” with them one night and enjoyed the band we went to see. This opened a new realm of future possibilities in my head and pushed me to realize everything truly does happen for a reason.

            I am off to work today, and if you are lucky my Spain blog may be posted by this afternoon (if I am not handed any “bitch work” such as cleaning the dishes, which recently has been my critical duty in the office).

P.S. Happy happy Father’s day to every amazing father out there! Especially Papa Bill, Grandaddy, and my own dad (who deserves the entire world and more for all he has done for me and I will be eternally grateful!) Love you all so very much!

Dublin Trip for Kara

            Top of the mornin’ to ya! I am back from Dublin and happy as a clam. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! My flight was an early one Friday, leaving at 6:30 AM! That means very little sleep again…this time I was on my own getting to the airport so it was a bit nerve-racking. I woke up around 3:30 am to get all ready and head to the station to get the express train to the Stansted Airport. The train took about 45 minutes and I got there at 5. I then proceeded to try to print my boarding pass off. This was a BAD idea. I did not print it out early because I thought I could just go to a kiosk and print it. Well, when flying Ryanair (the cheapest airline there is in Europe) they find every way to fine you; therefore I had to pay 40 pounds just to get my boarding pass printed!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, that immediately put me in a bad mood along with the fact that I was still half asleep. I do it anyways and get through security just in time to board the plane.

            Ryanair is not like any airline I have ever flown. I felt as if I was in the movie Airplane. You walk outside and climb the stairs into the plane (the first time I have done this-I thought it was only done when flying private planes so I was excited!), and then I walked inside and was blinded by the bright blue and yellow interior. I then chose my own seat, which was nice because I love the aisle seat-easy bathroom access and no motion sickness from looking out the window. The flight took off right when everyone was seated, possible the fastest take off I have experienced. Then the weird part starts…I look up and the flight attendants, dressed as if it is the 60s in bright blue suits and hats, are walking down the aisles selling everything you can imagine-cigarettes (which you obviously cannot smoke on the plane), magazines, food, drinks, lottery cards, and even perfume. The flight went up, the flight attendants sold stuff and we then landed. At the landing the intercoms blasted the sound of victory (like the trumpet you hear at camp in the mornings) and said “Ryanair has landed yet another flight on time!” and some other nonsense; I felt like I was on a party plane or something.

            I find the bus to get to the Santry area where Ben lives. He, I am sure exhausted since it is 8 am his time and he went to a pub crawl the night before, waited in the convenient store right next to their apartments. Walking down the road to him I could not help but smile-I was SO excited to see him after a long month being apart. If you know me-you know I am emotional, and as soon as I saw him my stomach dropped and tears started streaming a happy cry! It was the best feeling! And when I hugged him I had to stand back and look at him because he felt SO skinny (not fair because I am gaining weight!!!!). Then of course went in for another hug.

We went up to his apartment to unpacked my stuff and we got our day started. First, we took the bus downtown to O’Connell street (the main street downtown). The bus was a great way to see the beautiful city with the mountains in the background. We walked around O’Connell street toward the Temple Bar area. After walking and exploring we went to Christ Church. It was beautiful and so interesting to read about. We were lucky and the Canon singers (or something like that) were in there singing also. It was very peaceful and spiritual. We then made our way to Dublin Castle. Unfortunately, the tours for that day were full, but we got to see the outside and got out only picture together that day. We got a little hungry and it started to drizzle a little so we wandered into Dublin’s city hall where they had the most amazing architectural ceiling and decided to split a personal pizza at a restaurant across the street (we are trying to be frugal!).

After a small snack/lunch, Ben and I wandered to St. Stephen’s Green. We sat on a bench and people watched and walked around the pounds, fountains, and flowers. It was so nice to just relax and take in the nature. We saw all sorts of birds (my favorite was a Magpie). There was even a huge swan in one of the ponds. As we were leaving the park we saw a man feeding the pigeons (which are even more disgusting and terrifying because they ARE NOT afraid of people in Europe) and he was holding TONS of them and letting them crawl all over him…GROSS! We wandered out of the garden and into the area where Trinity College is located. When I took my first look at the campus the first thing I said to Ben was “And I thought Auburn was beautiful…” I could not imagine going to school there because the campus is unreal. All cobblestone, grass, and old, architectural stone buildings covered in ivy. We decided against taking a guided tour because it was 10 euros (or something around there). There was a stage set up right in the middle of the courtyard that imitated ‘The Globe Theatre’ in honor of Shakespeare week so there were a lot of people and activity on the campus which was neat to see. Across the street from the outer part of campus was a famous bookstore called Books Upstairs so Ben and I went in and looked around in honor of Dad (Dad- you would have LOVED it; it reminded me of a miniature version of Strand in NYC).

Pigeon Man

We then picked up some wine and headed back to Ben’s apartment where his entire group was making dinner and I was introduced to everyone! Friday night his group was so tired that a few of us went to the local pub called The Comet. I had a blast for a low-key night and got to know some of his group really well, and probably talked their heads off!

           

Saturday we woke up around 10 got dressed and headed to lunch toward down town. We had a delicious lunch in a whole in the wall restaurant and were able to eat outside to enjoy the beautiful day! Ben and I split a blue cheese burger and a chicken pesto Panini (his choice, the burger, obviously was the winner of that lunch). Then we met Ben’s group and hopped on a train to Bray (about 20 minutes south of Dublin). The train ride there was amazing! We rode right down the coast and got to enjoy sights of pebble beach, sailboats, and the sun was shining. Once we arrived we were greeted by a little strip of homemade ice cream shops, adorable restaurants, quaint pubs, a sandy beach, blue water, and a rocky mountain topped with a wooden cross in the back, which we were headed to climb. After a photo shoot on the beach we made our way toward the mountain.  I was worried because I of course did not dress accordingly, but luckily wore boots and was able to climb it just as fast as the others! Once we got to the top we all sat, took in the amazing view of the wooden cross and nature that filled the background at a 360 degree view, and opened our bottles of wine for a big toast to life (actually it was to me being in Dublin, but I decided a better one was to life ;)! After relaxing, brown-bagging, and laughing we started to make our way down. We ate dinner at a little restaurant called Katie’s before heading back to the center of Dublin.

Saturday was so filled with activity that everyone was exhausted. I joined the boys at the Comet again while the girls went home to shower and get ready for a big night out on the town. After they showered, they came to the Comet dressed normally because their minds had changed and we all enjoyed a low-key night at the Comet together drinking pitchers of Fosters. The group had gone to the Comet so many times they had made friends with the locals and bartenders there. That night they even met the owner who brought us out 4 free homemade pizzas! Of course none of us were hungry, but we had to finish the pizza so we did not look rude ;).  Once the lights flickered for last call we knew it was time for a good night sleep.

Sunday was a great day as well. I woke up and explored a little more of downtown Dublin with Macy (my friend from Alabama who I met through Ansley), Macy’s brother, Cody, and her roommate Ann, who had just arrived in Dublin that day to participate in the same program as Ben. We went to a street off O’Connell Street (main street downtown) where there are markets, shops, street performers, and tourists all around.  We ate lunch at a pub next to the river. At lunch we discovered our waitress had lived in Alpharetta, Ga for a bit and her sister went to Georgia Tech – what a small world!

It started raining and got quite chilly so Ben, David (his roommate), and Tyler (another boy from his group) went to see X-Men: First Class. Seeing a movie was so great, and we even got to scoop candy into a bag just like a candy store! After the movie we went home and Ben and I decided to cook, one of our favorite things to do together! We made sausage, bell pepper, broccoli, and mushroom pasta with a chili pesto sauce alongside a blue cheese salad and garlic toast. Then, we watched Gladiator, once of the movies that termed me ‘movie deprived,’ and I actually enjoyed it! It was a great, lazy, rainy-day way to end the trip.

It was a better trip to Dublin than I imagined. I was also more than thrilled to spend time with Ben and cannot wait until he comes to London! There is still so much more to see and do in Dublin, so I hope to go back there sometime in the near future! Now I am back “home” to London and back in my routine of work. My next blog, I am going to write an update of my work life, which has recently improved and I have gotten to do some pretty cool stuff!!

Hope all is well at home! MUCH LOVE xoxo,

Kara x (everyone in London signs with their name and x –not sure why, but I will find out and post it!)

Another weekend in London (elle)

Last week went by really fast.

Work went really well. I got a little frustrated being on the computer all day on Tuesday, but Wednesday made it all better. Two co-workers and I took a traditional London black cab (first cab experience here actually) across the city to a client's office to create media kits for an event they are having this coming fall. We put various gifts, press release, save the date sheet etc in these media kits. It took a few hours to get all of this organized and the commute back to work took about an hour. It was so nice to get out of the office.

p.s. I would be more specific about who the client is etc but I'm not sure if that's something I'm supposed to do?
To back track a little I have a funny story about that morning. I was told to meet two guys from our office at a store about 10 minutes from our office first thing Tuesday morning to pick up the boxes for the media kits. So, I got there at 8:55 like I was told and waited till 9:25....no one showed up!! I talked to three workers in that store to make sure I was in the right spot etc. To top it off my phone wouldn't make outgoing calls for some unknown reason. So, I decided to leave and head to work. When I walked into the office the two guys I was supposed to meet were sitting at their desks!! They said hello and acted completely normal, so I did too of course. It's typical for me to act like nothing happened. Then one asked "waitttt how did you know we weren't meeting?" I was like ahhh shoot luckily I forgot! They laughed and said that's pretty lucky....then told me we were going to do that errand in 20 minutes. I immediately started worrying one or all of the three workers at the store would say something about me being there haha! Luckily, everything went smoothly and we talked to the one person about our delivery that I hadn't talked to earlier. What a morning.

Friday- Brittian, Mary Marg, Jessica and I went to Windsor, England which is the home of Windsor Castle (the Queen's official home). Apparently, Buckingham Palace is basically her "office."  It was the most beautiful place! I want to move there of course. The castle was being set up for a prestigious event called the "Order of the Garter" that is being held tomorrow. My favorite part was seeing Queen Mary's dollhouse collection and the almost football field long wooden table made for Queen Victoria. Football field may be an exaggeration but it was HUGEEE. We had a delicious lunch in Windsor then headed home for a night out.

                                                 We found Mama G's husband in Windsor!

 Needless to say, Friday night was funnn. Saturday morning was a struggle...BUT we rallied and went to Covent Garden, The British Musuem, Roadhouse Bar (very cool place) then had a delicious dinner at Hamilton Hall. I went to bed early and I needed it. Covent Garden was one of my favorite areas so far. It has a precious piazza where there are pubs, restaurants, market, ice cream shops etc. The area surrounding it is filled with street performers.

Today the girls went to the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels, Bloody Tower, Traitor's Gate (above) Martin Tower, etc. The crown jewels really are phenomenal.

Kara has been in Dublin and I'm sure she will post about her travels! I miss her!
I hope this week goes by reallllllly fast because we are going to SPAIN next!!

Amsterdam (Kara)

Last week our entire group booked a trip to Amsterdam. At first I was not too excited about this trip. I just assumed Amsterdam would be filled with grungy hippies and tourists. A dirty city that smelled like smoke was the last place on my mind to go, but I did not want to be left behind in London. As the day of our flight started approaching I grew more excited looking up tours, museums, and things to do in the city.

Friday came way too early. We had to leave Nido (the name of our flats) at 5:45 am to make our flight, which was at 9:30 (or so we thought). Our group was flying from the Gatwick airport and consequently it is the furthest and most expensive airport to get transportation to. We took the tube to the train station at 6 a.m. then the express train to the airport to get there around 7:30 am. Security here does not take nearly as long as it does at the Atlanta airport so we had plenty of time to spare (which was nice considering most of us got only a few hours of sleep). Going through security in Atlanta normally I put my shampoo, conditioner, face wash, and body wash in a plastic bag but that is about it; in London they put EVERYTHING that is a questionable liquid in plastic bags. I tried my best to sort out everything from lip-gloss and mascara to shampoo and face medicine. We all checked in and began to go through security. Where they would normally ask for ID and boarding passes at the Atlanta airport, the employees only asked me for my boarding pass and let me proceed without checking any form of identification; this obviously made me a little nervous considering I could have been anyone. Then, we go through the scanners and I learn there is NO need whatsoever to be nervous to fly from this airport. Security made Atlanta’s security look like a complete and utter joke. They scanned all bags. Jessica, Brittain, and I went through the same line of security and all three of our bags got pulled aside. They searched our bags from top to bottom, pulling out every trash wrapper. All I had to do was put my solid deodorant and toothpaste into my liquid bag. It was an intense security check, but the airport employees were all surprisingly friendly.

The flight took off, drinks were passed out, and it landed; possibly the quickest flight I had ever been on. We then had to figure out how to get to our hostel, which was a more complicated process than we thought due to the language barrier. Unfortunately, no one in our group spoke Dutch. We finally arrived to the hostel. It was not the best hostel to say the least. Thank goodness Mary Margaret, Elle, Brittain, and I had a private room. I might have cried if we were in the public one. The beds were at least comfy, but just one example of how “cheap” (in terms of facility not price—we definitely overpaid in my opinion) the hostel was can be taken from the shower curtain, which looked as if it was cut into thirds so it barely blocked the spray from the shower head so it definitely did not cover one body. Again, this reinforces how happy I was to have a private room (including private bathroom) with 4 girls. Next, we just went exploring and walking through the city. We ended up at a square filled with fun restaurants. We ate at a little Italian place outside because the weather was gorgeous! We then decided just to talk around and find different pubs to go into. Walking was interesting because we did not know the sidewalks had “bike lanes” and those bikers are not afraid to hit you so people probably knew we were coming a mile away from the screaming and jumping taking place. We ended up at a pub filled with people and we made lots of friends. There were tons of
“stag” parties (aka bachelor parties) taking place and in Europe the trend is to dress up the stag in a “sexy” women’s outfit—HILARIOUS. Everyone in the pub loved us and chanted “USA, USA…” throughout the afternoon. Then we went to a pub-crawl. It went to 6 bars throughout the red light district (which was just weird and made me feel sad for those girls). After 3 half of us decided to go home; it had been a long day.

Saturday we woke up and went to a pancake house for lunch/breakfast. For some reason I decided to get a hamburger, don’t ask me why. Elle, Brittain, Mary Margaret and I then rented a paddleboat for an hour and paddled around the canals. It was SO great to be on the water and the canals in Amsterdam are beautiful. Next we met up with the rest of the group at Bloenmmarkt (sp?), the famous flower market. I loved looking at all the types of flowers from Holland. Then, we walked to the edge of Vondelpark where the I AMSTERDAM sign is to wait for our bike tour. This bike tour was AMAZING and definitely my favorite part of the entire trip. Our guide took us all around Amsterdam. We went to Anne Frank’s house, saw the leaning houses, tried raw herring (their delicacy), and even went all the way to the only windmill in Amsterdam where a brewery (famous for brewing delicious and cheapest beer in Amsterdam). It was a blast and we literally saw the entire city of Amsterdam on bike. We then went to ANOTHER Italian restaurant. We went there because we found out every single item on the menu was 5 Euros and could not pass up that deal. It ended up being such a long day we were all exhausted by the end and wanted a relaxing and enjoyable night. So, we decided to go to a funky jazz bar. The jazz bar was filled with mostly older folks, but it was really fun for a bit, until it put all of us to sleep and we went home. OH! We also made a Swedish friend in our hostel who just packed up and left home one day. His name was Bjorn and he was the most optimistic 19 year old I had ever met with such a neat story.

Sunday we all woke up and went to breakfast. We decided the last thing we all should do is go to the Heineken brewery. It was so fun and interactive. I learned a lot how beer is brewed and now love Heineken (Dad would be so proud!).  Elle, Mary Margaret, Brittain, Nick, Jessica, and my flight was not until 9:40 p.m. so we wandered ate some lunch and headed back toward the airport to get there around 7. Once we got there we found out our flight had been delayed an hour…We were suppose to land in London at 9:45 p.m. and did not land until 11, getting home at 1:15 a.m. Needless to say, I am exhausted today and cannot wait to get a great nights sleep and shower in my own shower!

All in all Amsterdam was AMAZING and could very well be my favorite place in Europe, which is a surprise to me! This week is back to work and hopefully they will give me more things to do then they did last week (but maybe not too much J).

Hope all is well in the States!!

Xoxo

-Kara

WEEKEND (Elle)

Our second week of work has already come and gone.

Last weekend when Barcelona won the champions league final was amazing for me. I wish I could have been in Spain celebrating on the streets. The Duke of Wellington is where we watched the game here and it so happened to be the Barcelona fan club home base haha. We went out after the game to a club called Zebrano and had the besttt time.

I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as the National History Museum. Both were really cooool. I particularly loved the V&A because of the fancy dresses and jewelry on display.

My work days were filled with research and calls to journalists....needless to say I am ready for the weekend! Luckily it's here. There's a group of about 25 going to Amsterdam tomorrow morning till Sunday night. We are going on a bike tour of the city as well as visiting the Heineken museum or another brewery Kara found. I am really excited for a quick vacation.

I can't think of any other updates. Kara & I will have stories to share after this weekend!!