We'll always have Paris {and Edinburgh, and Copenhagen, and Amsterdam, etc}

So I'm cheating a bit here, because I am actually writing this, my final study abroad blog post, from the comfort of my living room in Atlanta.  However due to time constraints and one really fun night in Paris I was unable to update one last time before I left.  So here it is, my last post from my entire four month long study abroad experience.

The past week has been amazing, but a very different experience than usual.  After my parents picked me up on Friday we headed immediately to the lake district.  We had to traverse some incredible country roads to get there but after only a few minor near death/dismemberment incidents we all managed to make it to the beautiful Lake District in good health. Props to my dad for not only mastering driving on the other side of the road, but also mastering soothing my mom and my tense nerves for the journey.

Beautiful Lake District

Some of the many sheep we saw on our journeys across England

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to York where we saw the beautiful York cathedral and walked the long Roman Wall guarding the city.  After York we headed to Stratford home of William Shakespeare.  This was one of my personal favorite stops.  I have always loved the Bard so it was amazing to see his hometown.  We went to Will’s grave and visited the Royal Shakespeare Company both of which were incredible. 

Shakespeare's grave!

After Stratford we headed down to the Cotswold city of Stow.  Stow is an adorable little town that looked like something out of the 1600s.  Unfortunately, it also functioned like something out of the 1600s and there was no wireless Internet access, which was a tough feat for my father and I on our 3-day stay there.

Roman Baths

After sleeping in a little later on Sunday morning we headed to Stonehenge.  Although we got a bit lost, we managed to make it to the countryside where the national monument is located.  I never really knew what all the fuss was about Stonehenge, but after seeing it myself I have to say I was blown away.  The entire thing is so massive, and its right in the middle of nowhere so its just incredible to marvel at those rocks and imagine how and why they were put there.  I really enjoyed my visit and definitely have a bigger appreciation for Stonehenge’s importance. After Stonehenge we made a quick stop at the Salsibury cathedral then headed to Bath.  Bath was a little more modern and large than I anticipated but we headed straight to the cathedral and Roman Baths, which were amazing.  Both are super well preserved and the tour of the baths was incredibly educational and great.  

Adorable Bibury

We spent all day Monday driving around the Cotswold’s various towns.  Most of them were adorable and my mom certainly enjoyed many a freak-out admiring the various buildings and towns.  My personal favorite was this adorable little weaver town called Bibury.  It had a ton of quaint little cottages surrounded by a beautiful creeks and grassy fields.  It was like a scene from Pride and Prejudice.  Later that night we also managed to find the door in Stow that inspired Tolkien to create the door to the Mines of Moria.  That was definitely a huge highlight for me.

Tuesday morning we made a quick stop at Windsor Castle before beginning our journey to London to catch our train to Paris.  This was a journey made slightly more difficult by the fact that our GPS routed us through downtown London and thus my father, who had been driving in the UK for the grand total of a week, had to traverse the congested streets of London with ever-decreasing time to make our train.  If I ever had any doubts about my dad’s driving abilities (which I didn’t) they would have all been laid to rest by watching him somehow maneuver a three-point turn in the middle of Piccadilly circus.  Seriously ridiculous.

After barely making our train we wound up in Paris on Tuesday evening.  I was never too sure what I would think of Paris but  its safe to say that after a full ten minutes in the city I was in love.  Someone once told me that London is a boy’s city and Paris is a girl’s city and I have to say I totally agree.  Paris is just so pretty and there’s so many wonderful things to see.  Its reputation as the most romantic city in the world is definitely justified.

Wednesday morning my mother and I woke up early and headed to the Louvre so I could see the famous pieces on display there.  I’m hardly an art-buff, but I am definitely a history-buff and so I do know a bit about Da Vinci, Raphael, The Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, etc.  And getting to see these amazing masterpieces was just incredible.  Every piece I’ve seen in pictures absolutely lived up to its reputation including the Mona Lisa, that although smaller than I thought , was stunning.

 

Paris from the Eiffel Tower

After the Louvre and another amazing French meal (I think I’m going to have a serious love-affair with French food from now on, every meal I ate was pretty much one of the best of my life) we headed up to Notre Dame.  I loved seeing the cathedral and we got to climb all the way to the top and see amazing views of Paris which was great too.  Thursday was our last day in Paris and we did it right, waking up early and climbing the Eiffel Tower (although mom did chicken out on this one due to her large fear of heights so dad and I traversed the monument together), and then heading to a rooftop restaurant to eat an amazing lunch in the shadow of the most beautiful city in the world.  After lunch we walked around the city a bit, of course stopping to get ice cream at one of the many delicious cafe's. Later that night, I was able to meet up with Melanie and Alex and a few of my other USC friends for dinner and a fun night out. 

Dad and I at the top of the Eiffel Tower

Although its expensive going out in Paris is like no other city.  As my friend Alex put it, "the river is the best bar in Paris"  a fact I completely support after a wonderful evening drinking wine on the banks of the Seine.  It was a wonderful last night to study abroad and I loved seeing everyone.

 So now, after a long eight hour flight, I am home in Atlanta.  I'll be here for nine days, and then I head back to LA for the summer.  I cant believe this whole experience is over, and that I am now a Senior in college.  Its a very bittersweet feeling because I am so sad that I don't know when I'll return to Europe or see all the amazing people I met again, but I feel so lucky that I had this experience.  There is definitely nothing like going abroad and I would recommend it to all. I have had a great time keeping this blog, and thanks to all who kept up with it over the months.  

Love you all and talk to you soon!

"Edinburgh, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"

Arthur's Seat

So today is my last day in Edinburgh.  As I write this my parents are mere hours away from picking me up and sweeping me away on vacation for a week.  I can’t believe that my time in this amazing city is at an end and that I am saying goodbye to everyone and everything I love.  But before I get to the goodbyes, one last update on my last week in Edinburgh.

Saturday and Sunday were mostly spent relaxing and getting ready for the rents arrival on Sunday night.  I spent a couple lovely days in the meadows, some time on Princes street treating myself to a few early birthday presents and unfortunately a fair amount of time in the library finishing up my paper and journal entries.

Parliament

My parents arrived Sunday night from London and it was great/ surreal seeing them in Edinburgh.  Both were outfitted for much colder weather than it was and one of the first things my mother said to me was “You must be freezing, where’s you're jacket???” So typical.  After getting the parents settled in, we all headed to meet Rory, Rob, Rachel and Sarah for a dinner that my parents were nice enough to take us to.  We obviously went to Holyrood 9a because I can’t have a birthday without hamburgers.  The evening was great and I think my parents and friends really enjoyed meeting each other, even if it caused a bit of embarrassment on my part.

Sunday night Rachel, Kaitlyn, Brent, Rory and I rang in my 21^st right if I do say so myself.  It was just such a treat not to have to be studying on my birthday so I’m sure it would have been fun no matter what, but after a couple hours and a table at Brewdogs I was one happy camper. 

Beautiful Edinburgh from the top of Calton Hill

Monday morning I woke up early to show my parents around Edinburgh.  We went to the castle, the palace, Parliament, the cemetery where Adam Smith is buried and the royal mile.  I loved showing off my city and I think we all really enjoyed ourselves.  The weather was a little stop and start but this was actually really fun because it was great seeing my mom react to the 10 minute rainstorms common in Scotland.  All I can say is that’s good Scottish weather for you ;)

Monday night my parents took me to a great fancy dinner for my birthday and it was delicious.  I haven’t actually spent a birthday with them in a while so it was really fun to just be with my parents eating in style.  Tuesday morning I had my last class of the year.  We just went over the election results, but it was still really weird being back in the classroom with everyone. It was also somewhat depressing hearing about just how bad the Lib Dems did in the election, but it was still really fun to compare campaign stories and talk about the future, plus we got sandwiches!

After class I met back up with my parents and we headed to new town to go to the Walter Scott monument and Princes Street Gardens.  After that we all grabbed coffee with Alex so that I could say goodbye and my parents could meet him.  I would say it was a very successful meeting all around.  Alex definitely charmed both my parents and my dad rewarded him by giving him a rather long lecture on how he could improve his campaign strategy.  I will miss Alex and everyone on the campaign so much, but who knows, 2016 isn't that far away ;)

After meeting Alex we headed up to the top of Calton Hill to get great views of the city, a trip that is responsible for the pictures sprinkled throughout this post.  We got yummy pub food for dinner that night and then I introduced the rents to the wonderfulness of a fried mars bar.  Can’t say they enjoyed it that much, but still a fun experience.

Wednesday my parents headed to the highlands for a few days so I had time to focus on packing and writing my paper, which is pretty much what I did all day Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday night I said goodbye to Sarah and Rebecca which was super sad, I hate saying goodbye to people when I don’t know when I’ll see them again, but I’m hoping that we can all have a reunion at some point so I’m trying not to be too sad. Thursday I ran some errands with Rachel then met up with her Keith, Kaitlyn, Anna and Clark for some more goodbyes and a fun night out.  Appropriately we went to Biddy’s (my favorite pub), although there was no Karaoke which was definitely a little upsetting.  After Biddy’s we went to Zara’s and I got cheesy chips just like I did my first night out which was great, if not a little nostalgic.

Today I’m just finishing getting everything together and then I head out.  I hate that everything is ending here, but I'm sure I’ll be back, I could never resist Edinburgh for too long.  This has been an amazing experience and I truly understand now why everyone says that you have to go abroad.  There is nothing like the rush of meeting new people,  seeing new places and just finding your way in somewhere completely unique.  I will never forget my time here and I know that it has impacted me deeply.

Anyways mushiness gone,  Ill be back in Atlanta in a week, and LA in two and I cant wait!!!!! Talk to you guys soon from Paris!

"What We've Got Here is a Failure to Communicate."

So as of today I am officially done with my parliamentary internship.  Election Day, or as the Scottish call it Polling Day, was Thursday and now I'm just relaxing and finishing up some stuff until I leave on the 13th.

 Sunday night was the beginning of election week so I headed to the office for one final campaign meeting.  Everyone was very positive and we pretty much just discussed final strategies and plans for the week.  On Monday I woke up early and went on deliveries until around 2 p.m. and then headed home for a few job interviews and some homework.  Monday night Lindsey was kind enough to invite me to dinner with her parents so I got to enjoy some yummy Scottish food and wine with the Zea's.

Tuesday was another busy day at work followed by a celebration in the evening for Lindsey's last night.  After hanging out at Noah's for a bit we all went dancing at the Hive one of our favorite clubs.  The evening was very fun but a little sad because I knew it was the last time we'd all be together and the last time I'd be seeing Lindsey for a while.  Its just so strange that people have already started to leave, I'm honestly struggling to figure out where this semester went.

Me, Rachel, Lindsey, and Noah on Lindsey's last night

Wednesday was the final day of campaigning before Polling Day and one of my busiest yet.  Deliveries in the morning, canvassing in the afternoon and then a final campaign meeting in the evening.  This meeting was a bit different because it was a chance for us all to get our assignments for the next morning and to have one last gathering before we all split up on our various tasks.  Alex and Kevin both gave speeches and since I'm not going to be here for the thank-you party they were both kind enough to say a little thank you to me during the meeting.  I also received a pair of socks as a gift?  Apparently its a Scottish tradition and I have to say I was very excited. It was a great evening just talking with all the amazing people I've met on the campaign and reflecting on just how much we've achieved.

As busy as Wednesday was it doesn't even compare to the madness of Thursday.  After getting four hours of sleep I woke up at 4am and was out of my flat by five to begin the work day.  We started with "good morning" leaflets which we delivered to swing areas in an attempt to remind them to vote for Alex before they even left their houses.  I delivered the "good mornings" and some target letters until about 12 p.m. when I took a thirty minute break for lunch.  Then right after lunch we were out and about again this time canvassing, knocking on doors of likely voters reminding them to get out there and vote for Alex. By 5 p.m. I had knocked on almost 300 doors, was exhausted, running on nothing but caffeine and adrenaline and still greatly enjoying myself.  On my last canvass run around 630 p.m. it started to pour down rain so I headed back to the office where I was given a cell phone and some numbers to canvass over the phone.  After a day of walking around this was definitely fine by me.

Around 9 p.m. we finally stopped phone banking since there was only an hour left until polls closed.  The campaign was kind enough to provide us with pizza which I enjoyed immensely considering my severe energy depletion levels.  By that time I had been working for 17 hours straight, but the day was far from over.  After a short meeting about results, policies and the events for the evening we all headed out to Islington for the count. 

My badge for the count

Now for those of you who don't know the UK does not use electronic voting machines in their elections.  I've heard a couple different reasons why this is.  Explanations range from machines are not reliable to we're idiots, but regardless every ballot is counted by hand by a real live person.  Now part of the tradition of this count is that it is done through the night after Polling Day so that the results are available as soon as possible.   During this all night count Parties can observe the votes to record demographics and voting information.  This is the activity that I was participating in.  When I arrived at the count I entered a massive room with hundreds and hundreds of tables and four people at each one counting the ballots.  Us party members had to stand on the other side of guard rails and look over the shoulders of the people counting in order to record how many votes we had gotten.

By midnight, after a few hours of waiting, the count had begun and immediately I realized that the result was not looking that good for Alex.  The Lib Dems were consistently coming in third for every ballot box opened and it didn't take long for us to realize that Alex wouldn't be winning.  By 2 a.m. the count had finished and we all met for the bad news and to console Alex.

Overall, I wasn't that surprised that Alex lost, simply because the Lib Dems are so unpopular in Scotland right now because of their coalition with the Conservatives.  However, after all my hard work and everything I'd seen the campaign put into this election it was pretty hard to watch someone I really liked and respected lose everything he wanted.  Regardless, Alex took the news fairly well and was very nice in his acknowledgements and congratulations to the winner, Marco Biagi of the SNP. Although, I am unhappy with the outcome the experience of participating in such a unique and exciting campaign was unlike any I've ever had and I know I will look back on it all with positive memories.

Even though we knew Alex hadn't won by 2 a.m., we had to wait around longer for the official declaration and Alex's speech.  I intended to wait up for this event, but when 5 a.m. rolled around and we still didn't know how much longer it was going to be I officially couldn't hang on anymore and ended up taking the bus back to my flat.

Needless to say I spent most of Friday in my bed catching up on the 26 hours of sleep I had missed.  Friday night however was unfortunately Noah's last night so once again I headed out to say goodbye to one of my good friends.  The night was fun, but it was a little bit sadder for me than Lindsey's last night because unlike her I don't know when I'll  see Noah again.  It was super hard saying goodbye and it was made all the harder knowing that I 'm going to have many more of these goodbyes to do in the next few days.

Some of the girls on Noah's last night

My parents get in tomorrow and I'm super excited to see them but I'm also very sad because it means that my time in Edinburgh is coming to an end.  Words cannot describe how amazing this experience has been and I can't believe I only have a week left to enjoy it.  My 21st birthday is Monday and a lot of my friends are still here, so I'm trying to be happy and just live up my last few days!

"What do you like better Christmas or Wedding Season? The answer would be wedding season."

Its the moment you've all been waiting for...or at least the moment I've been waiting for....my post about the Royal Wedding!

 I boarded the night bus at 10 p.m. to be in London by 6 a.m. the next morning.  The ride was a little rough but unlike airplanes I've never had much trouble sleeping in cars so I was able to get a solid amount of sleep. This turned out to be very fortunate since I needed all my energy to deal with the royal wedding madness the next day.

Part of the crowd surrounding us

We got into London a little late (closer to 7:00 am) and Jake and I headed immediately over to Buckingham Palace to try and find a place to stand.  We were a worried that we wouldn't be able to get a good spot since people had been camping out all week, and our fears turned out to be justified.  There wasn't any good room in front of the palace which is where we most wanted to be, so we headed into St. James Park to try and find a better spot.  Fortunately the park wasn't quite as crowded yet so we managed to find a good spot about three rows back right on the parade route.  Considering we got to our spot around 7:30 a.m. and the wedding activities didn't start until 10ish we had a long wait ahead of us.  Of course this was made a little bit easier by all the awesome people surrounding us.  One couple was obsessed with Jake's southern accent and made him say Alabama over and over again (they didn't believe I was from Georgia tool).  Another older husband and wife were kind enough to educate me on the recent history of royals in the UK and share their experiences of when they came to see Princess Diana's wedding.  Truly fantastic.

By the time 10:30 rolled around we were all getting pretty excited about the festivities.  We had a great location on the mall right by St. James's Palace so we got excellent views of all the royals leaving for the wedding.  I saw Harry and William in their red Rolls Royce, the queen in her yellow hat and of course the first glimpses of Kate's dress.  I pretty much died and went to heaven in those first few minutes.  Then once everyone arrived at Westminster Abbey the ceremony began which they were nice enough to broadcast on massive loudspeakers to all of us on the parade route.  It was a great moment hearing all the British people say the prayers along with those in the abbey and cheer when Will and Kate said I do.  After the ceremony ended the parade began and it was so spectacular.  The whole procession was huge and fully equipped with honor guards, horse cavalries, flags and of course the royals in their carriages.  Once again I had a great view of all the action and I swear Harry looked right at me as he drove by......The only downside to my spot was that because everyone was waving in front of me it was hard for me to get good pictures, I managed to get a few, but nothing like you could find online.

Best picture I could get of the royal couple but you can still kind of make them out!

After the parade ended Jake and I attempted to hurry over to Buckingham palace to watch them wave on the balcony, but ended up getting caught in a massive crowd of people.  I have never felt more like cattle, but fortunately we managed to weave our way through and get to the palace just in time for them to come out.  Our view wasn't as great as it was on the parade route but I still got to see everything which was marvelous.  Overall the entire experience of being in London for the wedding was simply amazing.  It was stressful, insane and crowded but the entire mass of people was just so happy and there was so much to see and nothing can beat the vibe of actually experiencing a historic event like that in person.  I am so glad I went and I know I will never forget it.

Walking the parade route at night

After the wedding ended Jake and I managed to meet up with our friends Daniel and Mary (truly a feat considering just how many people were in St. James's Park) and headed to lunch and then to our hotel.  The hotel was about a mile away from Westminster Abbey which was very nice since it meant we didn't have to deal with public transportation.  After a much needed nap at our hotel we all spent the night walking around the area and getting a delicious hamburger meal in Piccadilly Circus.  The highlight was definitely walking the parade route after dark when the streets were still closed and pretending I was part of the royal family.  Cheesy I know, but still incredible to imagine driving down that route with millions of people cheering for you all around.

Group outside of Westminster Abbey

After a fantastic nights sleep on Friday we all woke up early Saturday morning and headed over to Westminster Abbey.  I didn't get to see the abbey last time I was in London so it was the one thing I wanted to do when I was there.  The line was super long but we decided it was worth it and since we had cards with us the wait wasn't that bad.  The abbey was everything I wanted it to be and more.  It was beautiful and  historic, and I almost died when I saw Queen Elizabeth I's tomb.  I've only dreamed about visiting her tomb since I was nine years old.  Also, the abbey was still set up the way it was for Will and Kate's wedding so we got to actually walk down the aisle and see Kate's bouquet and where they said their vows and everything.  It was fantastic.

After the abbey we only had a few more hours until our bus left that night so we just went to lunch, did some souvenir shopping and then after Mary and Daniel left Jake and I saw a movie to kill some time.  We saw the Eagle which was entertaining but a little unbelievable.  More of a wait till DVD type of movie. 

So after a long night of bus riding and a rough sleep I arrived back in Edinburgh this morning at 8 a.m..  Today I'm just focusing on getting organized for the week since I'm going to be super busy until POLLING DAY on Thursday.  I cant believe its already almost here.  I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on the campaign but just remember four days from now we'll know if Alex has won!

Talk to you all soon!