Dublin

ah so Dublin was a lot of fun! I stayed at a pretty cool hostel in the four courts area, which was so nice. my hostel was very near the Temple bar district and city centre and all that jazz. The oldest pub in Ireland was right near my hostel, too. I went there with a friend that I met and we got to see a traditional Irish band play. A man sang a song about World War I and like almost every man in the room had tears in his eyes or was just crying openly. It was nuts!

Yeah so I met a girl at Gatwick who was also going to Dublin for a few days. She's from Canada and she was really cool so we hung out while in Dublin. She has a friend who lives there so her friend showed us ropes haha. It's always nice to have an insider's view of a city. I found a really neat bookstore while there too and bought a book to read on the way home. I was amazed at how artistic and cultural of a city Dublin is. I didn't realize they had such a big theatre district and little book markets everywhere and stuff. It was a lovely surprise

The trip home was interesting. I flew out of Dublin airport and got to Newark with no problems. However, we got stuck for a couple of hours in Newark because of plane maintanence problems. I missed my connection in Denver because of the two hour delay in Newark and was forced to stay overnight in Denver. Then I had an early flight home but it also had plane problems and then got delayed and then cancelled so I didn't get to leave Denver until pretty late and got home pretty late at night. It was all very interesting to say the least. I really miss Swansea, though. Ugh I hated leaving so much! It was all so depressing to have to say goodbye to everyone. Everyone made it home safely, though, which is really good. I definitely see myself going back to the UK to live for a while, though. Hopefully sooner than later!

aw goodbyes :(

ugh and so it begins. everyone pretty much is leaving here today or tomorrow. most are going home. some are doing some traveling and then leaving but either way, it's so sad! I'm leaving for Dublin tomorrow morning and then I'm going home on Tuesday. I've had such a blast here! I so don't want to leave but I am so ready to see everyone at RSU and be back there again.

I am excited to go to Dubin, though. The land of my people! haha and I'm so excited to be finished with all of my classes, too! I finished my paper for one class, took my final for German and did both of my online classes (A's in those! woohoo!)

I can't believe I'm all packed up and cleaning my room and everything to leave. It doesn't really feel over and like I'm leaving. It's beginning to feel more real today, though.

I feel so lucky to have been here at all! The American Studies office has been wonderful to all of us. I've met some amazing people and gotten to experience so many wonderful things and see so many great places that I've always wanted to see.

My friends and I went out to a final dinner the other night. It was nice. we went and ate some Indian food and had fun.

I went through the botanical gardens on campus again today for a final time. it's such a gorgeous place!

Well anyway I'm going back to packing and getting ready to leave all bright and early but will definitely write about Dublin!

hmm..I should probably be writing a paper...

Well yeah about the title. I should be writing a paper but I'm taking a break to eat some more dinner and write on this thing, ya know? haha my brain needs a rest anyway.

So I'm officially finished with my two online classes. Yay! I took the finals already and so now it's just a matter of finding out if I made A's in them. Though I'm pretty certain I did haha!

I take my German final on Wednesday and all I have to do for my other class is write this massive paper. Luckily, I'm not really much of a procrastinator at all so it should be fine. I've already done quite a bit for it, but it is a bit challenging. oh well. I'm sure it'll all work out.

I'm mailing some luggage home on Tuesday so that I don't have to cart tons of stuff around with me when I go to Dublin. Hopefully it all ships fine and everything. It's not too much different than if I were to have it with me when I left. It's getting there by airplane either way; this is just more convenient. It still makes me nervous, though, to give my suitcases to a stranger and trust a bunch of people to get my stuff home for me...eek. I've already paid for it and everything so as long as the truck shows up on Tuesday (and in time for me to not be late to class) and everything, we should be good! hopefully...

I just ate some more British food. I had beans and cheese on toast (yeah I'd so never heard of that before I got here) and it was actually pretty good..strangely lol. I also tried corn(ed?) beef pie. yummy! My flatmate made it! ah the things we do to procrastinate from doing our work haha. It was strangely delicious, as well. I had a roast thingy at the carvery across from where we live the other day. It was pretty delicious, as well. It took me a while we I got here to acquire a taste for the food but maybe my tastebuds are acclimating. hmm.. haha

Well anyway, I put some more pictures from Freiburg here and now I suppose I'll get back to my work!

ich liebe deutschland!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. A bunch of my friends and I had thanksgiving with our wonderful British friends. Hopefully they enjoyed our lovely little holiday.

so I have returned from Germany. woohoo. we had a blast there. the way down was pretty great. We all got a good amount of sleep and arrived at a wonderful hotel! super cheap and super wonderful. the way back was not so good, though. we got basically no sleep because of loud people and were home for a very short amount of time before a fire alarm went off and woke us all back up. so yeah last night was not a good one for sleep. eek

but yes Germany was very cool. We had wonderful food. Freiburg is a really neat little city, too. We went to the Christmas market and went on a hike up a mountain in the black forest. We walked all around the city. Our hotel was a little out of the way, but it was ok because we just walked to and from it every day, which was really healthy and allowed us to get a good view of the town. aw our last trip together. sad sad sad :(

it's crazy to think that in like a week and half, I'll be leaving wonderful Swansea to go back to wonderful Oklahoma. This semster has flown by so quickly. it's just crazy

Deutschland!

so tonight my friends and I are leaving for Germany! we'll be spending a few days in Freiburg, which should be super awesome. we're going for a Christmas market. Freiburg is supposed to be one of the best places for Christmas markets, and I'm sure it'll be amazing! it's right on the black forest and right by France and Switzerland so there should definitely be an interesting mix of cultures and stuff there.

Last night I went to a comedy show here in Swansea. The last Wednesday of every month there is a comedy show at the Swansea Grand Theatre so I went last night since it's my last time to see it before I leave. They're not doing one in December so last night was the Christmas one (meaning the best one, duh!) It was absolutely great. I highly recommend it for anyone who has a chance to go. I had a blast. All of downtown Swansea is decorated really pretty and everything, too. They have a fun little carnival type thingy here that I will hopefully be checking out soon! It's so pretty here this time of year. It's still green here, too, which is nuts to me! I don't understand how it's almost December and it's super cold but still so green. wow!

So yeah here are some more pictures from Paris and of my new hair! I got it cut in Paris and then I put color in it yesterday here in Swansea. yayyyy!

wonderful weekend in paris!

Well we just arrived back in Swansea last night from Paris! We had a great weekend there. We spent Friday just kind of exploring the area around our hotel and parts of the city. We had a great dinner and then went to the Louvre! We got to go for free, too, because Friday nights they have a deal for people under 26. That was amazing. I saw some amazing art, including some of my all-time favorite paintings (the Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People, etc). I saw some Picasso and some Delacroix...it was great!

On Saturday, two of my friends and I went on a biking tour of Paris. It was amazing! The tour took us to many places in Paris that are off the beaten path so we got to see a lot of the unknown parts of Paris. After the tour, we went to the Catacombs. That was just nuts. So many bones! It seemed like the catacombs went on for miles or something. We were just in awe of how many people must be down there. After the catacombs, my friends and I went shopping! We actually didn't really buy any clothes or anything but it was awesome just to look. We didn't really have enough time for shopping, though, so we only looked around for a bit. Then we went off to the Eiffel Tower! We found a nice place to eat very near it, too. Love French food! It was funny, though, because there was a family sitting next to us at dinner that were obviously American so two of us took a bet to see who could get closest to guessing their state. I won! They were Texan and I just knew it! haha so that was fun. Then we went up the Eiffel Tower...that was scary. Very, very, very high. It was windy and cold, too, which was a bit disappointing, but it was totally worth it!

We really didn't get to do anything on Sunday since we had to leave so early. But that was OK because we were able to do a lot while we were there. It would've been nice to have more time, but the time we had was definitely amazing!

Paris!

We had our meeting for Paris today. It's so exciting that it's happening so soon! We are leaving Thursday evening. Getting there is going to be an adventure. Rather than flying, this time I'll be traveling by bus and ferry. hmm...should be a new experience. It's really going to feel like a school trip or something since we're going by bus. We travel at night, as well, which will be really neat so I can sleep and have lots of energy when I get there (hopefully!) but yeah, we're leaving Thursday and getting on a bus to take to the coast. Then we transfer to a ferry to France, where we get on another bus to Paris. interesting... It's really nice, though, that everything is basically figured out for us on this trip and whatever we do once we get there is up to us, which is also great. I have so many great friends that are going, too, so it's definitely going to be a fun trip.
Right now I'm trying to eat lots of my food that will expire when I'm gone. It's difficult. When I went to Venice, though, a lot of my food expired while I was gone so I'd rather not have that happen again. Food expires so much more quickly here than at home because they use fewer preservatives. It's better for you but it's just hard to get used to!

I decided to post some older pictures that I have from the various places I've been. I can't believe I'm leaving here a month from today. That just seems way way too soon. I'm not ready to go yet at all! A month from today I fly off to Dublin, though, and then onward back to Oklahoma a few days later. I'm going to miss so many people so badly! Not that I'm not missing people back home right now, and not that I'm not ready to see many people from home again, but I'm just not ready to leave! Time is just really flying by for me here.

I've been preparing for law school lately, which is just crazy. I can't believe that I'll be doing that next year. I've been corresponding with a human rights attorney in London since that is what I'm interested in. She's being quite helpful to me! Applying to law school is such a stressful process, but it makes me feel like a senior in high school again or something. It just really takes me back to applying for college! Hopefully I end up at a law school that is as amazing as RSU has been for undergrad. I really hope I find a place that I love as much as RSU! I'm going to be applying for my internship in Uganda soon, too, as soon as the applications are online! I can't believe I'm enrolling in my last semester of school, too! craziness!

EEK! so I'm off to Paris a week from today! I leave late Thursday night! I have a meeting for it on Monday! So exciting! This time I'm going with a huge group of people, which is neat. It's through the student union here. They went to Amerstam a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't go on that trip. Couldn't pass up Paris, of course, though! I plan on getting my hair cut while I'm there, too. My friends and I are going to the Louvre and on a bike tour of Paris, which will be awesome! This is my first real trip with a huge group of people since I've been here, too. Edinburgh was just four of us and Venice was just little ole me! Venice was amazing, though. Waking up in sunny Venice (when it was supposed to be rain) and finding out that Obama had won was just a once-in-a-lifetime, indescribable feeling!

Blah..I need to go to city centre and do a little shopping for various things, such as band-aids! (or plasters, as they're called here...) ugh but it's raining (of course) and I just don't want to go out in the rain again today! It rains so much here! rainiest city in the UK!

So everyone should know that today is the second annual "to write love on her arms" day. it's a great organization that everyone should know about and read up on!

Well I'm off to brave the weather!