This past weekend we had a bus tour scheduled, one that was basically set up for us by the Maryland-in-London program. We could only pick one of several options that Maryland would set up for us, so when we decided on horseback riding in Wales we weren't entirely sure we were making the right decision. I can now say that, for me, this was the perfect trip.
Let me start off by noting how pleasantly surprised I was by bus travel. It was actually very comfortable and relaxing, and for a trip through England and Wales it was perfect because we were able to enjoy the gorgeous countryside for the entire trip. After a leaving at 9:30 and a three hour drive, we got to the town of Chepstow on the border of England and Wales. Like the silly tourists that we are, we went to the bridge and took pictures with one foot in England and one in Wales-- two places at once! Then we walked through Chepstow castle, which was absolutely amazing. The ruins were so beautiful as were the views; we literally could stop saying "Oh my God, will you look at this?!" After that we drove another half hour to Tinturn, where we saw the ruins of Tinturn Abbey, another beautiful sight. We also walked up to ruins of the old Wiccan church that burned down, killing dozens of the witches in it. The last stop of the day was Hay-on-Wye, a book town with literally 35 different book shops (and not much else). It was very endearing though, and I did make a few good finds.
That night we went to a "club" directly beneath our "hotel." The club was really more like a high school dance, and the hotel was more like the accommodations for steerage on the Titanic. The highlight of the night was when we met a few Welsh high school girls, who were enthralled by our accents and the fact that we were from the States. It seems to be a trend here that every young girl is obsessed with the idea of moving to L.A. They even called the hotel we were staying in "so posh!"
The next day was something I didn't even realize I had been missing. I haven't been riding for so many years, but when we got to the horses I was so happy and was honestly surprised at how comfortable I felt around them right off the bat. When we actually started riding, it was so entertaining because so many of my friends had no idea what they were doing. Obviously I'm not exactly a professional, but I did feel good about it. I was expecting a simple, rather boring walk through the countryside, but it was a bit more exciting than that.
First of all, Molly and I both told the instructors that we had riding experience, so they gave us somewhat more difficult horses. We started by walking on paved paths, but soon the instructors told us that we were going to trot. I was shocked when, as soon as this happened, posting came right back to me and felt completely natural, even easier than I remember it being when I was actually getting lessons. I was thrilled by the feeling and absolutely loved it. We made our way up to the hills, where we eventually left paved paths and started going up much less established trails. When we had to go over a rather deep, very rocky and very steep little stream, many of my friends freaked out and all but gave up. This of course only thrilled me more.
After a few difficult areas we were just walking across the side of the muddy hill when my horse, Marble, began pawing the ground. A few minutes later he made the executive decision to lay down. Luckily I got off at exactly the right time, just as he got to the ground but before he could roll on top of me. The instructors began screaming his name, whipping him and kicking him to get up, but this horse was determined to roll for a full minute. After that, when I tried to grab his reins, he broke into a canter down the mountain. One of the instructors finally caught him and they decided to put me on a different, more well-behaved pony this time.
The ret of the ride back down was rather uneventful, until they had us break up into two groups: those who wanted to ride for a half hour longer, and those who wanted to quite. Naturally Molly and I stayed out, along with five other girls. At the very end one of the instructors asked us if we wanted to canter, and we of course said yes. It was amazing. Moving so fast on the back of that huge animal, leaning into his neck and holding the reins tight. Afterward the instructor admitted that no, that was not exactly a canter... more like a gallop. I still can't believe how much I miss riding.
When we were finally on our way back to the stable Molly and I were talking, and she commented on how last weekend we climbed to the top of a dormant volcano and this weekend we galloped on horses in Wales. "You make me do all these crazy adventurous things!" she told me, "I wasn't like this before I met you!" I couldn't be happier. :)
Monday, February 23, 2009
All the single ladies... In Scotland!
So for Valentine's Day weekend we decided to go to Edinburgh, Scotland. I wasn't really planning on going to Scotland, but I am so glad I did. Edinburgh is an amazing city, so pretty with the castle just popping up in the middle and a dormant volcano as the backdrop for one side of the city. It is an incredible place, not to mention the people were so friendly. It was actually very surprising to me that we could tell the difference in temperment between the Scottish and the English.
The first night we did a haunted tour of the caves of the city, where the poorest of the poor lived and died during the days of the plague. Edinburgh was one of the cities most decimated by the plague and, as I learned, today's city was actually built in part on top of the old one that was so plague infested.
Saturday was the only full day we had in the city, so it was a packed day. Two of the girls I travelled with and I hiked up to the top of the dormant volcano, known as Arthur's Seat, at 10
a.m. While this started off as a brisk walk up a steep hill, it soon turned into a hike up steep and narrow stone steps carved into the mountain side and culminated with a climb to the very top using our hands and all. I definitely did not realize what I was getting myself into when I started, but extreme sports are kindof my thing, so it was okay. From top we could pretty much see all of Scotland, making the impressive Edinburgh castle seem tiny, so clearly it was worth it.
After making our back down (and watching Molly slip and slide 6 feet down the hillside, ending up with a mud-covered butt) we made our way into town to an organic farmer's market where I had some of the best cheeses and jams I have ever tried in my life. We then toured the castle, which, as I said before is so neat simply for the way it rises up out of the middle of the city, not to mention the centuries of history that took place there. We spent most of the rest of the day in search of the perfect scarves before enjoying a romantic Valentine's Day dinner with ten single women.
It really was the perfect Valentine's Day weekend. <3
The first night we did a haunted tour of the caves of the city, where the poorest of the poor lived and died during the days of the plague. Edinburgh was one of the cities most decimated by the plague and, as I learned, today's city was actually built in part on top of the old one that was so plague infested.
Saturday was the only full day we had in the city, so it was a packed day. Two of the girls I travelled with and I hiked up to the top of the dormant volcano, known as Arthur's Seat, at 10
a.m. While this started off as a brisk walk up a steep hill, it soon turned into a hike up steep and narrow stone steps carved into the mountain side and culminated with a climb to the very top using our hands and all. I definitely did not realize what I was getting myself into when I started, but extreme sports are kindof my thing, so it was okay. From top we could pretty much see all of Scotland, making the impressive Edinburgh castle seem tiny, so clearly it was worth it.
After making our back down (and watching Molly slip and slide 6 feet down the hillside, ending up with a mud-covered butt) we made our way into town to an organic farmer's market where I had some of the best cheeses and jams I have ever tried in my life. We then toured the castle, which, as I said before is so neat simply for the way it rises up out of the middle of the city, not to mention the centuries of history that took place there. We spent most of the rest of the day in search of the perfect scarves before enjoying a romantic Valentine's Day dinner with ten single women.
It really was the perfect Valentine's Day weekend. <3
Laken monster hunting... Interlaken of course
The term "laken monster hunting" refers to our train ride from Geneva to Interlaken, which for much of the ride took us around an enormous lake. We decided this was the "laken" of Interlaken, and were sure that this must bear a striking resemblance to Loch Ness. Obviously there was a monster in this lake too. I guess it was a lot funnier at the time...
Since I began skiing at age 5, the Swiss Alps have been a dream destination for me, so this trip to Interlaken, Switzerland meant a lot more to me than most of my friends. This ended up being one of the most incredible weekends of my life. I did two of the things I wanted to do before I die, two of the things on what would be my "bucket list." I have decided I want to actually make a bucket list, write everything down so that I have it in a form other than just ideas in my head. But skydiving and skiing the Swiss Alps were undoubtedly two items on the list.
Skydiving was, as I expected, unbelievable. While it cost a little more in Switzerland (okay, a LOT more), the views of the Alps were absolutely worth every penny. I love daredevil-type activities, so I was actually surprised at myself when my reaction to the door being opened at 13,000 feet was just to scream. Not even words, just screaming. Luckily it was loud enough that I don't think anyone really noticed that I was going ballistic. Watching my friend Matt suddenly disappear out of the plane into the sky was one of the most shocking things I have ever seen. I can't even describe the feeling of jumping out of that plane myself. Everyone asks what its like, and I'm never really sure how to answer the question. It is scary, exciting, shocking and relieving all at once.
At first you do get that falling feeling in your stomach, but after a few seconds that goes away, and you are just overwhelmed by the feeling of the air pushing against you, a force on your entire body like you've never felt before. I had to remind myself to breathe because you feel like you can't when all the air is being forced at you. The free-fall was about 45 seconds long, which honestly felt like an eternity. When Dave (the trained skydiver that I fell with) finally let the parachute out, there was another jump that felt like a roller coaster. Then we fell much slower, and he pulled the chute different directions to let me see all out across the landscape as well as give a few thrills with spins and dips. The pictures I took were indescribably beautiful. That is definitely a sport I could get addicted to.
The next day I got up early, though not early enough for my taste, and took a bus and three trains to Wegen, a one-street city midway up the mountain where we caught the gondola. Unfortunately when we reached the top we couldn't see anything. We couldn't see the snow ten feet in front of us, much less the mountains surrounding us. All the other skiers and snowboarders I was with were a little bit less hardcore, but instead of holding back all day I found a girl at about my level and skied with her all day. It worked out perfectly. Even though we couldn't see anything, couldn't read the minimal signs around the mountain and basically had no idea where we were going, we had a great time just wandering around the mountain, taking various lifts and finding ourselves on various trails.
It was so interesting to ski there because it was so different from skiing in the US, even skiing out west. It actually felt like skiing a bowl the entire time because there are much fewer trees and the runs aren't groomed or even really created, its more like they just put up chairlifts and you pick your way down. It was definitely an awesome experience, I only wish visibility would have been better. My legs were sore for days and I still have bruises on my knees from my one fall of the day, which was actually on the slippery walk back while I was carrying my skis (no falls on the mountain for me, thank you very much).
Later that night we went night sledding, which was actually really fun. Basically we sledded down an area of cat-tracks on the mountain, but cat-tracks are a lot faster and scarier on a sled than skis. I could never get going fast enough though; when I was finally at the front with the instructor, he said to me "look at you, always at the front, passing all the boys... I know your type." I'm not exactly sure what that meant, but it was a lot of fun, followed by a wonderfully cliche fondue dinner on the mountain. To sum up, Interlaken, Switzerland was one of the best trips I have taken in my life.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A whole month already...
I have now been in London for just over one month and after creating this account on my 3rd day I have not used it once. So, instead of shopping today I decided to spend a little time recounting the past month.
It is actually unbelievable that a month has gone by already. That is one quarter of the time I will be in Europe, and that idea is mind boggling because i can't stand the thought of it ending. Of course I still have plenty of time, but with everything I have planned I know it is going to absolutely fly by. Anyways, here is the first month...
Arriving in London was shockingly easy, aside from the struggle of wrestling three rolling bags across King's Cross Station with only two hands. When my roommate, Caitlin, and I arrived at our flat, we really had no idea what to expect. There was a slight mishap with the elevator, but I'll attribute that to culture differences since it was our first day. (Caitlin rode it up to our floor and than back down because she didn't realize you actually had to push open the door when you reached your floor. Imagine our faces when we opened it again only to fine her standing there smiling at us, "Um, I think something didn't work right." Hysterical.) Our flat is gorgeous, though. High ceilings, hard wood floors, white walls with gorgeous crown molding and incredible ornate decorative mantles in every room. While the furnishing is minimal, it works perfectly and just highlights the intrinsic beauty of the apartment itself. Unfortunately the Victorian-like charm lost its luster in an incident just last week, but that will be explained later.
So to make a long story short, we were very happy with our flat and, a few hours later, found ourselves very happy with our other two roommates as well. Most of the flats on our side of the building are housing students in our program, so we met many of them on the first day and all enjoyed pints together at a local pub for our first night out.
The next week was taken up almost entirely by orientations, so naturally we took this as a free week during which we could go out every night and get a feel for London's night life. Leave it to me to take this one step too far on night two. Somehow we met some girls in our building that go to Syracuse and went with them to an underground club/lounge. We later found out this was much cooler than we realized since Lady Gaga and the Pussycat Dolls were there the next week. We had an amazing time and met some incredibly beautiful people, but the next morning I woke up with nothing in my wristlet besides a lip gloss. Sure enough, someone had sneakily pick-pocketed me inside the club and gotten away with one of my credit cards, my drivers license, my camera and the keys to my flat. That nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach didn't leave for days, but everything finally got sorted out and now, a month later, everything is completely back to normal. The building manager very kindly gave me the spare keys to our flat and didn't make me pay for new ones, my credit card was able to be cancelled without any charges being made to it and an incredible friend sent me his camera for the semester so that I didn't have to waste precious funds buying a new one. Needless to say, I got incredibly lucky.
After spending our first two weeks in London, we decided to do a little traveling. The next two weekends were spent in Interlaken and Edinburgh, which each have their own posts. Since my friends and I have been traveling so much on weekends, we make it a point to still enjoy London during the weeks, which actually isn't too hard since class only takes up a few hours each day. The pubs in London are actually a little overwhelming, seeing how there are a minimum of 10 on every street. We have dabbled in them, but we have spent most of our nights out in the various clubs and bars, ranging from Maya to Zoo Bar to O'Neils. I haven't found a favorite yet, and to be honest I doubt I will. Everywhere here is just to much fun. :)
So that pretty much sums up the first month in London. Of course I left out many of the details of our daily lives, but in general I am becoming so adjusted to the city and my routine I am truly starting to feel at home and like a local. I even gave someone directions once! This has already been the best experience of my life, and there is only more to look forward to.
It is actually unbelievable that a month has gone by already. That is one quarter of the time I will be in Europe, and that idea is mind boggling because i can't stand the thought of it ending. Of course I still have plenty of time, but with everything I have planned I know it is going to absolutely fly by. Anyways, here is the first month...
Arriving in London was shockingly easy, aside from the struggle of wrestling three rolling bags across King's Cross Station with only two hands. When my roommate, Caitlin, and I arrived at our flat, we really had no idea what to expect. There was a slight mishap with the elevator, but I'll attribute that to culture differences since it was our first day. (Caitlin rode it up to our floor and than back down because she didn't realize you actually had to push open the door when you reached your floor. Imagine our faces when we opened it again only to fine her standing there smiling at us, "Um, I think something didn't work right." Hysterical.) Our flat is gorgeous, though. High ceilings, hard wood floors, white walls with gorgeous crown molding and incredible ornate decorative mantles in every room. While the furnishing is minimal, it works perfectly and just highlights the intrinsic beauty of the apartment itself. Unfortunately the Victorian-like charm lost its luster in an incident just last week, but that will be explained later.
So to make a long story short, we were very happy with our flat and, a few hours later, found ourselves very happy with our other two roommates as well. Most of the flats on our side of the building are housing students in our program, so we met many of them on the first day and all enjoyed pints together at a local pub for our first night out.
The next week was taken up almost entirely by orientations, so naturally we took this as a free week during which we could go out every night and get a feel for London's night life. Leave it to me to take this one step too far on night two. Somehow we met some girls in our building that go to Syracuse and went with them to an underground club/lounge. We later found out this was much cooler than we realized since Lady Gaga and the Pussycat Dolls were there the next week. We had an amazing time and met some incredibly beautiful people, but the next morning I woke up with nothing in my wristlet besides a lip gloss. Sure enough, someone had sneakily pick-pocketed me inside the club and gotten away with one of my credit cards, my drivers license, my camera and the keys to my flat. That nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach didn't leave for days, but everything finally got sorted out and now, a month later, everything is completely back to normal. The building manager very kindly gave me the spare keys to our flat and didn't make me pay for new ones, my credit card was able to be cancelled without any charges being made to it and an incredible friend sent me his camera for the semester so that I didn't have to waste precious funds buying a new one. Needless to say, I got incredibly lucky.
After spending our first two weeks in London, we decided to do a little traveling. The next two weekends were spent in Interlaken and Edinburgh, which each have their own posts. Since my friends and I have been traveling so much on weekends, we make it a point to still enjoy London during the weeks, which actually isn't too hard since class only takes up a few hours each day. The pubs in London are actually a little overwhelming, seeing how there are a minimum of 10 on every street. We have dabbled in them, but we have spent most of our nights out in the various clubs and bars, ranging from Maya to Zoo Bar to O'Neils. I haven't found a favorite yet, and to be honest I doubt I will. Everywhere here is just to much fun. :)
So that pretty much sums up the first month in London. Of course I left out many of the details of our daily lives, but in general I am becoming so adjusted to the city and my routine I am truly starting to feel at home and like a local. I even gave someone directions once! This has already been the best experience of my life, and there is only more to look forward to.
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