FLU

I had a great Christmas day but Christmas night I started to feel really really sick. For the past few days I've had the flu. I forgot how bad it STINKS!

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease of birds and mammals caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses). The name influenza comes from the Italian: influenza, meaning "influence", (Latin: influentia). In humans, common symptoms of the disease are chills and fever, pharyngitis, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.[1] In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia, which can be fatal, particularly in young children and the elderly. Although it is sometimes confused with the common cold, influenza is a much more severe disease and is caused by a different type of virus.[2] Influenza can produce nausea and vomiting, especially in children,[1] but these symptoms are more characteristic of the unrelated gastroenteritis, which is sometimes called "stomach flu" or "24-hour flu".

I suffered from ahhheehmmmmm, the kind of influenza produced by a different type of virus apparently and had the stomach flu for a miserable 36 hours!

merry christmas

Hope everyone had a merry christmas!

skating on fryback

Today I skated on the lake with my two wonderful brothesr for the first time in FOREVER! The past two days temperatures here have been hovering around zero helping to speed up the freezing process of the lake and making it nice and thick to skate on.


why are skates so hard to get on??


catching the wind


chip trying to teach me all his cool spinning tricks


geeezee we look old!

ice

Northern Indiana got hit by some heavy ice right before I came home for winter break last week making for some really beautiful winter scenery.

happy thanksgiving!

I was able to go home for a little over a week during the Thanksgiving Holiday! What a great break from school and Bloomington!
Here are a couple pictures I snapped of the lake one night while the sun was setting...

last one

Our last tailgate as students with the tailgating crew.
Indiana vs. Wisconsin

COLTS

Colts game with Chelsea! COLTS beat the PATRIOTS!





John McLaughlin was the halftime show!

GIOVANNI

After returning to IU this fall I volunteered to be a "conversation partner" for an international student. I turned in an application at the International Center in August and was told I would be paired up with someone who had similar interests as me, similar ideas, similar....etc. Fast forward to October. I am finally contacted and told I now have a conversation partner named Giovanni and he is very eager to meet me! I too was excited to find out I had a conversation partner. The program is designed to help international students become more immersed in the American culture and in return the foreign partner is suppose to share things about their home country, whether it be things about their culture or language lessons.

I finally am able to meet Giovanni and find out he is a PhD student studying finance and he hails from Naples, Italy. I'm not going to say I wasn't shocked when I first met him. I was kind of expecting someone a little more my age and maybe not someone so intimidating on the academic level. I'm still trying to figure out how we were matched up as partners. The only thing I can really figure out is that I had put on my application that I traveled in Italy earlier in the year. Needless to say I have been meeting with Giovanni at least once a week now for over a month and have learned this whole program is a lot more challenging than I had expected. This is the first time Giovanni has ever been in the states and he is not familiar with many of our ways. It has been a great reminder to me of how we always assume and expect visitors to know how to act in our country and how unforgiving a midwestern community is to outsiders.

FALL in Bloomington

Some pretty pictures from around IU's campus...

back home again in indiana

I'm home!

polo

Today Danielle and I attended a polo match at Ham Polo Club just outside of Richmond. Neither of us had ever been to a match so it was new to both of us. We packed a lunch, took a blanket, and spent the afternoon watching several matches of polo.

Check out my pictures on the right! Pictures > Polo

we all live on the london underground

Today (June 1) marks the beginning of a first ever drinking ban on all london public transport. In response to the new ban last minute drinking parties were organized to take place last night on the circle line tube route. The event was suppose to be fun and everyone was to dress in "ball gowns and tux's" according to facebook but the evenings festivities ended up in a violet outrage and the closing of many tube stations.

Danielle and I decided we too wanted to ride the circle line for a bit to see what all the excitement was about. The event did start out fun with people popping champagne bottles and drinking out of wine glasses but after only 30-40 minutes on the tube the underground party turned negative and people began shouting, "borris is a wanker,"(mayor in charge of ban). Danielle and I couldn't believe how some people were acting on the tube and we eventually left basically in tears because the situation had turned violent and we were scared for ourselves.

Check out a few of the pictures I took before things got to out of control. Pictures>Tube Chaos.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1317732,00.html

i'm a senior

I am officially a senior in college. I had my last final at Westminster on Friday.

This seems kinda scary.

to greece we go

With my second final being May 19 and my third May 30 I had time to fit in one last minute trip...very last minute! My friend Danielle and I decided on May 18 that we would like to go to Greece. We were able to find extremely discounted British holiday packages for 7 days and on May 20 we left for a one week holiday in Greece with Olympic Holidays!

We stayed on the Ionian Island of Kefelonia. We rented a scooter for a few days and spent time exploring the island with our two wheels. We explored the capital city of Argostoli, the famous beach of Myrtos, the red beach XI, saw nude beaches, and too many other things to name! One day we took an escourted boat tour past the neighboring island of Ithaca, to the Onassis island of Skorpios- where we jumped off the boat and swam to shore!, and then we went on to the islands of Meganisi and Lefkas.

We had wonderful food that we were able to afford everyday! Our favorite meal was cabbage rolls stuffed with minced meat and rice and covered in a lemon and basil sauce. We had this twice because it was so delicious! We also loved the baklava.

We could not have asked for a better trip, especially since we booked it two days before we left! I really didn't know much about Greek culture before I left but I couldn't have asked for a better way to learn about such an amazing place and group of people.

Check out my pictures! Pictures>Kefelonia Greece.

take me to the beach

The week my mom came and the following week were two of the hottest weeks in London May history. Many days easily reached the 85 degree mark. The weather was a lovely change following a chilly wet winter in London (all that I've ever known) and a great inspiration to get out to the parks and explore.

Wednesday following my final my friend Danielle and I headed to Brighton to soak up some rays on the pebble beach. Just an hour train ride south of London, Brighton is a quick getaway from the city.

We walked around and the city, layed on the beach, walked down the Brighton Pier (very similar to santa monica), and saw the Royal Pavilion.

As we were leaving to head back to London the rain returned and the heat wave ended :(

i am still in school

I am sure you have read parts of this blog by now and you are wondering, "is she actually taking classes?" Yes! I am still in school, Westminster just happens to put a 1 1/2 month holiday in between teaching and exam periods and the exam period is spaced out over a one month period too.

So I have actually completed work and studied, just not at an American pace.

The Monday after my mom left I had my first exam. The minute everyone walked into the "exam room" the lady controlling the exam told us we were under exam regulations. We couldn't smile, look at each other, or telepathicaly convey thoughts. She was a little too intense for the tourism policy level 5 end of the year exam.

Nearly three hours and three essay questions later I finished my first UWM exam. If only I didn't have two more to go.

a few very special visitors

Three days after returning from my 26 day tour of the med my mom, friend Chelsea and her mom Tami came to London for a week long visit. I enjoyed showing them the touristy sights of the city despite being sore and tired from my month long trip. I had no idea how tiring traveling could be!

Mom and company spent three days in London before we set off to Bath, England for an out of town day trip. In Bath we were able to meet up with Uncle Steve who was just transfered to Bristol, a short drive away from Bath. After a day in Bath we returned to London to spend a day browsing around and shopping on Oxford Street and enjoyed high tea at The Orangery in Kensington Gardens.



Thursday morning we jumped on the Eurostar and arrived in Paris two hours later. We enjoyed two days of Parisian culture and sights before returning to London late Friday night. Saturday was spent in Kew Gardens and Richmond on the outskirts of SW London along the River Thames.

We all had a wonderful time together and I had such a fun time showing a few of my favorite people where I've been living for the past 4 months.

Naples, the Amalfi Coast, and Capri

The final leg of our 26 day adventure was a five day stint around the Naples, Italy area. We left Palermo, Sicily by ferry and arrived in Naples 13 hours later! At the end of the ferry ride stefanie let me know that she was running low on monetary funds and would be cutting her trip short. I didn't really know what she was planning to do but I decided to stay in Naples by myself and thankfully ran into some very awesome Australians at a nice hostel. I spent the remaining days of my trip traveling with them and having the most wonderful time.

After spending a day in Naples, Shaz (the Aussie girl) and I headed to the Amalfi coast where we met up with two of her guy friends from home who are going to school in Italy. We spent two days in Atrani, a day in Sorrento, a day in Pompeii, and two days on the island of Capri. I couldn't have run into nicer and more accepting people to travel with! I have no idea what I would've done without them.


After 26 long days I was ready to head back to London. I said goodbye to my new Aussie friends and promised we would someday meet in the future.

sicily

After staying a week in Nice we caught a train to Turin, Italy where we then boarded a flight to Palermo, Sicily. In Sicily we had made arrangements to stay in a bed and breakfast in the small town of San vito lo Capo about two hours from Palermo. The owner of the bed and breakfast picked us up from the airport and drove us to San Vito. What a luxury. We were able to get an amazing deal on the bed and breakfast because April is still considered shoulder season for the island even though the temps were perfect for an island vacation and sometimes too hot!

We stayed six days in Sicily. We spent a lot of time riding our bikes (included with the b &b!) around the area, rented a moped one day and drove to the Zingaro Nature Reserve, and rode horses on the beach.

the Cote d'Azur

After nearly 24 hours of traveling from Portugal (yes gotta love budget traveling!) we made it to the south of france, our second leg of the trip. We stayed seven days in Nice using the city as a base to see other things along the riveria.

In Nice we walked up and down the promenade by the rocky beach, strolled through vieux-nice, and walked to the harbor where we saw Sadaam Husseins old yaht up for sale.

We took day trips to Monte Carlo, Antibe, Ville Franche sur mer, and Plage Maga. Ville Franche and Plage Maga both had unique beaches, one with pebbles and one with sand, and made for very scenic pictures!

Portugal

Let me start where I left off nearly two months ago...

The month of April at Univ. of Westminster is used as a holiday month so Stefanie and I were able to go on a 26 day holiday. We decided to go to four different locations in the Med- Portugal, France, Sicily, and the Amalfi Coast of Italy.

Our first stop on our trip was Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. Here we climbed to the top of the city through winding city streets and roads of stairs to reach Castello Jorge. The views were spectacular of the city and sea. We then went on to the coastal town of Lagos situated in the Algarve in Southern Portugal. Lagos is known for its cliff lined beaches and caves. We had two beautiful days hanging around the beach and town and even went cliff jumping.

if anyone is still reading my blog

Sorry for the severe delays in posting but I couldn't sign into my blog for the past month because I had passwords/usernames mixed up and I've been avoiding getting the problem sorted out. So everything is fixed now and for all those loyal readers out there, if there are any I can now post and update what has been going on for the last two months in my life.

stavanger and lysefjord norway

This weekend I visited Maiken in Stavanger, Norway. Stavanger is located in south west Norway and sits along the coast of the North Sea. The climate is very mild compared to the rest of Norway because of the wind or something that comes from the Atlantic. Maiken said the weather is often compared to Ireland and it hardly ever snows in Stavanger, just lots of rain.



During my quick trip we were able to go to a beautiful beach along the coast and take a boat ride up the Lysefjord. Both of these things were amazing. The beach was deserted, except for a horseback rider and some insane surfer dudes, because it was a pretty chilly day. To get to the beach we had to walk across sand dunes and through big patches of sea grass. The beach reminded me a lot of the beach we stayed at with Aunt Janet in Monterey, CA.

On Saturday we took the four hour boat ride from the port at Stavanger up the Leysefjord. As we got farther and farther into the fjord the water became very still and the clouds began to roll across the tops of the mountains. Maiken had been on the boat cruise on a sunny day once but she said it was very different with the clouds. We weren't able to see the tops of many of the mountains/rock formations. I personally thought the clouds made the ride almost seem magical or like we were in a dream, especially with the still water and no other people in sight. If you google image Lysefjord you can see more pictures of the fjord. The fjord is so big it is very hard to capture what it really looks like with a normal digital camera from a boat.

The rest of my trip was spent hanging around with Maiken and her friends from school. She told me they had all been practicing their english before I had arrived!

Check out the pictures from my trip on the right of the page under stavanger and lysefjord norway.

easter weekend recap

According to the London Paper and London Lite this years Easter holiday was one of the earliest in quite a few decades. It was also predicted to be one of the coldest in Londons history and the weather people were definitely right! This morning I woke up to go to an Easter Sunday service at St. Pauls Cathedral only to look out my window and find a light covering of snow on all the trees, houses, and cars. brrrrr. This has by far been this coldest weather I have seen in London since my arrival on New Years Day. The snow didn't last for long. I think it had all melted by 10 am.




Despite the snow and horribly cold temperatures (cold for London but not near cold by midwest standards) two friends and I made it to St. Pauls (where Princess Di was married) for the 10:15 Easter service and met up with another girl. We made it early enough to get seats in the second row of the cathedral. The service was absolutely beautiful. The majority of the service consisted of music from the choir. The Bishop of London gave a short message with his very powerful voice (he was literally 10 ft from us while speaking).

Tonight several people and I had planned on getting together and cooking a homemade Easter dinner but when we arrived at the grocery store it was closed, apparently for the holiday. We ended up eating at a wonderful little mediterranean place called Shish. I had a chicken Shish Kabob with some very flavorful cous cous.

Last night I had my first "cinema" experience in London. I went with two guys from Furnival House to a theatre right down the street. We got student tickets for the movie and they only cost 5.80 so about $12.00. This is a good deal for cinema tickets in London. The theatre didn't even compare to anything in the states. The screens were very small and the theaters only had about 1/4 as many seats. The cinema did have a coffee and full service bar though, this seemed a bit strange to me.

I've been busy trying to finish up a few really big essays before our spring break begins April 4. The weather has been really cold here so it hasn't been too torturous to stay inside and work. This next weekend I am making a quick trip to Norway to visit Maiken in Stavanger and to see where she goes to school.

st. patrick's day in dublin

As Americans we commonly associate St. Patrick's Day with the colors green and orange, beer, celebrations, Irish people, and a green river running through Chicago. Well Irish people seem to associate the very same things with the day and celebrate in basically the same ways, except they don't die their rivers green, the day is an actual national holiday, and they seem to drink a bit more guinness.

I would have to say the celebration was a little different than I had expected, maybe a little more American than expected or not quite as Irish as expected? We still had a great time exploring Grafton Street, walking up and down the River Liffey, checking out St. Patrick's and Christ Church Cathedrals, Trinity College, and the Temple Bar Quarter. We also waited in line for two hours to tour the the guinness storehouse with the other 500,000 tourists in town for the holiday weekend. The wait was definitely worth it as the inside of the storehouse was pretty impressive and the end of the tour ended with an opportunity to visit the 360 degree gravity bar at the top of the building to view Dublin.

the lake district and lots of sheep

After a 10 hour bus ride on Friday I arrived in the Lake District of Northern England (about 20 miles south of Scotland) with my study abroad program. The scenery looked a lot like something you would see on a postcard from Ireland or Scotland. Many brilliant green rolling hills, hundreds of granite stone fences, english cottages, and countless sheep.



We stayed near the small village of Keswick. On Saturday our program had arranged for us to participate in "adventure activities" but we woke up to pouring rain and really strong winds. We still did some of the activities we had picked out but I had decided I wanted to go sailing on one of the lakes and wasn't able to because the winds were way too strong and there were huge white caps on the lake, so that was a little disappointing. Instead of sailing we kind of just hung around the waters edge, chased some sheep, ran through a lot of sheep poo, and took some awesome pictures of the scenery. In the afternoon I was still able to go absailing down a pretty steep cliff, or so it seemed as it was my first time ever absailing!



Sunday morning we visited the town of Keswick and explored the cobblestone streets and small stores lining them. The trip was a lot of fun, a great chance to meet more people from my program, and a good chance to see more of England!!

almost like christmas

Yesterday I checked my mail at the reception desk. I don't really ever check my mail because I'm never expecting anything ...but late last week my mom did send some spring clothes and I thought maybe the package would have arrived. Lucky for me the box had come and not only had the spring clothes arrived but so had a second package! Two packages in one day!

Apparently back in January my mom had sent a "care package" with a few comfort items and it finallyyyyyyy showed up in London yesterday. So yesterday was a good day, new clothes-well almost, lots of microwavable kettle corn, marshmallow valentine hearts, pictures, letters...etc.

It's amazing how a few little things from family and home can make you feel.

maiken does london

I was finally able to see Maiken again for the first time this weekend in nearly three years. She was able to fly down from Norway for the weekend so we could explore the city together and do some much needed catching up.



We spent the majority of the weekend sight seeing. We saw the major tourist attractions around the Thames and then ventured into North London to find Abbey Road. This was my first time there and there definitely wasn't much to see, just a road!



Another thing I did for the first time this weekend was ride the London Eye. Maiken had gone on the eye during the day before so we decided to do the night ride which I had heard was very impressive. The ride is about 30 minutes long and you are able to N,S,E,W out of the capsule you ride in around the wheel. The views were amazing up and down the Thames and to the north and south of the city. I didn't realize just how big London was until I was at the top of the eye!

day trip to oxford

Feb 23 we took a quick day trip to Oxford. We were able to take a coach straight from London and the ride was just a little over 1 1/2 hours. We spent the day walking around the town and exploring different colleges.

One of the highlights of the day was walking up to the top of St. Mary's Cathedral where we were able to see inside the different colleges and beyond the streets of Oxford. The walkup the steps of the tower was a big challenge and pretty scary as we had to basically pull ourselves up with ropes!

Someone had recommended we punt down the river, but the day ended up being kind of rainy so we decided to opt out of that. We had a great day though and were even able to come home with some Oxford shirts!

barcelona and sitges

The weekend of Feb 15 I went to visit my good friend Brittany from IU in Barcelona. She was a wonderful host and we had a full four days of sight seeing and enjoying spanish culture!

Her apartment was right beside Gaudi's famous Sagrada Familia and near Gaudi's Park Guell. Both places were unbelievable and Park Guell had gorgeous views of the city and sea. In Barcelona we also visited Barceloneta beach where we ate a menu del dias.A menu del dias is where you pick 3 or 4 courses of a meal and a drink all for a set price. We ate outside over looking a harbor. I wasn't really sure what I was ordering and ended up getting chicken and french fries for one of my courses haha! After visiting Barceloneta we walked down to Port Olimpica (another beach in Barcelona). These two areas reminded me a lot of Venice Beach in CA with huge sidewalks, runners, rollerbladers, and lots of people just enjoying the sunshine.

On Saturday Brittany took me to the street Las Ramblas. The street was full of street performers, markets, people, and countless flower stands. We visited a wonderful fresh food markets that had delicious banana, chocolate, coconut smooties. For one euro these drinks were heavenly! After the market we spent the rest of the day exploring the city and visiting Raval, the Gothic Quarter, and a few parks. Oh and I can't forget the great tapas lunch we had too! We ate a tapas bar/buffet. Each tapa had a toothpick in it and the length of the toothpick was the price tag. At the end of lunch the waiter counted up your toothpicks and that was the price of your bill.

Sunday we went to the beach town of Sitges, a short train ride outside of Barcelona. The weather was pretty chilly and windy but the views were still breathtaking! We walked up and down the promenade and explored the small streets of the city. The town looked like it would be a lot of fun in the summer!

a trip to the swiss alps

a week ago now stef and i returned from our adventure to the alps. we both decided we really wanted to go to switzerland to ski so we booked tickets, found a hostel, and left all within a few days! we had an amazing time and made tons of memories i'm sure we will never forget!

we stayed in Gryon, a small village about 1 1/2 hours outside geneva. we had to take three trains to get their including one that winded up and up the mountain. we stayed in a hostel called chalet martin. it was a really cool place. it was very cozy, welcoming, and had breathtaking views.

one day we took the train farther up the mountain to a huge ski resort. we spent the day skiing, falling, and sliding down the side of the mountain. I came home with many big bruises.

all in all our trip was relaxing (a side from tumbling down the ski slopes) and everything one would hope for in a visit to switzerland!

paris

Over the weekend of Feb 8 we went to Paris! We had a great time and were lucky to have amazing weather too! Stefanie has quite a bit of family in France and one of her cousins lives in Paris so we were able to stay in their apartment for the weekend.

During our visit we saw the Latin Quarter, Arc de Triomphe, Louve, Champs-Elysees, Notre-Dame, Sacre-Couer, and even made a night trip up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We spent lots of time strolling around the city and sitting in cafes drinking lattes and eating croissants.

switzerland

i added a link on the right to pictures from a short trip to the alps!

portobello market

saturday we went back to the portobello market in notting hill. we had a great time and saw lots of interesting food/clothing/gadgets..etc. luckily i only had 5 pounds in my wallet or i would've bought tons of stuff. i did have a great falafel with egg plant, hummus, and lots of veggies though and it was delicious. i can't wait to get another one!

the bucket list

wednesday night stef and i decided to brave the crowds at leicester square in an attempt to get a glimpse of jack nicholson or morgan freeman at the uk premier of the bucket list. we arrived at the theatre in the square around 5:30 pm as gates were being set up to keep the crowds away from the doors of the theatre. with nothing else to do we decided we would stand along the gates just to see what was happening. eventually a huge red carpet was laid down and tons of reporters arrived at the scene. soon after that many more people started to arrive. we asked a guard what time the stars were going to arrive and he said sometime between 6:30 and 7 so we decided our spots were too precious to give up so we continued to brave the cold and wait for the action.

around 6:45 several mercedes pulled up and morgan freeman got out of the car right infront of us! ok, maybe like 15 ft away, but still really close. he made a bee line for the door and the was all the crowds saw of him. more cars pulled up with the producer and other actors from the film but you could tell the crowds really wanted to see jack! about 30 mins later a few more cars pulled up and jack stepped out of the car right in front of us, sunglasses and all. everyone began screaming his name and cameras began flashing like crazy. with nearly 10 bodyguards by his sides he walked around the gates and signed autographs and shook hands. we never thought he would come over to us but he did and because we didn't think he was going to walk in our direction we didn't have anything prepared for him to sign..ahhh.