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.