Iceland

For spring break I went on the school trip to Iceland. We arrived at our hotel Reykjavik in the early afternoon. Our hotel was right across from the biggest church in Iceland so it was easy to find, which is good for me since I get lost all the time. That night we all went out to dinner to a restaurant called Vegamot. The next day we went to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa, it had saunas, steam rooms and silica mud you could put on yourself. It was quite an experience. The weather was really horrible, it was super windy so all the steam was blowing around. It was still fun, just not relaxing. We spend most of the day their so we didn't do much the rest of the day. On Sunday we went to a flea market, which was not exciting. The rest of the day we explored Reykjavic and went out to eat. Monday we went on a tour called the Golden Circle Tour. We saw Nesjavellir, which is a high-termperature geothermal area that supplies hot water to Reykjavic. We went to the national park Pingvellir and saw the ancient partliament Albingi. We went and saw the waterfall Gullfoss and a Geysir. On the way back to Reykjavic we drove by a greenhouse community called Hverageroi where Icelanders use the natural geothermal energy to grow fruits and vegetables. On Tuesday we went to the Culture House and learned about the history of Iceland. I got to write my name in Icelandic with a feather pen. It was pretty cool. That night we went to go try and see the Northern Lights. We had to drive outside of the city to get away from the city lights. It was so cold and horrible while we waited for them to appear. They finally did and they did not look anything like the pictures you see on the internet. It was still pretty cool. You could see them change and grow through the sky. On our last day four other girls and I went on a tour to go see the largest glacier in Iceland. It was quite a drive but since it was only the five of us it was like our own private tour so we could stop when we wanted. I do not really remember what much of what we saw was called but we stopped at a beach, a waterfall, the largest glacier and we saw a lagoon that has formed. It was col to see all the giant chunks of ice on the black sand. It also snowed for three days while we were there. I was not prepared for how cold it was going to be but it was still cool since I have never seen so much snow in my life. Overall the trip was really fun and I loved Iceland. Everyone is really nice and it is beautiful! I would definitely go back or recommend it to people who want to go somewhere interesting.

Scotland

Over the weekend I took a trip to Scotland. We got their by train and it took about 5 hours to get to Edinburgh. We only had the night to explore Edinburgh so we went out to eat and then walked around on the Royal Mile and went and saw the castle. My camera wasn't taking good pictures since it was dark so I don't have any pictures. The next day we had to be ready to go by 8:30 in the morning. We took a bus and drove to Stirling and stopped at the William Wallace monument. We stopped and saw a castle after and made a few more stops before we arrived in the town we were staying in for the rest of the weekend. We stayed in a town called Fort Augustus which was right by Loch Ness. That night we went to learn some Scottish history and I learned how they folded their kilts. The next day we had to be up bright and early again to go to Isle of Sky. We explored the Black Cuillin Mountain range which was pretty cool. The next day we learned all about Loch Ness and all the crazy animals that live in it. We stopped at another castle and our final stop was the Culloden battle field. I also learned a lot of random facts along the way like Peter Pan was written in Scotland, Led Zeppelin recorded some of their music in Scotland and Jimmy Page wrote Stairway to Heaven while sitting on the banks of Loch Ness, Hugh Hefner has a vacation house in Scotland. I have never seen so many sheep, waterfalls and rainbows in one weekend! Overall it was an awesome trip.

William Wallace Monument

Stirling

William Wallace Monument

Isle of Skye

Isle of Skye

Loch Ness

Where Peter Pan was written

Touching Loch Ness

Just chillin' with Nessi

little doorway!

Brighton

Yesterday my roommate and I went to the coastal city of Brighton. The first thing we did when we got there was go to Brighton Pier. The pier was filled with food stands and it had an arcade and amusement park rides on the end. We played some games in the arcade but decided not to go on any rides. After the pier we went and found the Royal Pavilion. We stumbled across a free art museum. It had a random collection of things but it was cool. They had a lot of information on the history of Brighton. After the museum we walked around the town for a while and decided to get out of the cold and go to the mall. After we ate dinner we hoped back on the train and went home. It would be a really fun place to go in the summer when it is warmed. There were still a lot of people out and about.

Royal Pavilion

Royal Pavilion

Royal Pavilion

Royal Pavilion

Ireland Pictures

Caitlyn and me at the Guinness factory

Guinness advertisement

St. Patricks Cathedral

St. Patricks Cathedral

Malahide Castle

cool painted houses in Malahide

Malahide Marina

Malahide beach

"Caitlyn and Olivia Ireland 2011"

tidepools

Dublin castle

Dublin castle

Ireland

I haven't updated for a while but a few weekends ago three friends and I went to Dublin. We had to wake up at 4:45am to go to the airport so we could get there by 6:25. The flight was only an hour so it wasn't that bad. We arrived in Dublin and took the bus to our hostel. We couldn't check in until after 2 so we left our bags at the hostel and decided to go to the Guinness factory. It was really cool, it was 7 stories and each floor had different information on Guinness. The top floor was called the Gravity Bar where you could redeem your free pint of Guinness. From the top there was an awesome view of Dublin. After we settled into our hostel we went out and got some food. We then went to the temple bar area. There was a rugby game between Ireland and France the weekend we were there so all the bars were packed. We went around to a few bars and got some drinks. We then went to a pub by our hostel to watch some live Irish music. The next day we took a train to a little city called Malahide. We went and saw the Malahide castle then went down to the oceanfront and walked along the beach. Malahide was a cute little town and reminded me of home but a lot colder. When we got back to Dublin we went to the Dublin castle and wandered around. That night we hung out in our hostel for a little bit then met up with my friends friend and his girlfriend who go to school in Ireland. We went across the street to a bar and got a drink. Overall I really like Dublin. The people were really friendly and the city itself isn't that big so you can walk everywhere.

Paris!

Over the weekend I went on a trip to Paris. It almost every study abroad student went so there were about 70 of us. I got to take the Eurostar and it only took about 2 hours so that was cool. We stayed in a decent hotel by the Gare de Lyon train station. It was a completely different area from where I stayed two years ago. We were right by a Metro station so that was cool. The first night we all went on a boat cruise down the Seine. Even though I had been on one before it was still cool and this time it was at night. The next day we all had to wake up bright and early to go on a bus tour of the city. Afterwards my friends and I went up the Eiffel Tower, which I never did when I was there.  After that we made our way to the Louvre. Even though it is February it was still very crowded. We didn't spend much time in there which I didn't mind since I had been there before and we were all exhausted. We decided to go back to the hotel and take a nap then get ready to go out to dinner. We went out to dinner near our hotel at a place called Hippopotamus. The food was pretty good but the service was terrible but it was probably the girls first day so we didn't complain. We were going to meet up with a friend of a friend and go out but we were tired so we went back to the hotel. On Sunday we woke up early yet again to go to the Catacombs to beat the line. When we got there we didn't realize it was right across the street from the Metro so we wandered around for about an hour and finally found it. It was really cool and amazing at how many bones were down there. I was glad we went because the Catacombs were also a place I never got to go to when I was there two years ago. After the Catacombs we made our way to the Marais and got some falafel! It was still as good as last time and I am so glad we found it. We wandered around the Marais for a while and then decided to go back over by the Louvre so my friend could buy some souvenirs. Yet again we were exhausted and decided to just sit for a while. Overall it was a pretty fun trip and I am happy I got to go back to Paris!

Richmond Park

Yesterday I went and explored Richmond Park. It is three times the size of Central Park and is the largest Royal Park in London. It was really cool.  We saw deer and a few different types of birds when we found the pond.