Earlobes

I have officially been in England for 5 weeks!!! Wow.



Class was from 12:30-2:30, and then I went to Oxfam with Lael. We sorted clothes today - this is one of the more upscale Oxfam shops, so we have to be really picky when decided what to keep. If we don't keep them, they don't go in the trash, but to an Oxfam store on another level. It's kind of a hard system to explain, but it works really well! While we were sorting through clothes, I fell in love with this purple lingerie/dress, and I begged Janet to let me buy it. Normally you can't buy clothing before it's priced and put out into the shop, but she let me! I won't really wear it as lingerie, but it looks cute with jeans :).

Tonight I walked over to House 9, and some people in the Commons Room were watching Keeping the Faith, so I joined them. Lara rubbed my earlobes the whole time....oh wait, I don't think I've talked about her yet, have I? Hehe. Lara is the daughter of Ron and Janine Morgan (the host parents who work with ACU and teach most of our classes). Since she was a baby, she has always loved rubbing other people's earlobes. It's strange, but I got used to it, and it actually feels really good! She told me I have the best earlobes out of the whole Study Abroad group - a high compliment :).

Market

Today I went to the market in Oxford. I got some staple items like fruit, eggs, and nuts, but I also splurged on some baklava - yummy :). The food in the market is fresher and cheaper than in the grocery stores. How much better can it get?

I had Christian Worship from 4:00-6:30 pm, and I could tell that everyone was still really tired from our France trip. I was supposed to go running with Lael after class, but the weather suddenly turned dark and stormy :(. So I went over to House 9 to hang out instead. I went to Todd/Brent/Nathan's room on the 2nd floor, talked with them for awhile and got Brent's pictures from Wales. Then I wandered to Lara's room on the 3rd floor, where she was watching Arrested Development episodes with Susan and Kathryn. I stayed and watched a few episodes and laughed really hard :). By this time, it was pretty late and time for bed.

So tired

I woke up at 5:30 am and couldn't sleep. I just laid there...and laid there...and laid there...until it was time for class at 9:00! I am exhausted emotionally and physically, and I'm not the only one. Everyone in class looked like a wreck today - traveling really wears you out, even when you're young!

After class, I went to the store and got groceries for the week. At 4:00 pm, we had our Great Britain class, in which we discussed France vs. England vs. USA. This was so interesting! Since we've spent a month in England (so far) and a week in France, everyone has learned a lot about the society and culture of each country and how it compares to the United States. There was hardly a quiet moment in class today - everyone had stories and personal reflections to share!

Hi Grandma!!!

After breakfast this morning, I left with Sarah and Jennifer to go to the Louvre! We could have taken the metro, but we decided to walk instead and savor our last day in Paris. I spotted a store with tons of cute purses in the window, and we had to stop and check them out - they were pretty cheap, and we each bought one :).

We got to the Louvre around 11:00 am, and we stayed for almost 2 hours. We saw SO many famous pieces of art, I don't even want to start naming them, for fear that I'd forget something important! Haha, but of course the most famous one we saw was the Mona Lisa. We weren't allowed to take pictures....so of course I have a picture of it :).







Venus de Milo:


Winged Victory:




Our group was supposed to be ready to leave the hostel at 3:30 pm, so we still had a couple of hours to kill. We started shopping, and the time flew without any problem!

At exactly 3:30, we were all packed up and ready to go, much to Ron's surprise. He was amazed that 31 college students could be so responsible! The train from Paris to London was a quick 3 hours - I slept the whole way. Then we rode the coach from London to Oxford, and got home at 9:30 pm. I got a seat to myself and got to reflect a lot on the trip, which was good.

Today I also started to really miss my friends and family back home. I don't think I've ever been homesick before, and I think this must be what it feels like!

Notre Dame

I got up at 7:30 this morning, ate breakfast in the hostel (bread and hot chocolate), and headed to the Notre Dame cathedral with some friends to attend Mass. It was really cool to be sitting in Mass at Notre Dame and watching the service in French! Afterwards, we walked around the church and looked at its artifacts and architecture.

View of Notre Dame from the back:




Front:




Inside (sorry it's dark and blurry):


At 10:00 am, Ron led us all to the market, about a 45 minute walk from the hostel! The market was huge, and eventually everyone split off from each other and explored. I felt like I was in a movie. Here I was in France, browsing a market, hearing all of the food being shouted in French by the vendors, seeing the bread and cheese displays among other foods, and there was even a group of musicians there playing Fiddler on the Roof music!





I bought a hat, a scarf, a green necklace, a black purse, and also some food for lunch! I got this unusual bread with olives in it, brie cheese, and a nectarine. A handful of us managed to find each other and we decided to eat our lunch together at a fountain. It was a beautiful day! Kelly bought some grapes, and after tasting them, she insisted that we try them! These were the most amazing grapes I have ever tasted. I don't know how to describe them....the way they tasted reminded me of the smell of perfume or aromatherapy oils -- but not in a bad way! In a delicious floral way, haha. Anyway, they were really good, and I wish I knew what kind they were!

After lunch, some people went to Versailles, others went to the Eiffel Tower, but Denyce, Beth Ann and I wanted to explore more of Paris! Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe. Then, we walked down a few major streets, lined with top-quality expensive shops -- we went inside and tried to pretend we could afford to buy the clothes and purses inside, but I'm sure we didn't fool anybody, haha :).











Guess where we went for lunch? McDonald's!!! Believe it or not, McDonald's was on this high class street. On the way back to the hostel, we also stopped at a car show, which was pretty neat.





After we got back, I had the rest of the afternoon to relax! I could have kept running around and sight-seeing in Paris, but I decided to slow down and actually enjoy these few hours of peace. I went up to my room and laid down on my bed to write in my journal. The window was open, allowing a refreshing breeze to come in, and with strands of ivy peeking through. I listened to the bustling people outside, talking french in soft voices, and I could also hear the Notre Dame bells ringing in the distance. This is my favorite memory I have of Paris. Not a famous building, not a famous painting, but the moment in which I saw, smelled, heard, and loved Paris.

The time for Dinner finally arrived, and I was refreshed and ready to eat. I went out with Beth Ann, Denyce, and Jordan to find a restaurant. We sat outside with a great view of Notre Dame nearby. I couldn't resist ordering French Onion Soup!

After eating, we shopped around in some tourist stores. Then we spotted a group of our friends and they said they were going salsa dancing! So we joined them at this Mexican bar, had margaritas, and danced until midnight! It was so much fun :).

Gold Beach

After breakfast this morning, I went to the market with Lael and Jenna! We saw several other people from our group there. Lots of people were selling breads and cheeses. Lael and I had to get some bread after sampling it -- it was so good! I also bought a hat and a scarf. We stayed for an hour walking up and down all the aisles so we could see everything.





At 11:00 am, the group left the hostel for the last time! We would be in Paris again tonight. But first, we took the bus to Gold Beach for the day. It was a perfect day, beautiful weather....It was ironic to look out on the beautiful ocean and see the German floating barriers that are still in the water from the war!







Erin, Lael, and I spent most of our time at Gold Beach together! We walked as high up on the hills as we could in order to get good pictures of the ocean and the city. Then we shopped a little in the town, got ice cream, and spent the remainder of our time on the sand.







We all met back at the bus and rode back to Paris, arriving at our hostel around 3:00 pm. It is in a great location, in the middle of everything -- only a 5 minute walk to Notre Dame cathedral, a 30 minute walk to the Louvre, and just in a good part of town. This hostel is specifically geared towards large educational groups, so we got a great deal :). We ate dinner at the hostel (it had a cafeteria-style eating place down the street), and then a group of us left to go to the Eiffel Tower! Sarah, Jennifer, Denyce, Beth Ann, and I went. We met 2 Au Pairs in the metro (one from Australia and one from New Zealand) who were also going to the Eiffel Tower, and they helped us get there! The lines were really long, but we eventually made it to the front and got to go to the top of the tower. It was so pretty!!! Beth Ann and I signed our names on the top :)







Because of all the people there, we were almost late to our hostel coming back (we were given a curfew of 1:00 am)! We ran on the way back, and we even had to sneak through a few metro turnstiles...but we walked in the door right on time!

Normandy

This morning we had a delicious breakfast of croissants, Nutella, and tea! At 9:00 am we left the hostel and went to Normandy for a D-day tour.



We had a really awesome guide! He shared touching stories of soldiers as we went from one place to another. We went to several beaches and historical landmarks before ending at the American Cemetery.



It's hard to imagine that there was once a war here!


Our group in front of Iron Mike:




Omaha Beach:


These are holes still in the ground from the bombs:




Brent, Denyce, and I freezing cold after it started raining!


(I'll put up pictures from the American Cemetery later)

We spent all day on the tour and got back to the hostel in time for dinner. They had prepared a meal for us! Soup, bread & brie, rice and chicken with pineapple, and ice cream :)

Some of us went to a pub after dinner, and when we got back, the majority of the group was playing Mafia downstairs. I didn't feel like playing, but I watched the game while playing cards with Lara and Kathryn. We stayed up pretty late, and I went to bed around 1:30 am....

Bayeux

We ate a wonderful continental breakfast this morning in the hotel, and then we waited for the bus to pick us up. We were all so tired!



The bus came around 7:00 am and took us to the Caen Memorial Museum. I took a picture of Sacre-Coure from the window as we were leaving!



We got to the museum and were given an hour to look around and eat lunch. Then, we watched a video on the war, which was surprisingly good! We had more time to explore, and then around 3:30 we got back on the bus to go to our hostel.

This is the one of the earliest records of international law, from the 13th century B.C:



I'm hugging the American flag!



The hostel was so pretty! Really decorated and fun....and there was an oversized chess set outside! I roomed with Courtney, Katie, and Lael. All of the other rooms were about 4 people, except for one room that held 12 girls! Our room is the window above the doorway:





After resting in the hostel for a little bit, Lael and I walked around the city and explored. We grabbed quiche for dinner in a little bakery. Bayeaux is such a cute and quiet town, very different from Paris!



We ran into Courtney and Katie after dinner, and we all decided to have dessert crepes together! Mine was apple and cinnamon :). Then, the guys had said they were going to play frisbee in the park, so we met them out there and played for a few hours. We also took some silly pictures dancing on the fountain....