explore. dream. discover.

i'll start off with a quote by Mark Twain:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover."

I feel like Kristen and I certainly are living by that!

This weekend we met up with EuroLearn which is the study abroad program that we went through to come over here to Lancaster, England. We went into Manchester which is quite a big city (and it's only an hour train ride away!) We first toured the Old Trafford Football Stadium where we got to see the field, go to the press conference room, see the players' changing room, and learn a bit about the team's history. [[fact- they have UV lights to make the grass grow since it's hardly ever sunny.]] The tour/museum made me really want to see a football game here in England, so it's on my bucket list! Either that or I would be fine with seeing a rugby match as well. That evening we went to Lowry's Theatre and watched the musical Blood Brothers. It was intense--not the typical happy-go-lucky musical theme--but it was an excellent performance. I felt like I actually had money for once, since that is something I totally would not do if it was just me and Kristen on a trip. But this was an all inclusive trip (part of our tuition fees) so thanks Mom and Dad! :) We ended that evening with dessert at a little French cafe, yum. And for some excitement before bed, we witnessed two guys getting arrested right outside our hotel. Police officers had them up against a building, handcuffed them, and put 'em in the cop car!

Saturday we had a guided walking tour of Manchester, and as always, it was freezing. But the sun was out for once so it was okay. I saw a gypsy too which I was oddly excited about since I had heard stories of them but never seen one before. We ate lunch at a Chinese buffet (which I had been craving) in Manchester's China Town. The city actually has the 2nd largest population of Chinese, following London. We had an afternoon tea in the Northern Quarter, which is the more bohemian, artsy, music, and shopping part of the city. I was a bit bummed because they were all out of scones which I really wanted to try, but the way they brought out the tea made up for it. Out came 2 little teapots, one full of loose leaves/herbs that were steeping in hot water and the other with a strainer for when it came time to pour the tea and separate it from the leaves/herbs. The server even brought a little sand timer (one that you use in a board game) and once the time was up, the tea was done steeping and you could pour yourself a cup. How neat! We did some shopping after that, although we were running out of time and I didn't actually buy anything. We went to this one store called Primark, which is like a Forever 21 but basically with Walmart prices. Fortunately (I guess?) nothing looked flattering on me, so no money was spent! Our group then went to a curry restaurant for dinner and I actually liked curry this time! EuroLearn's "leaders/supervisors" decided to order a bunch of various dishes so that we could all try a bit of everything--they call it family style which I've never done at a restaurant. At first I was hesitant to the idea but I'm really glad we did it that way-- everything was delicious! Us students went out on the town for the night, since Manchester is known to have some good quality night life. Overall, it was a good time. Oh! I forgot to mention, one of the girls in the group was from New Jersey..so I say to her, "Oh from what part? Central Jersey by chance?" and she says "yes." me: "Hunterdon county?" the girl, now a bit freaked out, replies "..yes." me: "did you go to Hunterdon Central High School?" her response, "yes." so now she must think I'm a psychic, right? me: "do you happen to know dave mummey?" (one of my best friends who goes to HPU). and she says, "yes! I'm actually good friends with his ex-gf. He's really nice." me thinking: wow, it's a small world after all! :)

Today we went to the MOSI (museum of science and industry).. I felt like I was on a field trip to DC haha. But it was interesting. I learned all about the cotton industry, which was huge in Manchester since it once produced 80% of the world's cotton at its peak. And I saw a bunch of old cars (the 12th Rolls-Royce ever made), bicycles, and aircrafts; and I learned about the history of Manchester's sanitation/water system, electricity, and engines. We concluded our trip with a delicious lunch- I had tuna, couscous, salad, and a SCONE full of clotted cream and jam. So I finally have tried a scone in England...mission accomplished.

ps- doesn't it sound like my holiday revolved around meals? that's my kinda holiday ;)

tomorrow it's a pub crawl with Bowland (my college/residence). and this weekend we're off to Oxford to visit friends from home! :)

fun times with familiar faces

Jason arrived Thursday, and it was so nice to see somebody from back home! Kristen showed him around Lancaster while I tried getting some homework done before our trip to Edinburgh. (I found out later in the weekend that Maddi and Lauren basically attend "community college" where they only have classes twice a week, barely have homework, and don't have a final exam. can you say lucky?! oh and maddi's professor thought that JCPenny's was a grocery store..) Speaking of food, that night for dinner Jason turned into Mr. Pastry Maker, and he was flipping crepes left and right. We decided he should just set up a stand on the boardwalk in Rehoboth and make mad business haha.

Friday morning we left for Edinburgh and the scenery from the train was beautiful- lots of rolling green hills and sheep. As soon as we stepped foot into the city, we were greeted with a man dressed in a kilt and playing the bagpipes. We soon found out that this is quite common, and saw several others doing the same. It's neat to hear the traditional music every once in a while rather than the typical acoustic guitars being played on the streets. We immediately headed to the flat where we were staying to drop off our luggage, and after first attempting to open a door on the wrong street and wondering why the keys didn't work, we found the flat. It was gorgeous! It had 2 huge bedrooms and a large living room (with cable TV which I haven't seen in years), a large shower room, and a good sized kitchen too. We were so delighted! Maddi and Lauren then found their way to the flat, and we were definitely in our glory being all together. It was as if we were still back in the states.. except not really. We headed off for our free walking tour, and was it ever freezing! Some of the highlights of our tour were seeing the cafe where JK Rowling began to write Harry Potter, the school that people say is the inspiration for Hogwarts, the view of the castle, learning the origin of the term "shitfaced", and tasting the most fabulous hot chocolate ever-- it had honey and cinnamon in it! Allow me to elaborate on how the drunkard word "shitfaced" came about: When there was no plumbing systems, the city of Edinburgh decided to designate 2 specific times when you could throw out your "waste". The times were at 7am and 10pm, with the latter being the time that bars were closing and drunks were walking home. Well when the people would be stumbling back to their beds it was really dark and they could barely see anything so they would grip their way along the walls. The buildings where people lived were so close together and when someone dumped out their waste from the windows above, they would call out something like "watch out!", and the drunks would look up and literally get shitfaced.

We decided we would do a pub crawl with the same touring company to end our night. And that was really fun! We went to 5 different bars where we heard a live band, witnessed another [mini] jager train (but with real shot glasses this time, and Lauren got to start it off!), and we met people from all over- Ireland, Germany, and Australia to name a few. 

Saturday we ended up having a lazy morning, which was absolutely perfect. I have not had the luxury to sleep in, be with some of my best friends, watch tv, and just dillydally in forever! We finally got a move on in the late afternoon and went to the National Museum of Scotland to see Dolly, the cloned sheep. Her story is so crazy! She was cloned from another sheep's DNA, her egg was put inside the sheep in order for her to be born, and then she even had her own baby sheep a few years later! I also forgot to mention that Friday Jason ordered the traditional Scottish dish- haggis (a mixture of a sheep's stomach, liver, heart, and lungs in meatloaf form), tatties (potatoes), and neeps (mashed up swede or turnip) and so we all took a wee bite. It's actually not bad so long as you don't think of the ingredients!

Sunday we did the Scotch Whisky Experience. It's a tour of the whisky-making process. Did you know that the color of whisky and some of its flavor comes from the oak wood that is used to make the barrels (casks) in which it ages? Also, the different regions where Scotch Whisky is made in Scotland has a distinct smell to it due to what it's made with, so we were each given a scratch & sniff in order to decide what kind we wanted to taste-test. All 4 of us girls chose one that smelled like bananas. Jason chose the "manly" one that smelled to me like a campfire. And it was so weird, because once you finished the sip, the after-smell left in the glass exactly resembled the scratch & sniff. There are 5 steps for taste-testing whisky, although I forget what they are... something to do with if it sticks to the side of the glass when you swirl it around rather than rapidly running down the sides means that it will linger on your palate longer.. anyway we saw the world's largest Scotch whisky collection. The man who started the collection, Claive Vidiz, began with 6 bottles... now there are 3,384! The oldest one is from 1897, and the most expensive one that Vidiz paid for was $1000 in NYC. They don't know what it is worth today, however. Afterwards, we visited a church where an angel with bagpipes exists. Apparently, there are only 3 known statues in the world that are of an angel playing the bagpipes. We literally had a scavenger hunt trying to find it-- Lauren won. 

We finally went our separate ways, and headed back to Lancaster. The train was accidentally double booked so it was packed! Luckily I grabbed a seat before it resorted to standing. Kristen and Jason managed to sit up in first class! I'd say our mini holiday (they call vacations/trips "holiday" over here) was simply perfect :)

another day in the life

kristen and i finally stayed here at lancaster for a weekend, and it's a good thing because the next four weekends we have trips booked! saturday night we were entertained by "House 7 Bar" as they like to call themselves, and they put on a jagerbomb train. we had never heard of one before so we were a bit confused as to how it works, but once we saw it in progress the title was self-explanatory. basically, a bunch of dixie cups are set up in 2 lines (they can curve or be a straight line) and these cups are filled with red bull. then, shot glasses full of jagermeister are placed on top of them, on the rims of the cups.  the whole setting-up process  takes quite a long time, depending on how many cups you have.. in this case there were 150. once it's ready to go, a person at the end of the "train" tips over an empty shot glass which in turn knocks the other two shot glasses and it becomes a domino effect. miraculously, there are no spills! the shot glasses just fall right into the dixie cups and voila, 150 jager bombs were ready to be taken! apparently there are tons of youtube videos with nifty designs that have been done, etc. perhaps it will be something i'll take back to america..if i have the patience.

on another note, kristen and i received valentine's care packages full of goodies! i had been craving cookies so it was the perfect little surprise. people around here don't eat many sweets so i was all for some homemade cookies and chocolate. speaking of food, kristen and i did online grocery shopping! i never thought i would become that lazy! although, to be completely honest, it's not a matter of laziness but rather a way of saving money. if you split your grocery list with someone and order together, then the price of delivery is less than taking the bus into town to get it done. and it beats hauling around all those heavy grocery bags! kristen and i never found enough hands to get all the items we needed. and a little birdie told us that the company we shopped through, ASDA, was just bought out by walmart. go figure!

too bad i forgot to buy some tea though-- i have the worst sore throat. hopefully it will get out of my system for this weekend because we're headed to Edinburgh, Scotland (pronounced Eh-din-bra), and we're meeting up with Maddi and Lauren (our friends from HPU). Which reminds me- Candice, Kara, and Tommy are coming to visit in March which I'm totally stoked about :) it will be one giant High Point reunion!

"everywhere is walking distance if you have the time."

this morning i woke up to my alarm blasting at 5:05am, scaring the living daylights out of me because i thought it was the taxi driver calling to say he was outside to pick us up. thankfully, that wasn't the case and it was simply my alarm calling me out of bed to get ready to depart for Dover Priory and its White Cliffs. we left campus at 6:00am promptly, only to discover that it was raining (we should have guessed) and to find our train delayed by 15 minutes. No one wants to wait at the train station for 45 minutes in the cold (yes, we were actually quite early for once)! but soon enough, the train came and I plopped myself into a seat at a table (I needed to get some homework done despite the early hour) where there was a boy wearing a lei with paint smeared on his face. i'm assuming it was a late night for him as he was surely hungover.

anyway, after 2.5 hours, we arrived in London once again (I almost feel like a local!). Kristen and I figured that instead of taking the tube we’d walk to the next station where we changed trains. Little did we know that the next 60 hours would involve the most walking that I have done since being in the virgin islands- although in the islands we were able to thumb a ride and hitch hike, whereas here it’s illegal. We arrived in Dover, greeted by cloudy skies. When is the weatherman ever right? (it had said that it would be sunny. in England? yeah right). we walked to town center and first visited the Dover Museum and the Bronze Gallery where we learned all about the history of this little town and saw numerous artifacts dating back to several hundred years BC., including pots, glassware, jewelry, coins, pins, tools, even skeletons! And then its main attraction was the oldest boat in the world that the town came across and dug up in 1992. It soaked in a glaze for 16 months and then was frozen in order to preserve it. It was made with four oak planks and beeswax to fill in the cracks. After wandering thru the museum we went up to the top of this gigantic hill where atop sits a large castle. Disappointingly, the main tower and museum were closed due to such high winds, so back down the hill we went and we walked towards the ocean. Dover has an extensive port , and we watched as truck after truck after truck drove off cargo ships. There was even a French cruise ship- apparently on a clear night you can see the lights of France! We walked along the shoreline trying to avoid getting splashed by the rough seas. We followed signs for Dover’s White Cliffs, which is another reason why the place is so famous. Up and up we hiked (this town is a huge workout, no need to join a gym!) and soon we were atop the town overlooking everything that it had to offer- the castle, the port, and the cliffs. I only wish that there were blue skies so that my pictures could show that the ocean really was there, but according to my camera the sky and sea made up one giant grey mass. the scenery was great in real life despite the conditions. The cliffs are a chalky white- and they’re literally chalky. Peering out over the cliffs is a bit creepy, though. With the wind, and the slippery mud, we were a tad nervous as we kept hiking up and up. I really wanted to see the Lighthouse, but it being 4pm already and the national park closing at 5pm with darkness approaching and 2 miles to go, we decided it wasn’t worth it. (The lighthouse wasn’t open to go into anyway, but it is the first lighthouse to use electricity for its main light). So we turned around and lost our footing and got our feet stuck in the mud several times more before we reached the bottom of the cliffs. We made our way to our guesthouse and settled in for the night, calling it quits early after a long, long day. I watched a bit of rugby, and honestly, I think I do like it more than football (American football, that is). Before I fell asleep I prayed that the castle would be open the next day, desperately wanting to explore its grounds.

We awoke the next morning to gloomy weather yet again. We decided to walk up more inclines (seriously, this place is a hiker’s heaven) to the Western Heights. There was wild cattle roaming about, and we had to be careful not to step in any of their huge piles of dung. Again we saw views of the town, but what I was still hoping for was the castle to be open. So we went into downtown to the tourist info center where they gave the castle a ring to see if everything was open. And to my delight, everything was open! We made the hike back up one of the many cliffs and after nearly being blown away, we got to see the Great Tower, which was recently redecorated with 2 million GBP of refurbishments. It was beautiful. Afterwards we went on a tour into an underground hospital and barracks (the castle was turned into a place of defense for the wars). There are 3 underground levels, and it just boggles my mind as to how they built such an extensive underground network! 2,000 soldiers could be housed in them. The tour ended at Admiralty Look-out but due to 70 mph winds we couldn’t go atop for fear of being blown over the cliffs. Next we saw the Roman pharos which was an extremely old lighthouse (or what’s left of it) which sits alongside the church of St-Mary-Castro. Finally, we were ready to head on to the town of Canterbury for the rest of our trip.

Upon arrival, we entered a lovely little park and then made our way to the Christ Church Cathedral of Canterbury, which was absolutely stunning and huge. Its tall ceilings and stain glass windows were beautiful, to say the least. After staring at it in awe, our stomachs were grumbling and we found a busy restaurant where we sat for nearly 2 hours resting our sore legs, feet, and backs. By the time we were leaving, in came the crowd to get the party started. Kristen and I still don’t know how these girls wear dresses in the dead of winter and on top of that, no tights! They must be immune to the cold. Anyway, after warming up we headed back into the windy weather where we met up with a true ghost hunter for a ghost tour. He showed us buildings downtown where murders have occurred, and where the presence of spirits and ghosts have been heard and/or seen. After this spooky little tour, I was wary of walking a mile in the dark to find our hostel, but it had to be done. The whole walk I had the same feeling I had after watching Paranormal Activity (I was told the entire movie was 100% true). We finally found it and when we gathered our key I told the receptionist how we had just got done the ghost tour. Her response? “Oh!, we just had paranormalists come to this hostel a little over a week ago to perform tests on whether there are spirits here or not!” My response? “Oh great, don’t tell me that.”

We settled into our room, (thank goodness it was an all-girls room this time) and soon enough one of the other girls who was staying at the hostel for the night came in and immediately started up a little chitchat. She turned out to be the sweetest thing too! She’s from Northern England, just graduated from Oxford U, and is now living and working in London. (Considering that she majored in history and politics, she was fascinated by the US’s method of voting and how we register with a political party). She is now working for BBC News in the city, and she offered for us to come visit her whenever we wanted, and even said we could stay at her place if ever we needed somewhere to crash. We stayed up talking for a while, and discovered that she had been to America (including the Carolinas, and it’s so funny because she instantly put on a southern drawl), Spain (apparently England’s “Florida”), China (to teach English), and several other places outside of Europe. Surprisingly, she has rarely travelled to the countries within Europe. A couple big cities in Italy and Spain were about it..

Sunday morning (this morning) I was ready to face the “facts” about the paranormal activity within the hostel. The receptionist pulled out a binder titled “The Ghost Files” (seriously?!). We read about the presences that were felt by these ghost hunters just 1.5 weeks ago, and learned of the different methods and tools they used. Somehow, they can “sense” the names of the people too and they had typed up what each ghost looked like and what his/her job was in the house, etc. It was quite interesting! We then made our way to St. Augustine’s Abbey, which was really neat. It’s a bunch of ruins that date back to 597 AD! What English people don’t understand is that over in America we don’t have all of these great cathedrals and castles that have so much history behind them. Afterwards, we found a charming little Indian/Moroccan restaurant that was serving an all-you-can-eat buffet. obviously we hopped right on that bandwagon! Inside we felt like we were situated in Aladdin’s time—the waitresses even wore those little cuplike hats. Then came about the trivia question/answer that I learned several years back: What nationality is Aladdin? If you guessed Arabic you’re wrong…it’s Chinese. Hard to believe, huh? Well, after stuffing ourselves, we made our way back to London where we switched trains to find ourselves back in Lancaster. Home sweet home (for now).

And, that’s all folks!

"life is either a daring adventure..or nothing."

after a lovely stay with Katie in Lyon, we headed back to London on Sunday morning where we spent the entire day wandering around yet again. I must say, Kristen and I have pretty much mastered the whole "tube" system :) Once we arrived in the city we went to Kings Cross Station where Harry Potter and all the other wizards go to head off to Hogwarts. The only reason I knew it "actually" existed was from a picture on a postcard that I bought. When we were looking for it a worker told us, "Go back around, turn left, and then left again" before we had even spoken a word to her. Then she continued to say, "I know exactly what you're looking for, go back and turn left and left." Sure enough, we found it! After that we went to Westminster Cathedral (not to be confused with the abbey). The cathedral has a tower that you can go up and see the city scape. It was bright and sunny so I was super excited to do this. The views were amazing! And it's by far cheaper than going to the London Eye. We then did some shopping and made our way to Harrods. Let me just say that this department store is out of control. If I had the money to spend, this store would be the place to blow it all. It's more like a mall than a store. Anything imagined is sold there- from clothing to sporting goods to antiques to furniture to pets to makeup & perfume to shoes to cutlery... seriously everything is sold here. It's unbelievable. And the security made us wear our beyond heavy backpacks in front of us so as not to knock anything over. We looked pregnant! But needless to say, the 5 floors would take hours for someone to go through. It's huge! Afterwards, we made our way to the train station and got aboard 2 minutes before it left- just in the nick of time! After this eventful 5-day excursion I was ready to catch up on some sleep and ease my aching back.

but now it's back to reality where the schoolwork settles in. Kristen and I had our first genetics lab yesterday- we were there for 4.5 hours! It went by pretty fast, but it's much more independent and "professional" than at HPU. All of the students wear lab coats and gloves!

as for today, we went downtown early this afternoon to do some grocery shopping. we were happy to find a market going on! we sure did stock up on food since we were basically out of everything. when we came home I spent the entire rest of the day trying to figure out a trip for spring break. it's in the works so I'm crossing my fingers that everything works out!

Xxx   --> the cooler thing to write over here in Europe. I'm not sure why they leave out the o's??