Eating and Packing: Birthday in London.

Good evening to all!

Well, I am officially 21 now, in case anyone had missed the memo. Today was an amazingly fun day. I had fish and chips for lunch, Earl Grey and shortbread for tea, pasta cabanora for dinner and profiteroles for dessert. It was a loverly day. It was low key and had a good balance of packing and celebrating. For dinner all of the girls went out to eat and again it was a great combination of celebrating my birthday and the last night in London.

I cannot believe this adventure is coming to a close. Do you realize that I have spent the last seven weeks in London and now it's time for me to come home? That is so crazy. I have absolutely loved my time over here and I have learned a lot, some of which I expected to learn and some I didn't. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this trip was such a rousing success because of all the prayers and support from my friends and family, namely you all. I am forever grateful for every prayer, email, facebook note and everything else. I could not have done it without you.

Tomorrow morning the taxis leave our flat at 7am, so I will probably be up at 5:30am. I leave London on a plane at 11am and due to the magic of time zones arrive in Chicago at about 1pm. I will be hanging out with the Chicago Harris' for a night and then be on my way to Oviedo Wednesday afternoon. Prayers for a safe journey would be much appreciated. And I will let you all know when I'm home safely.

I will also blog a few more times because I realize there are adventures I have yet to report. Hopefully my schedule in Oviedo will allow for a few more blog posts and a lot more sleep... at least for the first days.

Alright, well I am going to spend the last few hours here finishing packing, chatting to my parents on my birthday and trying not to think about how early I'll have to be awake tomorrow.

Good from London for the last time!

_Kt

Tres Parisian.T

Bonjour!

I am back safely from France and surprisingly I loved Paris. I was pretty anxious about this trip but by the end I did not want to leave. I actually began to enjoy the challenge of the language barrier, especially as my friend who spoke a little French taught me bits and pieces. There is a bit of pride with being able to communicate with someone in their own language, no matter how abysmal your pronunciation is. 

My goals for the trip were to see Versailles and have a Nutella Crepe. I managed to see Versailles (it was glorious) and have 3 Nutella crepes (they were also glorious). I also got to see Victor Hugo's house, which I was not expecting but was very cool because he is one of my favorite authors. There were a plethora of beautiful chandeliers to be found in the Paris Opera House and Versailles and beautiful churches to see such as Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. I got to see the real Mona Lisa (she's quite small) and the real Thinker (sculpture by Rodin). I honestly loved the city and plan on going back to see all the things I missed. But I'll stop rambling now and show you what I mean.

The Thinker and me, pondering life's deeper questions.

The stained glass windows in Sainte-Chapelle were honestly breath-taking.

This church made me feel so small and insignificant, which was great because it made God seem that much more beautiful and awe-inspiring. 

The city of Paris from Mountmarte, on the steps of the Sacre Couer church.

The climb involved insane amounts of steps but was incredibly worth it.

The Notre Dame in all its glory. I can completely understand how Victor Hugo was inspired to write a novel about this magnificent building.

Speaking of Victor, here he is, chilling in his house.

One of my favorite moments in Paris: We decided to have the most Parisian dinner we could muster. I had two croissants, mozzarella cheese, a pear and Orangina. It was beyond delicious.

Two very memorable things are happening in this picture: I am in front of the Effiel Tower and my elbow is displaying its awkward ability to hyper-extend and distract from the scenery around it.

Effiel Tower at night. I was much more impressed with it at night, to be honest. This is me, at the very top of the tower at night.

It might be cliche, but it is a sight to behold.

Fabulous chandeliers in the Opera House. I was actually more impressed with the Opera House than with Versailles' Hall of Mirrors.

The Mona Lisa: much smaller in real life.

Marie Antoinette's bed. She hid behind the curtains on the left during the storming of Versailles.

Hall of Mirrors in Versailles.

The crepe stand we stopped at twice right near the Effiel Tower. We had the same crepe maker twice... it was delicious.

Well, that's the best summary I can give of Paris. It was certainly a whirl-wind tour, only being there for four days, but it was good. I feel like I got to see what I wanted to see and was introduced to lots of things to come back and see. One of the guys here says that whenever he travels he always leaves something to come back to as a way to ensure he'll come back to that particular place. That philosophy pretty well applies to Paris. I would love to go back and spend more time working on my French and hanging out with Victor Hugo.

Since coming back "home" to London, we've been wrapping up class (my final is tomorrow) and fitting in some last minute adventures in London. Last night I saw Les Miserables from the seventh row, as a sort of birthday present. It was indescribably fantastic. It was the best Broadway production I have ever seen and it was so incredibly worth every pence to see it from the seventh row. 

My plans for the next four days include seeing Harry Potter, Liverpool for the weekend and celebrating my 21st birthday on Monday. On my birthday, we plan to eat a lot, have tea one last time and try to get ready to leave the next day. I cannot believe I am about to go home! It feels like I just got into a routine here and leaving will be very strange. But I will be ready to go home, especially since I get home and my adventures do not stop.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers. I have had an amazing time over here and I know that is directly from your prayers. I am forever grateful.

Good night from the UK!

_Kt

Par-lay voo On-glay?

It is currently 8:38pm London time. Which means in approximately 8 or so hours, I will be getting up to go on a train underneath the British Channel. Paris, here I come!

Today has been a day of running some errands, finishing up some homework and otherwise packing, preparing and trying to not be too terribly anxious about my upcoming weekend.

I am almost all packed, as prepared as its going to be and not nearly as panicked as I could be. In fact, my stomach doesn't even hurt yet! For those of you who don't know me well enough to know this, my stomach always hurts when I get nervous or anxious about something, often days in advance. So the fact that I have no stomach ache right now is a pretty sweet deal.

Suffice to say I am a little nervous about my trip. I don't speak a word of French, except for please, thank-you and do you speak English? I am a little unsure of what it will be like in Paris and I don't know how to get around or what to eat while I'm there. But it's not like I'm going alone, there is a group of about 13 of us going. And it's not like I'm moving over there permanently, I'll be back "home" in London on Sunday night. But nevertheless, I am a bit nervous. 

My number one priority is to see Versailles, as in the palace where Marie Antionette lived. A close second priority is to get a crepe with Nutella and a true Parisian croissant. Other than that, I am just going where the group goes and will be absorbing as much as I can, taking lots of pictures and remembering everything I can. 

Well, that's really all I have to say for tonight. I just wanted to let you all know where I was headed. If you would pray for me as I travel and experience Paris, I would be ever so grateful. I know it will be fantastic and the experience of a lifetime, I just need to get past some of the nerves. Thank-you to those of you who had conversations with me today... As I'm sure you know, you're right, you're right, you're always right, and I'm just flustered and therefore irrational. So thanks for talking me out of whatever I was talking myself into at the time.

Also, if you could pray for my roommate. She is not feeling too good and it is never fun to be sick away from home. I think all of us here are getting ready to be home. This is about to be week 6 and the time difference makes communicating back home a little difficult, so homesickness begins to get the best of us. Again, prayers are ever so appreciated.

I better get to bed sometime soon, since my wake-up call will be around 4am. Yikes!

Until next time,

_Kt

How delicately alabaster am I?

First, an answer to my cryptic title: Ridiculously so. I managed to get sunburned during our one hour visit to Brighton, a beach here in England. I got sunburned... in England. Sheesh. 

It has been far too long, my dear readers! And for that I must apologize again. Still. But we must move onward from apologies and into what I've been up to.

I will try to use more pictures and less words for a change.

Monday: Platform 9 3/4, a Harry Potter reference for those of us who are nerds like that.

Oh, I finally took a picture of my flat. Here it is: Flat Sweet Flat.

Interior pictures will surface eventually...

The British Museum: Elgin's Marbles. These are quite controversial. Basically the British have these great Greek national treasures and they have no intentions of giving them back. An interesting dilemma to be sure.

Saturday, July 4, my friend Becca and I went to Oxford. My one goal of the day was to eat a  cheeseburger and chips at the Eagle and Child, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's favorite pub.

I accomplished that goal and sat in the very room these great men sat in regularly. It was amazing!

Finding our way around Oxford was my own personal celebration of independence on July 4. I was very proud of myself for navigating through the entire day and not getting lost or even flustered. 

Ta-da! The Eagle and Child!

The portrait of Jack that watched me thoroughly enjoy my cheeseburger.

A few more of my recent adventures include:

Stumbling upon a rehearsal of the London Symphony Orchestra in St. Paul's Cathedral.

It was completely unexpected and completely glorious! The acoustics were amazing and the LSO was obviously brilliant.

Climbing to the top of The Monument, which commemorates the Great Fire of London in 1666. There are 311 very awkward, dark, steep and winding steps to the top. I may or may not have gone down said stairs barefoot...

Visit to Greenwich: Home of Time. The whole exhibit brings up some very interesting thoughts, at least for my college-age brain: time is something man created... It's not actually a certain time, we've just kinda agreed that time is measured in minutes and seconds and such. And yet there is somewhere we can go that has the exact, correct and only truly accurate time. Think about that for a minute... It will make your head hurt.

Anyway, here is me standing in two different hemispheres. That's pretty cool.

Reason number 234 I love C.S. Lewis: 

(picture is from outside the British Library. Which is full of treasures. Originals of great works of literature. Awesome.)

Another unexpected highlight: Roald Dahl exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood. The title of the exhibit, in true Dahl fashion, is Snozzcumbers and Frobscottle. It contained original copies of Quentin Blake's illustrations among other things. I loved it.

This weekend was a trip to York on Saturday and a trip to Brighton today. Both were fantastic, although I am partial to York myself. I am feeling a bit sluggish at the moment, due to all these fantastic adventures, so I will blog about those soon. Sooner than a week from now, I promise.

By the way, my family and friends arrived home safely from Brazil. Other than a slightly sick sister, everyone is doing well and had a good trip. Thanks so much for your prayers for them!

And as for me and my general health and well-being, I am doing quite well. I am about to enter week six of being here and still love London and England. There are certainly days when living in such close quarters with eight other girls in a foreign country get to be a little much, but that's to be expected. I have officially gotten to the point where I miss my family, something that usually doesn't happen for me. I am definitely not ready to go home yet, but I will be glad to be home when it's time. I am getting much better rest than I was the first few weeks, which just helps everything go smoother. I have been a bit more independent, exploring museums here in London on my own occasionally. I have learned how to feed myself a bit better and I am navigating a little better than I used to. I am learning things in the classroom and out of it, which is the point of an experience like this. All in all, I am having the adventure of a lifetime!

Thanks once again for all the prayers, support and communication. Keep it coming! I can use and appreciate all of it very much.

Well, I'm off to an earlier bedtime after my busy weekend. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

_Kt.

Stonehenge, Bath and Johnny Depp: Creative Title, I know.

Is it really Wednesday already? And July 1st? Sheesh. Time has most certainly gotten away from me! I have pretty much reached the half-way point for my time here in London. The girls in the flat next door leave Friday morning at 6am to go back home. I am quite glad that I decided to stay for the next session as well, because there is still a lot I have not seen and done. And luckily for me and my wallet, there are still a lot of museums (which have free admission) left to be discovered. Although I do find myself missing home and the people that live there, I know I can certainly make it for another 3 weeks. I envision these next weeks to be a little less eventful, but in a good way. Hopefully I can spend some time reading in parks, visiting museums and drinking tea. Doesn't that sound like paradise? Because I'm pretty sure it is!

Saturday we took a tour to Stonehenge and Bath. We went with a tour bus of sorts, my flatmates and I. I quite liked going this way because someone else was in charge of transportation and making those decisions. We still had some free time to explore as well. I would really like to go back to Bath, because it is such a beautiful city and I could spend days there.

All the buildings in Bath look the same because they were only allowed to use a certain type of stone and a certain type of architecture. It makes a for a beautiful town.

The English countryside is absolutely gorgeous. Although this picture might not support my theory, I felt like I was in the Appalachia of England. The rolling hills and green-ness made me feel at home. My friend Sarah goes to school in Kentucky and she agreed with me about the Appalachian similarities.

  Stonehenge was fun, but I don't really feel the need to go back... it's kind of a one time attraction in my opinion. You can get pretty close to the rocks, but certainly not within touching distance. It was humorous to see the nice worker lady there that was fixing the sprinklers over by the rocks. Who knew they had sprinklers at Stonehenge?

We were almost more enamored with the clouds than the rocks... but the rocks were pretty cool too.

Look! Really big old rocks!

Sunday night we went to listen to Dave Matthews play in Hyde Park. We didn't want to pay the 80 or more pounds to see him play, so we just sat on the other side of the huge big wall the had put up and listened to him play live. It was basically a free concert! It was really fun to hear someone who I listen to on my iPod all the time sing for real. I suppose that's the general idea of a concert, huh? Oh! And for those of you who have been waiting with bated breath: I did indeed wear my new shoes to the park. They even got a facelift!

My new shoelaces make me want to wear close-toed shoes... they are that awesome!

The peaked white roof is the stage we couldn't see where Dave Matthews and then Bruce Springsteen were singing. We couldn't see them but could hear them quite well.

Monday brought a pretty exciting "once-in-a-lifetime" experience. We decided to go to the premiere of Johnny Depp's new movie Public Enemies. We arrived at about 3pm and stood until about 7:30pm. It was pretty crazy and tiring, but so worth it and very fun. We were about three people away from the gate barrier that was right on the red carpet. We saw Johnny Depp, but not as close as I would have liked. We also got much better views and pictures of Michael Mann (the director), Marion Cotillard, Jamie Campbell Bower (from Sweeney Todd) and Freddie Highmore (from Finding Neverland, August Rush and more). It was just insane to be standing among that many people all taking pictures and standing so close together. It was fun and exhausting, that's for sure.

The theatre where the premiere was held.

I realize that he is not actually facing me and is not within touching distance, but this, ladies and gentlemen, is Mr. Johnny Depp himself.

Awesome.

For those few of you who might not know or care who Johnny Depp is, I have one last picture to share that actually has me in it... Last night we went to see Phantom of the Opera, which was amazing. The special effects in that show are classic and breath-taking every time. I had seen Phantom in that same theatre last time I was here and it was great to see it again. My friends and I got all dressed up to see it. It was a lovely evening.

Me with the Phantom poster outside Her Majesty's Theater. 

Well, that's about all I have to report for now. Sorry for being so long-winded, but there is a lot going on these days! I'm trying to do as much as possible and still get adequate sleep. Some days I achieve that goal. Other days I do not. I am still having a great time and am doing really well with everything. Thanks so much for your continued prayers and encouragement. They mean more than I can say. If you could also keep praying for my family as they are in Brazil for another week or so, I would be ever so grateful.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

_Kt