Woke up in London Yesterday...

…found myself in the city near Piccadilly.  Well, I didn't exactly wake up in London yesterday, more like 4 days ago, but what can I say, life got in the way.  As it should.

London was great.  It was the absolute best experience.  Sure I missed everyone and I missed home, but I proved to myself that I can live and thrive while being away from everything I know. 

I went to six amazing countries and numerous places while I was abroad.  I made endless memories and numerous friends. 

Being abroad was fantastic and I wouldn’t change one second of it.  I loved everything I did and ate and saw.  Not because it was the best thing ever, sometimes it was actually the worst thing.  But because it was something new and different.   

London was a home to me and will always hold a piece of my heart. 

I have no doubt I will return someday, but until then, I’ll be missing you.  

Farewell, Accents & Adventures.  After all is said and done,I couldn't have come up with a more perfect title to describe my time abroad!

We are the Champions...

…of the world.  Well, these are my champions of all the places I have been these past four months!

It’s awards show time people!  And the winners are:

Best Trip:  Ireland. 

I got so much love for you darlin’. It was one of our very first trips, but from the nice man in the airport to the bus driver that waited for us.  It was the greatest!

Best Hostel:  St. Christopher’s Inn – Barcelona. 

The lockers under the bed made you.  And you were new.  Bonus points!

Best Food:  Italy.

Pasta on pasta on pasta.  And gelato.  Need I say more?

Best Souvenirs:  Dublin.

Carrroll’s was a god send. 

Best Airport:  Venice- Treviso. 

The seats with footrests.  Me gusta.  The bag check.  No me gusta.  But compared to the others, you were a shining beacon.

Best Transportation System:  London. 

Hands down.  Love me some Underground.  Barcelona, you were a distant second.  Good effort.

Best Airline:  United.

Can I say United?  Well since this is my blog, I say I can.  On the way to London I loved you so much.  You with your giant individual screens and selection of 193498064 movies.  That was a good time in my life.  On the way home from London, you were so boring and so long.  But the memory of Newark to London still crowns you King.  Monarch Air, you get best small airline.  The space between the seats was magical.

Best Weather:  Germany. 

The only place I didn’t have to wear a coat at all times.  It may also help that we went in September, but we will just say it was good ol’ Germany.  Venice, a close second.  But the wind on the water ruined it for you.

Best Hotel:  Edinburgh.

Traveling with parents is great.  I love hotels.  The end.

Best Experience:  Gondola Ride.

Was it expensive?  Yes.  Was it worth it?  Yes.

Best Tourist Attraction:  Cliffs of Moher.

So much green.  So much gorgeousness.  Fountain of Montjuic, I loved you too.  But it was too cold outside for you to take the cake.

Best London Activity:  Tour of Buckingham Palace. 

Love. Just love.  A close second was the Ice Bar.  That was a good time.  A good, cold time.

And of course, with every winner comes a loser…or something like that.  So without further ado, the losers are: 

Worst Souvenirs:  Barcelona.

We struggled to find anything we really liked.  And we like lots of things.

Worst Airport:  El Prat.

Barcelona was a great trip.  Until El Prat.  See story of water bottle throwing above.  Not a good moment in my life.

Worst Transportation System:  Venice.

While everyone loves a good canal, including myself, they are not the most efficient way to get around.  To even get to Venice proper, we had to take a bus.  Then a water bus.  Then walk 10 miles. 

Worst Airline:  Ryanair. 

Love the cheap flights.  Don’t love the 60 euro fee to print out a piece of paper.  Don’t love the 60 pound fee to change a flight.  Rule #1 when flying Ryanair:  Don’t make any mistakes that you aren’t willing to pay 60 something for.  PER PERSON.

Worst Weather:  Barcelona.

So cold.  So so cold.

Worst “Hotel”:  Hotel Villa Serena - Venice. 

This hotel was so hard to find.  We walked in circles for a good hour.  The wi-fi was horrendous.  My phone had to be on the floor for it to actually work. 

Worst Experience:  Missing the flight to Edinburgh.

We were dumb.  We were in crisis.  We had to switch London airports and spend the night in the freezing Luton. 

Worst Tourist Attraction:  Oktoberfest.

I know, I know.  I’m a college kid and I’m supposed to love all things involving copious amounts of drinking.  But, Oktoberfest was like a state fair on steroids.  With public drinking and children mixed together.  It wasn’t at all what I expected.  And it was packed.  And I was unimpressed.  But I saw it, I experienced it.

Worst London Experience:

Not seeing royalty.  Harry, Wills, Kate, EII, I’ll be comin’ back for ya!   

Let Me Go Home...

… I've had my run, baby I’m done, I gotta go home.  Well, I am going home…TOMORROW!

I have loved every second of my three months and 19 days abroad, but the time has come for me to go home.  Even though I will miss London, I am beyond excited to go back to America!  As I love lists, I figure this, as it always is, would be a good time for one or two J

Things I will miss about London:

1.        The tube.  It’s awesome!  Metropolitan line...you da best.

2.       Big Ben.  It saddens me that I won’t get to see it whenever I want!

3.       Nando’s.  The only food I really like in this country.  Minus #4.

4.       Cadbury.  I may or may not have bought 15 packages of buttons today.  Yeah, I definitely did.

5.       Covent Garden.  The cutest area of London minus #6.

6.       The theatre.  I love how easy it is to go to a show.  And such a variety!

7.       The architecture.  So much history.  So many gorgeous buildings.

8.       How the men dress.  So Metro.  So much love.

9.       Royalty.  I love the Queen.  And Harry and Wills!

10.   The accents.  Cheers.  Hi-ya.  What’s not to love!

Things I am excited for in the good ol’ US of A:

1.       THE FOOD.  The list of restaurants I will be going to is endless.  Okay, not literally, but it ends at like 27.

2.       Showering sans shoes.  Enough said.

3.       Sleeping on the comfiest bed in the world.  I’ve missed you dear.

4.       Seeing all my faves.  We have been separated far too long.

5.       No converting.  Voltage or money.  It will be a great day.

6.       Target/Walmart/Best Buy.  I miss American consumerism.

7.       Listening to the Radio/Pandora.  I want my Nat King Cole Christmas station.  Is that too much to ask?

8.       Driving.  I don’t think I even know how anymore.

9.       Watching TV live.  Something I take for granted.

10.   SLU.  I love my school and I have missed it!

I 'm all packed and ready to go and I currently have 10 hours before my plane takes off from Heathrow.   At this point, I am sure of one thing:  it will be such a bittersweet moment.  I will miss London and all of the memories I made in my new home.  But its time to go to my first and favorite home.  See you in 19 hours America.

A Country Girl in Paris...

…longing for Nashville in the rain.  Well, we like to think we are country girls, but we will take any location in the good ol’ US of A.

Last weekend for my birthday Courtney and I went to Paris!  We took the Eurostar train instead of flying and I thought it was a great choice.  I really liked being able to bring whatever I wanted and the relaxing atmosphere.  And I had my row to myself.  Happy Birthday to me!

When we arrived in Paris, we immediately went on a crepe hunt.  Not that we had to look very far.  The crepes were as fantastic as we remembered! We then made our way to our hotel.  It wasn’t very difficult to get there either! Yay Paris! 

After we were settled into our hotel we went shopping! This has really become our habit…why break tradition for the final trip.  We were in search of the Longchamp store.  We didn’t find it.  But we did find the Disney store and the Hard Rock Café!  We are beyond predictable at this point.  We also went to Ladurée for macaroons and walked down the Champs Élysées at night.  Oooh fancy.

The macaroons were delicious!

Champs Élysées!

Saturday we had these big plans to be all touristy.  In actuality, we were tired and needed rest, so when we finally got going, we headed to the Sacré Couer.  The Sacré Couer is a church and that’s pretty much all I know about it.  We really just went there for the views of the city, but I’m sure the church is beautiful too!  While we were there, we stumbled upon a Christmas market!  As we walked through it, we kept seeing people with heaping containers of what looked to be cheesy potatoes.  We had to have them.  I have no idea what they were called or what was in them, but they were absolutely delicious!  Next, we headed to the Eiffel Tower! 

Sacre Couer

 Courtney and I had already been to the Eiffel Tower two years before, so we were undecided on whether or not to go to the top.  Once we got there, we discovered that the top level was temporarily closed.  Decision made.  We didn’t think it was worth the time and money just to go to the second level.  We knew from experience that the top was the best!  Soon after, armed with better directions, we went in search of the elusive Longchamp store.   We found it, and neither of us could resist buying a bag! Again, Happy Birthday to me!

21st Birthday! (well day after!)

Sunday, we were leaving in the afternoon, so we had time to see a few last things.  I had really wanted to see the Love Lock Bridge as we had missed it in 2010.  So, we checked out of the hotel and headed straight there.  We decided we better not press our luck and chance being late, so we got lunch (a yummy Croque Monsieur) and immediately went to the train station. 

Love Lock Bridge!

A whole lotta love!

We were back in London by 5 pm, just in time to study for finals.  Yuck!

Overall, I thought Paris was a great choice for our final trip of the semester.  We didn’t feel pressured to run from site to site because we had already seen all of the key things.  It made for a relaxing trip and it was a great way to get away before finals and our last week in London!

I'm Hell on Heels...

...say what you will. Well, I was in hell and I’m sure the workers at El Prat had a good laugh at my actions.

Last week Courtney and I traveled to Barcelona!  We left from Stansted, as per usual on Friday morning.  We landed in Barcelona around lunchtime and immediately took the bus from the airport towards the center of the city to find our hostel.  We first went to McDonalds for lunch.  Shocker.  Then, we found our hostel.

St. Christopher’s Inn was the nicest hostel we stayed in and it was in the best location.  The beds had curtains so I didn’t feel creeped out when I slept and even better, there were lockers for our bags under our beds!  It was great.  It was right off the famous shopping street in Barcelona, La Rambla, as well!  

A great hostel!

The first day, didn’t amount to very much, once we were at the hostel we decided on a 20 minute rest.  That turned into 2.5 hours.  Whoops!  Well I did feel better rested at least!  In the later afternoon we decided to do our usual first day shopping!  We bought a few things and then headed across town on the metro to The Magic Fountain at MontjuÏc.  The Magic Fountain is really just a fountain set in time to music that lights up, but I loved it.  It reminded me of Disney World except for the fact that it felt like it was 40 below.  Overall, it was a success!  That night we had a late dinner at the Hard Rock.  A staple on each of our trips!

The Magic Fountain!

The next day we had so much to do with the lost day on Friday!  We began the morning off pretty early and headed to Camp Nou.  Camp Nou is where FC Barcelona plays and Courtney and I were determined to do a tour of the stadium.  We couldn’t figure out where to buy tickets, so we went shopping!  The FC Botiga was amazing.  It was an FCB explosion!  We limited ourselves to a few small things and then finally found the ticket counters.  While we were standing in line, we discovered that there weren’t any stadium tours that day.  But it was because THERE WAS A GAME!  How lucky!  The tickets were pretty affordable, so we decided to skip the museum and just go to the game instead!  We were beyond excited.  We knew we had to be back at the stadium by 7:30, so we needed to get everything touristy done in 6 hours.  Next on the list, the Sagrada Familia. 

Camp Nou!

FC Botiga!

The Sagrada Familia was designed by Barcelona’s most famous architect Gaudi.  It has been under construction for 130 years and still isn’t completely finished!  The line to get inside was really long, so that wasn’t happening.  We instead walked through a Christmas Market and then headed to Barceloneta Beach!

The Sagrada Familia! Under construction!

Yeah, that’s right.  The beach in December.  It was like 40 degrees.  It was so weird seeing everyone on a beach in winter coats, but it was still nice to be in a coastal environment.  We took lots of pictures as per usual!  Dinner was outdoors.  Ellie no gusta. 

Pretty palms!

Let's go to the beach, beach!

We quickly stopped by the hostel to drop off our stuff before heading to the game!  FC Barcelona was playing some random team that I had never heard of, but they weren’t that great, so we got to see lots of goals scored by the home team!  They won 5-1. 

Barça! Barça!

GOALLLL!

only a little chilly!

Sunday, we headed to the airport around 8.  Normally, this would be where I start and quickly finish a breezy paragraph about how we flew home with no problems and were back in London in no time!  Not from Barcelona.  Let’s just say the experience was very dramatic...

Problem #1:  Courtney lost the tickets on the way to the airport. 

Problem #2:  We had to get them reprinted because there were no public computers in the airport.

Problem #3:  The airport workers are sooooooooooooooo inefficient.  We waited forever just to be told to switch lines.

Problem #4:  We had to switch lines like 4 times. 

Problem #5:  Courtney had to pay A LOT of money to replace the tickets.  She was not a happy camper and I felt so bad for her.

This is where the problems temporarily come to an end.  We quickly went through security, got something to eat, and walked the 15 minutes to our gate. 

Success #1:  The gate was reported right as we were walking up, so we were nearly first in line. 

Problem #6: As we were getting our passports checked, the workers began to look at us strangely.  I knew, in that moment we weren’t going to get on this plane.

Problem # 7:  It tuned out that we needed our boarding passes checked and stamped.  At the desk 1231943 miles away and where we started.

The problems from here on out are infinite, so let me just quickly say them.  We had to go back through the passport checks and get our stamps voided.  I was now the unhappy camper and was in devastation mode.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.  Courtney told me to get it together and ended up inadvertently slapping me across the face.  Not a good choice.  I freaked out and basically karate chopped her in the arm.  We will just move on from that.  Then we ran 1932934 miles back through the airport to security.  There they were all confused and it took 5 men to finally let us out of security.  As we were heading though the doors we asked if we would have to go back through security and the guy said no, just come back to the doors and they would let us through.  That was promising!  Then we made it down stairs, went to the wrong desk again, finally got our boarding passes stamped and ran back up the escalator to security.  We jumped the line and ran towards the doors we had passed through less than 3 minutes before.  Our guy was nowhere in sight.  Of course.  A lady motioned that we had to go through security again.  We huffed and puffed, but agreed it was best to just do it.  I went through and I had a bottle of water in my backpack from lunch.  I was not in a good mood and I did not want to be messed with, so when the lady was told me I couldn’t have it, I pretty much had a listen here moment.  I raised hell and after she looked at me like I was crazy for caring about a bottle of water, I yelled “fine, keep it” and threw the bottle down on the table.  I was a crazy person, but that was a $5 bottle of water and I thought I deserved to keep it.  I ran away and waited around the corner for Courtney.  Once she made it there, we ran the 5749 miles back to border control, got our passports stamped again and then ran to the gate.

We made it there with minutes to spare.  Then, the worker had the audacity to lecture us about always needing to have our boarding passes stamped when flying Ryanair.  As if it were our fault and not the 17 people that had checked them before we got to the gate.  And as if we will ever be flying their airline again.  No thank you.  We then boarded a plane with no empty seats sans the reserved ones.  Not actually reserved.  They picked up the signs and we took the aisle with the huge ass amount of leg room.  The bright spot in one terrible day at the airport.  We will just chalk that one up to experience.  Or hell.  Either works.  

We are Family...

…get up everybody and sing.  Well, my family was here this week, and I was so happy that I wanted to sing!

My parents flew into London last Saturday!  I met them at the airport a little, more like a lot, late!  I took a bus to central London from Stansted and then the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow.  It wasn’t the most time effective option, but it was the most cost effective!  When I finally saw them in the airport, I practically ran into their arms.  2.5 months apart was far too long for this girl!

We immediately headed back into London and went straight to their hotel.  Group nap time! Later that night we went to dinner at a pub called The Albany.  It was delicious!

Sunday was tourist day! My parents met me at Regent’s that morning so that they could see the school and my room.  We had breakfast and then headed out for the day!  We did another version “Courtney and Ellie’s Walking Tours.”  Followed the same route from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square past Horse Guards Parade towards Parliament and Big Ben!  We then walked back towards Horse Guards to catch a Parade!  We had the perfect spot, the band stopped and played right by us for most of the Parade.  Once we were practically frozen, we headed back towards Covent Garden to go to the London Transport Museum!  I had wanted to go since the beginning of the semester and I was waiting for my parents to get here so that my dad could go.  He likes that kind of stuff!  Afterwards we walked through Covent Garden to look at the Christmas lights J Finally, we headed to Leicester Square for dinner and to see Skyfall!  The movie was great! But I was exhausted.  That first day we walked at minimum three miles.  I googled it.  

Buckingham Palace!

a great shot!

Typical London tourists!

Big Ben :)

Our Parade!

London Transport Museum

Traveling in style!

Monday, we went ice skating at the Somerset House before Courtney and I had to go to class.  I was really excited about this, as was my dad.  Courtney and my mom, not so much.  It basically consisted of me pulling Courtney (after  A LOT of coaxing) around the ice and my dad pulling my mom.  At one point, my mom decided she had had enough of ice skating so my dad helped her off the ice.  I convinced Courtney to go back around one more time.  Mistake #1.  I was slowly pulling her across the ice when some EVIL child decided he needed to show off to his friends.  He then fell…shocker. And he slid into me.  I was wearing hockey skates, because they were my only option.  Mistake #2.  I had no toe picks.  So, I went down face forward.  Not a good moment.  I let go of Courtney and she seemed fine.  For a second.  Then, she got nervous because she had nothing to hold onto and fell down as well.  I immediately got up and assessed my injuries and tried to help Courtney up.  She wasn’t having that, so instead she felt the need to crawl to the boards.  In the process she tripped like 3 children and 1 man.  It was quite the sight.  We were both soaking wet because the ice was all melty because it was warm outside that day, so we went in to sit for a minute.  Courtney was done, and upon seeing my mom, all she said when we told her what had happened was “Where the hell was I?”  She wasn’t concerned for our well-being, she just wanted to see us fall on our asses!  Oh Jill.  I couldn’t resist going back out on the ice with my dad and we ended up having a great time despite the falls and the crazy school children!  That night, the Bob and the Jill left for Germany to go visit my uncle and his family! 

Tuesday, they were in Germany all day, so I got a little work done!

Wednesday, I took the day off of school to sightsee J  In the morning we went to Westminster Abbey!  For once I listened to the audio guide and it was very informative and a lot of fun!  Later that afternoon we went to Harrods!  We had a SUPER expensive lunch when we got there and then split up to take everything in!  My mom and I spent most of our time in the Christmas shop and the Gift Shop.  My dad went to the sports and electronic areas!  We met up with Courtney and went to Chinatown for dinner before going to see Matilda the Musical!  At Matilda, I ran into so many Regent’s kids because they were there for a class, including my roommate Shelley who had gotten an extra ticket!  My parents really liked it, but Courtney and I were less enthused.  I think we like the movie too much and it was too different from that.  But it was still fun!!

Thursday, I had class all day, so my parents went on a bus tour and we met up for “Thanksgiving” dinner at Nando’s that night!

Friday, we got up bright and early and went to Buckingham Palace again.  This time we went to the Royal Mews.  This was my and Courtney’s second time, but I wanted my parents to see it!  Then we made it outside in time to catch the Changing of the Guard.  Well kinda.  It was freezing and we couldn’t see much, besides bobbing hat foofoos!  Next we made our way to St. Paul’s!  I had been warned about the journey to the top. But it wasn’t that bad!  We started off looking around, but we wanted to get the climb over with.  We first had to climb like 200 and some-odd baby stairs to get to the whispering gallery.  Jill made it to that level.  And then she became the supervisor of the stuff!  Bob was nowhere to be found, so Courtney and I climbed to the next level in 40 step increments.  We went outside, looked around and then made our way to the top.  While it wasn’t the most pleasant experience, it was NOTHING compared to the Monument.  That was 311 steps straight!  There were so many breaks here!  The views were great, but we soon headed back down to the whispering gallery.  We found Bob and he had been up and down three times.  That man be cray.  After that, we looked around a bit more and then left and went to Oxford Circus to Hamley’s and Selfridges!

Selfies!

Changing of the Guard!

I MADE IT!

Sneaky pic of inside of St. Paul's

Hamley's, a giant toy store!

Oh hello royals :)

Saturday, we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.  It was a crappy day, but that did mean it was less crowded!  It was very similar to Oktoberfest, with less drinking!  My dad found some ham hock that he was obsessed with.  It tasted terrible and smelled worse.  Then we headed back to Selfridges and split up.  This time we lost Jill.  Courtney and I looked everywhere for her before meeting up with my dad and sending him to find her.  Courtney and I were exhausted, so we took a cab to get my bags that my parents were taking home and then another one to their hotel.  We then headed out again and went to the London Eye!  It was my third and final time.  It was raining, but we still took lots of pictures!  Afterwards we went to Bodean’s for our final dinner L At dinner, my parents gave me my birthday present!  A Cath Kidston purse!  They had bought it at Selfridges earlier that day and Courtney had been hiding it in her purse.  Sneaky sneaky. 

Big Ben and the rain!

Family Photo :)

Sunday, they flew home!  I miss them already, but as I’m writing this I get to see them in 18 days!!

You Had a Bad Day...

…you’re taking one down.  Well, we did have a bad day.  A really bad day.

Thursday, Courtney and I were supposed to leave for Scotland to meet her family! We had never left on a Thursday before, but I at least, wasn't too concerned.

We had a bus booked from Baker Street at 5:30.  Our gate closed at 7:20.  It’s usually a 1 hour and 15 minute bus ride.  We thought this was plenty of time.  It is, at 3 am.  When no one is on the road.  Not so much during rush hour. 

We pulled into the airport at 7:18.  We ran to the check-in counter, we were waived on.  We ran to security, waived on again.  We waited what seemed like hours in the line for security.  It was more like 7 minutes.  

Our flight left at 7:50.  It was probably 7:35 and we were running around like crazy people trying to make it there.  We checked the board for the gate.  All it said was “gate closed.”  Cue, heart drop.  We missed our flight.  Traumatizing moment. 

We didn't even know where to go.  We asked around and found out that we had to use a phone to call customer service.  Did that.  After some confusion and many questions as to whether we had bought any duty free items, UHM NO. Girls in crisis here.  We were escorted back through security. 

We went directly to the EasyJet desk.  They told us that there was another flight to Edinburgh.  The next day.  At 3:30 p.m. Yeah, not going to work.  We walked towards through the airport in tears.  We found some computers.  We paid a pound for 10 minutes like 5 times trying to figure out how to get there.  After some tense calls to the parents, we booked another flight for 8:00 the next morning.  From Luton. An airport 1 hour and 45 minutes away.

After some help from a kind National Express lady, we decided to stay in the airport until midnight and then take the bus to Luton.  We ate, colored, did wordsearches, played cards.  No sleeping.  We made it to Luton around 2:30. 

For some reason, there were an inordinate amount of people sleeping in that airport.  There weren’t two chairs together anywhere.  People were sleeping on the floor.  We weren’t that desperate.  Yet.  Eventually, we found a chair and 3 ottomans at a Starbucks.  Courtney took the chair and I took the three ottomans.  

The ottomans and I didn’t get along.  I didn’t sleep at all.  About 3 hours into the adventure, Courtney decided to move further away from the doors that were letting freezing cold air in.  I took over the chair and finally slept for about 2 hours and woke up an ice cube.    

We eventually got up, had breakfast, and headed to our gate.  We were not about to miss the flight this time.  What we discovered made us want to be sick.  The plane didn’t actually board until the time stated as the departure time.  We stood in a queue for 30 minutes.  If they would have kept the gate posted at Stansted, we could have made it.  Yeah, bad day.

We touched down in Scotland around 9:30, took a taxi to the hotel, checked in, freshened up, and headed out for our big day!

Since we had such limited time, all we really got to see in Edinburgh was the castle.  It was gorgeous, but it was so so cold up on the hilltop.  After we finished at the castle, we walked around shopping and eventually Courtney and I went looking for the Disney Store.  It had closed.  Disappointment.  After a quick stop at the Hardrock Café, we went to the Elephant House.  

Edinburgh Castle!

Amazing views!

The Elephant House is where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter books!  There are photos of her writing there and in the bathrooms, there are fan messages dedicated to her all over the walls.  I wanted to write one from Courtney and me, but I forgot my pen! Oh well, another trip.  

Dedications!

My favorite!

The next morning, I left for the airport around 5 a.m. to catch my flight back to London.  The rest of the gang was taking a train later in the day.  But I had to go meet my parents!!