My Summer So Far!

I haven't done a whole lot this summer besides work, but I'll share what I have done:

Well, my parents had some of my friends over for a welcome home party for me! It was on June 10th. We went swimming and my dad grilled hamburgers. It was good to see everyone again. It had been so long since I'd last seen them.

I went to New Braunfuls with Marci, Melinda, Brooke, John, Marissa, and Missy! We floated the Comal River the weekend after the 4th of July and had a blast! We went down it twice. It took about 4 hours total. We saw some beautiful sunsets on the way down there and stopped at Home Creek to take pics.

This past weekend, my cousins from Oklahoma came in town and we went to the zoo, went horseback riding, and went swimming! They are all at such cute ages. The oldest, Hannah, is 5, then Sarah, 2, and then Leah, 3 months. We had such a great time! It was really good to see them!

Back to "Normal" Life

Well, I guess I never really completed this blog. However, since life simply did not stop once my plane landed in DFW, I guess this can continue. I never wrote about the end of my trip. After Spain, school got a little crazy. We had papers and tests and homework that just had to be completed. However, it wasn't all sweat and tears, we had some fun too. We took a weekend trip to Woodstock again to go to Blenheim Palace. We saw the other half of it this time as well as a jousting contest and a beautiful waterfall! We finished up with finals and then everyone else left on Wednesday, May 9th.

I helped the Morgans clean up and do laundry for two days and then Katy, my sister, came on Friday morning. I took a bus to Gatwick at 5:15AM and then we toured London for the day. We went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and then to Westminster Abbey to see the poet's corner. Then we went to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square and then we saw the Texas Embassy. By this time, I was dragging Katy, b/c she was really jet-lagged. Once we got back to Oxford, she crashed. The next day, I showed her around Oxford, and then on Sunday, we took a train to London and then another train to Berwick-Upon-Tweed. This is the border city between England and Scotland on the East side by the North Sea. We stayed at a Bed-and-Breakfast that my parents stayed at 3 years ago and then the next day we went out to the cliffs overlooking the sea. My parents, The Perry's, and The Perry Twins had all previously been to this spot and had made a time capsule and hid it in the rock wall overlooking the ocean. We looked for it for a while, but when I was about to give up, Katy found it! We were so excited! We added to it and then put it back. We explored the city and then took a train to Edinburgh the next day. Once we got there, we walked all around the town and got to see the Prince Street Gardens, the castle, Grey Friar's Bobby and The Royal Mile. We stayed there for a couple days and took a day trip to Stirling castle. We also went on a ghost tour and got to go into underground vaults. Then we went to Inverness up in the Northern part of Scotland. We took a cruise across the Loch Ness but unfortunately we never saw the Loch Ness Monster. haha But they did say the the Loch was so big and deep that you could fill it with the entire earth's population 8 times and there would still be room! WOW! Then we took a train to the Lake District in England and stayed in a hostel on the lake shore! We had a gorgeous view from our room! We were surrounded by green mountains and it was foggy and just AMAZING! We walked through Ambleside, a really cute town, and then hiked up to the beautiful waterfalls. We also went to Beatrix Potter's house and gardens which were up in a town called Hill Top. Then we went on a hike by our hostel in Watershead and went through beautiful floral gardens that were so huge that we got lost multiple times! ha! It started raining on us as we came down the mountain but for the most part we stayed dry. The next day we took a bus to the closest train station because the trains were down in the Lake District. It was a crazy day because it was pouring down rain as well. I realized why there are so many lakes in The Lake District---because it rains all the freaking time! haha Then we made our way to Warwick and went to the awesome castle there! It was very neat and interactive. That night we got to London and then toured more of London the next day and got to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral. We also ate lunch in Hyde Park. The next day we took the EuroStar to Paris. It was really neat to take a train under the ocean, even though you can't see anything. We got to see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge, the Louvre, Museum de Orsay, etc. We stayed there for a couple days and then took the EuroStar back to London and then a bus back to Oxford. The next day, we slept in after our long backpacking adventure!!! Then I showed her the rest of Oxford and then we flew back to the United States of America.

I'd been gone for 128 days (4months 2weeks and 2 days)--my mom informed me of this! ha! It has taken me quite a while to adjust back to "normal" life and still don't think I'm there, but was I ever really? ha! I feel very blessed to have gotten this opportunity to experience another part of the world. I had no idea what this trip would be like going into it, but I was in no way prepared for how incredible it would be!

Shark Bite Ooo Haha!

Katherine and I went to Costa Brava in Spain this past weekend! We've been taking finals all week so I haven't gotten a chance to update my blog until now. We basically laid out in the sun and went swimming in the ocean everday. The weather was perfect and the water felt great! We went to Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, and Blanes. Our hotel was great too! It had 2 hot tubs on the roof of the hotel, a swimming pool, a dance floor, and a buffet. It was the first time we stayed in an actual hotel instead of a hostel and it was a great change. We had our own bathroom complete with its own hairdryer that looked like a vacuum. The second day we were there, we took a cruise boat to the next city. We had a great view of the coastline. The water was incredible. It was torquoise/teal and you could see straight to the bottom. It was so neat to swim in such pretty water. The last day when we were in Blanes, we walked up to a hill on the peninsula and it had a great view of the beaches and the water. It was the most relaxing trip I've taken yet.

We got a lot of needed sun and rest. It helped us prepare for the thousands of papers and tests we had due this week! I have one more paper to write tonight and then I will be done with school until the fall! Woo hoo! None of us can believe that we only have a few short days left in Oxford. I am ready for some homecooking and some big hugs, but I have really fallen in love with this place. I am glad that I will still have a few weeks to enjoy Europe with my sister. I can't wait. Until then, I will soak up my last few days and try to capture it as best I can. I went for a walk yesterday and took pictures of my favorite places around town. This is a place I will not soon forget.

I think we found NARNIA!

Katherine and I decided to go on a walk in the park to celebrate finishing our rough drafts for our research papers. We figured we'd only be gone for a little bit, but it turned into hours! It was so fun though! We started out in University Parks. We walked all the way through and then found a trail that followed the river all the way to Marston and then found another park called Headington Hill Park. It was gorgeous! We walked through that park and then crossed the street and couldn't believe our eyes, but we had made it all the way to South Park. I couldn't believe that we had walked that far but had been in parks the whole way! It was such a beautiful walk too! We decided that before we leave Oxford, we have to walk the same path and then have a picnic at the last park. One of the best walks I've ever been on!

The Hills are Alive in Austria!

WOW! This trip was probably one of my favorites! It was so much fun! Each day was completely different! The first day we were in Salzburg, we went on a Sound of Music Tour and got to go to each scene of the movie and it was so neat to be there in real life! We went to the back of the VanTrapp house, the lake in their backyard, the trees where the kids hung out of, the gazebo where they sang "I am 16 going on 17", the church in Mondsee where they got married, and the 5 scenes in the Mirabell Gardens! It was so fun to sing the songs in each place! My friend Teal ran through a field in Mondsee and sang "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music"! We got her on tape! Ha! Then we climbed up to the Fortress on top of the city and got to see the Nonnburg Abbey and a great view of the surrounding Alps!

On Friday, we walked around town and saw the house where Mozart lived and then went to a cafe on top of a hotel and had a great view of the Fortress and of the mountains around Salzburg! Then in the afternoon, we had a salt mine tour. Little did we know that it was in Germany! That's right! We got to go to GERMANY! Two trips in one. Two countries in one day! Woo hoo! We drove by the base of the mountain where Hitler's Eagle Nest is and got to see it from a distance. Not that I wanted to get any closer! Then we went to a little German town called Burchesgaden (I can't spell it) and we got to go on an underground tour of the salt mines! I had no idea what to expect, but it was better than anything I could have expected! It was so neat! We got to take a miner's train down a shaft and it was pitch black. There were no walls on the train either. We basically just sat on a bench facing forward and held onto the person in front of us. It was so fun. They had fake explosions go off periodically throughout the tour. I jumped evertime and grabbed the person in front of me! We got to go down a miner's slide and it was pretty fast and long! It was so fun! We went down as a group! We also got to ride across a salt lake on a boat and while we were pulled across, there was a light show going on around us on the walls of the mine. It was so neat! Then we got to the other side and got to taste clean salty water! Eww! Then we took the train back to the beginning! I think dad and Caleb would have loved it even more b/c it showed all the science involved with the making and production of salt and then it showed how the salt is pumped and how a rig moves all of it. I didn't understand all of it though, b/c our tour guide only spoke German! Ha! There were English audio tours, but it was a lot of facts and I was more interested in the light shows! It was really funny though, because I jokingly decided to "translate" to my group what I thought our guide was saying, but I really had no idea what he was saying. My friends thought it was really funny, b/c I was saying random things. But I finally decided to stop "translating" when an English family turned to me to ask what he said. Hahaha they thought I had been translating the whole time! ahahhahahah it was so funny. I just made something up and then decided not to "translate" anymore. I was just doing it for my friends, but apparently others were listening too!

We decided to got to Zell am See on Saturday! I'm so glad we did! The train ride was gorgeous! I can't even begin to describe how pretty it was to be following a river next to the Alps in Austria! I keep having to pinch myself while I'm over here to make sure I'm actually awake and not dreaming! We got to Zell am See and had lunch by the lake! (GORGEOUS!) If you've seen Band of Brothers, the lake that the Majors swim in at the end is the lake in Zell am See. We also went up to a lookout point that looked out over the city, the lake, and the surrounding Alps mountains! Then Briana and I (yes, there is another girl named Briana and her middle name is the same as mine too! Crazy) anyways, we decided to go hiking! We hiked all the way until we got to the top of the ski lift that they use in the winter time. We climbed until we reached the first patch of snow. We also took our pictures on the ski lift while wearing shorts! A little ironic! The view we had was picturesque! It could have been a postcard! We just got back to Oxford a few hours ago (Sunday) and I'm dreading doing my homework. Guess I got a little spoiled while I was in the Alps in Austria and Germany!

C.S. Lewis Tour, Blenheim Palace, Easter Weekend, and a psycho sheep!

On Thursday, we took a tour of C.S. Lewis' house and got to walk around the pond and the woods around his house! It was really neat to be in the same room where he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia! I'm actually reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe right now! It's so fun to be able to be reading a C.S. Lewis book in Oxford!

Katie Gager, Katherine Barnes, and I went to Blenheim Palace yesterday! It costs 12 pounds to get into the palace and 7 pounds to get into the grounds. However, we were sneaky and we snuck in a back gate and got in for free. Apparently, if you know about the public footpath, you can get in for free. Thank goodness Katie Gager had good eyes. We saved 7 pounds. Once we were in, we walked over to the sheep that were grazing. One of them had it's legs sticking straight up. When we came over to it, we realized that it was not dead, only stuck on it's back. Katherine and I gave it a boost up and saved it's life! We video taped the whole thing! It was great! We also got to ride a free kiddy Winston Churchill Express train! It didn't really go anywhere, but we were all about free adventures throughout the day! It's also Easter weekend. On Friday, we set up stations of the cross and also had a picnic at the park for 3 1/2 hours! I actually got a tan in England! We fed the duck and played frisbee too! Saturday we took a day trip to Woodstock. Today, Sunday, we had a sunrise service. We are about to have a burger and hotdog cookout in the backyard and then we will head to University Parks to hunt Easter eggs! I'm so excited! The girls exchanged Easter baskets this morning! I got a pint of icecream and Cadbury creme eggs from Kasey Morgan!

Cinque Terre, I love you!

When we stepped off the train, we were literally on a cliff that overlooked the ocean! Never in my life will I be at a train station with such a view! I was so amazed at how beautiful this place was! I had heard that it was gorgeous but until I saw it, I had no idea! We walked up the hill and found our hostel and this little old lady helped us find our room which was 135 steps up the hill! We had all of our luggage, so our hearts were pounding when we got to the apartment! We put our stuff down and then I opened up the window in our room and gasped! We had an AMAZING view of the ocean and the mountains! We ate at a litte cafe in town and we had the best lasagne we had ever had! Cinque Terre is know for having the best pesto and we got pesto lasagne! Incredible!

The weather on Friday was perfect! The sun was out and warm with a slight breeze! Pefect hiking weather! We hiked from Riomaggiore to Manarola and then part of the way to Corniglia, but had to go back to the train station in Manarola b/c of a landslide. We took the train to Corniglia and then hiked 382 steps up to the city! Quite a staircase! Once we got to the top, we still had to walk uphill to the trail that lead to the next city. The trail was really pretty and followed the coastline the whole way. It took us almost 2 hours to reach Vernazza. We ate pesto pizza and went to the water. We took pictures on the rocks and the beach while some people climbed the tower of the little castle. Then we took a train to the last city, Monterosso b/c it was getting late and we were all tired! Once we got there, we skipped rocks into the ocean and I got sand to take back! Then Kay Lee and I made a video of us running into the ocean! It was pretty chilly! Then Katherine, Meiko, Dana, and I stayed and watched the sunset. Then we went back to Riomaggiore and split a bowl of Ravioli from the guy's restaurant across the street from the hostel! It was delicious! Every night we were there, we went to bed at like 10PM b/c we were so tired! We felt like we were in Elementary School again! ha

Most of the group went back on Sat. but Kay Lee and Teal and I stayed one more day. It was overcast on Sat. so we decided to take trains instead of walk the trails in case it rained. We got a round trip ticket to the last city and back and stopped at each one to shop and look around. The cities were so cute and little. Every family had a shop and their boat was in front of their shop and house is right above the shop with laundry hanging out the window! It was so quaint! We met these two old women who were sisters from Arkansas and it was fun just to hear a real twangy accent! When we got back to Riomaggiore, the girls were tired, so they went to the room, but I wanted to explore some more. So, I was looking out at the ocean from the train station and I realized that there was a gate along the edge. So, I walked over to it and followed the trail. When I rounded the corner, I realized that we had missed the most beautiful part of our city we were staying at. I was so glad that I had decided to look around. There was a rock beach and places to hike all along the coast. The rock beach sounded so cool when the water washed up on the rocks and then made its way around the rocks back into the ocean! You could also climb down the rocks on a path to the water! I climbed down and sat on a rock and watched the waves crash against the rocks around me. Apparently there was a cave right behind me that was covered up by the rock I was sitting on b/c I could hear the waves wash up and then crash on the rock wall behind me. It scared me at first! I thought the rock behind me was crashing down, but the water was just so powerful and the hollowness of the hole made it that much louder! It was incredible! Then I started feeling bad that I was down there and the girls were missing something so amazing, so I sprinted back up to our room! Let me tell you that this is not a simple task! I wanted to get them back down there before the sun set and I knew I didn't have much time. First of all, I had to quickly walk back up the trail to the train station and then I had to climb up the hill to the city and then up the 135 steps to our room. Once I got there, they were laying in bed. I tried to tell them quickly through my heavy breathing that we had completely missed the coastline in our city! The other cities were amazing, but we had joked that our city didn't have much. Boy were we wrong. I felt for sure that they would knock me over at the chance to see the sunset on the beach, but they both said they were tired. Kay Lee changed her mind and came and found me on the beach and we went and sat on some rocks and watched the sunset and it was gorgeous! I'm so glad we decided to go!

The next day was probably the most stressful day of my life! Ha! I'll tell the short version since these blogs have turned into novels! We got up early and even got to the train station early, but what we hadn't realized and what no one had told us was that during the night while we were sleeping, the time had changed. It was one hour later than we thought, so we had missed our train! We had to catch another train to a bigger train station that left in 4 minutes! We barely made it(I mean literally, I had to buy and validate the tickets while the others got on the train and I jumped on the train and the door shut behind me!) What we didn't know was that this was just a glimpse of the stress that was about to unfold before us! When we got to La Spezia, the train we wanted was on strike, so we had to wait another hour until our train came. We met 2 girls from Michigan who were on our same flight, so they tagged along with us. Then we had a 2 hour train ride to Genova. Once we got there, we got off and ran into 3 other girls from our group that were on the same flight too! So our group was now up to 9 people! We found out that we had to take a bus to the airport but that they only left from a different train station in town. So, we had to take another train to that train station and it left in 4 minutes again! So, we ran to that train and barely caught it too! Once we got to the train station, we realized that the buses didn't leave for another half hour. We got to the airport at 12:44 and our flight left at 1:20! They close check in 40 minutes before departure and we had missed it by 4 minutes! We were so upset! By that time, we had a girl from Norway tag onto our group so we had 10 people on the same flight all late, so this guy finally said that he would give us a present by letting us on! We literally jumped up and down and screamed and thanked him repeatedly. Once we landed in Stansted, our flight was 45 minutes delayed, so we only had 10 minutes to go through baggage claim and find our bus! We barely made it in time! Surprise surprise! We got to Victoria Coach Station in London and our connecting bus wouldn't take our tickets, so we had to stand in a long line and the lady had to manually print them off! Ha! Then we finally got back to the house about 8:30PM! The whole day felt like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Home Alone all in one day! We had all of our luggage and were running everywhere we went all day! Now that I think back on it, I laugh but at the time, it was a nightmare!