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!
