Last Day in Londontown

Well, this day seemed so far away for such a long time, but it's finally here.... Today is our last day altogether in London. We are going to go all around London today, hitting all our favorite stops together. It's going to be a great day, the weather is beautiful and everyone is in a good mood. However, it's gonna start getting late too soon and reality will set in... we are leaving the best four months of our lives, a dream life in the best city in the world and the people that we have spent every second of the past four months of our lives with.

Reflecting on the last four months, all I can really say is we are the luckiest 26 people ever. Coming here, I only knew two of those people. However, over a span of four months, I have found a new family. There are absolutely no regrets, no moments I would change, nothing along those lines. Every moment was thrilling and life changing and I'm going to miss it every day for the rest of my life.

Over the past few days, two of the guys have walked around London filming different things.... anything from major land marks, to all the tourist attractions, to our favorite unknown spots, to reenacting funny things that have happened. Over the summer, my friend Paul is going to edit it into a movie with music, pictures, and the footage to give to us sometime in the summer. I'm really excited about it, it's going to be a great thing to have to remember everything.

Greg arrived late Tuesday night. We have been going around the city and seeing all the major tourist stuff you need to see in London. Tomorrow, Greg and I go to Portugal with Nick and Steve Rock. We are all afraid to say we are excited because that means the semester is really over. With that being said, we are going to Faro for three days to sit on a beach in 75+ degree weather, then heading over to Lisbon for 2 days. After that, Nick and Rock head home. Greg and I are doing a mini tour of Europe, hitting Barcelona, Prague, Munich, Berlin and Amsterdam within a ten day span before coming home to Buffalo on May 16th. It's going to amazing to say the least.

I'm not sure if I will have time to write in this again, but if not, thanks for reading my blog, I hope everyone enjoyed it.

See everyone May 16th.

the place I call home...

Last weekend was our last full weekend in London. Everyone leaves on Saturday, May 2. So we decided to make the most of it. We got up early everyday and sat in our courtyard with everyone and enjoyed the beautiful weather (low 70s all weekend). We would randomly get up to walk around the park, which is in full bloom and filled with tons of people all day, everyday. All the ice cream and snack stands are now open full time, which is almost impossible to avoid. It is just the best feeling to be here. Nothing will compare to the feeling of walking around our park, looking at all the beautiful flowers and ponds, with the amazing people I have met here that I now consider family. Leaving here and saying goodbye to everyone will be very difficult. None of us ever want to leave this dream world that has consumed the past 4 months of our lives.

Here's a look at what I'm talking about:

" By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show "
-Samuel Johnson



" You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford "
-Samuel Johnson

Brussels

Most of us on a tour in Leuven

Last weekend, our program directors made the trip across the pond to take us all on a weekend trip to Brussels, Belgium. The trip was included in our program, so all 26 of us got on a train to Brussels. Although the group dynamic with 29 people (including our program directors and academic adviser) was pretty obnoxious, it was a really great idea to end the numerous weekends of traveling with all of us together. The train took almost exactly two hours, and the school provided some pretty disgusting lunches (I got a pickle and prawn sandwich, woof).

The best part of this trip: not having to figure out transportation in Brussels, schedule, tourist things, getting to and from London, etc. For example, we got to Brussels train station and there was a coach carrier waiting to take us to our hotel. The hotel was really nice and included a really good breakfast every morning. Once we checked in, we met our tour guide who was going to walk us around the city and give us some background information. After the tour ended, the bus picked us up to take us to European Parliament. I am taking a British Politics class and we had just finished learning about the European Union, so actually going there was pretty cool. The presentation was boring, since I already knew the information, but it was cool to go in and see the Parliament. Outside the European Union was a piece of the Berlin Wall which I thought was really cool.


We were all absolutely exhausted after the European Parliament (we had all gotten up at 6am to start the traveling) so we got dropped off back at the hotel and had the rest of the night to ourselves. I went to dinner with a few of the guys and hung out until it was time for bed.

Friday we woke up early again to go and visit NATO, which was by far my favorite visit. We got put in a room and lectured by three different specialists. While waiting for the speakers to start, we discovered that there were individual microphones that connected to speakers at each persons seat. Needless to say, we were all pretty entertained. Once the speakers began, we were all very impressed. All three speakers were incredibly knowledgeable and handled our questions with ease. We learned a lot of really interesting things. After NATO, we got dropped off at our hotel for lunch. A group of us went to a place called Quick Quality Burger, which is very similar to a McDonalds, except that the food was terrible, if you could imagine that. After lunch, we all got back on the bus to go to the European Commission, which is the executive body of the European Union. However, after 5+ hours in a classroom each day, another presentation was killing us. We were all getting antsy to get out and explore the city for ourselves. The speaker for the European Commission was not very good, he tried to joke around too much and carried on the presentation for far too long. This was proven when we looked back and saw our academic adviser fast asleep. After this presentation, we got the night to ourselves again. We had a quick group dinner which was really good. The group of us attempted to find a karaoke bar, but to no success. Instead we went to a little bar called O'Reillys and had a great time.

Saturday we woke up early again to make the trip over to a college town called Leuven. We met our INSANE tour guide there who was going to walk us around the city. She was not interesting in any way, she did not try to provide information that would relate to us in any way and she pointed out the most random things in the city. She then proceeded to begin her speech by scolding me for yawning and completely stopped her presentation when someone else yawned. She was pretty crazy. After that tour ended we had some lunch and headed over to Beguinage, which was a community of lay, single women during the medieval period and is now home to apartment housing (picture above). The area included a beautiful church and there happened to be a wedding that day, so it made it even more beautiful. After this tour, we had about an hour of free time, so we went to this public square which is known as the biggest bar in Europe. This is true because there are nothing but bar/restaurants and all the bars are connected. The entire middle of the square, which is a mile long and about 50 yards wide is filled with tables and chairs (picture above). The nightlife here is suppose to be crazy, since all the college students (there are an estimated 60,000) come here to hang out every night. We had a few drinks before getting back on the bus to Brussels. Leuven was by far my favorite part of Brussels. It had the small town, European feel to it but at the same time, it was made for people our age. That night, we had dinner, napped and went out.

Sunday, we woke up and had breakfast. Steve, Paul and I decided to walk around the city on our own. It ened up being a lot of fun. We got to go at our own pace, find things that interested us and just hang out. We went to the first ever chocolate store, the Manikan Pis and the surrounding areas. We headed back to the hotel around 3 when it was time to go home to London.

Overall, although Brussels wasn't nearly my favorite city I have visited, it was definitely a great way to end our semester. We all got to travel for the last time with the group of people we have grown to love like family. It was definitely bittersweet.

After this weekend, we had our last week of classes and our last full weekend in London.... so sad...

Majorca

For Easter weekend, I went to Majorca with three of my guy friends, Nick, Billy and Corey. Majorca is a little Spanish island in the Mediterranean. We were lucky enough to find a hotel that was set up in apartment style across from the beach. It was incredibly cheap for the size and location. It included a balcony with a view of the beach and a kitchen. We bought groceries to cook all our meals rather than eating out, so we had pretty much ate every meal on the balcony overlooking the pool and beach. It was a lot of fun, probably my favorite place I have stayed so far. The picture above is the view from our balcony and the picture below are the three boys on the balcony for breakfast.

We arrived late Friday night so we decided to walk around and explore a little bit instead of going out so we could wake up and get an early start on Saturday. We woke up really early on Saturday, cooked ourselves some eggs and toast for breakfast and headed out. The boys wanted to buy speedos for the beach so once we found those, we headed back to the hotel to change for the beach. The weather wasn't the best beach weather, it was beautiful when the sun was out but it got kind of chilly if there were any clouds. Altogether, we got a good 3-4 hours each day of good beach weather, taking breaks to eat and go in the pool at our hotel. There were four other kids from our London group that were in Majorca for the weekend as well. So Saturday night, we went to the area around their hotel (the Chippewa type area) for the night.

Sunday was Easter, so we went to the grocery store to buy food for dinner that night. The other four were coming to our apartment for dinner as well. After marinating the chicken and getting everything ready, Corey, Nick, Billy and I went down to the beach to have a little group prayer since we couldn't find a church anywhere close. After spending a few hours on the beach, we went back to shower up and prepare for dinner. The meal ended up being great. After realizing that this was many of our first big holiday away from our families, we were all really glad we could all share a big dinner together. For the rest of the night, we hung out, had a few drinks and had a great time together. Overall, it was a really nice way to spend Easter, especially since I was lucky enough to call home when my whole family and my Grandma were all together.

Monday, since we had the day off of school, was our last day in Majorca. Nick and I both had 9am class on Tuesday, so we decided to get a flight back as late as possible on Monday night. Our flight took off at 11:50pm, so we got to spend our last day and final dinner in Majorca. However, the traveling ended up being close to a nightmare. We got in around 2am, which meant that unless we wanted to spend a ton of money on a cab home or 8 hours on a bus to make the usual 30 minute trip home from the airport, we had until 6am (when the tube started) on the airport floor. Completely exhausted and with nowhere to go, we tried our hardest to get some sleep on the cold, hard floor of the Gatwick airport. Around 530, it was finally time to make our way back to Regents. As soon as we both walked into our dorm, we headed straight for our beds and passed out until it was time for class.

Regardless of the ridiculous travel time and the so-so weather situation, the trip to Majorca was amazing. We all had a great time, especially since it was the first weekend we traveled and were not on the constant move trying to see everything a major European city has to offer in a span of two to three days. Needless to say, this was one of my favorite Easters ever.

Mom came to Visit.

My mom arrived in London on March 30th. Her plane arrived bright and early so I was up with the sun to get her from the airport. The week she arrived happened to be the G20 summit in London, so things were pretty crazy and security all around the park was VERY tight (since Obama stayed at the USA embassy located in Regents Park, about a ten minute walk away from us). I showed my mom around the campus before I had class and she went back to rest. Later that day, I walked her around the city to show her Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, the Thames and the surrounding area. She absolutely loved it; it's almost impossible not to. We had a quick bite to eat before calling it a somewhat early night because of the jet lag.

The next day, we went to the Portobello Market. Since it was a weekday, the market wasn't as busy and crazy as it was the first time I went, but it was still fun. They still had the stands on the streets which were selling food, souvenirs and everything else. We had a nice lunch and decided that we would go see a play that night. We were lucky enough to get really good tickets for Jersey Boys and since the theater was not sold out, we moved up. The play was absolutely amazing, we both had a great time. Highly recommend it. After the show got out, we had a great dinner in Piccadilly before heading home for the night.

The next day, since I had class, my mom took the tour bus around to get in all the major sights of London. We met up at lunch and walked around. My friend Steve Rock's family was visiting at the same time, so we met up with them to take a ride on the London Eye. We opted for the champagne ride, which ended up being really fun. After the London Eye, Steve and I decided to show our families Gordon's Wine Bar before all going out to dinner. Everyone got along great and it ended up being a really fun day.

Friday, my mom and I left for Ireland. We flew into Dublin early morning. We found a hotel and headed out since we were only spending a day there. We hopped on one of those get-on-get-off tour buses so that we could see all the major sights in Dublin. We got off to go into St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was very interesting. It was not very decorative, but there were some ancient artifacts that amazed us both. For example, there was part of the baptismal well that St. Patrick used so many centuries ago. Next, we got off at the Guinness Factory. Neither my mom nor I are big fans of Guinness, but Greg really wanted us to go, so we did. The factory itself was cool, it gave a lot of history and showed a lot of how the brew is made. One stand allowed you to learn how to pour your own Guinness. The top floor was by far the coolest. It was called the Gravity Bar. The city of Dublin does not contain many sky scrapers. So the 7th floor of the Guinness Factory gave you a great view of the whole city. Later that night, we got dinner and hung out at a pub. Overall, neither of us were very impressed with Dublin. It was very Americanized and you didn't really get the Irish feeling.


Saturday morning we got up early to get on a bus to Galway. The trip took about 4 hours. Once we arrived in Galway, we once again found a hotel and explored. The city is not very big, but it was amazing. There was a main strip of pubs, stores and stands that we walked down. There was a little market set up where we got some delicious crepes. We walked along the river in Galway, seeing the Spanish Arch and the beautiful walkway along the way. That night, we had dinner and went to many of the different pubs to enjoy some live Irish music, talk to some hilarious local people and had some great Irish beer. We had a ton of fun that night.







Sunday, we got up early in order to get on the day tour for the Cliffs of Moher. The ride was amazing because the Irish countryside is breathtaking. Along the way, we made a few stops for picture breaks and such. However, nothing compared to the Cliffs. We were nervous about the weather, but luckily, it held out long enough for our tour. We walked around for an hour, taking some great pictures. After seeing so many pictures, we thought we knew what we were going to see. However, pictures will never justify the beauty of the Cliffs. Once we arrived, there were a few times that we stood in disbelief. After taking in every moment, we headed back to the bus. We were exhausted from the day, so we had a late dinner and went to bed.

Monday, we spent around 9 hours traveling, since Galway doesn't have an airport. By the time we got home we were so mentally and physically exhausted that we just went to bed. The rest of the week, my mom did more sight seeing, while I had classes and work, leaving us to meet up in the afternoon. We met up with the Rock family for dinner again on Tuesday night. Wednesday, my mom's last day in London, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral and the Camden Market. Since Portobello Market was not as crazy as it usually was, I was excited to show my mom the constant hustle and bustle of Camden. That night we had a nice meal before saying goodbye.

Overall, we had a fantastic time together both in London and Ireland. It was really nice to see some family for the first time in months and I get to see everyone again May 16th :)

Londontown

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated this thing, I have not had a chance to breathe in a while.

The last weekend of March, three of the boys and I stayed behind while everyone else went to Scotland or Barcelona. Corey, Zach, Paul and I hung around London all weekend and we had a great time. Friday we got up and decided to just walk all around the city. We walked around Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye and continued to walk down the river. Saturday, we decided to go to the Portobello Market which was awesome. It was a street of small, unique shops that sold everything from antique jewelry to scarves to artwork to sweets and everything in between. The food stands were awesome, the fruit and desserts were very cheap so we all bought something and shared. Around five, the market started closing up so we decided to walk back through Hyde Park. However, it suddenly started hailing so we jumped in a cab quickly and headed home.

Sunday, all the other people got home from traveling early in the morning. That afternoon, we went to the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. It is a HUGE event in London and luckily it was beautiful weather. There are millions of people that collect along the sides of the Thames while the crew race flies by. Everyone brings beer and drinks along the river, cheering, relaxing and enjoying the nice weather together. We didn't really understand all the hype, since crew isn't a huge sport in the United States and you stand along the river and see about 5 seconds of the hour long race. However, the environment was fun and everyone was in a good mood so we all had a good time.


That weekend I tried to get all my work done for my mom to come the following Tuesday.

Wales!

Last weekend, a group of nine of us went to Wales for what is called the Preselli Venture Weekend. It is in southwest Wales, which was like a 5 hour train ride away. We left on Friday night and arrived around dinner time. The facilities were very nice and the food was very good. The weekend included three outdoor activities: sea kayaking, hiking and coasteering.

Saturday morning we got up around 8 to start our first activity, sea kayaking. We geared up in a full wet suit, got a mini crash course in the basic safety tips. We took off from a small, rocky beach and kayaked our way through St. George's Sea. The instructors were great, they took us along the coast, into caves and through rock formations. Along the way, they would stop and give us random facts about the places we were kayaking through. Overall, we ended up kayaking for about 3 hours, at each point we were all exhausted and headed back to Preselli for lunch.

After eating, the nine of us headed out for a seven mile hike along the coast. The views were absolutely beautiful. Luckily, both activities on Saturday were just the nine of us, so we all had a lot of fun spending a weekend together outside the city life. We stopped for a lot of pictures. There was also a running bet going at Preselli that you won a prize if you rode a sheep (which there were hundreds of along the coast). So of course, all the boys had to try. Everyone was unsuccessful (they are a lot faster than you would think), but it provided some good entertainment. That night, we all had dinner, then shared a few drinks around a bonfire. The perfect ending to an amazing day.

The next morning we got up again around 8 to head out for our third and final activity, coasteering. Coasteering consists of swimming, climbing rocks and jumping off cliffs. We got really dressed up in a lot of wet suit gear since we would actually be swimming in the cold water. Once we arrived at the beach, the first thing our instructors made us do was to get into the water and go under. At the time we were miserable, but we realized that it was the only way to get in without wasting an hour easing into it. The water was beyond cold, it immediately took our breath away. But our instructors didn't give us anytime to focus on that, thankfully we started immediately swimming out towards the cliffs. Your body got used to the water pretty quickly thanks to the wet suits, but your hands FROZE (until they went numb after like 10 minutes). But once we actually started climbing and jumping, any thoughts of being cold left your mind. Climbing the rocks was very cool because you knew that not many people have been there, because it is only accessible through this type of activity. Towards the end, our instructor finally found a spot for us to cliff dive. We started out small, jumping off at a spot only ten feet high. We gradually increased the height, our final jump was around 30 feet high. We were all kind of bummed out because the tide was too low to jump from any higher. After everyone jumped the two instructors did some cool tricks before we swam back to the beach. Overall, this was all of our favorite activity. It was a great end to the weekend.


We got back to Preselli, we ate lunch, showered and packed up to head back to London. We got dropped off at the train station and all passed out the minute we hit our seats. Overall, it was definitely one of the favorite weekends for the nine of us.