We Are Family

On Thursday my friend Tori and I went to the Tower of London. It was covered with red ceramic poppies in order to reflect the amount of lives lost in the First World War. The grand total will reach over 888,000 by the end of November. The flowers looked beautiful sprawled across the lawn, but were also rather ominous because of what they symbolized. Once inside we immediately got in line to see “Bloody Tower,” the section of the grounds that housed the torture chambers. We were disappointed by the display because the room just consisted of replicas of torture devices and cheesy sound effects. We were however, very impressed by the crown jewels. I could not believe how much gold is used for simple things like plates and silverware. One spoon used for the coronation process is completely encrusted with emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds. My favorite part was being able to see the crown of Elizabeth the I. It was delicately covered in pearls and diamonds with a sleek purple and white trim. The swords of various kings were also remarkable. Tori and I also went to the armory exhibit where we saw the metal suits of Henry VIII and William the Conqueror.

After the tower, we left to walk across Tower Bridge to meet our friend Lauren outside of Shakespeare’s globe. We underestimated the distance, and ended up walking a little bit under a mile around the city. Luckily we found her and decided to grab dinner at The Anchor Pub, one of the oldest dining establishments in London. From there we walked towards St. Paul’s to see it lit up at night. We decided to cross via the footbridge that was featured in a Harry Potter movie. The last part of our night was spent on a 45 minutes metro ride to the outskirts of the city. Our hotel was right next to the airport so we could hop on a flight to Ireland in the morning.

After almost missing our flight because of mixing our departure time with our arrival time, we finally made it to Dublin. We met up with our other friends flying in from London and boarded a train to Sligo. The trip took three hours but the ride was really peaceful. I managed to get a lot of work done while admiring the countryside. Once in Sligo, we found our hostel and started to explore the town. We went to its cathedral and then to a neighboring candy store. They only charged us 2.50 pounds for 200 grams worth! It was delicious, but made us even hungrier. We spent the evening at a pub recommended by our innkeeper. I had Irish coffee for the first time and loved it. We found out that a summer music festival was going on in the city and decided to check that out. We soon learned that Sister Sledge, the 1979 band that sings “We Are Family,” was performing that night! I guess you can say funk followed us from America to Ireland.

The next morning we woke up and headed out towards Parke Castle. The foundations date back to the 17^th century. The view outside the castle was incredible! It is located right next to the lake with rolling hills and farmland in the distance. We spent most of our time wandering along the shore and taking photos in the bright green grass. Once we returned to our hostel after lunch, we went souvenir shopping and bought t-shirts from the music festival. For dinner, we headed out to Strandhill Beach and grabbed Italian food. The girls and I took group photos while watching the sunset and eating ice-cream. The entire beach was rock instead of sand, so I made sure to pick out a few to bring home. The colors in the sky were captivating and we all started to complain about our studying abroad coming to a close. We cheered up and took a taxi back to town to catch the last night of the music festival! I have so many new bands to follow when I get back stateside; the music was folky and something that I’m not really familiar with back home. 

Sunday morning we headed back to the airport to make our flight to London. Luckily, we made it on time without having to sprint through terminals. When we got back to Oxford, the girls and I went out to dinner for our friend’s birthday. I then spent the night working on a Shakespeare paper.

Monday night was our last formal High Table dinner. Everyone got dressed up and took a massive group photo out in the gardens. Our program director gave a really heartfelt speech that ended up with all of us calling the Dawgs (singing a school cheer). Reality finally hit me that on Friday we would all be heading back to Atlanta.

The rest of this week has gone by so fast. I’ve been consumed with two different papers that I finally finished last night. I plan to spend the next few days taking last minute trips with friends and exploring all of Oxford. I want to make sure I don’t miss anything. Admittedly, I am homesick, but I wish this experience didn’t have to end. I’ve had the time of my life and have made so many new friends.

To stay positive I keep telling myself I’ll return one day. Plus, I’ll still see everyone at school. But I don’t think anything could ever compare to Oxford and this fantastic summer.

I’m excited to see everyone soon! I’ve missed you all. Expect to hear from me come Friday night!

Flowers outside of the tower.

View outside of Parke Castle

Group photo at the beach

All of us at High Table

City of Love and Hate

Greetings!

Sorry this has taken so long, this past week has been a whirl of excitement and stress with papers and travel.

On Thursday, my mom came to Oxford. We went out to dinner and walked around the various monuments of town. On the proceeding Friday at 3:00AM, we took a taxi to the bus station in order to catch our morning flight to Paris. Neither of us wanted to miss anything and made sure we used all available time in France. Unfortunately earlier in the week I caught a cold that was going around campus, so waking up early proved to be rather difficult. Luckily we found Sudafed at the grocery store the night before, and I was able to sleep the entire way on the plane.

As soon as we arrived at de Gaulle, I was sort of shocked. Absolutely nothing was in English and there were no signs that pointed to transportation options to take us to the hotel. After finding an information desk and witnessing an airport employee strike, we made it onboard to our late bus and headed to our hotel an hour away in Paris. As soon as we arrived in the city, my mother and I were swarmed by gypsies. Their tactic was to press themselves against you to make you physically uncomfortable and release your bag. Luckily, I scared the women off me, but they still would not leave my mom alone. After a brief but effective interaction with one of them, the gypsies decided it would be best if they stepped away from her. Nevertheless after a rocky start, we persevered and arrived at our hotel just before noon.

Hotel Lumen was absolutely stunning. The lobby was decorated with crystal and black and silver decor. My mom and I had lunch at the neighboring restaurant while we waited for our room to be ready. I had a delicious antipasti salad that had roasted summer vegetables and fruit. Mom and I both had a cold coke with ice and lemon; the drink soon became a regular occurence. Once we were able to go up to our room, we were greeted with a half bottle of wine compliments of the hotel. There were two all white beds and a marble bathroom with fluffy white robes and slippers to match. On the outside there was a winding balcony that overlooked the main street that the Louvre is located off of. Needless to say, after being so sick and so shocked by our fancy accommodations–I could have easily spent the weekend there alone.

My mom and I had other plans, however. Immediately after freshening up, we walked towards the Louvre. Weeks previously my mom bought us museum passes that allow you to skip the long lines and enter at a special location. This was incredibly handy because upon our arrival, a massive line wrapped all the way back towards the Louvre’s front lawn. At the museum we saw The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory. They were all equally beautiful. The crowds however, were not. Sections of the museum had to be closed because of too many people entering the exhibits. The AC was also virtually not working because of the body heat, so everyone was drenched in sweat.  It was rather disappointing so we decided to head towards the Eiffel Tower to take pictures outside of it and to then catch a river cruise. The boat ride was relaxing and cool after walking all around in the sun. We ended the day with a pizza at a local Italian restaurant down the street from the hotel.

The next morning we had a fantastic breakfast at Hotel Lumen and took the train to Notre Dame. The outside architecture was intricate yet simple.  On the inside, my favorite part was the vaulted ceilings and colorful stained glass. Unfortunately the line was too long to climb to the top, so my mom and I headed towards Museum Orsay to have lunch at a cafe. There we ate the best quiche I’ve ever had; it was fluffy and just the right portion size. Once we entered the museum, I immediately knew Orsay would be one of my favorite visits. Formerly a train station, Orsay was roomy and decorated in a super modern fashion. The van Gogh and Monet paintings were quite popular as expected, and I was thrilled that I got to see one of the Starry Nights and van Gogh’s self portrait. Before we returned to our hotel to clean up for dinner that evening, mom and I stopped at Cafe Angelina’s to try the famous macaroons and African hot chocolate. I however, ordered the chilled version of the drink and it was incredibly tasty. It was almost like a mix of dark and milk chocolate with a frothy consistency. My favorite flavor of macaroon was easily the guava and chocolate selection. My mom got a pistachio and raspberry tart that we immediately finished.

For dinner that evening we went to a restaurant that Fodor’s recommended. There was a line literally around the block. After a wait, my mom and I had champagne with steak and mashed potatoes. The meal was wonderful like all our others, but the restaurant was so busy that unfortunately we did not receive the best service. Despite the slowness, we were able to head towards the tower once more to see it lit up at night. We were told by our concierge that the Eiffel had a light show every thirty minutes after dark . This proved not to be quite true though, because after waiting for an hour amongst the aggressive champagne peddlers–the tower only sparkled for a mere five minutes. Despite the disappointing show, the Eiffel Tower was still extremely impressive at night.

Our final day in Paris was spent wandering Montparnasse. There the city has a tall skyscraper that enables visitors to see a 360 degree view of Paris. This was another one of my favorite stops because I got to take lovely photos of major monuments all from the same location. From there my mom and I went to Crêperie Josselin, and finally tried the French delicacy.  While waiting at Hotel Lumen for our taxi to take us to Orly Airport, my mom and I heard lots of shouting at the Louvre. It turns out that the final day of Tour de France was happening and bikers were  passing our street. After killing time watching all the screaming fans and honking cars, our cab arrived and we headed to catch our flight.

After checking our luggage at Orly and looking for a place to have dinner, police officers with machine guns began to run past us. Soon enough we saw the same men using caution tape to seal off our terminal while a French woman announced something. Confused as to why we were not allowed into that wing of the airport, we asked the closest employee what was happening. Instead of trying to help, the gentleman criticized my mom and I for not speaking his language and told us to ask someone else at the information desk. It turns out the reason why the wing was closed, was because there was an unattended bag that the police believed to be a bomb. The woman at the desk was surprisingly casual and redirected us a different way to get to our terminal. All the while the police obtained the bomb and destroyed it outside the building. My mom and I could hear the detonation go off as the task force terminated the bag.

As I’m sure you can tell, I have mixed feelings about my time in Paris. Prior to visiting, I had this romanticized idea of how magical The City of Love would be; yet it fell rather short. Most people would die to visit this place, yet the man at the airport spent the potential last moments of mine shaming me for not knowing French. It was just a completely different culture then what I was expecting.  Servers there did not seem to really care about their customers. Pickpockets and beggars were rampant, while the police presence seemed to be almost inexistent. I was probably most shocked by how unwelcoming and not user friendly the city was. There was a complete lack of signage (yes, even in French) and a lot of the monuments were poorly maintained.  There is no way the amount of people that were in the Louvre all at once would have been legal in the US. Additionally I can only imagine it taking years for someone to be able to navigate those streets.

Despite a lot of the unpleasant experiences, I still had a good time. I loved Museum Orsay, and all of the exhibits within it. I could have also spent hours sitting outside at the cafes with its friendly waitstaff and delectable meals. Montparnasse was rather unknown compared to all the other attractions and it was relaxing to just admire the view. Our concierge at Hotel Lumen ended up being incredibly helpful and one of the locals even made sure my mom and I found our steak restaurant.

All in all though, the thing I enjoyed the most was getting to travel to Paris with my mom. Good and bad, we proved that the two of us could handle it all and still end up on top. She planned everything perfectly and let me have one of the best times of my life right before I graduate college. I could not be more grateful. Once we returned to Oxford, I even got to spend more time with her exploring the city and eventually meeting up to see my dad. Having the two of them here with me was so memorable in itself, and made me truly miss home.

Now  after the great adventure and lessons of Paris, tomorrow I will be visiting Stonehenge and Bath with friends from Oxford. Expect a post about that within the next week.

Wish me luck, and I will see you all in fifteen days!

Eiffel Tower at night

Mom and me at Notre Dame

Notre Dame stained glass

Dad at Christ Church Meadow

Today is Two Days

Well. I’m two days out from leaving for Oxford. It still has not quite hit me yet that I’ll be gone for six weeks. It just doesn’t seem real. I guess I’m the type of person who waits to get excited about something until it is the day of event.

But until then, I’ll be spending as much time as I can with those closest to me. Yesterday was spent in Athens for one last get together with all of my friends. We went to a lovely tapas bar and ended up hanging out afterwards as well. My boyfriend and best friend also took me out to the movies earlier that day–so it was a really fun time! The whole thing was a big surprise for me and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Tomorrow I will be spending time with my parents and boyfriend while checking out some Fourth of July events around town. I think we’ll wander around a local square that’s having live music and art booths. We’ll conclude the evening watching fireworks over the city. I’m really looking forward to it!

After all that my flight leaves Saturday evening and will take about nine hours. I land in London a little bit past 9AM. Luckily, I already packed for the trip and will be able to spend the afternoon with family before I head out around 3 o’clock.

I guarantee everything will sink in as soon as I’m on my way to the airport. I’ll actually believe that I am spending the summer studying at such a prestigious university.

Tapas!

Finally packed!

Close up of everyone and me.