Last post from London....

As we've been preparing for our last little bit here my blog has been delayed. Forgive me. and that means it's going to be super long :S but it'll be my last blog from London as well so you can deal with it!
Last week was my last week of my internship. I'll miss West Middlesex University Hospital. I had a chance of a lifetime and unforgettable experiences while there. It was defiantly one of my highlights of my time here in London.

Tuesday I was in the A&E department (Accident and Emergency). Although I didn't see anything gory like fingers cut off or deep cuts I saw a man who was having a heart attack as we spoke to him. He had the heavy feeling in his chest and pain in his arms and by looking at his EKG you could tell it wasn't normal and showed signs of a heart attack. Because West Midd doesn't have a very specialized area for heart attacks they ship them off to other places. There was a mix up or something between the hospitals and at first, and the ambulance was taking a long time to get there so they weren't able to start treatment quickly. Luckily nothing happened before they got him sent off and I have no way of knowing what happened afterwards... I also saw a few other not so exciting but very interesting cases, at least to me they were :)


Wednesday we just went out for lunch and I hung around for a little while and said goodbyes. It was such an awesome time. I'm really really going to miss them, but I'll for sure be back to visit! That night instead of just finishing my paper I went on the Jack the Ripper walking tour that I heard some of my colleagues talking about going on. I told them I had to write my paper so they were surprised when I showed up. I decided that I just couldn't say goodbye. The tour was interesting, we just walked around the areas where the murders took place and where he 'worked'. It wasn't scary though, like I've heard some of them are which was a little disappointing but I was still interested.

Thursday I worked on my paper and got it finished. I also had a final lecture kind of thing talking about our time here and how we've changed and all that basic good boring stuff I hate doing. Then I went on a walk because it was a beautiful day and I had lots to think about and wanted to enjoy London while I can. I did a little souvenir shopping and that was the day. Friday we had exams and final lectures. I am officially done except for my Theatre paper (which I have started and isn't due until I before I leave). Our exams where essays which helped me remember that I hate essay tests. After that Mike, Val, Keisha and I headed to City airport to catch our flight to Paris!


Paris was AWESOME! I really really loved the city. We landed and took the bus and metro to our hostel, which was more like a hotel. Mike, Val and I shared a room. After settling for a little while we decided to explore. We found some really cute cafes and shops and also the not so cute "red light district" of Paris which of course is home to the Moulin Rouge! We then went back towards our hostel and crashed for the night.

we got up to take a free walking tour of the city. We saw all of the big sites and a few cool things that aren't so popular. I wish I could remember everything and tell you all about them but I know I won't remember half of it and it would make this blog obscenely long. Also I took a large amount of photos because I was soo in love with the city so please feel free to check those out on my Picasa album.

So our walking tour, we saw Notre Dame, Pont Neuf (New bridge), lots of statues and other bridges, the Louvre, The obelisk, the Eiffel tower from a distance, the Arc de Tromif and a ton of other stuff. It was like a 3 hour walking tour so we saw pretty much everything. After we were done we went to the Arc de Tromif, we were too cheap to go up in it but it was neat to see. I also learned that if you drive in Paris you aren't insured to drive around the round about by the Arc. We were also warned by our tour guide to take the underground passage way to get there. but being Mike he decided to cross anyway...luckily he made it out alive and only one car swerved to hit him (but didn't).


After this we headed towards the Eiffel Tower and this is when I fell even more in love with Paris. Wow. It's such an awesome sight, pictures don't do justice. After taking some pictures here we then decided to head towards the Statue of Liberty, as seen in the National Treasure film. It is much much smaller than the one in New York, although I haven't been there yet. While there Mike climbed a tree to give us some entertainment and made a little french boy's day. His mother said that he wanted to know how Mike climbed it because he had always wanted to be able to. From here we went back towards the Louvre to get some pictures of the sun setting through the pyramid.

Because we found somewhere to avoid the Louvre on the first Sunday of the month like the plague we got up early to try to beat it. The first Sunday of every month is free entrance for everyone. We got there about an hour before it opened and there were about 30ish people maybe in front of us. As soon as the doors opened we followed the swarms of people to the Mona Lisa. It's crazy to think that I was there and saw her. Although she's not that big and a lot of people think she's some magnificent thing it was just really neat to be able to see it. After that we wondered around some more seeing all the other famous stuff that's there. Including the Code of Hammurabi, Venus de Milo, and all the other stuff there. haha. It's huge though and we saw a lot of it but if you spent 30 seconds on every piece you would be there for months and we had 1 day there. haha .


After that we went to Notre Dame. Wow is all I have to say about it. It was really cool inside. The stained glass was amazing. I know my church has great stained glass but it's nothing compared to what we saw in the cathedrals and churches over here. It's going to be very weird to be back in a little church at home. There was mass going on so Mike sat through it and Val and I do what we learned how to do best when the crazy Catholics did there thing, sat and admired and rested. We also went to the Pantheon but being cheap college students didn't actually go in because it cost so we peaked inside and then went to the Church of Saint Genevieve which was also fabulous. I am so amazed by the great architecture every where around here. When we were done around that area we headed to the most fabulous part of our trip. The Eiffel tower.

I, loving heights was so excited. Everyone else I was with, however, all have a fear of heights (Val has a really bad fear so she chickened out...). Seriously I woulda gone twice as high if I coulda. We opted to take the stairs up to the second level to save a few euro and the 668 steps to the second level weren't that bad at all. There were fabulous views. From the second viewing deck you have to take the elevator, which made the other 2 a bit squeamish. By the top Mike and Keisha were freaking out when we looked out and down and I was ready to keep climbing. It was so awesome. I absolutely loved it. Seriously wow, like it's a for sure will do again with out question thing for me. LOVED IT!


When we finally descended we went out for dinner at a place that had a starter and entree for 14 euro. Val and I being both country girls got Ribeye steaks and I devoured mine probably because I haven't had real meat like that in 4 months. It was delish (but not as good as Iowa meat). We stuck around to see the Tower sparkle as it does every night from 2100 every few minutes on. It was beautiful, so awesome. I really wish we coulda stayed there longer but it was chilly...


Monday was my last day in Paris, I opted to take an earlier flight by my self so that I would have some more time in London this last week. We all slept in a little and then went to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Again beautiful inside. I'm fairly certain I uttered "wow" when we entered. Val and I however wish we would have kept track of all the old churches we saw while abroad and the time spent in each of them. I'm pretty sure it would be close to 4,562,301 and at least 20 hours. haha. okay maybe a little exaggeration. I shouldn't complain though because they are beautiful.


The rest of the afternoon we wondered around some more and then I set off for the airport. My plane was delayed going out because we had to wait on the crew or something. I couldn't understand the lady. Not that it mattered much to me.

I finally got back and hung out with a bunch of people watching Twilight. Well I was only watching it because it was on but I was also working on my paper. I don't really understand the ridiculous obsession with it, from what I saw it didn't appear to be one of the best movies I've seen. It was really good to just be back in Vandon and hang out with people for a while again. The rest of this week I haven't done too much exciting things. I have gone out and explored London and have fallen in love with it over and over again and am going to miss it like crazy.


As of right now I am mostly packed except for a few little things I need to throw in somewhere. It's depressing really. In less than 24 hours I will be on a plane headed home. I know you are all really excited to see me which helps going home and I am ready to be home (I think) but I honestly wish I could stay here forever. I love it. I remember being terrified of coming to a huge city with more people than the state of Iowa and now I never ever want to leave. It's going to be crazy to not be able to walk up the street and catch a bus to somewhere amazing, wake up to construction right out side our room, hang out with these people all day everyday, travel so easily either via train, tube or even just flying. I definantly want to keep traveling when I get home. I really could go on and on about the things I am going to miss but I suppose that's a whole other blog which I may get to writing when I get home. I think reverse culture shock is going to hit hard but lets hope not. So I say farewell from London. Thanks for the few of you that read and I will try to up date a few more times when I get home, but again no promises :) although I'll probably be more likely to. I've had a great semester here. Can't wait to see you all. I will be in town on Saturday for sure and will have my phone (same number as before I left) so feel free to give me a ring. I don't know what all is going on but I know I'd love to see you! I just can't believe how fast this semester flew by and that my bags are packed to go home. See you soon! :)

Irish it wasn't so cold and rainy...

Ello all! I hope you are all having a great week! As my last post was about spring break I suppose I should talk about last week before I talk about Kelsey and I's luck o' the Irish.

Last week we all returned to reality with classes bright and early Monday morning. Something we were all looking forward to. *please note the sarcasm!* However we are all realising that we are coming towards the end, which means papers and exams. Which is very bitter sweet as I've said many many times.

Some of my friends other friend's who are studying in Ireland this semester were here to visit so Monday a large group of us went to the Albert for a pint. I also got a little start on my paper. I at least picked my topic! :)

Tuesday brought my internship again. I got to go to theatres all day again! Still really awesome and if it didn't take like 10 years I would maybe consider becoming a surgeon. I've still got some more time to decide thought so we'll see! This time I saw a hip fracture repair with a large screw and plate. I was a little surprised that the tools they use are really similar to the ones you'd use at home. Screw drivers, hammers, what appeared to be very similar to an impact wrench with the same type of key we'd use. When the nurse training couldn't figure out how to tighten the 'bit' I wanted to help but wasn't sterile...The surgeon and everyone was really good about explaining to me what was going on and why they did what they did. I hope I never have to have that done though, I can see why patients are in so much pain when they are done! Their legs spread and twisted and strapped into stirrups and tied in place, not to mention pounding a huge screw into the femur! ouch. I sort of wish I thought I wanted to be a surgeon the whole time I was here so I could have spent everyday in theatres but I suppose going to the different areas was better...

Wednesday I also had my internship. I was in the complaints department. It was very interesting to read some of the letters they receive and all the work they put into dealing with it. Sometimes it takes close to a year to finalize the case if it goes on to a higher outside complaint department.

Wednesday night a group went to watch the football match in a pub. Another 90 minutes wasted because it ended in nil. I don't think I will ever understand.

Thursday morning I got up and went out to the O2 in Greenwich. This is a huge arena that is also sort of like a mall. It was really neat. But the reason I went out there was that Randy had told me about there being a Body Worlds exhibit there. Body worlds is where they take real human bodies and plasticise them. [see http://www.visitlondon.com/bodyworlds/] It was really really neat. They take bodies and basically skin them and cut them so that you can see different part and muscles and bones and tissues. It's a little sad at first because they have babies and a pregnant woman and all are real who have died and chose to give their bodies for others. But regardless it was really cool. They also have a horse and a giraffe which were super cool! Something I found really neato was that I was able to see a hip bone with a screw and plate in it, just like what I had seen put in two days prior! It was a really awesome exhibit and I'm super glad I went, I had been wanting to go to one for a while and to be able to go in London is great.

After I got back from there I learned that some guys were going to Abbey Road and they asked if I wanted to go so rather than work on my paper I went. We took the traditional Abbey road Beatles picture and signed the wall out side of Abbey Road studios. It was a good time.

Kelsey and I just had a relaxing movie night since we flew out the next morning for Cork!

Now on to the luck of us in Ireland... our luck began at Gatwick airport...I made it thought security just fine, as I always have *touch wood!*. Kelsey on the other hand was not so lucky...She set of the metal detector and had to be patted down and then her bag also had to be searched. When it was time for us to go wait to board we learned that Ryanair had changed something and our online check it was kind of pointless because we still had to get a stamp from the check in desk. Which we neglected to do because this rule was just implemented and we didn't know. So we weren't allowed to board and had to got back to get the stupid stamp. When we got to security they wouldn't let us go any further and the little guard wasn't listening to us or helping us and we were a little frantic because we only had about 20 minutes. Finally he took us back downstairs and gave our stuff to someone who took it to the desk to be stamped. All we needed was a little stamp that said 'received'. Stupid Ryan air!

Our flight went quick, it's only about an hour. When we landed we couldn't figure out for sure where to go. Because we were couch surfing again Kelsey had directions and though we could just walk from the airport but we did end up needing to take a bus to the city centre. Then we got minor lost by turning down the wrong street...The whole time our phones weren't working to call our host... When we finally found her door she didn't answer so now we were worried we didn't have the right door. After a while we ended up walking down the street and found a pay phone to call her. She was home so we headed back. Our host was Edel and she was really nice and we had a great time minus a few minor issues....which aren't really important! :)

That night we were hungry and tired so we went to find something to eat and realised that Ireland is expensive. After dinner we though that Edel was going to call us to meet up when she was done with her lecture but she didn't and she didn't answer so we wasted some time before finally going to the pub she said she might be at. The pub was packed and they are nothing like English pubs! She was there with a friend and they were just heading off to another so we joined them.

This was fun. Although the pub was filled again, there was a live Irish band playing! How cool is that!? We found some seats upstairs and had a grand time. After a round Kelsey and I were exhausted so we took Edel's keys and headed to our couch. The Irish defiantly like to stay out later, because she only had one set of keys she had to knock for us to let her in when she got back, I think Kelsey said it was around 2...

Our intentions were to get up early and head to Blarney and do a lot of sight seeing but it was crappy weather so we chose to sleep in a little longer. Our day in Cork was cold and rainy and we didn't prepare for this...After poking in some shops we headed towards the Cork Butter Museum. Yes, a museum all about the history of butter making. I was disappointed that there was not butter cow, however it was still a little interesting and who can say they've been to a butter museum!? After our time there we went to the church where you can pay to climb to the top and look all around Cork and on the first level you can pull ropes to ring the bells and play songs. This was cool. I played 3 blind Mice and You are My Sunshine. After mapping out where to go next we headed towards the bus station to catch a bus to go to Blarney. Because we looked around in some shops on our way we missed the early bus and had to wait an hour or so but we just sat in the bus station because of the cold and rainy weather out side.

When we got to Blarney we got off the bus a stop too late meaning we had to walk about a mile back to town. When we got to town we did the tourist shops first. There was a ton of sheep stuff in the first one that was super cute but I ended up just getting a few things. :) Blarney is home to the Blarney Castle which holds the Blarney stone. {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blarney_Stone} Kissing is supposed to give you luck or something. After looking around the castle grounds we found some big rocks and stuff and a waterfall. I've always wanted to be behind the waterfall and was able to do so at this one. We also found the wishing steps and made a wish. After a while we were getting chilled and tired so we headed back to Cork and got the keys from Edel and headed home to cook easy cheap supper and hang out for a while.
That night Edel had some friends over for drinks and then we ended up going to a pub at like 1 AM! The pub closed at 2 and then we some how lost Edel but luckily were still with her friends so we were able to go to one of their houses for a while and lay down since we had to leave at 9 AM to catch the bus and get to the airport.

Over all it was a grand time in Ireland, it is a very lovely country and I hope to go back someday!

This week brings our second to last week here in London which equals papers and exams. I'm gaining headway on my one paper due Friday hopefully the rest will come easy!

Talk to you all soon!

Roman around, Getting Greece-y and 'Paradise'

Hello! As promised to all here is my spring break holiday blog, It was an awesome trip of a lifetime so be prepared for a super long one!

We started our journey on Friday, Kelsey and I attempting to pack everything we would need in our £5 duffel bags with out too much weight. Mine was really heavy and I have no idea why. None-the-less our adventure was beginning and we were excited!

Our flight from Gaitwick to Rome went well although we were starving when we landed and neglected to get food at the airport before making our long trek to our hostel. After being bombarded by a man at the airport trying to get us to take a taxi we discussed that we would just take the train like the directions told us. The train and stations were covered in Graffiti, something we weren't used to, which made it difficult to see the names of the stations, which accounted for us getting of a stop to early and because we were on the last train of the night we were all worried what would happen. Our luck changed when we called the hostel and they said they would come pick us up. Saturday we got up early so that we could collect our tickets for Easter Mass. We did a ton of site seeing before 11:00. We started off by throwing some change into the Trevi fountain which is supposed to either mean your wish will come true or that you'll visit Rome again in your lifetime. Either of which I would be happy with.

We continued walking around and saw the Pantheon ( not to be confused with the Parthenon) and a ton of other really buildings and statues and ruins. We eventually made our way to the Coliseum and got a tour of it. It was really neat to see. With our tour ticket we also were able to have a tour of the Roman Forum. The Forum is where the senate used to take place as well as a bunch of other neato stuff. Easter Sunday we woke up at the butt crack of dawn to get in line for mass at the Vatican. There were tons of people there from all over with flags and banners. I was a little disappointed in our Catholic friends who were all giddy and uber excited that they neglected to bring a sign or flag of any sort but O well. We also didn't have the greatest seats because they thought the Pope was going to be driving around in his Popemobile afterwards and would drive right by us but he didn't. A few of us almost weren't allowed back to our seats after we had gone to the toilet because it was getting close to the start. I simply told one of the Swiss guards I had gone to the toilet and I had a seat and he let me through. Kelsey and Val weren't so lucky but eventually they also got back in. Although we weren't able to understand pretty much any of it because it is in all different languages. It was still a lot of fun. After mass and lunch we Rome-d around some more...(Our pun of the days thanks to me:] ) We went to the St. Peter’s Basilica which is the building that mass was held in front of. It was beautiful inside. After we were done there a few of us went to Circus Maximus which is were the chariot races took place. Mike and I saw it fitting to run around it, but I was wearing flip flops and skirt so I only did half of it.


Monday morning we left very early again for the airport to fly to Milan and from there to Athens. In Athens Kelsey and I couch surfed. She had found a couple on the couchsurfing website that had a spare room that they were willing to allow us to stay in for the few days we were there. We were very grateful to save a little bit of money and not having to stay at a hostel. They were super nice and cooked us good food too..I still don't like seafood but managed to eat the octopus that was in the pasta... They also drove us around the first night and showed us some of the sights, including watching the sunset from a mountain top. From this mountain top I also decided I didn't like Athens because it is all buildings and cement where as I felt Rome is more open space and not as congested. I tried to keep an open mind but found it hard. We saw the Parthenon and all the other stuff on the Acropolis. It was neat but nothing at all compared to Rome. Maybe had we gone to Athens separately I would have enjoyed it more but I like to doubt that. We saw more of Athens including the original Olympic stadium and ventured out the 2004 stadium. I was very saddened to see the state the stadium was in. It was all run down and deserted like a Ghost town. There weren't museums or tours or anything and all the buildings were closed so we were only able to see the swimming pools, the indoor bike track(through windows) and the outsides of the other buildings. It was cool to see but I wish they would have done more to preserve it but I suppose all the venues get to be that way...

Wednesday our group went all different directions, A few off to Cairo (which I really wish I would have done but just another reason to go back!), others to a different island and Kelsey and I went to Mykonos We took a ferry that took about 4ish hours to get there and closer to 5 to get back on Saturday. Mykonos is a tourist island and there is pretty much nothing else there and unfortunately for us we were at the very beginning of tourist season. We stayed at a place called Paradise beach which had only opened a couple weeks before we had got there so nothing else around it was open. But it was a very relaxing trip which I think we needed. Paradise has it's own beach right there so we didn't have to worry about leaving things or stepping away and our things ending up going missing. Thursday we roasted on the beach, laying out for a long time. We then took the bus to town which is tourist shops and clothing stores we'd never be able to afford. Like I said before this island is mostly just for tourists and the night life is very popular but we up for just relaxing so we checked out early most nights.

Friday was an awesome day! We rented ATV's and drove all over the island. It was so awesome. The roads there were pretty crazy and some sharp turns. I would go again in an instant if I could. We rode right by the water and up in hills that had fabulous views. It was so cool. I was fried again when we were done because I HAD to wear shorts because it was warm enough. so the tops of my legs got burnt like when I wear shorts when we bale or mow... we looked into getting sunscreen but it was like 15 Euros for a tiny bottle so we suffered... Saturday we took a ferry back to Athens and then stayed in a hostel before leaving Sunday. Sunday was the Greek Orthodox Easter so we weren't able to find anything for breakfast or anything to do so we ended up going to the airport super early and spending a ton of time in the airports all together because of our lay over as well.

I was definitely ready to be back in London by the time we got back. Traveling made me homesick mostly because I wanted my own bed and good pillows. But we are back in London now and I love it here. This city still amazes me everyday. But anyways. That is my super long blog about Spring Holiday. If you want to know more you can ask although I don't know what else I would tell you other than it was great. :)

8 April 2009 Update

My apologies for not posting a blog in a while. Somehow I've seemed to become crazy busy. I suppose it is because spring break starts Friday so last minute planning and getting somethings ready for that have been taking place. Time certainly is flying by much too quickly here. We all thought that our tour of Parliament was clear at the end and it would be so long before it and now it too has already passed...

Last week I had my internship as well which wasn't too exciting but still fun like always, nothing like last week when I was in surgery though. That was great and I hopefully get to go back! On Wednesday I got to be in Pediatrics. They have a really nice area for kids.

Thursday I made my way to the Imperial war museum. This is quite the museum. Such a vast array of history and war things. Although I don't enjoy war or history very much I spent a couple hours there. They have a really neat holocaust exhibit, as well as all the other exhibits.

After this because it was such a nice day out I walked around and found the Garden history museum. I decided to check it out and am glad that there was free admission for students because there really is not much in the, at all. There was one little exhibit of old tools and stuff but that was basically it. Other than a changing exhibit and the fact that I was allowed to go into the garden. O well. I didn't have to pay for it! haha...

In the afternoon I headed out to Kew Gardens. I intended on going in the actual gardens but it cost £11! to do so, so I passed on that. Maybe if I have time to spend the whole day there rather than a couple hours like it would have been.

Friday we had our paid for by Central Indian lunch. It wasn't bad, but again I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. I didn't eat too much because I wasn't sure how it would go for me but it didn't turn out to be so bad. I did eat one little piece of lamb too. I can now say I don't like it. It was really tough which could have been because it wasn't cooked very well or because that's how lamb is. Either way I probably avoid it if at all possible!

After this a couple friends and I checked out the chocolate festival that was going on. It wasn't too big, just a few tents that offered tiny samples. Some of it was pretty good.

Then we had the tour of parliament. This was actually a lot of fun. I am glad we had a group tour with a guide because he told us a bunch of random facts that if you were to simply go by yourself you wouldn't know [like where Churchill's ring made indents on the table]. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos whilst inside. The grandness of it all was overwhelming. Anyone is allowed to tour parliament by themselves. You simply show up and have to go through security and what not and you are in, free to roam in certain parts of it.

Saturday Gina, Kelsey and I took a train to Brighton. Most of the group had already gone because we were offered a chance to go as a group but our parents were here so we missed out. Brighton is a nice town on the edge of England. It's very pretty there and we had a great day. We sat on the beach for a while {which was rocks not sand...}and walked around the town.

Sunday I went to Hyde park for a while, until I got cold. It was another great day but a little breezy. The park is really nice. After that I went to the British museum for about 45 minutes. Defiantly not my cup of tea!
That night Kelsey and I went to Westminster Abbey for the evening service just to see what it was like. It was very traditional, VERY. I looked at the bulletin and saw we were singing "Old Rugged Cross" but it defiantly was not the song I know.

Monday brought more classes and our last show for theatre class that night. It wasn't too bad but not my favorite.

Tuesday At my internship I was in the special care baby unit. This unit if for premies, there were 16 babies. They were adorable and tiny. I can't believe how big they are going to get from being that little.
Wednesday (today) I worked with the physiotherapists today working with patients in all different wards.

Well there's my update for now. Friday I leave for Rome and Athens for Spring break! It's about time! I'm super excited. It should be a lot of fun. We will have wireless in our hostel in Rome but I'm not sure about our other places and I plan on taking my computer so I will try and update when I can!

Oh and it's bitter sweet.
In one month be ready for the following

Poffertjes
Funnel cakes
Bratwarsts
Dutch Dancing
Ribeye sandwiches
Millions of people
Cotton Candy
Tropical Snow
Kettle Corn
Parades
Corn dogs
Potato spirals
Dutch Tacos
Wooden shoes
Walking Tacos
and most importantly
ME! :)

My Pictures

Just a reminder that my pictures are here, not that you have to look but my mom mentioned my aunt didn't know where they were at so I'm posting the link again.

Also as a warning there are a few pictures in my Barcelona album that some of you might not enjoy so much...(like raw skinned animals)...

http://picasaweb.google.com/heather3211



As you can tell I'm having a blast still! :)

iHola! Nosotros fuemos a Barcelona

So first off, I'm pretty sure fuemos is not right in the title...I'm terrible at conjugation and hadn't used Spanish for a while. But I'll get to that :) Secondly I'd love to tell you about my internship and stuff from last week but I know people want to hear about Barcelona and I don't want to make this super duper long...So here's the deal. I'll write mostly about my trip to Barcelona in this blog and will either A) write about my internship sometime later this week in a blog or B) if you really want to know about it I can email you all the details. but 1) I can't promise I will get another blog soon. Hopefully after my internship this week though because as of right now I have basically no plans for this weekend other than a day trip or something so I'll have more time and 2) I'll only email you the details if you want them before I post another blog {hopefully this weekend} or send out an email. so either email me or comment and let me know and I'll email them to you :) Okay? Deal. :)

So Barcelona...It was a lot of fun. and really cool to see. As I said earlier I did get to use my Spanish. Amy also knows Spanish so together we made it through. In Barcelona, however, they don't just use the straight Spanish I know it's a different dialect that is pretty much a different language so this sometimes made it a little difficult but it still wasn't bad.

When we first got there it took us 6 hours (yup six) to get to our hostel because we actually flew into Gerona which is like an hour north of Barcelona but Ryanair flights there are cheap. So our public transportation was a lot that day... A train to catch our plane to catch a bus to take the metro to take a train to take a taxi to finally arrive at our hostel. It was an adventure. Our hostel was about 45 minutes by train outside of Barcelona also. We didn't know this when we booked it because it was called Barcelona camping something. It was a very nice place to stay. It was like a little cabin with 2 bed rooms and a kitchen. Just a little inconvenient for only having a day in Barcelona because the last bus that ran to it was at 9:30 so we didn't get to experience the night life of Barcelona (which actually might be a good thing).

Our day in Barcelona was also cut shorter because we neglected to think about the time change when we set our alarm for the morning...We ended up getting to the actual town around 1 or so and ate at a little restaurant [that had an English menu] because we were starving. I decided to be brave and try something I didn't know what it was. I ordered sandwich bread with an omelet. It had really no flavor except for the mayo which was on it and I HATE mayo. But I suffered though it, even though I was still starving afterwards. We all were, even though they all had burgers or chicken, so we also went to McDonald's afterwards, which was delicious!

So we finally started to see the city after we were feeling much better with a full stomach. We didn't really know what all we wanted to see but started to make our way to a market. The street we followed had all little pet shops lining it. I don't know why you would want a pigeon for a pet but you could buy one at the shops. All sorts of animals, chickens, hamsters, turtles, rabbits.
The market we found was all food. Mostly Fruits and meats. The fruit all looked very good and smelled wonderful. The fish didn't smell so wonderful, and some of it didn't look very good, especially the ones that still had their head and eyes...Some of the other meat looked like it had just been skinned. Many of the restaurants and places in the market had hole hog legs hanging there. I don't know what really one would do with a whole hog leg but they were there if you wanted one!
[I put the picture of the fruit rather than the meat, even though there was some cool stuff because I don't want to make anyone queasy! haha but the others will soon be on my picasa web album]

We continued to walk around and made our way to the sea, unfortunately it was near the docks so we didn't go on the beach. [we did see the beach on our train commute and it looked beautiful!] I was just happy that I was wearing flip flops, I say that's my favorite part of the trip! It was a little chilly but we didn't need our coats. My face did end up getting a little red but that happens easily for me!

We then found the Cathedral of Barcelona which look beautiful on the post cards we had seen so we were excited to find it but when we did we were very saddened that there was construction going on so we were unable to see the outside of it. We did get to go inside and the inside is breath taking, mostly due to the high ceilings and large amount of gold things in it.

After this we went to a supermarket to get some food to cook for diner and began the long trip back to our hostel. We had to get up early for our long trek to the airport Saturday morning. Even though it was a short trip I had a good time. It is always nice to get out of London for a while, especially as we are nearing the end of our time here, which is bitter sweet and I try to avoid talking about or bringing up. So Anyways! This is the end of this blog, I hopefully didn't leave anything out that's semi important or interesting but I'm sure I'll tell you if I do think of something!

Coming up this week:
¬My internship--I don' t think anything exciting is going on for me at West Mid but there is talk of hopefully going back to surgery some time!
¬Friday we get a (hopefully) lovely Indian lunch paid for by Central (which is always a good thing!) I'm a little wary as I will most likely have to eat lamb, but I think it's okay because they aren't my own...I still don't know for sure...
¬Friday we also have a tour of Parliament.
¬Saturday Kelsey and I may make a day trip to Brighton a little town on the coast that others have said is awesome.

That's what you have to look forward to, you should be excited because I am! haha I've always been bad at conclusions and ending things so I like to ramble on and on at the end which is only making this longer so Have a great day and I will write again soon!
iAdios!

Hallo!

This weekend was spend in the very lovely Holland!
Thursday my parents and I spend our last day together in London. We visited the Horse Guards Museum and the changing of the guards and ate Lunch at the Albert. Then we said tearful cyalaters as they went off to their new hotel and I finished packing and getting ready. It helped that I was busy getting ready to leave so I didn't have too much time to miss them already again.

Nick, Billy and I left for the airport around 2:30 or so. All went well through security, except for Billy leaving a butter knife in his bag...Our plane was delayed but the flight was only about 50 minutes so it wasn't that big of a deal. We actually met some other people from Iowa on our flight, even more crazy is that one of them was from Pella and went to Pella high for a year in 2006 and graduated that year. Crazy!

Once we landed in Amsterdam, I talked to Luis who we'd be staying with to get direction for the train to Gouda, which yes is famous for the cheese, however it's pronounced more like 'gowda'. It's about an hour away from Amsterdam. The trains were quite easy to figure out and we didn't have any problem with Language as most know English.

Luis and Bridget, who we stayed with were fabulous. Luis is my uncle Konrad's twin brother. They had food for us and were just so great. It was a lot nicer to actually stay in a house rather than a hostel or hotel for a change too. It was much more relaxing. They were really great.

Friday the 3 of us ventured out to Amsterdam to spend the day there. It was a lot of fun. We ate poffertjes! Which were delicious! I wish we would have eaten more! After that we went to the Heineken brewary. It was in the place where the first Heineken factory was. We walked around a lot and saw a lot of canals and bikes were everywhere. There were tons!
We saw the basic things that most tourist see when they go to Amsterdam like a "coffeeshop" and the red light district, we didn't spend much time in either.

Saturday we spent the day in Gouda. Luis took us to the Market where we all bought a wheel of cheese. He also took us to a chocolate shop, which smelled amazing! The chocolate was wonderful too! We also went in a rock shop because Luis collects rocks and really likes them. They were cool though because there were some from all over the world and some where shaped like different things. One was like a parrot.

We walked around some more and found a windmill that we could climb up in. The miller was around and I think he lets anyone climb up in it. So we did, all the way to the top. It was really cool. I haven't even been in the one in Pella yet but I think this would be cooler because it's like a real windmill that's used daily for stuff. We stood on the like 'deck' as the miller changed the direction of the sails. It was really neat to see all of the insides too.

We then continued on our bike ride. All over Gouda. There are like 7 lakes that surround Gouda so we rode around a couple of them. This was really awesome. Although my bum did hurt after a while. The houses that we saw were pretty much surrounded by water with draw bridges. Every thing in Gouda has to be built on stilts because it is below sea level. You can dock your boat in your back yard and park your car by your draw bridge. How cool would that be!

There were a ton of geese and swans and a few cranes. They were everywhere! It was really fun to ride around and see the country side.

Saturday night Tobias (Luis's son) took us out to a club and we stayed a little too late but it was our last night there. We had to get up super early to get to the airport on time and fly back to London.

That was my weekend! I'd love to go on about this week because today was great. But now you have a cliff hanger and have to read my next one! :) and this is getting long! I'm ready for the rest of this week! I'll try to update again soon so the next one won't be super duper long again!
Miss you all!

Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God.

John 14:1

I was in France Saturday.

As I said in my short email I sent out, my parents are here enjoying London. They have already been here a week and seen most of the famous London sights. They were able to figure out the tube system a little bit the first couple days but Dad would rather take the buses because you can see everything. So Dad has been taking Mom on a few adventures on the buses, One day they ended up at the end of a route in what they think was the Ghetto, even though London doesn't have Ghettos...Now that I've taught him how to read the bus map and what bus goes to Victoria (the close stop to where they were staying) I think they've figured it out. It's pretty simple really, but I guess I've been here for a little bit longer...

The beginning of the week since I had my internship they just discovered London and all the great things about it. They did quite a lot of walking and saw a lot as well.

Thursday we went to get tickets to go to the Lion King. We also visited the London Transport Museum. This museum had different types of transportation and the evolution of it.

The rest of the day went by quickly and we were soon waiting for the doors of the Theatre to open so that we could see the Lion King. I was super excited for this and it was wonderful! Truly awesome. The costumes were amazing, it didn't take long before I started to see the actors as the animal they played rather than people. The music was great, their voices were fantastic. I can't think of enough adjectives to describe it! Probably my favorite, although Hairspray is still up there...The Lion King is my favorite Disney movie I think and to be able to see it on stage was great!

On Friday we took a trip to Windsor. We went in the castle which is where the Queen stays normally on Fridays through Mondays. I'd love to report that we saw her and had some tea and a nice little chat... However, since her horses had a race that day she was gone, so we weren't able to meet her. :( The castle was magnificent. It was also really cool to be able to walk some of the same places that royalty does and to see all of the rooms they use. There were so many swords and guns and the furniture was just as you'd imagine in a castle. I really enjoyed our visit.

Saturday we got up early to catch a train to go to Dover. Here we would take a ferry across to France. This was really cool as well. (I really need some new adjectives!) I had never been on a boat before, other than the little ferry/water taxi we took to Greenwich so it was a brand new experience for me. There wasn't really any security to go out onto the ferry. Our passports were looked at, Dad almost didn't make it through because his wouldn't scan or something...But they didn't x-ray our bags or look at them or anything. So it was super easy. The ship was huge! I was impressed by the size and to have a restaurant and bar and shop all on board. wow! The ferry ride only took a little over an hour. Once we arrived in France we had a little bit of a culture shock and language barrier as none of us know any French. This put a little damper on our trip but in the area we were at most knew enough English for us to get by. There wasn't a lot in Calais but we did find a WW2 museum that was in a German Bunker. It was really musty inside and I surprisingly found it a little interesting. I never knew that they could actually fire bombs and whatnot from France and hit England. But I guess it is only around 36 miles away. Calais was lovely though, right on the channel, and our hotel over looked it too. It was a lot of fun and a good experience for all of us. An experience is defiantly the best way to describe it. Coming back our bags were x-rayed, and our passports checked and we were asked basic customs questions-What's your reason for traveling to the UK? How long will you be there? Where are you studying? etc. We all made it through easy peasy. We were very happy when the announcements on the boat were in English first not French!

Almost as soon as we were on the ferry we could see the White Cliffs of Dover. And because France is an hour ahead of England we made it back in literally no time :)

We then took a coach bus to a different train station because the Dover station was closed, and then took a train back to London.

Needless to say it was a long day. Sunday night I kept telling my self "I was in France this morning." I couldn't believe that it was that easy to go to France and it only took a few hours. It's so awesome that I have these kind of opportunities.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on Sunday here so when we got back we had to walk back to Vandon because all of the streets around Trafalgar's square were closed and a TON of people were out because it was really a lovely day. One of the best we've had. Spring has defiantly sprung, as well as daffodil's everywhere in St. James's Park.

I really should update this more often so that they are shorter and I don't bore you so much in one post! Maybe this week I'll get another out, but I doubt it as I'll be with my parents most of the week and I fly out Thursday to go to the Netherlands! Me and 2 friends are flying in to Amsterdam and then taking a train to Gouda to stay with Luis, my uncle's twin brother. It should be a really great trip and I am definantly looking forward to it!

So that is all for now!

Hopefully you are enjoying warming weather as we are here!

I'm a nerd. :)

So this week class and my internship were quite boring. I didn't do anything exciting but hopefully next week will change.

Thursday, however, I'm pretty sure I was in heaven. Since I don't have class and our internet was down I decided to go to the Science museum. I had wanted to but hadn't got a chance yet so Thursday was a perfect day to go...pretty much all of Thursday I was there, about 6 hours to be exact. It was wonderful. I'm glad no one else went with me or they would have been bored out of their mind probably.

There were 2 floors dedicated to medical history. One had things beginning with mummification all the way to just after WW2 if I remember right. There was so much stuff jammed into this floor I spent at least a couple hours there. It was really cool to see how similar a lot of the things ancient health care people used to what we use and that there were a lot of very good models they used for teaching.
While on this floor I discovered that I don't think I want to be a dentist. The idea had been floating in my head a little last semester but after looking at a few of the dentist exhibits I realised I find the Doctor stuff way more interesting. I mean there's so much more doctors do, and so many more tools they use. Not just things for scraping teeth or fake teeth. It just didn't excite me like the stethoscopes and microscopes and sphygnomometers and x-ray machines did. It was really interesting.

The next floor was full of models of doctor "offices" again from the past up until fairly recent. One room was set up as an operating room or theatre as it's called here. It was neat how accurate all of the stuff looked and how the things modernized.

Then there were like 4 more floors of things. I glanced throught the planes and ships and space sections as well as the energy and math parts. Although the math part was a little more interesting to me again :). There was also an agricultural section that was set up with models of things, (I figured Dad wouldn't like it if I didn't at least say I looked through this part). I guess I can nerdily say it was a little interesting. It was more cool to look at the models I guess.
There was a larger section about materials and waste I just kinda walked through because I was getting a little tired by this point. The final floor I walked around was household things. This was also neat to see some of the types things i've seen in shows in real life.
Then I hit up the shop and bought a coffee/tea mug with a skeleton on it and headed home.
Needless to say there are plenty of pictures of my adventure at the Science museum, and I may even go back and get some more! :) [I can tell you more if you wanna know or I can go back and learn something for you too! not that I need an excuse to go back!]

Friday we made a trip to Cantebury. There wasn't much there but we did take a tour of the Cathedral. This was really neat. It was goregous inside. Our tour guide said that it would take weeks to show everything in it and someone joked that I would probably spend a week in it. I don't know about that but it was cool inside. After our tour we went to a pub for food and then a few of us just found a little park. It was very pretty and I'm sure it would be better in the spring when the flowers were blooming. There was a little river/stream that ran through it as well. It was a nice afternoon.

There were some of our friend that are studying in Spain this semester that came for the weekend. It was good to see a couple of my friends again. Saturday while everyone else was shopping I went with a friend to Battersea park. This park is wonderful. There is so much green and trees and nice paths. and a huge pond/lake in it. We found a rock to sit on and journal while enjoying the day and the outdoors.

Today I worked on homework most of the day after church and multitasked :). It was rainy this afternoon but nothing like Iowa weather lately. It is supposed to be nice this week, which I am happy about because my parents come Tuesday. (So prayers of safe travels would be appreciated!)
Hope you all have a wondeful week, I know I will. It will be great to see my parents and show them around even though they have been here once before but only for a little while and my mom was pregnant with me so she doesn't really remember much.

Anyways. Have a great day!
Oh and right now we are only 5 hours different because we don't change for daylight savings time until the end of March.

This will be a long one...

Sorry for no updates for a little while. It has been a little crazy the past few days but I'll get to that later!

So first off. I've found a store that reminds me more of home, mostly because it's run by wal-mart so it has the same kind of feel. It is called ASDA, it's pretty much just a super wal-mart food store. It only has a few clothing stuff and a few of the other non-food things a wal-mart would have. It is much cheaper than our local grocery store and it's only about a 5 minute train ride away.

The weekend of the 19-22 a lot of the people who are studying in Wales this semester from Central came to London. So we spent a lot of time showing some of them around and hanging out. I was getting tired of doing all the touristy things over and over so Saturday I hung out with a friend. We went to the high courts of London because it was part of one of my assignments. We found a bunch of little Churches. We were supposed to go into the Temple church (it is in the DiVinci Code) but it wasn't open. We got a little lost but had a great time. It's always a good time when you get lost in London because you find so many other great places. We ended up finding St. Bride's church which was used as the model for wedding cakes.
We visited Sir John Soane's museum because it was required for my assignment. There was a ton of stuff crammed into a little tiny house. Stuff is really the best word to describe it.
We also found Drury lane and were quite disappointed that there was no muffin shop on it.

Sunday we went to Hillsong again. Just as awesome as before. Monday was class again. That night we went for a backstage tour of the National Theatre. This was really cool. I really enjoyed it. The national theatre has 3 theatres so we got to see all of them and backstage. We saw where they keep props and stuff and where they make things.
We went to a play called Every Good Boy Deserves Favor. I thought it was fantastic. There was a 40 piece orchestra on stage because the show is about 2 men who were in like a psych ward. One of them though he had an orchestra in his head--Hence the need for the orchestra. It was really cool. Part of the centre of the stage spun around to show time changes too. Over all I thought it was fantastic.

My internship was good. I was in ICU and I got to assist a nurse with her patient so it was nice to get some hands on work even if she was in a coma and all i did was help turn her. haha. I also got to watch a Dr. put a line in her vein to filter and figure out stuff in her blood. In the afternoon I saw all of the Out Patient clinics. Wednesday at my internship I got to see how the porters collect blood from the blood bank and move it around to the different wards. In the after noon I got to go to A&E (accident and emergency). This was fun. Nothing to exciting going on but I did get to help put on a plaster (cast) so that was fun.

[Tuesday was Pancake day. Just like fat Tuesday in the states. But the British put all their old things that are about to expire in pancakes. I also saw a piece of Pella today. As I was waiting to cross the street a Vermeer chipper went by! I had to do a double take to make sure I was seeing it right but I was. I wish I woulda got a picture but didn't have my camera...]

Wednesday when I got back I had another surprise...When I walked into my room, my roommate was taking a picture of me and I asked why and she told me to look behind me and there was Randy. I had absolutely no idea he was coming. What a surprise! I was in complete shock. There were only a select few people who knew and I was not one of them. My room mate here didn't even know until the Saturday before.
We had a really great weekend. We had all plans to go to Oxford for Friday. We happened to have a ticket Randy could use because one of our friends unfortunately had to go back home for a week. So we took a train to Oxford for the day. It was a fun day. We didn't really have a plan of what we wanted to see and I honestly didn't really know what to see. We found Blackwells which is like one of the largest bookstores. While everyone else was in the actual bookstore part Randy and I went into the Science and History museum. It was really cool. They had a bunch of really neat old stuff. As I realize most museums do. But this was cool science nerd stuff. haha They had a lot of hospitally/Doctor stuff as well so I really enjoyed it. (I am thinking that I really like museums...and I'm not too sure how I feel about that!)

(We saw this taxi when we first got there. Yes, that is the Periodic Table!)

After this we attempted to go to the library where Harry Potter was filmed but Gordon Brown was there so we couldn't go in and couldn't even get to the court yard for a little while. We did see him leave in a car though. After this we did a little shopping and then found the Oxford castle/prison that is now a hotel. Then we roamed to theEagle and Child Pub. It's the pub where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis met with their literary circle to write and talk. It's kind of crazy that I was in the same place where these two amazing writers once sat. We hung out here for a while before catching a bus back to London.

Saturday Randy and I attempted to find the Museum of London. We eventually did find it after about a 3 hour walk. It was a lot of fun though because as I've said before when you are lost in London you find a ton of new things you've never seen before. The Museum was quite small but it was interesting to see the past of London. I never would have though that lions and bison and even hippos! Once lived here. There was also a part about the Great Fire which I think we both found a little interesting. After about an hour there we began our journey home which was probably another 2 hour walk.

Needless to say I got my exercise this weekend!

Sunday we went on a fabulous ride about 450 feet above London, on the Eye of course! This was really really cool. I absolutely love heights and it was wonderful to be able to see all of London. It is really indescribable how cool it is. I think almost anyone who has been on it would agree with me.

We then started making our way to Hillsong for church but got distracted by the Horse Guard and learned they were about to do the change. So we stayed to watch that, it wasn't really that interesting or cool to watch but I guess you have to see it at least once while you are here. We found our way to church then and it was just and wonderful as I've mentioned several times. Afterwards we took another walk and just took in more of London as it would be Randy's last night here. [I really appreciate everyone who helped him out while he was planning. You guys are great. ]

Well I believe this is plenty long for one blog! Hope all is well with you. There were supposed forecasts of snow here but today the sun is shining!

Blogger is dumb.

I posted a new blog that isn't a week up date or anything. It's actually called Moving hogs. But it is down below the last blog I wrote because blogger isn't working very well so I couldn't get it changed to be after it. But it's just a few observations of London. :)

I'll blog again later but we are headed out for the night so you will just have to wait until i have more time! (Probably tomorrow haha)

Enjoy!

Sunday through Wednesday

I'm really sad I can't think of witty titles to put on these but this way you know exactly what to expect!

As many of you know one of my favorite things in the entire world to do is worship. Ever since we got here I have been wanted to find a church that could be my temporary home here. Last week Sunday and this week I went with some people to Hillsong London Church. Some of you may know about Hillsong music as they do a lot of worship songs. Well they sing the newest Hillsong songs because Hillsong is originated in Australia and then the one in London. So the songs I am singing now will be the ones we are singing at home when we get back. Even though all of the songs they sang (except for one) were new they are really easy to catch on to and I really enjoyed it. The first half hour of the service was like a Christian rock concert. Awesome. And even though the service was long it went by quickly.

You can't tell very well but this is a picture from google of what it looks like.

They have 2 services in the morning and one at 5:00 pm. The service takes place in the theatre that is used for the musical “We will rock you” (the queen one) during the week. So it’s huge. And almost every seat is filled. So it’s a little bigger than I am used to for sure and I’ll probably check out another one this week maybe. It’s really just great to be back worshiping and am glad I’ve found somewhere that will feed my craving if I can’t find somewhere else :)

I also was surprised with a dozen roses on Sunday morning :) Since we were gone all day Saturday the receptionist found me Sunday morning and gave them to me. They are gorgeous. :)

This week in class we talked about the UK constitution and the US constitution and some comparisons of them. We talked about which is more democratic and I am left indifferent (as I normally am on issues like this) Each have good things that I think the other should maybe look at and take into consideration. Anyways….

Monday night 3 other girls and I went to the premiere of “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. [Going to the premiere isn’t going to the actual movie; it’s just being there as everyone is walking into the movie] Armed with our cameras and ready to see some famous people we found a great place in like the second row behind the barricade. Although there weren’t too many famous people that we knew we did see Isla Fisher and Hugh whateverhislastnameis, (the main actors), and this ‘Duncan’ guy that the English girls in front of us were really excited about. It was a lot of fun to go to even though we were getting squished by the people behind us.

Tuesday my internship was kind of boring. I sat at main reception for the afternoon and am actually kind of able to tell people where to go. Today at it I sat in on the NVQ class again (this is the Health Care Assistant course). I got to practice taking blood again too! I also got a form for a uniform :) I am even a little excited about that just so on the wards I will fit in a little more and maybe be able to get some more hands on stuff.

Well there is the run down of this week. :) This weekend I have no idea what I am up to. My friends have some friends coming from Wales so they will be showing them all around but another friend and I were talking about maybe doing a couple day trips to anywhere…we currently have no plans though. I’d like to go to Windsor to see where the Queen actually stays now…who knows. I guess we’ll go wherever the wind takes us! :)