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! :)