Motherland

Dear Internet,

WHAT A WEEK. After finishing our finals, we could all finally breath a sigh of relief. All that was left was a 6 day long coach trip to Western England. I’ll admit, at first, I wasn’t too keen to go. I would’ve rather stayed in London and enjoyed my last few days that sit in a coach and stay at hostels. I don’t know if you remember, but my last experience with a hostel did not turn out well. I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. But, mark this moment because I don’t say this often…I was wrong. Let’s be organized and break this into days.

Monday:

-       - Tinturn Abbey, one of the many old monasteries in ruin in England. History lesson! The reason they’re all in ruin is because King Henry the 8^th separated from the Catholic church in order to divorce his first wife, Catharine of Aragon. Known as the Reformation, this spurred the destruction of many churches and monasteries.

Tinturn Abbey

-       - Bath. I remember visiting this place as a little girl when I lived in England. The Roman Bath House is the main attraction here. It’s a naturally heated bathtub where the ancient Romans used to come to bathe and worship. Too bad the water was horribly dirty. After we went to the Fashion Museum, where Meredith and I might’ve had a little TOO much fun.

-       - Hostel #1. The worst of all the hostels in my opinion. Mainly because it was closing down after we left because it was NOT UP TO STANDARDS. This also marks the first of many jacket potatoes on the trip.

Tuesday:

-       - Exeter Cathedral. Beautiful, but what made this one of my favorites was what we did after our tour. Our whole group walked to the back chapel of the cathedral and sang a few hymns. It was incredibly special and spiritual.

-       - Tintagel and Merlin’s Cove. This is where King Arthur’s castle was. You can still see the ruins built into the side of the cliffs. This was also the first time seeing the ocean in a VERY long time. Being a fish out of water, I was thrilled! The sun was shining and the waves were crashing in this lovely place that I wish I could call home. After a bit of exploring, we went on a “short” and “flat” walk along the coast to the next town. What was meant to be 2 miles turned into 5 along the rocky up and down path that lead to Boscastle. While it was one of the most beautiful things, I wish I was a little more prepared!

Merlin's Cove

The view from our hike

Merlin's Cove

-       - Hostel #2. This was my favorite hostel! It was right on the beach and my room faced the ocean. We kept our window open that night so we could hear the ocean as we drifted off to sleep. Before we went to bed, a few of us went on a walk on the beach since the tide had gone out. In the dark we sang silly songs and ran around barefoot like idiots.

The view from our hostel

Wednesday:

-       - Eden Project. A self-sustainable “garden”, it holds one of the world’s largest rainforests in captivity. Who knew?! With huge biome’s, you can visit the tropics and the Mediterranean all in one day. Plus the food court is awesome!

-       - Land’s End. This is where people thought that the world literally ended.

-       - Hostel #3. The nicest of all the hostels. I was pleased with this.

Thursday:

-       - Saint Michael’s Mount. One of the most gorgeous places I’ve been to. It’s a castle on an island that you can walk to when the tide is out. SO COOL. Plus people still live in the castle. EVEN COOLER.

-       - Stourhead Gardens. This is where certain scenes from the newer version of Pride and Prejudice were filmed. Cue swoons. It was beautiful!

-       - Hostel #4. Did not like this hostel. Aside from the fact that my bed felt more like a crib, a stray cat decided to sleep in my friend’s bed while she was out.

Friday:

-       - Salisbury Cathedral. Really beautiful with a cute little old man as our tour guide. Plus I got to see the Magna Carta!

-       - Stonehenge! Self explanatory. Pretty much awesome.

Our whole group!

Saturday:

-       - Winchester Cathedral. This was a very unique cathedral because its crypt was flooded! Apparently it floods majority of the year. You can still go down and view part of it, which was amazing. Just check out the picture.

-       - Royal Pavillion. Where the Prince Regent, also known as George the 4^th, spent a lot of his younger days. It is over the top to the highest degree. There were no pictures allowed sadly. I could spout off random information I learned from my audio guide, but that’s no fun.

-       - Otto’s. Not part of our tour but part of London. Since it was my last night in England (WAAAAH), some friends and I hit up our favorite pizza place. It’s definitely a favorite. Cornmeal crust pizzas topped with crazy things like BBQ wings and brussel sprouts. Sounds weird, but is absolutely delicious.

BEST. PIZZA. EVER.

It didn’t hit me until Saturday that I would be leaving London so soon. It was a bit scary to think about! I’ll write more on that later, but this trip was a great way to spend time with some of my favorite people in the world. It also showed me how much I love not just London but England too! It might be rainy and cold, but nothing beats my England. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

Love,

Courtney

The Final Countdown

Dear Internet,

With three weeks left to go, the countdown has begun. The time for last minute sightseeing and present shopping for family and friends is upon us. And to top it all off, I have finals. Yes friends, this is the week I have been dreading. We tried to fit everything in while still writing papers and studying, which became a bit of a circus act. Priorities change when you’re in a place like London! Go to a West End show or write a paper? Some of my favorite days were these last few weeks. Part of the enjoyment was just being together as a group. London is so much more fun with friends or family to run around with you. Here’s a little bit of what we did:

-       Buckingham Palace: Tried to see the changing of the guards but missed it by THAT much. Good news was it was sunny outside, a rarity this past winter!

Catching rare rays of sunshine outside Buckingham Palace

-       Abbey Road: After running all over the place trying to find “the” spot, we finally found it. The trip itself was a doosy. We tagged our names on a graffiti wall, were asked if we were selling drugs, and almost got run over by very impatient drivers.

Leaving our mark at Abbey Road

-        Tate Modern: Sister museum of the Tate Britain. Set in an old factory along the Thames, it holds a lot of modern art, as you would guess by its name.

-       Kew Gardens: One of the world’s best botanical gardens! It was a beautiful sunny day with greenery and hot houses full of tropical plants. I may or may not have modeled among the daffodils for my newly made friend who worked for the newspaper with Meredith.

My native California Redwoods in England!

In the tropical hot house at Kew Gardens

-       Platform 9 ¾ : Touristy, but had to be done.

So long! Off to Hogwarts

-       The Orangery: Afternoon tea. A must!

My treats for the day: Lemon and Ginger tea with Chocolate Bread and Butter pudding

Some of my favorite people in the whole world!

-       Once: A new musical here on the West End that has received nothing but rave reviews. We went to a matinee and I was blown away. Probably one of my favorite musicals EVER. You could go up onstage before the performance and hang out with the actors (who also provided the musical accompaniment) as they played some Irish folk music before the show started. And the storyline was amazing to boot.

Making my West End debut haha

-       Phantom: Following my West End trend, I checked into my favorite show one last time before leaving and found out an actor I’ve been dying to see was playing the Phantom. He was brilliant!

And what would be our last week without hitting our favorite markets?

-       Camden Market: The urban eclectics of London come together here for an amazing mix of knockoff t-shirts, spray-paint tattoos, and deep fried candy bars. Despite the snow and shady guys trying to convince you to go back to Nepal with them, it’s a lot of fun.

Deep fried candy bar.

-       Portobello Road: What’s London without Portobello?! You can find everything here. We lived right down the street from it so we’d go every week trying to find something awesome. Treasures include turquoise rings, silver platters, vintage footballs, first edition Alice in Wonderland books, and lots of sprinkle donuts.

-       Borough Market: My personal favorite of all the markets. Being a foodie (a gift and a curse), I’m drawn to the fresh produce, cheese, prosciutto, truffles, exotic meats, homemade chutneys and jellies, and of course THE LUNCH MENU. Vendors line a certain section cooking everything from Thai food to pasties. Pie Minster was always a favorite among my friends, and one of my professors loved the hot lamb sandwiches right by the entrance. My favorite? Boston Sausage Company. Their ‘M’ Burger is celestial. I dream of that burger.

The best thing in the whole wide world ever. Ever. EVER.

The rest of our days were spent typing off essays and journals for finals. It took a while, but it’s safe to say I did well this semester…I hope! I couldn’t have asked for a better last few days in London. We got to experience the best and sometimes brightest (in reference to the weather), which was the perfect send off.  Our last and final week of England will be spent travelling around Western England to places like Exeter, Tintagel, and Salisbury. It’s a week of long coach rides and hostels. Wish me luck.

Love,

Courtney

Remember When We Went to Belgium?

Dear Internet,

While on our Paris trip, a few friends and I decided that on one of our free days, we’d pop over to Belgium just for the fun of it. I can’t tell you how glad I am that we did it. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had this whole trip.

We were up and at ‘em bright and early to catch our train to Brussels, then took our connecting train to Brugge. I'll be honest, I’m not quite sure if it’s Brugge or Bruges. It’s different in English and Dutch, but for your sanity and mine, let’s call it Brugge. We got out of the station to blue skies, but freezing weather. That’s Northern Europe for you.

It was cold!

The cobblestone streets and closely-knit brick buildings that make up Brugge instantly charmed us all. We kept saying, “Is this real?!” We soon forgot our goal to find the city square and wandered around taking it all in. We ran into a lace shop, a trademark of Belgium, where we each purchased a little something to bring home. The woman working there was actually the woman who made most of the lace herself. She was such a cutie!

Brugge in a nutshell

My favorite little house in Brugge

The best lace maker in all of Belgium!

Remembering our initial goal, we hunkered down and found the city square, which was AMAZING. Photos don’t do it justice. I wish I could teleport you all straight there so you could see it, it was that beautiful. There’s a bell tower located on one side of the square that was deemed a “must-do”. After climbing the infinite amount of steps, we reached the top and saw all of Brugge for miles and miles.

That's the Bell Tower in the background that we climbed. Yes, I'm short.

The view from the 5839021 steps at the bell tower

After a brief lunch, we decided a chocolate museum was necessary. Come on, we WERE in the chocolate capital of the world! It was interesting to see how chocolate was made, but my favorite part was the chocolate making demonstration at the end. He made it look so easy! But tasting it was the best part. Mmm, definitely the best part. Afterwards, we visited the cheapest yet most delicious chocolate shop in all of Brugge. The nicest guy ever worked behind the counter and hand picked a whole box of chocolates for me based off of what I liked. Now that’s service!

Eating my chocolates in the Square

My little chocolate shop

I was really excited about my chocolates...

Despite gorging ourselves on chocolates already, we figured we HAD to try Belgian French fries. Little does everyone know that French fries were originally made in Belgium, not France! The more you know. We shared a large between the 4 of us (no shame) and each got our own little forks to eat them with.

French fry time!

To settle our stomachs, we bundled up nice and tight for a canal cruise of Brugge. Brugge is called the Venice of Northern Europe because it has a canal system similar to Venice. Even though my fingers were a tad frostbitten, it was probably my favorite thing we did that day. It’s the best way to see the city.

Ready for our boat cruise!

Mere and Tav looking beautiful on our boat cruise

Kayla and I on our boat cruise

Sadly, after our tour the sun went down and the wind started howling. What are 4 girls to do? Right next door to the boat cruise was…. a Belgian waffle shop. More food? Might as well! They were authentic, smothered in chocolate sauce, and delicious. Couldn’t have asked for better.

WAFFLES.

Since the cold was coming in, we headed back to the train station to go back to Paris. It was heartbreaking leaving Brugge; we had all grown so attached! We vowed that we’d retire there when we were old and gray, spending the rest of our days eating chocolate and French fries. In the meantime, summer is almost here (for most of us)! This California girl gets really excited at any mention of heat, but I’m actually depressed about it this time because summer means that the time to go home is fast approaching. My plan is to officially transfer to Hogwarts so that I can still stay in England. Think it’ll work?

Love,

Courtney