I have been absolute rubbish in keeping my blog updated these past weeks. Im sorry! This will be the last update...I come home tomorrow. It has been such a wonderful life experience here. I can not put it into words. I dont want to say good bye to it all just yet. We had room check out and deep cleaning duties around the castle and i dont think it has fully hit me that im going home in less then 24 hours. It just feels like i will be going on another holiday and returing in a few days or weeks.
I cant guess how the adjustment back is going to go? I guess i dont want to think about it to much. I hope everyone has enjoyed my photos and reading my thoughts...well some of them, about my time in England.
When i leave at 5:00am tomorrow morning i will not be saying good-bye to England forever, I will come back some day! I just have to!!!!

1 week 6 days 23 hours and 52, 51,50 minutes left in England :'(

It is starting to set in folks. Im coming home soon and I'm not ready to say good-bye to my new home. I get sad everytime i think about leaving. I hope all who are reading this know that I miss you and want to see you...but understand how difficult it will be for me to say good-bye to England and more specificly Alnwick. The last two days have been beautiful outside and it has been such a blessing to get outside and walk around the town. It is also coming time to write the final papers, do final portfolio's, and study for a few final tests. And all I want to do is soak up ALNWICK. But dont worry mom and dad, I AM doing my homework. I even go to work on some of it outside as we get free internet access outside by the barbican...but we cant go inside and pick it up. So the nice weather has been good to get things done where I need to internet and what not to assist in the making of a powerpoint or research for a paper.

If you are reading this, could you take a moment and pray for me. Ipon returning to Minnesota I need to figure out a job, save money and just get back into the swing of things back home. This may sound strange but I will experience "culture shock" (not sure what else to call it) when i get home. Having been apart from everyone back home for so long it may be difficult to ease back into eachother's lives. I know you are all excited to hear about my many adventures, and i look forward to showing my pictures and telling my stories. I will warn you though, you will get tired of me talking about England...trust me:)

The photo's are from a night at the Hairy Lemon:) And some of the lambs we saw on our field trip last Friday:) Hopefully i get my camera fixed soon so i can take more photos these last 2 weeks:)

Love you all
Connie

THE BEST HOLIDAY EVER!!!

I recently returned from my final holiday while abroad. During these two weeks I took a 3 day tour through the Isle of Skye in Scotland and went on a seven day cruise through the Mediterranean!

First the Isle of Skye. It was beautiful. Lots of mountains and snow. But the weather really wasnt that bad and the views were worth it. We also saw Loch Ness...but no Nessy:( We had a really funny bus driver who kept us entertained throughout the tour. The hostel we stayed in asked for people to stay in the "caravans" outside...they were trailer homes, but it was cheaper and pretty fun!

After returning for one night in the castle to do laundry, sleep, oh and go out for a bit...we left for the Newcastle Airport Friday afternoon. Waiting in the check out line and looking around it seemed that we had signed ourselves up for a retirement cruise as we were the only ones under the age of 60. Bought a book to read over the holiday and borded the plane for a quick trip down to Palma Majorca where we boarded our cruise ship shortly after 9 pm. At 11 was the send of party where I danced and had a great time with Alexis and Sierra and where we first met the great staff aboard the Thomson Celebration! Saturday was a day at sea. The weather was pretty good...but i kept my coverup on most of the day and in result the tops of my legs were the only part of my to get sun burnt that day. That evening was the captain's dinner. We got dressed up and had an amazing 5 course meal at the posh resturant on board. I enjoyed a shrimp scampy salad thing, ceasar salad, tomato and basil soap, duck and strawberry cheese cake. That night we were entertained by the show team on board with a production of "Africa". It was lovely as were the shows throughout the rest of the week. Most evenings were spent in the Broadway show lounge and then up to the liberties bar for a caborat or disco...LOTS OF CRAZY DANCING!!! :)

Sunday we ported in Tunisia, Africa for a few hours. Getting off the ship we were immediatly bombarded with taxi drivers wanting to take us places. And it wasnt just one or two drivers, no there was a couple dozen! After a short walk about we headed back to the ship where Alexis rode a camel right outside our ship. She was very excited! The rest of the day was spent eatting the endless food from the buffet and sun bathing on the Lido deck. I got a bit more sun that day. In the evening we took in another show and went to bed early because we had a long day in Rome the next day.

Rome was beautiful. We got to walk around, take the metro and see the Coliseum, spanish steps and trevi fountain. We then made the mistake of eatting lunch close to the fountain and paid 8 euros for what turned out the be a microwave meal. The resturant didnt even try and fool us by taking it out of the plastic tray...nope they just put the plastic tray on a plate and served it to us. But Rome redeemed itself with the AMAZING icecream or gilado (sp) as they call it. That same day we met Lucy and Emily and their family. Lucy is 10 and Emily 16. They spent time with us by the pool the rest of the week, sang kareoki, and went to the shows with us the rest of the week. Their parents seemed to appreciate us keeping an eye on little Lucy. But she was a joy to be with, such a character that little girl.

After rome we did wine tasting in Tuscany. It was very beautiful and the wine was the best i had ever had! After Livarno we ported in Mariselle, France. I choose this day to stay on the ship and get a bit of revising done on the homework i had. Lucy spent the day with me on the Lido deck and we actually ended up winning Thomson Celebration mints for winning the true false quiz in the afternoon. Her family being "all inclusive" bought me a few fruit smoothies and pina colada's that afternoon:)

Thursday we ported in Barcilona, Spain. After doing a bit of souviner shopping we found a beach and burnt to a crisp by the Mediterranean Sea. There i got a tattoo too....but it's fake and will be gone before i get home. I got a star on my right hip for those who havnt checked my facebook pictures or talked to me.

Friday we were back in Palma and the weather was not very nice. So it was time for more revison and saying good-bye the the ship. Lucy, when she hugged me, cried a bit. But we plan on sending e-mails and such. FINALLY at 6:40 pm we headed to the airport and headed back to the castle!

Not looking forward to class the next 3 weeks:(

Ready for Another Adventure

I am tired of sitting around the castle. We leave for Scotland tonight...and i am so ready for a change of scenery. Crazy thing, it's been SNOWING here...and it even accumulated on the ground a bit. Thats the first time since we got here.
Went shopping with Alexis on Saturday and got a few things for our cruise. I am every excited to be in a warm climate, get some sun (which reminds me i need to purchase some sunblock soon!), and just relax. On Sunday I went for dinner with Alexis and her homestay family. It was a delicious meal and great fellowship. They have daughter, Tonya, who is our age. She gave me a lift to the train station to pick up our train tickets for tonight.
Well...i think im going to go try and find some other form of entertainment. I will write again soon!
C.

Castle Bordom

Yes we do have homework and occasional nights out...but just because we live in a castle doenst mean we all dont get BORED! This week to pass the time a small group and i invested in fabric, pins, thread and stuffing to make our own little stuffed animals. I just finished my bunny creation. She's not the prettiest of animals but i love her just the same. I am just proud of myself for doing it all myself! I have decided when i get home i want to learn how to knit. There is a knitting club here but i dont think i have enough time to really get into it....or the money to buy the supplies.

This weekend is going to be one of relaxation...and probably a lot more boredom. My roomie Alexis and I are planning on taking the bus/train to Newcastle to do some last minute shopping before we go on our cruise. We will definatly be making a stop at "Prixmark". That store is like Old Navy and Wal-Mart on speed...it's crazy, and CHEAP. (music to our purses and handbags). I hope to find a nice pair of sandals to wear with my dress for our Captain's dinner on the cruise. Oh and maybe some shorts and a beach towel:)

Hmmm...oh had a good st paddy's day. It really isnt has big here in England. But as American's we all had good time and dressed to impress in our green:) Sierra, Alexis and I got super cute t-shirts from one of the local pubs, The Hairy Lemon. You can see them modeled on the photos above. The guy in the other photo is a true blooded Irishman...oh he's a friend i have made while I have been here. The photo of me and the strange stuffed animal is "Prisilla" the stuffed bunny

sewed....in my bordom. She may not be that pretty but i love her!

Okay, well that is all i can think to update about. I miss you all back home! See you in just over a month. I cant believe how fast this semester has gone! AHHH! Okay im not going to think about it...im just going to make the most of the time i have left here:) See you soon!

C.

Oh and another thing i do when i get bored is change the template of my blog:)

Amsterdam

This past weekend a group of the students and I took a ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam. The ferry was unlike anything we expected. It seemed more like a cruise then a ferry. But we were all housed in the "Jack" part of the ship. (Think about titanic...you'll figure it out). We were sure that if our ferry went down we would be the ones gated in the bottom of the ship with no esape. The cars were even higher then us! But it was a good time. The trip over there was smooth, but the people on this ferry were LOUD!!!! I found it very difficult to sleep that first night. We ported in Amsterdam around 9:30 am and after going through immegration and what not we boarded a bus to have a one hour tour of the city. This was beneficial when Sierra, Alexis and I wanted to find the Anne Frank house after we got off the bus.

The Anne Frank House was an amazing thing to see and i am glad we waited in the "Q" to get in. Just to think about what life must have been like for her and the others living in that small space...it's so hard to get a handle on. We did not get to the Van Gough Museum...just not enough time! After the Anne Frank House we sought out the Hard Rock Cafe and did a little souivinear shopping. Then we grabbed some Mc Donalds for the ride home and our dinner.

When we got back on the ferry we were exhausted and took a nap. Around 7 we woke up and did a little exploring of the ship again...went out on deck and Alexis and I just had a good chat before heading to bed around 11.

Early the next morning we were awaken by a woman's voice coming through the speaker to tell us when we would be back into port in Newcastle. We were back on the bus headed for home about 10.

When we reached the castle i quickly showered and threw a load of laundry in before my friend's Matt and Ashely came. It was so good to see friends from home! We just spent the afternoon together. I took them to Barter Books where they met my new good friend Dink and i bought the book "Atonment". Then we headed over the pastures to do some sheep chasing and take "harry potter" pictures with the castle in the back ground. After climbing the hill back into town we went to Grannies for scrumcious sandwitches for dinner and headed back to the castle to enjoy them in the library and just catch up and chat. And ofcourse, before they left I had to take them to my favorite pubs, "the lhairy emon" and "blackmores", for a few drinks. Then it was off the bus station where we discovered they had missed the last bus to the train station. After some quick thinking we go the number for the taxi and booked an ride for them to the train station. Seeing them really made me realize how important everyone back home is to me. Dont get me wrong, i love it here in England and really hope to come back again some day...but it's just not the same without everyone you love.

The pictures included are ones from Amsterdam and the one of Ashely, Matt and I at Blackmores.

I will try and post again soon....it might be hard because i will be gone on holiday. I havn't decided if i will be bringing my computer yet or not.

Love you all! x

Con

Sister visits...LONDON BABY....weekend in Paris!

First i want to appoligize for the lack of updates. It is very easy to forget to update you all back home. Sometimes it seems that what i am doing may seem uninteresting to you or I sometimes struggle to share the events in a way that i think you all would enjoy. But I will do my best! Continue to check my facebook for photo updates.(for those of you who have it....mom and dad or anyone else without it, if you want to see photo's send me an e-mail and i will send you some of the best photos)
Okay, so last Wednesday (Feb 27) my sister Nicole came to visit. Wade and I drove to Edinburgh Scotland (about 2 hours) to pick her up from the airport and bring her back to her former home at the castle. It was so good to see here. We spent some time with a few of her local friends and then called it a night, as i had class the next morning. Thursday while i was in class Nicole tried to sleep of some of the jet lag. That afternoon we walked around town, stopped at Barter Books, and got donuts from GREGGS. Later that night, after having a delicious italian dinner, we went out on the town and had a good time. I spent Friday morning at orentation for our London trip while Nicole got to sleep in. (I was jealous). Friday afternoon we took the bus to Newcastle for some shopping and then took in a free movie (Semi-Pro) with our friend Dink and then took the train back to Alnwick. Saturday was spent relaxing and that night we went out. Sunday morning came quick with us having to load the bus @ 5:45am for our 7+ hour drive to London.
The bus ride went rather quick. I was able to sleep most of it. Our first stop in London was the Tower of London. This was one of my favorite places. The tower is where many people in history were kept prisoner or exicuted. I got to see "the block".

Over the next few days we saw the house of lords in parliment, took a ride on the londone eye. Walked through st. James park, past Buckinham(sp) Palace and Prince Charles home. I went to 2 plays, STOMP and The history Boys. I enjoyed both very much. There is talk of starting our own Stomp team here at the castle....after the duke leaves for the season so we do not disturb him:) Let's see...what else did we do...We saw St. Paul's Cathedral. This is the church where Prince Charles and Diana were married. Mom and dad, start saving, i want to get married in that catheral some day;) While we were there we climbed up over 600 stairs to the top to see beautiful views of the city. We also went to The Globe Theater, Museum of London, the British Library, Hampton Court, and other places that i cant remember at the moment:)

Thursday afternoon most of the group headed to Paris for the weekend. We took the chunnel. It was a quick trip there, but the journey we had to get from the train to our hotel was no easy task. I was very grateful to only have my backpack and not rolling luggage. It was difficult to muniver through the underground with all our luggage. But we made it! Our hotel was POSH!!! But it was located in a dodgy part of town. Sierra Cameron, Alexis and I went out for chinese that night...it was good. Everything became a little harder to do once we got to Paris. Everything was written in french. But somehow we managed. The rest of the weekend was spent walking around paris. Going to the Louve, a few other museums, the eiffel tower, Moulin Rouge, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe. It was a good time! At the end of the day it was nice to go back to the hotel and just take a warm bath and relax. Being a tourist for a week is hard work...very exhausting! I have a few photos posted...hope you enjoy!

The photos are of the girls and i infront of Buckingham Palace, and then one of just me, the four of us on the london eye, the girls and i pretending to be 3 of Henry VIII's wives, I was Jane Seymore (his favorite wife),Sierra is Anne Boleyn and Alexis and Katherine of Aragon. and then one of us infront of the effiel tower:)

See you all soon! I have to go finish packing for Amsterdam now!