A few firsts here in England

While I have been in England, the last 3+ weeks I have had the opportunity to experience many "firsts". Im bored right now so i thought i would just put some down...and put a few more pictures with this blog for you all to see:)

• Last night at my homestay we ate Lamb and Brussel Sprouts. I have never had both before...they were yummy!


• Today I smelt fresh cut grass for the first time in JANUARY! They have to mow lawn all year round here!


• I am of LEGAL drinking age here and have enjoyed many good nights out at the pubs while here.


• I have gone to Scotland


• And on Satruday i will see the North Sea for the first time when i go to the beach! It will probably be COLD...but i am very excited!

Hope everyone is well back home! SEND ME MAIL!!!! I love getting it! I'm off to get ready for "Monday Club". Sierra, Alexis and i are taking our note cards to study over a pint of beer or glass of wine! (One of the pictures above is of last week @ monday club)

XOXO

Con

Oh, a cultural observation i find funny and cute is that all the boys end their TXT messages with "x" now, is that the "hug" or the "kiss"?

I LOVE YORK!

This weeks field trip was to York! It was a great day. The wind was strong, and gave our bus (coach) a run for it's money. On the way to York (a 3 hr drive) the front roof emergency door kept unlatching and opening. Wade, with his fast thinking decided to anchor the door down with some ties and an umbrella. (luckily it didnt rain at all and no one was missing thier unbrella during the day).

When we arrived in York we split into two groups and walked around the town for an hour and a half. Now, this city has a WALL around it...how cool! (Oh i forgot to mention that we nearly ran over a man! He was cleaning windows on a shop by the street and his step ladder fell over and he nearly stumbled under our bus! That's how narrow the walkways and streets are. It was scary...happened right outside my windown! :0 )One street we walked down is over 2000 years old! I fell in love with York. I really enjoyed it more then last Friday in Edinburgh. After our tour we had about 3 hours to go eat lunch and do some shopping. A small group of us went to the "Gourmet Burger Kitchen". It was AMAZING. We have all grown very tired of eatting POTATOS at every meal, an the burger was delicious. After lunch 4 girls and i hit up a very american place for some coffee. Can you guess??? STARBUCKS!!! It was wonderful. After this we toured an art gallery and then it was time to meet back up to tour the York Minster Church. This building is amazing! I will post some pictures, but really the camera can not capture the awesomeness of so many of the things i have seen on this trip. (and i've only been here 20 days!)

After the tour it was close to time to head home. We met at the bus and began our long journey home. Traffic was heavy so it took a bit longer. I was able to sleep for about a half hour to an hour. But after i woke up...and was going to try and sleep again a loud noise woke me up! I thought something was falling on us and we were going to die! Rather it was the emergency room exit door FLYING OFF THE ROOF OF THE BUS! This is how windy it was people! So we had to ride about 2 hours with a big hole in the top of the bus. It was right in the area i was sitting. We all were praying it wouldnt rain! The ironic thing is, just a few miles later a sign flashed "high winds...slow down"...hmmmmmm.

But we made it home. It was about 8:45 and we had left around 5:30...so not to bad. When we got home some of us put a movie in. One girl invited one of her local friends over, so it was fun to meet him and chat a while.

Not much else is happening. Just class, some homework and socializing. I am starting to adjust and get more settled here everyday. But dont get me wrong, i miss you all back home so much! I think of you often and pray everything is going well there. Oh and by the way, i love hearing how missed i am by all of you. You make me feel so loved! (just an FYI) Keep in touch! I'll write again soon!

Love,

Connie

The flower picture is for you mom:)

Edinburgh, Scotland

Mom has been made me aware that I have not blogged in a while...so I suppose i should update a bit.

We had our first field trip this friday. We went to Edinburgh, Scotland. The bus left @ 7am...everyone was tired, but it was very difficult to sleep on the bus. We arrived at the Scotland parlement around 10 for our tour. It was...interesting...but kind of boring. Next we went to the Queens house while she's in Scotland, Holyrod House (sorry i cant remember the exact name). It was my favorite part of the day though. The home was amazing and the stories behind it were interesting. Check out my facebook if you want to see more pictures. Our last stop was at the Edinburgh Castle. It was fun to explore that by ourselves, but yet tough at times to know what to look at.

After that it was time to walk the Royal Mile and find our way back to the bus to get our backpacks and find our hostel for the night. That took a little time, and i was getting tired and crabby:( But we made it! The hostel was okay. It was cold, cramped and they had no soap in the bathroom. Um...then next morning me and two other girls had to find the bus station to take our bus to Newcastle and then from there to Alnwick...so another LONG day.

I was pretty tired and thought i would just stay in for the night. But it is one of the students birthdays so I went out with the group for a while...but then i ran into Nicole's Alnwick friends and spent the rest of the night hanging out with them. It was probably one of my favorite nights in Alnwick.

Today we met our homestay families. I am excited to have a place to go for Sunday evening dinners. The family i have seem very nice and have been involved in the homestay program for 15 or so years. They have a 15 year old daughter and an 18 year old on who is in Durim at University. They also have 4 dogs! Oh and 2 turtles which im scared of.

Well, i dont have much else to say, i think i might go do some homework. Yes, we do actually get homework here. And then go to sleep! It has been a long weekend. I am ready for classes to start. Hopefully the weather is nice so i can get out for a walk everyday around town. I need to head to the postoffice tomorrow to mail a postcard and maybe a letter...i need to get some envelopes...hmmm.

Okay, enough rambling, i hope you enjoyed reading it...lol:) Talk to you all soon! XOXO

Con

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in ENGLAND!

Hi all!

It is another boring afternoon at the castle. Many people are wondering what we are going to stay busy with these next 3+ months. I'm not minding it, i can sit and read a book, go for a walk, journal or facebook for quite a while before I get to bored. But yes, it may be a long 3 months if we dont find other activities besides the pubs. I think traveling sounds fun:)

Saturday afternoon many of the students and I went to Newcastle for the afternoon. It was fun to see a different city and do a bit of shopping...mostly window shopping though. We didnt see much of the city, I hope to go back there again to see more of it sometme. But i did get a new pair of "ugg" boots. (they arent the read ugg, but close enough). I walked around with one of the girls from the castle. We had a good time. I even got to chase a small cluster of pigeons. IT WAS SO FUN! We headed back to the castle around 2:30 and got home just after 4.

That night there was a Futbol game on the tube, Newcastle vs Manchester. So we all headed to the Hairy Lemon to watch the game with all the locals. Now i have learned, from a few new local friends, that the Manchester team is pretty much the best team in the leage, and Newcastle is a ways down the list. So really we were going into the game, expecting to lose. (I told them that's a bad attitude to have and they have to think positivly) Also, this sport is a huge subject of converstation. I think one of these days i may have to brush up on my futbol knowledge. (well i might have to do much more then brush up on it, i may have to teach myself ALOT) Vance, can you help me? The Manchester team won 6-0:( But i think it might still be fun to get a futbol jersey, maybe if i can find a cheap one, doubling the price of everything sucks!After the game we traveled over to the pub Oscars and hung out there a while then went to the dance club, the squash club and danced the nigth away.

Today was another day of class. I am enjoying them, they are not to hard. It was raining...go figure. But i still took a walk to the post office to mail a few postcards. Outside the postoffice was an older local man who invited me down the street for a drink. After chatting a bit about America and what not I politly declined the invite to the pub, he gave me a rather akward hug, and continued my walk. I miss being able to instantly get on my phone and call someone to have a quick laugh about the whole situation with. So instead i try and portray the story here:)

Well, i need to print off some papers before dinner. Hope everything is going well. Love you!

First day of class!

We had our first day of classes today. I am really looking forward to my English classes...we get to read Wuthering Heights! I cant wait! It is one of my favorite books and it is going to be so much better because i get to read the book in a setting that is where the novel is set. We are scheduled to take a field trip to where the Bronte's use to live! I am really looking forward to that.

I haven't been sleeping the best yet...i am hoping that changes soon. I am done with class for the day and there is nothing planned for the rest of the day! I think i will take a shower and a nice long nap. It sounds like tonight everyone is pretty much staying home in the castle. We have gotten word that Friday nights arent that happening at the pubs...and many of us need to stop spending so much money and get more sleep:)

I will try and write a bit more soon about the pubs, the rest of the castle and how i have been doing as soon as i can. I might get some pictures up soon as well! Keep your finger's crossed it works:)

Hope you are all doing well back in the States! I miss you and love you all!

Connie

Home in England?

For all of you who keep asking if i made it okay, how the flight was and how i am doing, i thought i would just write a quick blog in my 25 minutes of free time today:)

Yes, I made it to Alnwick. We arrived at the castle around 3:00pm and were all ready to go to bed. Before arriving in England we endured a terbulance filled plain ride from the cities to Chicago, out of the three flights i had taken in my life it was the worse...to date. The flight was delayed due to weather and oh yeah, Air Force One was taking up all the air space in Chicago and backing EVERYTHING up. By the time we made it to Chicago we had 20 minutes to get to our next gate and on the plane...WE MADE IT! The next flight was about 7 hours. It went by rather fast, I got to know Lindsey, a girl sitting next to me (on all three flights we had to get here) and a fellow student here at the Castle. I enjoyed watching 2 movies...but not till I read the notebook filled with messages from home that i had been waiting since my going away get together to read. I enjoyed all the notes...almost cried while reading some, but mostly smiles and realizing how much you all care about me:) Thanks so much, i will miss you, but i will be home before you know it!

After landing in London at about 6 am (England time...midnight in MN)we had a few hours to go through customs, find the correct terminal and just "chill". Most of us wanted to sleep, but knew it probably wouldn't happen. Alexis, my roommate, and i bought our first European thing. BOTTLED WATER! It tasted wonderful. It is funny to see the soda bottles and things. They are in MlL and not oz so they are a bit smaller. At 8:45 we boarded the plane AGAIN for Glasgow, Scotland. This was a quick trip, only 55 minutes. I finally fell asleep, for a bout 10 minutes but it was enough to give me a bit more energy. (My left ear hurt during our landing of the last two flights...but eventually i got it to pop and it doesn't hurt as of today:) ) Upon landing we headed to baggage with our fingers crossed, hoping everyone's luggage had arrived. IT DID! There were no problems with luggage. (except maybe carrying it around the airport and the half mile or so walk we had to get to our bus...aka "coach".

With our luggage and packs on the coach we started our 3 hour bus ride to the castle. Wade, the residential coordinator, told us if we could to stay awake because the drive is a pretty one. Sorry to say, i missed most of the ride and will have to enjoy some of it when we take our Field trip back that way, or on the bus ride back to the airport in April. But it was good to sleep...until i woke up and was more tired then i was before i slept.

Pulling up to the castle we were all excited, it may not have shown on our sleep deprived faces, but we were in awe that this was our home for the next 3 months and 3 weeks! It was raining, which made unloading the coach a bit unpleasant..i still had my glasses on so it was a bit difficult to see. And again, we had to drag or carry our luggage to our new homes.

My shoulders and arms still hurt from carrying my own luggage...but it is nice to know that i only had to carry it up the stairs once. My room is HUGE. It is meant for 4 people but there are just three of us. We have plenty of room and i think it will be a good fit. The sad thing is we only have 1 shower, for 3 girls and 7 boys to share! Praying that that works out:) Last night we had a few orientation things and took a walk around town. It literally is right outside the castle walls! I am looking forward to a trip "into" town later today to put minutes on my phone and buying a few snacks:) After the tour of town we had our pottery room sale and then i showered, checked facebook once more and went to bed about 10:30.

My roommate Alexis and i both woke up about 3 am and could not get back to sleep. (stupid jet leg and loud winds) So we chatted a bit and ate some beef jerky. I fell asleep again around 5am and was VERY tired. We have meetings all day. In a few minutes we are touring the rest of the castle and going over the policies and rules AGAIN. Then im going to town and maybe a pub later tonight.

I better go, change my status on facebook so you all know to read this. leave comments. I love you all and miss you! I will try and post pictures once i get my own wireless on my computer. :)

Connie

Packing for a semester abroad...VERY DIFFICULT

So everyone has their favorite clothes, their favorite blankets, pillows etc. Well when having to pack your life into two suit cases that must weigh 5o lbs or less each, it is next to impossible to bring all your favorite things. I have taken advantage of the fact that i only live three hours from home and can come home a few times a month and get things i may not have had room for on my previous trip to St. Cloud. I will not have this luxury the next four months. It is kind of a scary thought. I have already started picking things out that i will be leaving in England before i come home. I see this task as an even harder one then packing to go there.

By the end of the semester I am sure to have aquired many new trinkets and ofcourse, NEW CLOTHES. ( I am going to be living in Europe, so i need to dress to fit in right?) I am sure I will have picked up gifts for many people back home too. It will be so fun to buy things for all my loved ones here in the States. I appoligize in advance if all many of you get is a postcard...but know that the postcard will have been sent with so much love and that i really am thinking about you:)

Well, I am off to look over my packing again. I think i have both cases under 5o lbs. It is funny, cuz the one still has room in it...and i just want to pack if full so i need to sit on it to get it shut...but then it would be FAR over the aloted weight:( Wish me luck! I miss you all so much, and i havnt left Minnesota yet!

Much love to all,
Connie