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!