I've been back home for quite some time now, but I just wanted to put up some photos of my last few weeks in Europe. The week before Liam and I left for Boston, we spent a few days in Berlin, Germany. I wanted to take one more trip before I left Europe, and since we both had been studying the Cold War this past year, it was the perfect place to go! Below are some photos of Berlin.
My exams are finally finished! I can't believe the academic year has come to an end. I have truly learned so much while studying here, and I have definitely benefited from the academic system and the different perspective that is offered here. I can't wait to return to CUA and finish my studies! I am enjoying my time left here and planning a few little trips before I return to the USA in a few weeks. I realized I never made a post about my time in Paris, so I thought I would share the trip Liam and I took when I first arrived back in September. I'm sure many of you have seen it on my Facebook, but here is a slideshow of some of my favorite photos from Paris! Liam and I had talked about wanting to visit Istanbul for some time, so we found a good deal on lastminute.com, and we went at the start of Spring Break! I really enjoyed the city, it is full of so much culture and history. Seeing where Europe meets Asia was an amazing experience. I've been to Asia now! Below are some highlights of our trip. Day 1: Day 2: Day 3: Day 4: Day 5: Peter, my friend from CUA, also came to visit. He is studying abroad in Spain, so he flew over and spent a long weekend in the UK. Peter spent some time at the university with me while I finished my classes for the week, and then we spent a few days in London. We also both wanted to see Stonehenge, so we found a bus service from London to the prehistoric monument and spent the day there. Here are some photos of our weekend! Hailey, my good friend from high school, came to visit me during her spring break at the beginning of March. We spent a few days in London and did a lot of sightseeing. Then, Liam met up with us and took us on a proper night out in the city. After our fun in London, Hailey stayed at the university with me for a few days and enjoyed seeing what Essex is like. For her last full day in England, we went back to London and attempted to do the Monopoly Pub Crawl. It was a great way to see all sorts of cool places in the city. It was so nice to see a friend from home! (Some of the photos belong to Hailey. She took an excellent camera everywhere we went!) The History Society at the university put together a 1920s themed party, so I reveled at the chance to dress up like I was a guest of Gatsby!
Cheers to new experiences! After my family left London, I traveled to the southern coast of England to visit Brighton. Liam's friend invited us to a New Year's Eve party there, so we decided to make a little trip out of it. Unfortunately, there were terrible wind and rain storms during much of the time we were in Brighton. The city is a seaside getaway for many Brits. It must be quite nice in the summer.
The storms were so bad I couldn't really get any decent photos of the beach and pier. However, I did take some photos of the Royal Pavilion (below). The royal residence was built in a style that was prevalent in India during the 19th century for King George IV. It definitely looked out of place! My family came to London for a week, and we stayed in a lovely flat in the city. The first day my family arrived we braved the rain and wind storms and shopped around the famous department store, Harrods and went for Afternoon Tea. The next day we began Christmas Eve with a ride on the London Eye. We walked through some Christmas markets and sampled roasted chestnuts and mulled wine and crossed the Thames River just in time to see the sunset. We continued through the city to some shopping areas. After stopping into a pub for some traditional food we kept admiring the Christmas displays until we reached Hyde Park. The annual Hyde Park Winter Wonderland was in full swing. I don't have any photos, but it was a huge Christmas carnival! Soon after we arrived it started to rain quite heavily, so we called it a day and headed back to the flat to spend Christmas Eve in front of the fire. Our Christmas Day began with mass at Westminster Cathedral. Then we began the trek across London to visit Charles Dickens' house and museum since it is open on Christmas Day! We listened to a reading of A Christmas Carol and enjoyed some mince pies (a staple during Christmas here) at the museum. We found a nice Thai restaurant that was open and then made our way across London back to the flat. We spent Boxing Day at a football (soccer) game! Boxing Day is a big day for going to watch your favorite football team here. We had a nice walk to the stadium through Chelsea, a very posh area of London, and spent the day at the stadium getting a tour and enjoying a Premier League game between Chelsea and Swansea. The next day we took the train to Colchester, so I could show the family around the university and town. We met up with Liam and his mom and we all had a nice dinner at a local pub. The last few days of the trip were spent sightseeing all around the city, below is a slideshow! |