Spring Break UK 08!

Hiya!!!
Greetings from the UK this lovely Monday night. I have just got home from a two week excursion throughout the UK and let me tell you it was incredible. First off, I would like to say that I feel very lucky to be able to travel so much and I am just trying to take advantage of as much as I can while I am over here. I am very blessed to say the least.


Ok so first week I was with Ryan and it was amazing. We saw all of London and then some. We started the week off by seeing the Tower of London where all the prisoners including Queen Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn, Robert Dudley and company (this goes out to all The Other Boleyn Girl books lovers) stayed and possibl. Yeah so I saw where Elizabeth inscribed into the stone wall and big 'E' and some phrase underneath it. It was so cool to actually see all these things that I have been reading about and in love with come to life! I actually saw where everyone got executed in the courtyard of the Tower, Anne Boleyn including. That is what this picture indicates. It is the monument to the people who lost their heads at this place. I believe the middle thing is a pillow, not sure why, I like to think that it is where they can "rest their head now" but who knows.

We made it to the London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Hyde Park, Alfred Hitchcock's House, National Portrait Museum (which had all the original paintings of basically everyone in the other boleyn books, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth, Robert, Anne, Mary etc.). What really made the week though was our day trip to stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath. They were so amazing and so old! Not to mention we had an amazing day. Stonehenge was creepy cool considering that all the stones involved were brought over 200 miles over a mountain range and the heaviest one weighs over 20-50 tons! Yeah crazy. Windsor Castle is the official residence of the queen and is huge! It was cool to see and there was a lot of history behind it as well (what doesn't have history here, I wonder sometimes?). The last place we went to was Bath a city about 2 hours outside of London. It was absolutely beautiful. Quaint, peaceful, and traditional English. The big tourist attraction here are the Roman Baths. The baths are still in tact and were the place where people back in the day sat in the natural springs and healed or cleansed themselves. The water in the baths had not been touched and is actually very dangerous to get near the skin because it is extremely unclean, however it was very cool to see and the town was beautfiful. The week was wonderful, Ryan had a great time, and I had a great time with him and seeing all these great things.

The second week was completely different but extremely fun as well. Caitlin came to the UK and man did we see a lot! We started the week off by heading off to Scotland by train. The train ride was gorgeous with more sheep than you can imagine, so we were excited to get to Edinborugh, our final destination. It proved us right and was green, great and full of scottish accents. Kilts were abundantly on sale in every store window and at the head of the city, which was built on a volcano, is the castle. It is huge and was a very big defense mechanism for scotland against the dreaded English. It is very interesting to hear the Scottish peoples opinion on the history involving England because they feel very different about some parts of it. We took a tour around the castle and city and learned a lot and heard some crazy scottish stories, I will have to tell when I get back. From there we went to York, a cute little English town, which is walled and also built by the Romans back in the day. It is also known to be the most haunted place in England, which is spooky to know. Loved this city, there was lots to see and they people were so nice and welcoming. Our last days of our adventure were spent in Dublin, Ireland and that was an interesting experience to say the least. Dublin the city is very big and definitely cool to see but mostly just a westernized city with lots of different types of people. Oh and Guinness reins free there as the major beer of choice while it is also the home city to it. In fact one of the best parts of the city was going to this sketchy bar with authentic irish music playing where where got some Guinness, nice! The best part of Ireland was the countryside. We took a day trip that went on a bus from 9am to 5 pm all throughout the coast and countryside of Ireland. We saw some ruins and this great city called Glendaloch, city of two lakes. This was the most beautiful place I have ever experienced and would definitely come back again with anyone who wants to join. The pictures are great, because we had an amazing day, but they don't even do it justice.

Needless to say Caitlin and I saw a lot and absolutely had a great time together. She is extremely laid back and a great traveler, not to mention really fun and so we had some good laughs. There are many stories from this trip, too many to write now, but I will definitely have to tell you all when I return.

I love you all very much and hope that Easter was a hoppin good time. Hopefully the easter bunny was good to you all. I can't wait to be back in STL and spend time with all of you just chatting and catching up. It will be much needed. Cheers!

Ciao Bella! Milan, Italy

Hello family and friends! I know it has been a while since i last updated this thing but I have been a busy student over here (with less emphasis on the student part) in good 'ol England. First of all to update you on the month of February:
Feb. 15th I went to Conwy, Wales with a few friends to see a real intact castle, cleverly named Conwy Castle. It was amazing let me tell you! Being a lover of the royal era of England it was my dream come true. We got to walk around the whole thing and see the King's chamber, the maids quarters and where th guards stood watch. It was breathtaking; it was literally right on the water (a strategic position for defense) with boats all around it and the cutest little town all enclosed in the castle walls!
Feb. 23rd I went to Chester, one of the most typical english towns right on the boader of wales. The whole city is walled and is full of fun shops and pubs. I was very historic and fun to see, however the best part of the day was when we went further into wales and saw the reminence of another castles, called Flint castle. This castle was also on the water and thankfully we had a beautiful day. This castle was literally at the end of town just all by itself, no gift shop around it, no touristy signs, just the castle in all its old glory. The info sign in front of it said it was built in the 1200s! I am just blown away at the history behind everywhere we go. All of the girls that went spent the rest of beautiful day playing in the castle on the grass. It was simply perfect and we are planning on going back. PS- Wales has been beautiful! I highly recommend it.
Feb. 28th-March 1st Kensey, Jess, Kerri, and I went to Milan, Italy! This was a big amazing, crazy weekend with a lot of stories. I dont have space to write all the stories on here but let me just say that the weekend started off with Kensey getting stuck in a bathroom (literally stuck. They had to take the handle off and call someone to break it down), Jess got hit by a car (dont worry she is alright, it is but a flesh wound), and we wound up in a four star hotel for dirt cheap after not having any place to stay. Ok so those stories can be explained another time haha. Anyway, Friday we say Milan the city which was very cool. It had an amazing cathedral in this massive plaza (shown top) which was surrounded by great statues and stores, mainly those of the extremely wealthy: Prada, Gucci, Mercedes (yes there is a store for it), Louis Vouton (sp?) and many others that were most likely a big deal but I had no clue. We planned on seeing the the last supper painting done by Leonardo De Vinci but apparently you have to book it 2 weeks in advance! So we were bummed out by that. Milan city was interesting and very cool however the best part of the trip by far was going to Lake Como on saturday. This lake is surounded by cities in the hills and if you think of Italy and what it looks like, this is what you would picture. It was gorgeous! We spent the whole day there and honestly could have spent the rest of the semester just at this lake. Anna I now fully understand why you didnt want to leave Italy...beathtaking! We ate pizza on the lake at a little mom and pop place, on tables that were just sitting in the plaza followed by real gilatto which was to die for! The day was amazing and only pictures can truly explain the beauty that was this lake. If you want/can get onto facebook I have albums of pics that you can look at to get a feel for how beautiful this place is.

So, that was my February and now I am making my way into March which is crazy beacause now I only have two months left! Where has the time gone? We have a short, three week spring break coming up where I will be graced with first Ryan's presence in London for a week, then Anna and Caitlin (my friend from high school) for the second week in Scotland, England and Ireland (I am more than pumped for them to be here!) and the third week is still up in the air, maybe Spain again? Maybe Croatia? Who knows we will see what fits into the budget by then haha. Never the less I hope that this gives all of you a good recap of what I have been up to and will be up to in the coming weeks. As much as I love it here I do miss home and all you lovely people that come with it. I hope all of you are doing great and know that you are always in my prayers, please keep me in yours as I am going to travel a lot soon. Cant wait to reconnect in May! Love you all! Let me know what you are up to as well!

Love ya,
Auds
PS- did you know that their mother's day is different day over here? Weird.