Ben in Greece!

I can't think of a better way to spend my last week in Greece than with Ben.  Last Wednesday he arrived and explored Athens a little bit. We saw the temple of Zeus, Neo Faliro Marina, and Lycabittes Hill together. Since Ben had been here before we decided not to do too much "touristy stuff" (especially since I'm all temple-ed out anyway.) But we did manage to get a couple sites in...  

At the Temple of Zeus

Lycabittes Hill

Souvlakis in Syntagma

This past weekend we spent traveling to Florence and Pisa! It was a great trip and we saw a TON, and had some great food (unlike when I went to Rome!)... not to mention it was awesome to have Florence be totally decked out for Christmas! (Athens just started turning the Christmas lights on on Monday!)

I don't have many pictures on my camera because we quickly realized that Ben's was much more reliable... I'll get the rest from him when I follow him home in a couple of days!

I still can't get over Ben having made the trip to come see me. It was great to get to show him what I've experienced here, to be able to spend time with him, and to travel with him. Now I can't wait to go home and spend Christmas and New Years together with him, and our families!

I admit it... I'm packed and I'm not buying any more groceries... three exams tomorrow...brunch and one last dinner with the BCA kids on Friday and then catching flights home late, late Friday night (okay, 3am Saturday morning.)

See you all soon! 

Passport to Paris

Okay... blogging has to get serious now. PARIS.

Paris was great, although, I admit that I liked London more. The weather was pretty yucky in Paris (40s and rainy) and I think as a group we were all really tired.

We didn't really like 3ducks (the hostel) all that much. It was pretty rough around the edges, and we actually had to walk outside to go to the bathroom (so there was NO getting up in the middle of the night, that's for sure!) Unfortunately, the group of us only took up 7 of the 8 beds in our room and our random roommate (who had been living in the room for three weeks already!) smelled pretty awful. We also had to rent linens, and although breakfast was free it was just white hard rolls and jelly.

 BUT 3ducks, to it's credit, was in a pretty great location. With only about a 15 minute walk straight up the street we were at the base of the Eiffel Tower, so our first night in Paris we were able to see it light up and sparkle at night!

I was pretty disappointed in my camera. It's blurriness is getting worse and worse... at this point i'm tossing more than half of the pictures I take because they're too blurry to even keep. Bummer.

Anyway! The next morning we woke up and headed back to the Eiffel Tower to take the elevators to the top! How cool! It was awesome to be able to see everything from above, and to be able to point out the Louvre, L'arc de Triomphe and the Notre Dame from above.

The view of the Louvre from the top. See the pyramid? That's how I spotted it.

To prove I was really up there.

  The rest of the day included a free tour (which we skipped out of at the Louvre to escape the rain that started to really come down)  and free entrance to the Louvre (the first Sunday of every month!) a not so free crepe, and a not so free dinner out (but delicious and probably the warmest since arriving in Paris.)

The Notre Dame behind me!

Waiting in line for the Louvre.

Mona Lisa- Got seriously jostled while trying to take this picture. People were literally shoving one another to take pictures of this painting.

Me and my post-Louvre crepe. Butter and sugar!

The Arc.

Then it was off to the airport hotel where we spent a good six hours, and enjoyed long hot showers (quite a commodity this semester!) before hopping on the plane early Monday morning!

The weekend was exhausting, packed full, and probably a little too short on time... but I'm definitely glad we did it! I got a taste of two more famous cities!

Mail! Shoutout to Grandma!

Thanks, Grandma, for your letter!

What fun to get your comments to my blog in the mail! Getting letters here is a rare and sweet occasion so thank you, thank you, thank you!

See you in just about 10 days!

Love, Kelsey

London!!!

Well I'm feeling pretty lame about how infrequently I've blogged lately. Sorry! The routine of the semester, along with being pretty busy in the last couple of weeks between my parents being here, planning for this past weekend, and doing a bit of homework has definitely cut down on my free time for blogging... also, I admit, I just don't carry my camera around like I used to!

Anyway! Back to this weekend... I just returned this morning from a weekend trip with some other girls in the BCA program to London and Paris. It was a lot to pack into one weekend... and I definitely can't imagine trying to pack it all into one blog post! So, I'll tackle London first.

I just need to say... I fell in LOVE with London. I felt so sad when it came time to leave because I felt like I hadn't even scratched the surface of that city (and of course, in 24 hours, I didn't!)  I think part of why I loved it so much was simply because the language barrier was gone. I could easily communicate with (even talk with!) everyone around, not just the other students,  and Christmas Decorations were up! I could read every sign posted anywhere. I also loved having things like peanut butter on the breakfast bar and McDonalds coffee. We even saw a Subway!

To put it simply... London was so much more familiar and comfortable that it sort of felt like a preview of going home.... Something I admit I'm getting excited to do! (11 days 10 hours!)

Anyway... the rundown of what we did! Friday afternoon we arrived at 4 o'clock... in the dark!  (We were totally surprised the sun had set!) We checked into our hostel, Astor Quest, and had dinner at a pub just bordering Hyde Park.

What fun! The pub had a great atmosphere and I was happy to see soup on a menu! Mushroom soup's not my favorite but I ordered it and didn't care because I was just so happy to see SOUP! I also had a side of "chips" (friend fries.) Yum!

Here's a picture of my friend, Jacquieta's fish and chips! With smashed peas and tartar sauce!

The pub the next morning... My camera wouldn't take a good picture at night... especially because we ran home in rain!

My soup, baguette and ketchup (Heinz was a treat!) and my chips!

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast at the hostel, then walked through Hyde Park to the famous Harrod's department store. It is huge, beautiful, and contains some of the most expensive, bags, gowns, and pastries I have ever seen. It was BEAUTIFULLY decorated for Christmas though!

A red telephone booth with a Subway behind it! Loved the 3£ meal!

 

Me, a telephone booth and a McDonalds coffee! Whaaawhoo!

The outside of Harrod's.

Chanel No. 5 sitting out for use in the bathroom.

Finally we met up with a free walking tour! Our cute little guide Rachel did a great job, and kept us entertained for the whole 2.5 hours! She told great stories, and gave awesome historical background but didn't chatter on and on... which was great, given almost everyone on our tour was a young backpacker, like us.

The tour was the perfect way for us to do Saturday morning, we saw everything quickly without having to figure out a map or decide where to go on our own.... AND we had someone to ask at the end of the day how to get to the station to catch our Eurostar train to Paris! 

Buckingham Palace (all the people because it was in the middle of the Changing of the Guards!

TAXI!

Trafalgar Square (I took this picture from the very center of London!)

House Guards Parade... also incidentally where beach volleyball events will be held in the 2012 Olympics!

Me and Big Ben.

Westminster Abbey

What a great day! Now I just have to figure out how to go back!