Paris, France

Yesterday, I took a quick day trip to Paris, alone. This was the first time I have done an entire day in a different country (different language) all by myself. I was very nervous, but it ended up being a perfect trip. Although, in my opinion, it is more fun to travel with others, I actually really enjoyed having a day alone to explore and do whatever I wanted! I had to wake up at 3:45am in order to make it to my 7am train, so I noticed that in all my pictures I look extremely tired…just thought I would let you know the reason for that! Also, all the pictures of me were taken by putting my camera on self-timer, so I was one of THOSE  tourists, but it was totally worth it!

I made a little map of my journey for the day and I put numbers that correspond with the locations in pictures. Basically, I got off the train and took the metro to Notre Dame. Then I walked everywhere, and took the metro back to the train station. I love exploring cities by foot because you are able to see so much more. Plus, you end up seeing things that weren’t recommended, and a lot of times those are the highlights of the trip. For example, one of my favorite moments was walking alone the Seine River towards the Eiffel Tower. There were hardly any people and it was such a beautiful day. It turned into a perfect moment!

So, here is the map of my journey, and the pictures to correspond. 

Right when I walked out of the metro, this was the view!

1. Notre Dame

1. Notre Dame

1. Inside of Notre Dame

2. Next was Sainte-Chapelle, which I just walked by the outside. It cost money and took too much time to go inside. The pictures of the outside weren’t very spectacular!

3. Louvre

3/4. Panini and Orange Juice in a park in front of the Louvre

3/4. My view at lunch (Louvre)

4. Tuileries Gardens

5. Place de la Concorde

Christmas Market on Av. des Champs-Elysees

6. Arc de Triomphe

7. Grand Palais

8. Pont Alexandre III

9. Eiffel Tower

9. I tried to capture how HUGE the Eiffel Tower is. I honestly was shocked by how big it is. Each of the corners have entire stores at the base. 

9. Eiffel Tower with Christmas Market lining the garden in front

9. Cute Christmas Market at the Eiffel Tower

9. My favorite: Eiffel Tower at night

Paris was more magical than I was expecting. The Eiffel Tower was way bigger than I thought. Traveling alone was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Basically, it was a great day! I think everyone needs to visit Paris. There is so much to do and I can’t wait to go back and see more!

Tomorrow, I leave London to go home. I should be packing right now, but I am in denial that I am leaving soon. So, mom and dad, if I don’t make my flight tomorrow, just know that I am enjoying my time bike riding through Hyde Park instead. 🙂

Happy traveling…

Edinburgh, Scotland

This last weekend I took my last group trip with my friends to Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the most beautiful and cute city. Since the buildings are all stone and aged, you feel like you are walking around back when the city began. The weekend was also delightfully relaxing. Each night we would sit down in our AirBnB apartment (one of my favorite apartments on this trip) and watch a movie, usually related to Scotland!

The first day of exploring, we walked all around the town and visited the Christmas Market. It was such a cute market that fit in perfectly with the city. They had yummy “street food,” like crepes, bratwursts, and waffles. We also walked along the Royal Mile and saw the Edinburgh Castle. It was such a cool castle because it looks just like how you imagine a princesses castle would look. Later, we walked up this big hill and saw some ruins. The park on the top of the hill was first used as a place of exercise for Edinburgh citizens years and years ago. One of the ruins was just like the Parthenon in Greece, but it was only half completed. This structure was built but not completed because they ran out of funds.

Christmas Decorations in Edinburgh were beautiful!

Christmas Market from a distance.

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh “Parthenon”

The second day we visited St. Andrews University. It was such a perfect day trip. The campus was beautiful. It’s basically like a small town and the college classes are spread out throughout the city. It would be such a fun experience to go there. However, the weather (dark and cloudy and rainy) made me very appreciative of Biola in California. Going outside to classes everyday in the dark and cold would not be very enjoyable. This visit was extra special because St. Andrews is where Prince William and Kate Middleton met. We even got to see the dorm building they lived in! I was fangirling pretty hard the whole time. It was crazy, also, because St. Andrews seems very down to earth and it’s cool to know that they met in such a normal environment!

View of the campus/city from the pier!

The final day we explored Edinburgh some more. I didn’t take many pictures that day because it was a lot of the same stuff as we did the first day. We also took a free walking tour that day which was very informative and cool!

Edinburgh is definitely on my “must-see” list. I am obsessed with cities that still feel like they would have back in the 16, 17, or 1800s. Edinburgh is definitely one of those cities. It’s also such a small town and everyone is very nice and friendly.

Most of my friends have gone home now, so I am here in London exploring for my last few days. On Monday I am taking a quick day trip to Paris. I’m am looking forward to it. I’m just hoping the weather turns out nice because I wanted to walk all around the city! I go home next Wednesday which is extremely bittersweet. Now that all my friends have left London, I’m looking forward to being around people again, haha! But I am so sad that I will be leaving London! This city is amazing and there are so many things I will miss about my time here.

Happy traveling…

Iceland

I literally just got home from Iceland, but it’s going to be a very busy and short week, so I am going to write a quick blog post about our trip! Iceland needs to be at the top of everyone’s bucket list. It did not disappoint. I was trying to think of one particular thing I wanted on my souvenir postcard, but I couldn’t think of just one thing. There were beautiful waterfalls, the Blue Lagoon, geysers, and the Northern Lights. Not to mention, beautiful landscape throughout the entire drive from place to place. There were many pros and cons to going at the end of November. First, it was snowy, which was so beautiful. It was an added challenge for driving, but despite the cold situation, the roads were in excellent condition. Second, it was cold. We would stop to take pictures of a waterfall or geyser and try to hop back in the car quickly. In the end this wasn’t a big deal and just added a fun element to the whole trip. Lastly, I have seen pictures of Iceland with no snow and it is so beautiful. But, Iceland in the snow is just magical! I would love to go back and visit when it’s very green, but there were no complaints about the beauty of the snow.

The first day of our trip we went to the Blue Lagoon, which was totally worth it. It was so relaxing and the whole experience is so perfect. After, we drove to two different waterfalls.

The second day we drove to see some geysers. Since the sun would rise around 10:30am, we got to the geysers right at sunrise. Then, the sun stays in basically a perpetual sunrise/sunset for the entirety of the daylight. After the geysers we went to another waterfall. During the next portion of our drive we pulled over and started taking a ton of photos in the middle of the road. The sun and snow and landscape were so perfect in that moment. Then, we saw another waterfall and the ocean bay and a black sand beach. There was a really cute town in this bay where the waterfall and landscape were and we all began to imagine what it would be like to live in such a beautiful place. Lastly, on the drive back we saw some Northern Lights. Unfortunately I wasnt able to get pictures because they were not bright enough, but it was definitely a time to “be in the moment” and enjoy the magic. Have I said “magic” enough? I think that word accurately describes Iceland in a nutshell.

Here are some pictures. Since I dont know the exact names of places (Icelandic is the craziest language), I have put the pictures in the order of what we saw, so hopefully that helps give an idea of what happened.

Day 1

Waterfall #1

 

Waterfall #2

Day 2

Waterfall #3

Waterfall #4

Hopefully those pictures are enough to convince you that you NEED to see Iceland for yourself! We had the best weekend driving around in awe of God’s beautiful creation. I can just imagine His joy when he sees his people enjoying his creativity!

This week I have to finish up my papers and repack for my trip to Istanbul next weekend. I’m excited to go somewhere completely different and see my cousin!

Happy traveling…

Upcoming Adventures

I guess when I imagined this semester, I sort of pictured going on weekend trips every couple weeks in order to see all the places I had in mind. Instead, my friends and I basically planned all of our trips for these last few weeks of the semester. So, not only do I have 4 6-page papers to write for finals week, I will be gone every weekend to a different country. This means that despite my usual procrastination skills, I am learning how to start my papers over a month before they are due! Therefore, the last few weeks have been somewhat boring and hectic. I’ve been spending my weeks and weekends writing papers, while fitting in trips into London and a couple of field trips. In the ends, I will be glad that I finished all my papers ahead of time because my stress level in Iceland, Istanbul, and Scotland will be much less.

So, here is a little overview of my coming trips. First, there are 5 of us heading to Iceland this coming Friday-Monday. We are going to rent a car and try to find as many waterfalls and beautiful Icelandic features as we can in about 52 hours! We have tickets to the Blue Lagoon and I am desperately hoping to see the Northern Lights. Although I hadn’t originally planned on taking this trip, I am very much looking forward to a completely different kind of adventure (and getting away from school for the weekend :)).

Blue Lagoon in Iceland

The following weekend, I am heading to Istanbul, Turkey to visit my cousin Kimmy. She is currently there playing volleyball. I don’t have any major plans while I am there, but I am excited to see my cousin, watch her play some volleyball, and see a bit of Turkey.

The third trip, the following weekend, is to Edinburgh, Scotland with a couple friends. Right now, we don’t have any for sure plans (we are still trying to plan for Iceland), but I know that I want to spend some time shopping in their Christmas market. Apparently, the weekend we are visiting there is a huge Christmas Festival, and so I plan on spending lots of time enjoying that!

Edinburgh Christmas Market

The last trip I have planned is for after all of my friends have headed back to America. When I bought my airplane ticket to London, I decided to come home on December 23rd, which is about a week after the rest of my friends are leaving London. I’m somewhat sad that everyone is leaving earlier, but I am super excited to experience London at Christmas time, after classes are done (so no more stress!)! So, I planned a day trip to Paris during that week. My plan is taking a super early train out of London and arrive in Paris about 2 hours later. I want to see a couple of the major attractions (Eiffel Tower, Louvre), east some crepes, but mostly just be able to say that I’ve been to Paris. Then, I will take a train back to London in the evening.

I am fully aware of the tragedy that happened in Paris last weekend, and have considered the fate of my short trip to the City of Lights. At this point, I am fully still planning to go ahead with my trip. I know a couple other people who are still planning to head to France in the coming weeks, despite the current fear. If any more events were to happen in Paris or nearby, I would reconsider my trip. But, right now, I still really want to see Paris and do not feel that I should live in fear. I know that no matter what happens, the Holy Spirit is with me and I have no reason to be afraid.

Although this trip is coming close to the end, I am very much looking forward to each of the trips I have planned. I’m trying to enjoy every minute I have left here in London and all of the time I have left for traveling. Now, I have to go write my 3rd paper….

Happy traveling…

Prague, Czech Republic

Wow! Time flies…basically I have been back from Prague for over a week, but with the start of classes and adjusting to my new life here in London, I wasn’t able to get around to blogging about Prague. This post might be a bit more vague and not as exciting as some because it will be a light overview of our trip. Hopefully the pictures and video I have with suffice! 🙂

Prague was a wonderful week. Our travel group changed a bit; one friend stayed in London and another friend from Biola joined the group. Our AirBnB apartment in Prague was amazing. If you are ever going to visit Prague, let me know and I can give you the name of the apartment. Our first full day was basically spent chilling out in the apartment because we were all so exhausted from registration weekend in London and all the travels before. The three days that followed would be lazy mornings, followed by busy afternoons and evenings in the city.

We would take the metro into the city and then walk all around, trying to see as many famous and beautiful sights along the way.

My personal favorite was a garden that had a big pond and fountain and the government building. It was so peaceful and magical.

Another favorite was the castle overlooking the whole city. The stairs leading up to the castle were long and strenuous, but it was so fun to imagine what it would have been like for the royal family to live up above the city in a HUGE palace.

We spent an afternoon by the John Lennon wall, which was super cool. While we were there, this cute Czech boy was playing his guitar and singing George Ezra and other fun songs. At one point, Melissa joined him and they harmonized for a few songs. It was literally a scene from a movie.

On our last evening there, we went to the top of the watch tower over the main bridge to watch the sunset. Unfortunately it was a cloudy evening so there wasn’t much of a sunset. But, it was fun to watch the city from up above and see all of the infamous red roofed buildings.

Our time in Prague was a great way to end the backpacking portion of our trip, relax before classes start, and experience the magic of the city. I would definitely recommend going to Prague if you are ever in Europe. It’s on my list of Top 5 favorite cities I’ve seen so far!

Here is another video made by my friend Kyle, documenting our time in Prague.

Now that I am back in London, I would love any advice you have for this city or other cities nearby that I should visit. I’m hoping to go to Edinburgh, Dublin, Amsterdam, and Paris. Any other recommendations? Any advice for those cities?

Happy traveling…

Europe Adventure VIDEO!

While we traveled all over Europe, one of the guys in our group filmed this awesome video! I am so excited to have a video to look back on and remember so many memories from the trip. Hopefully this video will help give life to some of the adventures I wrote about in my posts. Hope you enjoy!

Happy traveling…

Seville, Spain

We arrived in Seville and basically had no clue how to get to our AirBnB apartment so we hopped on a bus and rode it for a long time. At some point we realized we missed out stop so we kept riding and then got off at a random stop. From there we walked about a mile or so to our apartment. It was the cutest place: perfectly decorated and adorable.

Once we got all moved in we chilled out for a while before going to dinner. Our apartment was a five minute walk from the Metropol Parasol. So, we walked over to that and explored it a little then got dinner at a restaurant underneath it. The prices were so cheap! ($4 for a burger and fries, at a sit down restaurant). We decided we would eat there every night as a joke, but we actually did!

 The next day we decided to do all the big attractions. First was the Cathedral in Seville, which was beautiful! Then we went to Plaza De Espana, which was literally magical!  It was way bigger than I imagined it would be and it had the cutest little pond/river running around the middle. You could rent a boat to paddle around for super cheap ($6 for one boat). So that is what we did and it was super fun! At first we had a hard time rowing, but once we figured it out it was so peaceful and beautiful!

  
  
  
Then, we walked around the Plaza some more and took pictures like in Star Wars (because they filmed a scene in the Plaza) and then headed over to Maria Louisa Park. Unfortunately they were doing a lot of construction in the park so not all the fountains and gardens were open, but it was so peaceful to walk through.

  
By this point in the day, we were really hot and exhausted. We started to walk back to our apartment. It was a very long walk, but after a quick stop at a grocery store we survived the heat and made it back. We relaxed for a while, then went to dinner at our new favorite restaurant!

The next day we slept in for a long time and then the girls decided they wanted to do some shopping. We walked around the city and stopped in many different shops while the boys explored more of the tourist attractions. We all met up again at the apartment and went on top of the Metropol Parasol for sunset. Then we  went to dinner. After dinner we got some churros which were very yummy but also very greasy!

  
  
The next day we packed up and went to lunch before heading to the airport to head back to London! Seville was so beautiful and not too busy and crazy. It was definitely one of my favorite stops in the trip and I would love I return and do some more exploring!!

Happy traveling…

Barcelona, Spain

Well, I have officially fallen way behind on my blog posts. By the time we were in Spain we were all completely worn out and then we went to London for the weekend for Orientation. Basically, I’ve been very tired and busy for the last week, so I never blogged Barcelona or Seville.

Barcelona was cool, but not my favorite stop. The first day we were there it rained most of the day. In the morning we went to Camp Nou, which is the stadium where FC Barcelona plays futbol. It was a huge stadium and fun to walk around. The boys in the group were most excited about it.

  
 Then, we went to lunch and headed to some of the famous tourist places. First was Park Guell, which is where a lot of Gaudi’s architecture is found. The park also has an amazing view of the city. Unfortunately it cost to see the Gaudi’s artwork and since none of us were super into it, and it was cloudy and raining, we decided to skip the Gaudi stuff.

  
After the park we took the metro to La Familia Sagrada. It was so crazy because we came out of the underground and the church was right there in all of its beautiful glory. We took tons of pictures in front and again decided it wasn’t worth paying to go in. Instead we went over to Starbucks, got a drink and stared at the church.

The next day we woke up later and sort of planned a more chilled day. We went to downtown Barcelona and found a could of buildings that Gaudi built. Like I said before, I wasn’t really that excited about Gaudi and since his work is the highlight of tourist Barcelona, it wasn’t too exciting for me! 😊 after checking out the buildings we walked around some of the old town. There were tons of shops and a street lined with beautiful trees. It was fun, especially because the goal was to end up at the beach. When we did reach the ocean, it was a marina area so we got lunch and then walked further to a more beachy area. Eric went swimming while the rest of us sat on some rocks and enjoyed the view and the beautiful weather.

  
After a couple hours we headed back to our hostel. We had an early flight the next morning for Seville.

Like I said, Barcelona is a really cool city and if the tourist stuff hadn’t been so expensive and I was more into Gaudi’s work, I probably would have enjoyed the stop a bit more. I think my exhaustion also played a part in my perception of the city.

Next is Seville, one of my favorite stops on the trip!

Happy traveling…

Rome, Italy

We arrived in Rome a bit later than we had originally thought because our train was an hour behind schedule. But we found our way to our AirBnB apartment and the mother of the owner let us in. We had quite a time trying to communicate. They know about as much English as we knew of Italian. Then, we went to dinner. We found a pizza and pasta place and four of us got pasta. All of us were pretty disappointed in the pasta, so after we got some gelato to make up for it.

The next morning we set out for Vatican City via the bus at 8:30am. We got there, ate some pastries and then followed the crowd to Saint Peter’s Basilica and the main square.  It worked out perfectly because the pope comes out every Wednesday at 9:30 to do a blessing. So we joined the crowd and got to SEE THE POPE!!! We got pretty excited a took a ton of pictures.

 We didn’t end up staying for his blessing–it was in Italian so we couldn’t understand anyway–so we headed for the Sistine Chapel. Vatican City was so different from what I imagined. It’s almost not even a city. It’s like a huge building that has all the museums, chapels, and tourist shops inside. There are a couple buildings within the city, but mostly you just enter one building and then see pretty much all the stuff that is popular. We made our way to the Sistine Chapel. You walk through all these hallways with paintings on the ceilings and  decorations all over the walls. Then you sort of suddenly arrive in the Chapel. But it was totally worth it. There are so many stories and Bible characters on the cieling and around the walls. Technically you weren’t allowed to take pictures, but we snuck a few on our phones!

 We walked around the Vatican some more and went in a couple museums. Then, we wanted to go in Saint Peter’s Basilica (after the Blessing was over) but the line was ridiculously long and we had a lot more of Rome to see. Instead we sat and stared at the Basilica and the surrounding square for a while.

  
Then we walked to the Pantheon. It was a pretty long walk but we got to see some cool side streets and alleys that were very quintessentially Italian. The Pantheon was different that I expected but it was huge. I thought it was up on a hill and sort of falling apart. Instead it was in the middle of a town square and it was completely restored and put together. We went inside for a while. It’s so incredible to imagine having a church service inside. It was huge and ornately decorated.

 Next we began walking to the Spanisb Steps. On the way we stopped in the Lindt chocolate store and picked up some treats to get us through the day. When we arrived at the Spanish Steps they were doing construction on the building behind them so they were not as picturesque as normal.

We got some water in the fountain in front of the steps and continued on.  We went to the Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately that was also under construction. I could see how amazing the fountain would be but there was no water in it and there was scaffolding all around. After taking a couple pictures we headed for the Colloseum.

 At this point we were loosing it. The walk to the Colloseum was wayyy longer than we thought it would be. We weren’t very sure where we were going. On the way we found the Forum, which the boys insisted on exploring. We took some pictures and then the boys headed inside. Melissa, Katrena, and I waited forever for them and then we went inside to find them. We couldn’t find them but we got to see the inside of the Forum. There was a great view from the top. When we left again the boys were across the street taking pictures.

  
Finally we went to the Colloseum. We took tons of pictures and then went inside. I downloaded a Rick Steves audio tour so I listened to that relayed the information back to the rest of the group. It was really fun and helped making the whole Colloseum more real. We stayed there until it closed at 7pm.

  
  
 We went to dinner at a cute outside restaurant that had a view of the sun setting over the Forum and some other ruins. It was the perfect way to end the night.

 After dinner, we went back to the Colloseum to see it all lit up at night. Then we got on a metro and went to pur AirBnB.

 It was a great, short trip in Rome. But I would agree with all of those that have given me advice: you can do Rome in a day. It’s long and exhausting but you see everything you want to and feel satisfied with your Roman experience.

We are in the airport, headed to Barcelona.

Gelato count: 10

Happy traveling…

Cinque Terre Part 2

Our last full day in Cinque Terre was much more relaxed. We did not have any plans so we headed down to Monterosso. Kyle was not feeling well so he stayed back at the hostel. Katrena, Eric, Melissa, and I decided to just relax and enjoy the beach for the day. Eric found a soccer field on the beach when we got down to Monterosso so Melissa, Katrena, and he played on that for about an hour while I journaled. They met an Italian boy named Cesar and played some games with him. Then we went swimming in the ocean and laid on the rocks by the beach. Next we had lunch at a bar on the beach. During lunch, Melissa started to not feel well. She decided to rent one of the beach loungers and sleep. She slept for a couple hours while Katrena and I paddleboarded and Eric jumped off some rocks. Paddleboarding was fun, but difficult. Since it was a wavy Sea, it was much harder to stand up. Normally I would have been fine with falling into the water, but I was so scared of jellyfish so Katrena and I mostly stayed sitting down. It was still super fun and we got to explore a lot of the ocean. After, Katrena joined Eric for rock jumping and I got some gelato. Then I did a little bit of tourist shopping. I also got a small section of my hair wrapped.

 Hard to see, but she wrapped a section of my hair in brightly colored string.

At about 4:15 we all met up and hung out on the beach for a while longer. Then Katrena, Eric, and I went to the little grocery store and got some snacks for dinner because we didn’t want to eat at the hostel. When we got back, Melissa went straight to bed. Eric, Katrena, and I hung out at the hostel and talked to the new people who arrived. Overall it was a fun and relaxing last day.

Today, we are packing up and heading to Rome.

Gelato count: 8

Happy traveling…

Ps. Sorry for the lack of pictures. We didn’t have our phones or cameras with us much because they were in a locker while we enjoyed the beach! Plus, some memories will only be remembered in my brain 😊