Oops.. Long Time No Blog

So, I haven't updated in over two weeks, my great apologies for lacking in my blogging skills.

Here's a pre-warning on how long this blog post will be :)

First off, I went to Dublin two weekends ago. Ireland was AMAZING. It was exactly how I imagined, and I mean that in the best way possible. Irish pubs were so typical, I heard the eh eye eh eye eh song from PS I Love You twice in one night :D

We flew out early Friday morning (left Lincoln @ 4AM!) to Dublin. We stayed at Trinity College, which is right in the heart of the city center of Dublin. Friday we went to the Guinness Factory/Brewery, had some afternoon free time, and ended the night with an amazing 3 course meal in typical European Studies fashion (have I talked about how good of food they give us here?)

St. Patrick's Cathedral - Dublin, Ireland

On Saturday, we got up and went to the National Gallery, which had a pretty good variety of art. I've learned to really love art museums here, something I never thought I'd say. Weirdly enough, I think I just had no idea how to go about observing and enjoying an art museum until I got here. My best friend Beth was surprised to discover I'd never learned the "you shouldn't try and look at everything" lesson about museums. Beth, Staley and I went on our own adventure after the National Gallery to get a taste of Dublin. We saw St. Patricks Cathedral, which is surprisingly not Catholic, but a Protestant church. We saw that, the Dublin Castle and got a little shopping in, as well. Sidenote- I've worn out a pair or two of shoes already, so I picked up my first pair of TOMS and am pretty obsessed with them. We found ourselves some Irish pubs at night (note the previous comment on the movie PS I Love You).

Irish Countryside

Sunday was a pretty extraordinary day. I was pretty exhausted to say the least, I didn't get a lot of sleep between Oslo and Dublin weekends back to back. We drove a coach up to the English countryside (I've learned to sleep on coaches pretty effectively) and did a short hike up to a beautiful lake, shown in the picture. We had a great lunch at a nearby hotel and ended up seeing an old beautiful mansion with some incredible gardens seen in the hot air balloon scene from the film version of The Count of Monte Cristo. It was pretty exciting to be where that was filmed, and the house and property were pretty incredible. We flew back to Oxford Sunday evening, and I was utterly exhausted.

It was wonderful to have another weekend adventure, but I was pretty ready to get back to Oxford and spend some time at my new home. That Monday we transitioned into a new set of classes, this time Philosophy, History and Literature of Rome instead of Greece. I find these classes a little more interesting/enjoyable. I'm about to enter my very last week at Oxford, which I'm pretty disappointed about. In some ways I wish I could stay in Oxford all semester because I love the city and I know my way around and have my favorite places. On the other hand, I've been looking forward to these next 5 weeks of travel since I started looking at this study abroad program before I even decided I was going to Rhodes.

I've gone into London four times in the last two weeks, something I'm glad I've gotten the opportunity to do. Two of these were "field trips" sponsored by my program to The Globe Theatre for a production of Much Ado About Nothing, as well as a guided tour the next Friday through The British Museum's ancient collections. Fun fact: The Butler from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was one of the main characters in the Shakespeare production we saw! Talk about a surprise... The Globe was pretty amazing, I'd never seen a Shakespeare play actually performed, and I definitely now have a better appreciation of the productions he wrote. I've always loved Shakespeare, but it is way better as an actual play than just read from paper.

The two other times I've been into London have been some of my best experiences yet. I got to see Les Miserables in the London theatre, and it was BEAUTIFUL AND INCREDIBLE. I mean that in all caps. It was the best production I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot. I saw Les Mis on Broadway with my old summer camp when I was younger, but this was even better. Also, I got to eat at Chipotle in London before the show, and the burrito was just as delicious as ever. It was so nice to get some Mexican-ish food that was yummy, I've been eating a lot of potatoes lately...

Yesterday I went into London again for a full tourist day. I went to the Tower of London, which I could talk about forever. I love the Tudor era of English history, and there was so much history to be seen in the Tower. If you ever go to London, this is a must-do. I saw the crown jewel collection, there were some amazing pieces of jewelry from the royal regalia. I then got to see Buckingham Palace, including a limited time display of Faberge Eggs, and Kate Middleton's wedding dress, shoes and cake!! I was in tourist heaven.

This Saturday we head out of Oxford and we start island-hopping Greece. I'm looking forward to some beaches, warm weather and a lot of outdoor Greek ruins :) I've had an amazing few weeks. My good friend Jonny, who was an English exchange student at Rhodes for the last year, has been able to see me like four times since I've been here - so he should get a special shout out. We'll have our last high table this week, and we'll say goodbye to the Western Track of our program (they study Renaissance and Medieval History and see France, Germany and Italy on their tour)

I'm sad to say goodbye to Oxford, but excited to head out on this last big part of the program. I think it's really hit me how quickly this whole experience is going by. I'm not at all ready to come back to the US (sorry mom.) but I know after the next 5 weeks of straight travel, I'm probably going to be ready to sleep for weeks. I miss home in so many ways, but I really think this is the happiest I've been in a really long time. I've learned a lot about myself and how I interact with people in new situations. I can't wait to see where the rest of life takes me when I get back, it's scary to think I only have a year and a half until I'm a college grad and onto a graduate program. I feel a need to say thank you to my Dad, I know you hate being called out, and I know you're modest about this fact, but you have been the person who has allowed me to do everything I've wanted to do in life - you're pretty awesome even if you don't know it.

This blog post has definitely been long enough. I'm already getting sentimental about leaving and looking back on this experience and I'm only through the first leg. Can't wait to see what else will come...

:D
Sarah