Dear exchange,

I'm in this weird place now as I finish packing and get ready to leave the city that I have called home for the passed eight months.  Plus it's my birthday, so a whole lot of weird emotions are bubbling around in me right now.  One minute I'm happy, one minute I'm scared, one minute I'm anxious, another minute I'm overwhelmingly sad, and in even another minute I feel surprisingly indifferent.  That last feeling is less and less frequent as the time draws nearer for me to leave.

I learned so much this year, I don't think I realize the extent of changes that I have experienced yet. 

I made some absolutely fantastic friends and I know this year would not have been half as wonderful with out them.  Thank you, all of you.

I wish there was a way to quantify how much I owe to this experience and a way for me to pay what I owe.  All I can really do is put out a thank you to Carleton University and the University of Leeds for presenting this opportunity to me.  The biggest thanks of all has to go to my parents for making this trip possible and supporting me the entire time, from calming my anxiety before I left to listening to tales of my adventures.  

Thank you exchange, you have been the best (a phrase I throw around, but this time I mean it entirely).




When this message is posted, I'll be on my way from Leeds to Grenoble, my first stop on my summer adventure.  I'm going to try to make posts as frequently as possible on my trip but I won't have a computer with me so it won't be that often, maybe once a week at the most.

Ediburgh: [noun]- the capital city of Scotland

On May 26 I (finally) went to Edinburgh for five nights.  It's such a beautiful city and I don't know if I made it seem magical because it's where Harry Potter was written or if it was magical before and that's why Harry Potter was written.  Either way, the city creates a sense that you have entered into another world.  I'm going to keep this post short because I have packing and birthday celebrating (hint hint) to do, so here is my trip in summary.

May 26
-arrive in Edinburgh
-walking tour of the city
-eat Haggis

It is so delicious, don't let this picture fool you.

May 27
-Edinburgh Castle
-Ate at The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter

Me and the Castle hanging out.

May 28
-National Gallery
-National Museum
-Whisky Tour

May 29
-watched live comedy at The Stand
-went to Scotland's Parliament, Holyrood Castle and The Queens Gallery

May 30
-train ride to and from Fort William

And then I came home on the 31st.

WHERE DID THE TIME GO!?

Apparently I'm leaving Leeds in two weeks.  And apparently I'm going to be twenty one in two weeks.  So much weird for one weekend.  The next couple of weeks are going to be filled with lots of fun although I still have an exam to write on the 25th of May so no fun until then.  On the 26th of May I'm going to Edinburgh for five nights.  I'm way too excited about all the Harry Potter type things that I'm going to see there.  It'll be awesome preparation for the final movie.  Once I get home from Scotland, I'll have three days to pack up all of my stuff and get ready to leave.  On June 3rd, the University has this event called the Summer Ball which is kind of an amalgamation of a carnival, a music festival and prom.  I've decided that I'm going to pretend that this is my birthday party as it starts at 6 pm on June 3rd and ends at 6 am on June 4th.  June 4th is my birthday and last day in Leeds and then I leave on the 5th to begin my seven week summer travel adventure! (more on that later.)

The Royal Wedding: [noun]- Prince William & Catherine Middleton, Friday 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey

Last week me and my friends Andy, Hannah and Annie were some of the crazy people sitting outside of Buckingham Palace from six in the morning to get a glimpse of the Royal Family members.  The five a.m. wake up was entirely worth it! I saw the Queen, Camilla, the back of Kate Middleton's head and William.  The atmosphere was amazing, it was like being at a sporting event but better because there was this amazing guy in drag, he was all dressed up and wearing a tiara.  When reporters (he got interviewed a lot) asked her what his name was, she would say Audrey Hepburn. Also, him and her friends were seriously prepared, they had a whole picnic table at their disposal and it conveniently folded up into a briefcase once they were done with it.  However, even though we ourselves were entirely unprepared seating wise, people who had camped out the night before had just abandoned their tent so we sat on that instead of the grass which was pretty convenient.  For those of you who have been to Buckingham Palace, we were sitting right outside the Australian Gate. If your standing right in front of the Queen Victoria memorial, looking at Buckingham Palace, we were just to the left.  Seeing the balcony kiss was not quite as successful due to the fact that it was absolute insanity but I did have a nice view of Kate's parents (no offense Kate's parents, but definitely the least exciting people to see).

Trying not to go crazy while waiting.

 Pretty hats

 Okay so this picture is massive because they only way to see Will (and kind of Kate) is for the image to be huge.  They are in the carriage (duh) in the bottom right corner and they are kind of blurry.  Pretty cool, right?

 I have no good pictures of the kiss, only pictures of the gate in front of Buckingham, so instead here's a picture of the insane crowd (look at how disgruntled they all look hahaha) and..

 A picture of my feet.  Not quite as popular as Will and Kate but they usually get me from point a to point b so I like 'em. 

The rest of the weekend was also a lot of fun.  Andy left us on Friday to continue her travels else where but Annie, Hannah and I went to see Legally Blond: The Musical on Saturday night which was AMAZING.  I highly suggest you watch the below video. 

The rest of the weekend we went to a variety of markets: Notting Hill's Portobello Street Market, Camden Market, and Brick Lane.  So the only reason I think it's okay for me to do this is because I usually talk about how crazy I am on here so I think this once I can make myself look a little bit cool.  When we were walking near Brick Lane a girl asked to take a picture of the three of us for her fashion blog and it's a really cute post so you should probably go here.

The next couple of weeks are going to be filled with studying for exams and writing essays so unfortunately I will have nothing of interest to post for a while but once I'm done exams I'm going to Edinburgh so I shall write a post at the end of May!

Marbella: [noun]- a town in Andalusia, Spain. It is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, in the province of Málaga, beneath the La Concha mountain.

This post is going to be short and sweet because I've just had an exhausting weekend seeing Prince William and Kate Middleton get married.  It was really no big deal, I go to capital double-u Weddings all the time.  Tomorrow I will write all about it but for now, Spain.

Friday, April 8th me and my lovely parents got on what we now refer to as the Wild West flight to Malaga from London.  We had a wonderful time, spending a few days one the beach, on day in a mountain town called Ronda and one day trip to Morocco.  It was very relaxing and it was awesome to swim in salty sea water with big waves.

Marbella

 Ronda

 Morocco

Coleslaw: [noun]- What you say to someone when they ask you a question that you could not possibly know the answer to (Note: not a British word but a Wallman word).

Monday April 4 was an exciting start to our trip to London.  So my parents come to visit me after a I have lived on my own in England for a number of months.  I was hoping to squash the "silly youngest child" stereotype with my AWESOME independence.  But alas, I just ended up confirming it.  Back to the story.  Monday morning we had a train that was leaving at 8 to go to London and the day before me and my parents decided that we were going to meet downstairs in front of my building at 7:30.  When I wasn't there at 7:45 my mom decided to come into the building and ring the doorbell of the flat.  Instead of being woken up by my alarm on my computer (my computer was dead because I forgot to plug it in, very smart) I was woken up by the doorbell fifteen minutes before we had to be on the train.  Luckily, I'm pretty good at getting ready quickly so we made the train on time.  However, it gets worse.  About an hour into the train ride I realized that I did not have my passport, my passport which would be necessary for our next leg of the trip, going to Spain right from London.  So, I got off the train, went back to Leeds, got my passport, and got to London about two hours after my parents.  GOOD JOB LIZA!

Anyways, on to the good stuff.  Once I arrived in London we went out for lunch and then took the tube to The Tower Of London.  It was really well set up so that it was both informative and interesting and now I can say that I've seen the crown jewels!

After the tower of London we went to The Tate Modern and saw some artwork. 

Afterward we had dinner along the Thames and watched people train for the London Marathon.  Does anyone know why everyone in London runs with a backpack on? Later that evening, we went on a Jack the Ripper tour which actually was not as scary as it sounds and relatively informative about the city of London and its history.

Tuesday morning we went to Westminster Abbey and toured around inside which was pretty cool to see where the upcoming Royal Wedding is going to take place.  Big Ben is near by so we also took a look at that guy, he's pretty cool.  Afterward we made our way over to Buckingham Palace and watched the guards march around for a bit.

We then had lunch and then made our way to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.  We took a good look around there and then had a couple of free hours for shopping, which was extremely successful.  We had dinner and then went to a play, The Children's Hour, with Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss which was so cool and also a really good play, all of the actors were wonderful.

Wednesday was a beautiful day weather wise which was too lovely.  We went to the National Library and the British Museum in the morning which both house insane artifacts and artworks.  We saw the Magna Carta, handwritten lyrics by The Beatles, Egyptian statues, and sculptures from the Parthenon.  We took it easy that afternoon because I was sick, so we just enjoyed the warm weather and did some people watching.  That evening we went on the London eye with two of my cousins, Ally and Kendra.

We then went out for dinner with Ally, Kendra and Uncle Rod (their Dad) and it was one of the more hilarious meals of my life time.  It was so wonderful seeing all of you!

Thursday was another glorious weather day.  We walked through Hyde Park, went to the Serpentine Gallery and shopped.  We went into Harrod's and Selfridges which are by far the most ridiculous, although amazing, stores I have ever been in.  They are both like mazes of expensive everything (shoes, jewelery, clothes, food, they probably had cars in these places we just didn't have two weeks to wander around the stores).

At some point during our trip we did go to the National Portrait Gallery I just can't remember if it was Wednesday or Thursday.  Next up: Spain.

LUFC: [noun]- Acronym for Leeds United Football Club

On Thursday, March 31st I picked my parents up from the Leeds train station, caffeinated sustenance in tow for my surely sleep deprived guests after their overnight plane ride.  However, they surprised me with their general alertness so we got them to their hotel and then had a delicious meal at Jamie's Italian (that's right, Jamie Oliver).  But the next day the truth was revealed as apparently my Mom was so tired she didn't actually remember a lot of the meal due to sleep deprivation (sorry Mom, but it's kind of funny).  On the Friday, I had class in the morning and then I had to go to Manchester for a few hours for a class in the afternoon so my parents wandered around the city and then I met them back at their hotel and we went out for dinner, another lovely meal.  On our Saturday in Leeds we went to a LUFC match which was so much fun to go to.  I'm not one to pretend that watching sports is my favorite thing, especially football/soccer but this game was thoroughly entertaining! It helps that soccer/football is a pretty easy sport to follow but the best part was definitely the fan energy.  After a refreshing team nap (the best kind of nap) we had a wonderful evening with the Malones (friend's, that's you Caitie, dad's cousin's family) who took us to a wonderful restaurant and then to this awesome place where there is a ski slope inside and we watched people ski for a while which is really fun to do when they are in the cold in full snow gear and you are toasty warm.  Sunday we went to Temple Newsam and walked around the grounds and the building.  Afterwards we walked around Leeds and the campus of the University and also went to the Leeds Art Gallery.  Dinner that day was a wonderful meal of Domino's Pizza.  Stay tuned for details on the London portion of the adventure. 

Holiday: [noun]- exactly what you think.

What is different about the word holiday in the UK is its frequent use.  In Canada, one would be more likely to say "vacation" when discussing a trip that they are planning to take/have already taken where as in England people say holiday.  "Where are you going for your holiday?"  This may be me reading into the language differences a little bit too much but hey, if the shoe fits.  Am I right?

I'm currently on my "Easter Holiday" which is a nice little four week vacation in the middle of the winter semester.  Once this four weeks is up, I have one more week of school and then exams beginning and then this school year, somehow, is over.

The Easter break can explain my almost three week absence from the ol' blog as my parents came to visit for a portion of the break!  It was so wonderful to have them here.  We spent the first four days here in Leeds, then five days in London and then a week in Marbella, Spain.  I, being the intelligent person that I am, packed my camera and the battery charger but not the battery so I have no pictures.  Luckily my mom had her camera so when ever she sends over her pictures (hint, hint) I'll post a few here.  For now, the only pieces evidence of my trip are the mushy words of thanks I have for my parents for being the absolute best.  Thank you again for coming to visit!

Howth: [noun]- a sea side suburb of Dublin and where I plan on retiring.

On the Friday of my trip to Ireland, Andy and I went to Howth for a few hours.  I'll let the pictures do the talking in regards to Howth's beauty.

 

Adorable Seals!

Delicious food!

Boats!

Boats!

More boats!

Lighthouse!

Even more boats!

Dudes rockin' out!

Ireland's Eye! And me!

Me and Andy!

My future home!

The most beautiful view ever! x2

Dawny, your first and last name were just everywhere in this country.

As you can see by the abundance of exclamation points, Howth is awesome. My decision to retire in Howth was helped by the glorious weather that happened that day.  If your looking for me in 50 years, that's where I'll be.

We went back to Dublin after a couple of hours in Howth and went to a dinner at this restaurant where there was traditional and live Irish dancing and music.  I got to enjoy even more Irish music, which was delightful.  Also I had the strongest (and probably the last for me) Irish coffee ever.  I don't know why I was expecting Bailey's in the coffee but it was most definitely whisky.

Ladies (and gentlemen), if you are looking to fall in love with an Irish man who plays a traditional Irish drum in a traditional Irish band, go to The Arlington Hotel Restaurant near O'Connell Street in Dublin.  You will not be disappointed.