Estoy en Uruguay

I'm in Uruguay!  Crazy, I know.  But great!  I got here Thursday afternoon but I've been busy.  The last few days here have been pretty cool!!!  There are 7 of us studying abroad (so about 20 less than last semester), but it means that we're going to get really close.  Last semester I got close to people but I didn't get to know everyone really well.  I will this semester.  We've been hanging out all together quite a lot these last few days.  We've had orientation and have all been together during that as well as touring the city a bit, eating together, and going to the beach together.  I think it's a great group of people and I'm excited to spend my semester with these people.

So here is a recap of the last few days.  Wednesday afternoon we drove to Dallas and got on a plan to Santiago that night.  We got to Santiago the next morning and then had a layover and took another plane to Montevideo. We arrived and our program directors greeted us at the airport, and got a bus to take us around the city a bit and then to our Casa.  We got into our rooms, took showers, and then went out to eat at Mercado de la Abundancia. We also saw some of the stuff for sale.  We ate at about 8 and that is early for Uruguayans.  We're trying to get use to eating on Uruguayan time which is hard when in the States I usually eat around 5 or 6.  Here we eat around 9 which is still pretty early.  Ten to Midnight is more typical but that's bedtime for me.

Any who...the next day we got up and had breakfast and went on a scavenger hunt around so we could find stuff and see where things are.  We went around Tres Cruces (the bus stop), and 18 de Julio which is a nearby street.  Later we had orientation and went to get groceries and all had dinner together and it was South African style curry and it was really good.  Apparently you put bananas and pineapples and stuff in it which i thought was weird at first but it was really good.  I very much enjoyed it.

Earlier today we went to Ciudad Vieja, and Punta Carretas (a mall) and they showed us around there.  We saw some cool buildings, the ashes of José Artigas, who is the national hero of Uruguay, the Teatro Solis, and stuff like that.  We also went to a couple Ferias. After that we went out to eat and then went to a beach!  We went to Pocitos and I thought since it was a Saturday that it would be crowded because earlier when we passed by Pocitos it was, but it was nice.  The weather was good and there weren't many people so we laid in the sand and then played in the water.  Later we went back to Casa, cleaned up, and went to go get food for dinner.  And then later we cooked and ate together.  It was great!

Like I said earlier, there are only 7 of us, which is crazy but I really like it.  We can all go out somewhere and don't overwhelm any restaurants (well at least not too badly).  I'm really excited to get to know everyone better and I feel like we are already getting closer and getting to know each other and we're getting closer.

Tomorrow we have church with the congregation next door and a few things but Monday we start classes.  I'm kinda ready to get on a schedule but at the same time today we were at the beach talking about how nice it was go not have homework so we could stay at the beach for ages and it wouldn't be a problem because we didn't have any thing to get back to.  But classes I guess are important for study abroad...haha!  Well I'm excited!  This semester is going to be great and I can't wait to see what all I get to experience and how I'll grow.

Month in the States

So I've been back in the States for just over a month and now I'm preparing to go to Montevideo, Uruguay.  I'm back and school and it's been great to see my old friends and see my Oxford buddies around campus!  It's been good seeing those people but I know I'm going to miss them terribly.  Some of my close friends are studying abroad too but in different places.  It's been good to see people and meet people I'll be spending the rest of my semester.

I'm really excited about going to Montevideo!!! Nervous but still excited!  It's a bit more intimidating than Oxford because it is going to be so different and the food and culture is going to be a bit more drastically different.

So everyone knows about England but a lot of people ask more questions about Uruguay.  The truth is I don't know a lot either.  I know that It is in South America and that the people are really calm and relaxed.  It'll be interesting actually living there and really seeing it.  I hope to work on my Spanish which will be hard living with Americans but I've been told that I should get involved with the youth at a local church and meet people and practice and get out and talk with Uruguayans and make friends.  Which will be hard for me but I hope I will actually do it and get the most out of my time so I can actually maybe be conversational in Spanish by the end of it.  

I'm really excited about getting to know the people on my trip better.  Which by the way we are a group with a grand total of 7 students.  Yupp there are just 7.  So a very, very small group and we will be living very close and spending a lot of time with each other.  We might get our own rooms though which might be nice for getting homework done.  I am really looking forward to it and hope that we can all be good friends in our small little group and get to know each other really well.  There were people in Oxford that I wished I could have gotten the chance to know better but it was hard even though we weren't all that big of a group.  So hopefully that seems good.  I haven't really gotten to talk to anyone but the two other girls seem nice and I know one of the other guys from previously classes.  

Speaking of Oxford it kinda just feels like a dream at this point.  It doesn't seem like I was actually there sometimes if that makes sense.  But I miss it and want to go back.  I'm a bit jealous of the people going this semester because I know they're going to see and do some many wonderful things and get to go to some of my favorite places.  Ali's, On the Hoof, G&D's, Primark etc. 

This month is the states has been good.  Not as restful as I would have liked and not super eventful but good.  I got to work and when I wasn't working I sometimes got to hang out with some of my best friends from back home and that was great to see them and get to spend time with them.  It was weird being back in the states after not being there for even just 4 months.  It must be crazy for people to return for the first time after a year or even years of being abroad.  But it was good to be back and seeing people.  It was sad to leave them and now sad to leave my college friends but I'm ready to move to this next chapter of my life and to experience Uruguay.  

Well I don't know what else to say for now.  I leave Wednesday and will get to Uruguay Thursday so I'm looking forward to being there and sleeping on a real bed (I'm crashing on the floor of my friends' dorm room right now.  At this point I'm just ready to be there and to see what God has in store for these next few months.   

Last Day

So today is my last day in the UK.  Tomorrow I head back home.  I'm super excited to see my family and friends and I've missed them so much!  It still is sad to leave.  I hope I can come back and visit England again someday!  I've had so much fun and it feels like home away from home!  I'm so blessed to have been able to spend this time here!  I have grown so much as a person and this experience has been good for me!  And not to mention it's been a blast!

I've been so  blessed to get to know and live with my fellow study abroad students!  I knew a few before and it's been good to know them better as well as meet new people and grow close to them!  I'm not going to lie it's not always easy and there has been some tension, but it could have been a lot worse,  and I love all these people and I'm so glad that I've been able to know them and I'm excited to see them around junior year.

I've done so many cool things and have visited so many cool places.  I got to go to Norway which was such a blessing and a dream come true!  I still can't believe that I was able to do that and it was fantastic!  I got to go to Spain and practice my Spanish!  I also got to go all over Germany and France, and be in three countries in one day!  I just think of all the things I've done this semester.  I think it's easy to think about the things I didn't get to do.  But it's better to think about what I did get to do.  I didn't get to go to Scotland like I wanted to, but I got to go to Wales and absolutely loved it!  I didn't get to go to Prague, but I got to go to Berlin!  I didn't get to go to Seville or Grenada in Spain but I got to go to Madrid and Barcelona!  It's all been fantastic!  It's hard to chose a favourite city...people have asked me which city was my favourite and that's really hard.  I like them for different reasons.  I love London!  It's so iconic and it's just pretty awesome!  I loved Oslo and love Norway!  I loved Berlin because of the history.  I loved Madrid because of the architecture and the Spanish.  I loved Paris because I could relate it to what I was reading in Les Miserables.  I loved Brussels because of chocolate and waffles!  Ok not just that Brussels is just cool!  I loved Cardiff because it was so different than what I expected and the Welsh are pretty awesome! Etc. Etc. Etc.  So I don't have a favourite city that I visited.  Maybe Oxford.  But that's because I really got to know this city!

Tomorrow I head home!  This time has flown by but yet it seems like forever that we arrived in Oxford, went to Dorchester, and now it seems like it's been forever since I went to Norway.  Yeah I'm going to have to go back to Norway!  I've loved being here and it's been a great experience!  Now I go home for a month and then head off on my next adventure!  Montevideo!

England: "A Nation of Grumblers" and Other Observations

I wish I would have done more observations about life and my observations about the British here rather than what I was doing but alas I didn't do much of that.  But here is a bit about what I've noticed about the British so here goes it.

I love the Narnia books!  One of my favourites (though I'm really not sure why) was The Silver Chair. There was a character called Puddleglum.  He was rather a pessimistic character and gloomy.  Glum is a good word to describe him.  If someone would say something good or happy he would retort saying something bad was likely to happen.  I can't think of a decent example right now (it's been way too long since I read the book).  So that was Puddleglum, he was based on C.S. Lewis' gardener, but he is very much like a lot of British people.  For example if you mention that the weather is good today (because British talk about the weather a lot), some British people will say "Yes, but it'll likely rain later today."

When we were coming back from Cardiff this last weekend our train was delayed on the last leg of the journey.  We were cold, tired, and there were quite a few people at our platform who were also cold an tired, and complaining quite a bit.  One of them made the comment, "we are a nation of grumblers."  It reminded me of Puddleglum.

One of our first reading assignments in our INTS:Great Britain class was a chapter from a book about the English.  It was quite an interesting section at first but as it went on it was really rather depressing.  So hopefully without going into too much detail it basically talked about how Britain has some very distinct cultures and really the one mainly thought of is the English culture, being the largest and most populous.  Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have their own very distinct cultures as well but this article focused on the English.  Why it was depressing is because it talked a lot about the lack of identity that the English have.  Wales and Scotland know who they are and have their very distinct identity.  They have national songs and are very prideful to be what they are, but the English don't have that.  Basically it made the English sound like lost, miserable people, who don't know what their identity is or what to align themselves with.  They don't know how to define themselves.  I read that at the beginning of my time here and have been living in England, and now spending some time here I'm not sure if I agree.  I don't really disagree because after going to Wales and talking to people in Scotland, I feel like maybe the Welsh and Scottish (sorry I don't have much experience with Northern Ireland) have a stronger feeling and are proud to be Welsh or Scottish or Northern Irish more so than the English.  Maybe because it was match day when I was in Wales, but people seemed really proud to be Welsh, and not just because of the match.  And the Scotland independence, push has been in the news a lot.  I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with that, but basically I feel like I've love being in England and I've had a great time living here and what not, but I'd like to see what it is like to live or at least spend more time in Wales and Scotland.  I love the English but I think I'd really like the Welsh and the Scottish too and would love to get to know them.

Americans in Oxford don't surprise people.  It is such an international town though.  People literally live here or study here from just about everywhere.  People were a bit more confused for there to be Americans visiting Cardiff.  Granted not a lot of Americans even know what Cardiff is.  I may have mentioned this is my last post but people were surprised when we started talking and we didn't sound Welsh, or British.  I guess some places it's more likely for Americans to be.  Like Oxford or London.  And there were a ton of American tourist in Paris.  But sometimes it's fun to go other places and not just do the touristy things.  So one piece of advice I'd give people studying abroad or travelling Europe is to go somewhere a bit more random.  In Norway we were just outside of Oslo so we did go see the touristy things in Oslo but we also got to see the more typical Norwegian life.  Which I loved.  In Spain we went to the big cities like Madrid and Barcelona, but we also went to Avila.  Though some people didn't like Avila because  there really wasn't much to do and we were there for quite a while, I though it was great!  It provided for me a real look into Spanish life and getting to see a smaller town and having to use Spanish and such.  Also in Spain we stayed in Santa Coloma (I believe) outside of Barcelona and on the way to the metro station to go into Barcelona someone heard us talking, asked if we were North Americans and wondered what we were doing there.  We went to Lille in France and it maybe was a bit boring and sure not as fun as Paris, but it was great to see that part of French culture and to get to see a quieter town which would be much nicer to live in.  Germany too we were in Wiesbaden and spent a day in Karlsruhe.  So that was long for what I have to say but I loved getting to see that.  That's one reason I'm glad I'm in Oxford rather than London.  It's still close enough to London though that it is easy to go in for a day trip (not that I really have much, but it's being able to say it).  Besides it's the people who make places like Asker, Avila, Lille, Wiesbaden, and Karlsruhe fun.  And even Oxford.  I would never really think of being a tourist in Oxford.  Maybe because I live here.  But I feel like all a tourist would need to do is see a couple of the colleges, C.S. Lewis' house, and The Eagle and Child.  Which I really haven't done since I live here.  I mean I've loved being in Oxford and taken advantage of my time here but if I were to visit Oxford again I wouldn't go to those places.  I'd go to Canterbury Road, On the Hoof, University Parks, Oxfam, G&D's, the Covered Market, places that are a part of my everyday life. They're places I frequent and that make Oxford home.

Well this time next week I'll be packed up and it'll be my last night here.  Which is quite sad.  But it's good to be going home to Texas!  This semester is about over as I knew it would but I'm going to miss these people so much.  I mean after next semester we will still be in Abilene together but it's just not the same.  I've made some great friends and have really been able to experience what it's like to live in community.  Though at times it can be tough it is great and I've been so blessed!

Cymru: Caerdydd

I love England and it's been great to live here for the last few months.  But the United Kingdom isn't just England and before I left I wanted to see a part of the United Kingdom that wasn't England and experience that.  I really wanted to go to Scotland, but that is quite a long ways away so I went to Wales!  Cardiff to be exact!  It was fantastic!  I loved Wales!  One thing about Wales is that they love Rugby!  It was match day in Cardiff and the Welsh team was playing Australia.  There were a lot of people out for the match and it was really cool to see everyone all dressed in dragon hats, their rugby gear, and wearing flags.  Unfortunately we couldn't get tickets early enough to get the cheap ones so we had to skip out on the match.  In Cardiff we walked along the streets a bit seeing the shops, and people in the streets selling goods for the match later that day.  We went to the Cardiff Castle!  It was really cool!  The castle is pretty cool but one of the parts I really liked was seeing the tunnels that they used in WW2.  The castle wasn't really anything extraordinary in itself though.  It was cool to look at and had a good view of the city.  It is really old though and some of the walls are from the Roman era. After that we went and explored a bit more of the city.  We ate Welsh cakes and they were fantastic!!!  They're kinda like English scones, but better!  We were going to buy a bunch to take home but unfortunately the shop closed before we could get to it.  There was a Christmas market going on that day too!  After we had lunch we walked down to the bay.  We saw the Millennium Centre which was cool!  The bay was really pretty and it would have been cool to stay longer but we wanted to walk back before it got dark.  There is also a Norwegian Church down at the bay.  But kinda the real reason that we went there was to go to the Doctor Who Experience!  I'm a bit of a fan so I kinda had to go while in Cardiff!  It was so cool!!! The beginning was a walk through experience and you could walk into the TARDIS and then walk though some other scenes.  The second part had some stuff from the show and they have a lot of the stuff that was actually used in the show.  They have the outfits for each of the doctors and a couple of the TARDISs and an old TARDIS set, and David Tennant's TARDIS set!  They also had a lot of the sonic screwdrivers, several Daleks, weeping angels, cybermen, the Face of Boe, the companion's costumes, and a ton of stuff!  It was really cool!  We went back into the city centre after we had gone through the exhibit.  The match was over and unfortunately it wasn't good news for the Welsh...they had lost 12-14 in the last two minutes.  Back in the city centre we ate dinner, looked around a bit more, and then headed back to Oxford.

It was such a fun day!  I loved Wales!  The people are very different than the English, which I had heard but it's interesting to see.  I would love to go back and see some more of Wales and Cardiff, and go to a rugby match!  It was cool to see everything written in both Welsh and English and hear people (though not many) speaking Welsh.  I wish more did, it is a really cool language!  The girl I travelled with said that she felt like Cardiff wasn't very British.  I mean it's certainly different than London or other English cities, but it did feel more European.  I loved it though!  People sure weren't expecting American accents when we talked though.   That may have been because I was wearing a Welsh team scarf...You hear a lot of people saying that Cardiff is boring or what not but I liked it a lot!

(P.S. Recently I haven't been posting pictures here on the blog.  I just want to clarify that it isn't because I'm lazy, it's because it's a pain to put them up with the WiFi as it is and all.  No promises but maybe I'll post a bunch of pictures on here when I'm back home in the States. )

Backpacking Across Germany, Belgium, and France

Ok the term "backpacking" sounds a bit more intense than what it actually was but none the less I just got back from a 10ish day excursion with everything packed in a backpack...so yeah that's what I've been up to. So with my program we had some long weekend travel breaks. well this was our big break so we got a whole week off of classes to go travel!  And here is a hopefully not too long description of what all we did.

Germany
We started by flying into Germany, outside the Frankfurt area.  We spent the weekend in Wiesbaden and spent some time in Mainz too.  It may sound random but we stayed with one of my friend's family. They showed us around a bit and we spent time hanging out with them.  Her uncle doesn't speak English but he still tried to talk to use and he was very funny! They were all so sweet!  It was a lot of fun! In Mainz we went to the Gutenberg Museum which is there because Johannes Gutenberg was from there.  We also went to the castle one day too! It was a lot of fun to stay with them and get to talk to people and learn a bit about Germany by that, getting to know people, seeing smaller towns, and not just the tourist stuff.  So we all really enjoyed that.  They showed us around the area and we saw a monument, a castle, a monastery and took a ferry across the Rhine.  After the weekend we went to Karlsruhe.  When we told her family we were going there they couldn't figure out why.  The reason we chose that place is because it is by the Black Forest, but unfortunately we didn't get to see it.  But hey we still had a good afternoon there.  We visited the zoo which was a bit sketch but fun none the less!  We also went to the Karlsruhe palace! The next day we headed to Berlin and kinda got their late so we didn't go out just ate dinner at the hostel and went to bed.  The next morning we went around Berlin.  Berlin is really cool!  I love the history and how some of it is so recent with the Berlin wall and all that.  First that day we went to the Reichstag and there is a dome that you can visit and get pretty cool views of the city.  We also saw a meeting gathering and I'm pretty sure I saw Angela Merkel.  Since that would be really cool to say I'm just going to go with it! So I saw Angela Merkel at the Reichstag!  We then saw some other sights, some memorials, the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, etc.  That day we spent some time at the Jewish Museum which was really cool!  It was very interesting.  They had a lot of symbolic stuff so that was interesting but it was really cool!  We ended up being able to stay a few hours longer in Berlin than we first though so we attended a church service which was pretty cool!  I really liked Berlin for the history and I really liked Germany.  I wasn't expecting to really like it but I did.  We spent a lot of time there in Germany though.  From Thursday night to the next Thursday morning.

Thanksgiving!
This Thanksgiving was quite the crazy day! We took an over night train from Berlin to Brussels.  I don't do the night train thing so well and may have only gotten 45 minutes of sleep...Yes I have already been to Brussels but it was quite alright to go back.  We saw some different things and it was with different people and all. So you know how the last trip was just a day trip so we just spent several hours there...well this time we spent even less time.  We spent about 6 hours getting lost, seeing a few things, getting waffles and chocolate, etc.  Luckily it was a sunny day and the weather was beautiful!  It was nice to see the blue sky! Then we headed to Paris that afternoon.  We got there that evening and after getting into our hostel and all settled we set out!  We went to the Eiffel Tower that night and the view was fantastic from the top.  It was so cold though!  It was windy and we were there freezing the whole time! But the view was great!  It was cool to see the city at night too! But if I go to the Eiffel Tower again I'd like to go up in the day.  But night is pretty cool to see from the top!  It is probably a bit colder though.  After that we walked around a bit and saw the Arc de Triomphe before going back to the hostel for the night.  So basically I spent Thanksgiving in 3 different countries! Which is quite exhausting without only getting 45 minutes of sleep I bet.

Paris!
Last time I went to France we stayed in Lille so I didn't get to see Paris, so I was excited to get out and explore the city I'd been reading about in Les Miserables.  The next day we got up and went to the Musée d'Orsay, which was really cool!  We took a tour and then went and looked around on our own for a bit.  After that we went to the Louvre. So that day we spent a lot of time at the museums.  Paris does have great art museums though!  So we did that for basically all of that day with seeing a few sights here and there.  I have to say I liked the Musée d'Orsay better.  Probably because it was less crowded, and not as enormous. The Louvre is just huge!!!  There are the busy parts and then there are sections of the museum that are basically deserted!  Our last day in Paris we went and saw the Sacré Cœur Basilica and the Notre Dame.  We tried to go see Oscar Wilde's grave but due to some circumstances and the enormous nature of the cemetery we didn't make it.  That night we travelled from Paris to Marseille.

Marseille
After a week of walking all bundled up in the cold it was nice to get a warm day.  For our last day we went to Marseille in the south of France.  We spent the day walking around, enjoying the great weather, and the beach even though we didn't have our swimsuits.  It was a really cool place!

We headed back to Oxford Sunday night and now wrapping up this semester with papers and finals and all that not-so-fun end of the term stuff...Saturday I'm going to Cardiff but that is looking like it'll be my last major trip...hopefully I can go once more into London but probably not unfortunately.  But I've had a great semester here, this was a great trip with a great group of people!  It was good to get to know them better.  I had so much fun on this trip and wish it didn't have to end. But now on to finishing up this semester and enjoying my last two weeks living here in England.

Nottinghamshire

Living in England is cool!  Because it's just a cool place.  There are also a lot of places that you've heard about your whole life that are all the sudden just a bus ride away.  Like Nottingham.  Yes! The home of Robin Hood!  And then you decided two hours before you leave that you're going to hop on a bus to Nottingham.  It happens.  

This weekend I was going to go to Cardiff.  Then that fell though and then I was going to just stay home, have a weekend to rest, and work on my paper like a good student. :) But...my roommate and a couple other people had planed a trip to Nottingham...and I wanted to go.  And someone dropped out a few hours before.  And since they already had tickets and a hostel, I got to go!  

My sister is a big fan of the BBC series Robin Hood!  It's a really good show!  My roommate is also a fan and that's why she wanted to go.  Robin Hood is just a cool story/legend.  I love the British legends like Robin Hood and King Arthur and Merlin (that have both become BBC series).  It kinda makes you wonder how much of it is just stories and how much is real.  Robin Hood seems like it could have actually happened and it was cool to see some of the sights that connect with the legend even if it may not be actual history.  And there was some opportunity for Robin Hood quotes. 

Friday night we left for Nottingham, and spent the night in a hostel (which ended up being really, really nice, and having memory foam mattresses).  Saturday morning we went around Nottingham for a bit and got to see "Nottingham Castle" which actually isn't there anymore.  But there was also a statue of Robin Hood there.  Then we caught a bus to Sherwood forest which is actually closer to Edwinstowe, which is a little town right next to the forest.  So that was about a 40 minute bus ride.  We got to the forest and walked around a bit.  It was so pretty!  We went to the Major Oak where according to the legends Robin Hood and his Merry Men use to meet.  It's over 1000 years old so they've blocked it off so people can't climb it and such to preserve it.  It can't really support itself now so they've built things to help its limbs.  After walking around a bit and climbing some other trees (getting funny looks from British people and such) We went and checked out a few other things at the sight before catching out bus back to Nottingham.  Unfortunately we got a bit distracted so we watched the bus drive away...and the next one wasn't for 2 hours.  Luckily that didn't mess up our plans for getting back to Oxford but we also had two hours to wait around...so we went into Edwinstowe.  There wasn't much but it looked like a nice little down.  There was an arts and crafts centre with some cool stuff to look at.  We ended up just walking around town.  Also in Edwinstowe there is the church where Robin Hood and Maid Marion were said to be married in.  We just walked around the outside because it wasn't open.  We caught the next bus, which was also the last bus, and we headed back to Nottingham.  Though we didn't have much time there so basically just went from one bus station to the next to head back to Oxford.  

It was a really fun trip but you need more time in Nottingham that I though.  To be honest I was wonder what on earth are we actually going to do in Nottingham, but I wish we would have had more time.  The castle isn't really worth going inside unless you want to go see the museum.  It's not even the real castle, just the grounds so if you ever go just walk around the outside and that's fine.  There are also caves that we missed out on (since we missed the bus).  Sherwood forest is fantastic!  It is fun to walk around and a lot of the locals so to bike there are to take nice walks.  I would if I was a local.  How cool would that be to just go on a walk in Sherwood forest on a regular basis!!! I felt rushed the whole trip so if I go again (and I'll tell this to my sister if she ever gets to go) I will spend some more time there.  But sometimes you just don't have to option to spend a lot of time somewhere.  

I'm running out of time here.  Thursday I leave for Germany, Belgium, and France (yes I've already been to Belgium and France but that's just how it works out sometimes) and then I'll be there for over a week, then the first weekend in December I'm going to Cardiff, and then I have one more weekend here!!!  I hope I get to go to London one more time!!!  It's one of my favourite cities!