Summer '06!
I had quite a crazy summer and am now settling back into the real world at TU, so figured it was time for a review of the summer.
When I finished at Towson I had (I think) two days before summer school at MC Rockville started. So I spent the first seven weeks of the summer working and taking classes. I took history and physical science and worked at Calleva in between. So I went to Calleva in the am, went to class, went back to Calleva for a few hours, then went to the gym, then went to physical science. Then on Saturdays and Sundays I worked at the vet. I also house sat a few times which wasn't bad. It was definitely a lot of work and kept me really busy, but it was worth. And, in the beginning of July, Tay got us 12th row tickets to the Faith Hill&Tim McGraw concert...that was a blast! Tay worked doubles Tuesday through Saturday and picked up a couple Suns and Mons too--it was crazy! So all that working paid off because the money went to our amazing vacation...
July 25th Tay and I left for our trip. We flew to Dublin where we stayed in a hostel, which actually worked out really well. Our room had six beds, but usually a couple of them were empty, so we got to meet new people everyday. And we were right near everything. I really loved it there. We went to so many places and the history behind everything was surprisingly interesting. We went to the Dublin Castle, Guinness Storehouse, Jameson Distillery, the Bram Stoker/Dracula experience, the Kilamanham(sp?) Gaol/Jail. We went to the Internation Club and saw an improv group that was a hilarious and finished with a song called "Bouncer's Bumluff". We did a Literary pub crawl, during which I ran into Shawn Basak, which was really funny. And one day we went to the train station and said to the guy who worked there "where should we go?" and he told us to go to Bray, so we did. We'd never heard of it before, but I'm so glad we went. It was so amazing. Huge grassy hills rolling right into the water, gorgeous mountains with really nice houses, everything. There was a little grassy area that didn't have many people and we just lied down and listened to music and talked and I could have stayed there for hours...it was perfect. And we went and saw The Importance of Being Earnest. We sat in pubs and parks and we saw traditional Irish singing and dancing and ridiculously priced restaurant that scammed us. The entire week was incredible and the vacation would have been beyond all of my expectations if it stopped right there.
But it didn't. Because then we got on a really nice ferry that took us to Wales where we boarded a train to Dublin. We met a couple from London on the train and sat with them and played a card game that they called "black jack", but it wasn't black jack at all. So when we got to London we went and found our flat which was actually a room in a townhouse. It was really nice to have a kitchen and our own room and stuff. We went and saw Phantom of the Opera and We Will Rock You, the musical based on Queen's music. We went to Buckingham Palace and the Globe Theatre. And we went wine tasting at Vinopolis. We went to this park that had a ton of street performers. There were these two brothers that were magician/jugglers. One of them rode a ten ft. unicycle while juggling an apple, machete, and an egg. We went to the Tower of London--it was a whole city and the crown jewels were there. They were fairly amazing. We went the Tower Bridge. And even after all of that, we still had one more city to go.
We took the Chunnel to Paris and passed amazing French countryside. We got to Paris and went to our flat, which was so adorable. It was in a gated apartment complex and there was a little bakery right down the street that had amazing baguettes that were always hot. We ate tons of cheese & baguette sandwiches, and salads with goat cheese. And we went to this skyscraper called Tour Montparnasse the first night. We went up on the roof and saw the Tour d'Eiffel and everything else and then we went inside and it was a really nice piano bar. We went the Arc d'Triomph and Musee d'Orsay which used to be a train station and was really gorgeous, and the Rodin Museum and the Picasso Museum. We ate lunch in the Tour d'Eiffel and then went back at night to go to the top. We went to the Moulin Rouge! One day we stayed in and played Rummy all day and that was such a blast! We sat at cafes and even took a tour of the sewers! We strolled along the Seine and went inside incredible churches. And we went to Notre Dame at night and went to the top to the bell tower. Everything there was just so extravagant and so gorgeous. And Tay got to speak so much French and he did such an amazing job.
Then we got on a plane and flew back to the VA/MD area. But, we weren't even there for 24 hrs because we had to go back to the airport to fly to Des Moines, IA. Yes, from Paris to Des Moines in just a few hours. But, it was my sister's wedding so I couldn't really miss that. It was so nice to have Taylor there. It just showed that my family really recognizes what he means to me and that he'll be around for the long haul, and it's so important to me that they finally realize that. So after Des Moines I was in MoCo for a week and now I'm back up in Towson. I was going to do a little "this is my semester" bit here, but this is already really long, so I'll do that later.
Hope everyone's semester is starting off well!
When I finished at Towson I had (I think) two days before summer school at MC Rockville started. So I spent the first seven weeks of the summer working and taking classes. I took history and physical science and worked at Calleva in between. So I went to Calleva in the am, went to class, went back to Calleva for a few hours, then went to the gym, then went to physical science. Then on Saturdays and Sundays I worked at the vet. I also house sat a few times which wasn't bad. It was definitely a lot of work and kept me really busy, but it was worth. And, in the beginning of July, Tay got us 12th row tickets to the Faith Hill&Tim McGraw concert...that was a blast! Tay worked doubles Tuesday through Saturday and picked up a couple Suns and Mons too--it was crazy! So all that working paid off because the money went to our amazing vacation...
July 25th Tay and I left for our trip. We flew to Dublin where we stayed in a hostel, which actually worked out really well. Our room had six beds, but usually a couple of them were empty, so we got to meet new people everyday. And we were right near everything. I really loved it there. We went to so many places and the history behind everything was surprisingly interesting. We went to the Dublin Castle, Guinness Storehouse, Jameson Distillery, the Bram Stoker/Dracula experience, the Kilamanham(sp?) Gaol/Jail. We went to the Internation Club and saw an improv group that was a hilarious and finished with a song called "Bouncer's Bumluff". We did a Literary pub crawl, during which I ran into Shawn Basak, which was really funny. And one day we went to the train station and said to the guy who worked there "where should we go?" and he told us to go to Bray, so we did. We'd never heard of it before, but I'm so glad we went. It was so amazing. Huge grassy hills rolling right into the water, gorgeous mountains with really nice houses, everything. There was a little grassy area that didn't have many people and we just lied down and listened to music and talked and I could have stayed there for hours...it was perfect. And we went and saw The Importance of Being Earnest. We sat in pubs and parks and we saw traditional Irish singing and dancing and ridiculously priced restaurant that scammed us. The entire week was incredible and the vacation would have been beyond all of my expectations if it stopped right there.
But it didn't. Because then we got on a really nice ferry that took us to Wales where we boarded a train to Dublin. We met a couple from London on the train and sat with them and played a card game that they called "black jack", but it wasn't black jack at all. So when we got to London we went and found our flat which was actually a room in a townhouse. It was really nice to have a kitchen and our own room and stuff. We went and saw Phantom of the Opera and We Will Rock You, the musical based on Queen's music. We went to Buckingham Palace and the Globe Theatre. And we went wine tasting at Vinopolis. We went to this park that had a ton of street performers. There were these two brothers that were magician/jugglers. One of them rode a ten ft. unicycle while juggling an apple, machete, and an egg. We went to the Tower of London--it was a whole city and the crown jewels were there. They were fairly amazing. We went the Tower Bridge. And even after all of that, we still had one more city to go.
We took the Chunnel to Paris and passed amazing French countryside. We got to Paris and went to our flat, which was so adorable. It was in a gated apartment complex and there was a little bakery right down the street that had amazing baguettes that were always hot. We ate tons of cheese & baguette sandwiches, and salads with goat cheese. And we went to this skyscraper called Tour Montparnasse the first night. We went up on the roof and saw the Tour d'Eiffel and everything else and then we went inside and it was a really nice piano bar. We went the Arc d'Triomph and Musee d'Orsay which used to be a train station and was really gorgeous, and the Rodin Museum and the Picasso Museum. We ate lunch in the Tour d'Eiffel and then went back at night to go to the top. We went to the Moulin Rouge! One day we stayed in and played Rummy all day and that was such a blast! We sat at cafes and even took a tour of the sewers! We strolled along the Seine and went inside incredible churches. And we went to Notre Dame at night and went to the top to the bell tower. Everything there was just so extravagant and so gorgeous. And Tay got to speak so much French and he did such an amazing job.
Then we got on a plane and flew back to the VA/MD area. But, we weren't even there for 24 hrs because we had to go back to the airport to fly to Des Moines, IA. Yes, from Paris to Des Moines in just a few hours. But, it was my sister's wedding so I couldn't really miss that. It was so nice to have Taylor there. It just showed that my family really recognizes what he means to me and that he'll be around for the long haul, and it's so important to me that they finally realize that. So after Des Moines I was in MoCo for a week and now I'm back up in Towson. I was going to do a little "this is my semester" bit here, but this is already really long, so I'll do that later.
Hope everyone's semester is starting off well!