Days 23, 24, 25, 26, and finally 27 and now Day 1 in Scotland
A month, I spent an entire month in Paris. It was amazing, exhausting, exhilirating, sometimes frustrating but all around wonderful! I was asked my first week if I could ever live there and I said yes, but not permanently. However, now, I don't think I could. It's beautiful and historic and amazing, but still too crowded, busy, fast and quite frankly a lot of people are rude.
But, I would definitely go back, but not with a group. I'd definitely go to study, maybe try to rent an apartment with friends for a month or two, it's much cheaper.
Having done this program, I now know what kinds of things to think about when planning for the trip, such as places to stay, relative cost of living, metro passes, how to get around, the cost of summer programs through the school themself rather than a program through your home school, etc. I could even go do another country with this knowledge! And it is absolutely irreplacable! I don't think I could ever do something of this nature without having done this program, because quite frankly, it was quite amazing, if rushed and tiring.
Monday, we had our last class of phonetics with our phonetics final which I got a 16/20 on. After class we went back and made lunch.
Afterwards, we attempted studying for our finals but none of us could focus so instead we all just relaxed, had dinner, then tried to study a bit.
Tuesday, we had our final. After class, Michelle, Cynthia, Carol and I went and found a nice restaurant on our favorite little side street and had a nice sit down lunch, complete with entire bottle of white wine, followed with Amarino ice cream!
Wednesday we went in to review our final. Went back to the dorm to start packing and doing laundry/cleaning my room. Around 5, Cynthia and I headed over to Conde to help finish setting up for the going away party, then we sat and had bread, cheese, drinks, and then delicious tiny little pastries.
Afterward, YP, Lindsey, Nefia, Mike and I FINALLY went to La Tour Eiffel where we were going to meet up with Michelle, Cynthia, Daniel and a bunch of other people from Conde. We never did end meeting with them so YP and I decided to climb the stairs ourselves while Nefia, Lindsey, Carol and Mike went to go sit on the grass (finally! Grass to be sat upon in Paris!).
YP and I made it up about 5 minutes (halfway up to the first deck) before having to stop for a breather, made it to the 1st deck, walked around, took pictures then continued up to the second one. Again, about halfway up, we had to stop for a breather then when we got to the second deck we bought a bottle of water, walked around the deck while drinking water and catch our breath, then finally took the elevator for the last bit of the trek up to the top. The view from the top of Sacre-Coeur was amazing, however, it did not compare to this!
The view from the top of La Tour Eiffel is truly breathtaking and outstanding. You can see for miles in every direction from a lot higher than Sacre-Coeur! All in all, we climbed 1,652 stairs from the ground to the 2nd deck in under 20 minutes then took a scary ass elevator to the top. However, it was well worth it! We were even up top to see the sun dip below the horizon as it officially set!
When we went down we went and laid on the grass for about 45 minutes, stretched, slowing our breathing and relaxing, waiting for the tower to sparkle and light up again.
La Tour Eiffel sparkling and lit up is absolutely amazing! Nothing like it at all!
Afterwards, we hiked back to the bus, only to find out it stopped running at 9:57 and it is now 11:15... and we have a midnight curfew and we're easily a 45 minute walk from home. So Nefia says she knows of a metro nearby. We rush to the metro, have to switch stations and YP and I high tail it home to make sure the door is held for Carol and Nefia, literally made it 12 on the dot! Then went and wolfed down food as we hadn't eaten real food before our trek up the stairs.
Thursday was the first day I got to sleep in past 7:30 and it was lovely! But I was almost late picking up Lisa!!!!!!
And then, Lisa was there! We both showered before I took her out to get food then on a tour of the city. We went to Sacre-Coeur and the Montmartre district, then Notre Dame, and finally I took her to get Amarino's before heading home. She napped for about 2 hours in my room while Cynthia and I worked on finalizations for our trip.
Lisa got to eat dinner with us at the hotel then we headed to her hotel to get her checked in.
The Courtyard in Paris was a little weird... >.> Apparently the courtyard itself was tiny but the elevator will only work if you have your key card inserted into it to choose a floor... And on top of that, you have to insert your keycard into this placard right by the door to have the POWER in the room work. Talk about weird! Also, halfway across the world and the Courtyard still has IBAHN... but not free
BUT it was airconditioned and there was a giant shower and a hair dryer! Sadly I had left my hair brush at the dorm. Oh, AND it had two full size beds!!! It felt so nice to stretch!
Friday morning, we finally got up about 9:30, when housekeeping came knocking on the door, then headed back to the dorm.
There we finished packing up the last of my stuff before heading out to take Lisa to see La Tour Eiffel. We stopped by the Military Museum on the way home to check out the gardens and see the outside of Napoleon's tomb.
Then we headed back, changed, finished up last minute stuff then headed off to the airport.
Our trip to the airport took forever, much longer than the 1h15 that was quoted, more like 2... Barely made it in time to drop my suitcase off at Baggage du Monde, but drop it off I did. Then we high tailed it to the other terminal, got checked in, grabbed a sandwich pack and a pack of fig newtons, chowed down our food then hopped on the plane.
When we arrived in Edinburgh it was about 10 pm. We got ourselves situated, I exchanged my money, exchange rates sucks but it was way better than what I would have gotten in Paris, then we camped out for the night in the terminal. Not fun, but not my worst night of sleep I can say.
We woke up bright and early, due to the heavy traffic and loud speaker intercom instructions, hopped on the bus to the Haymarket train station, sat around in the cold for an hour and a half, got some hot drinks before hopping on the train to Carlisle.
We arrived in Carlisle only to find nobody in the town knows anything about the bus we're to take... We finally FINALLY find someone about 20 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave then saw the bus pass by to do its round.
Finally aboard the train, Lisa fell asleep, Cynthia dozed and I sat up front talking to the driver and this really awesome guy who looked like a heavy metal punk rocker harley biker but was super sweet and even helped this old lady up and down the stairs of the bus with her bags (even though he had a bum leg)
When we got into town, the bus driver told me to call the bus company from a cafe to see if they could give us a lift to our B&B.
We went into the cafe, ordered food, the lady there was realy nice and pointed out one of the bus employees just across the street. I went and asked him about what the driver said, he personally drove me to the office to talk to his boss who not only agreed to give us a lift, but in his personal car free of charge! I have to say, the attitude of people here versus Paris is like night and day!
Now we are safely ensonced in our very lavendar room at the Sorbietree's Bed and Breakfast in Newcastleton Scotland. Cynthia and I have both showered, Lisa, however, is passed out and sleeping like a baby.
Tomorrow, we shall venture out into the town to see what it has to offer, spend a few days here, maybe stay, maybe not. We haven't decided yet.
But, I would definitely go back, but not with a group. I'd definitely go to study, maybe try to rent an apartment with friends for a month or two, it's much cheaper.
Having done this program, I now know what kinds of things to think about when planning for the trip, such as places to stay, relative cost of living, metro passes, how to get around, the cost of summer programs through the school themself rather than a program through your home school, etc. I could even go do another country with this knowledge! And it is absolutely irreplacable! I don't think I could ever do something of this nature without having done this program, because quite frankly, it was quite amazing, if rushed and tiring.
Monday, we had our last class of phonetics with our phonetics final which I got a 16/20 on. After class we went back and made lunch.
Afterwards, we attempted studying for our finals but none of us could focus so instead we all just relaxed, had dinner, then tried to study a bit.
Tuesday, we had our final. After class, Michelle, Cynthia, Carol and I went and found a nice restaurant on our favorite little side street and had a nice sit down lunch, complete with entire bottle of white wine, followed with Amarino ice cream!
Wednesday we went in to review our final. Went back to the dorm to start packing and doing laundry/cleaning my room. Around 5, Cynthia and I headed over to Conde to help finish setting up for the going away party, then we sat and had bread, cheese, drinks, and then delicious tiny little pastries.
Afterward, YP, Lindsey, Nefia, Mike and I FINALLY went to La Tour Eiffel where we were going to meet up with Michelle, Cynthia, Daniel and a bunch of other people from Conde. We never did end meeting with them so YP and I decided to climb the stairs ourselves while Nefia, Lindsey, Carol and Mike went to go sit on the grass (finally! Grass to be sat upon in Paris!).
YP and I made it up about 5 minutes (halfway up to the first deck) before having to stop for a breather, made it to the 1st deck, walked around, took pictures then continued up to the second one. Again, about halfway up, we had to stop for a breather then when we got to the second deck we bought a bottle of water, walked around the deck while drinking water and catch our breath, then finally took the elevator for the last bit of the trek up to the top. The view from the top of Sacre-Coeur was amazing, however, it did not compare to this!
The view from the top of La Tour Eiffel is truly breathtaking and outstanding. You can see for miles in every direction from a lot higher than Sacre-Coeur! All in all, we climbed 1,652 stairs from the ground to the 2nd deck in under 20 minutes then took a scary ass elevator to the top. However, it was well worth it! We were even up top to see the sun dip below the horizon as it officially set!
When we went down we went and laid on the grass for about 45 minutes, stretched, slowing our breathing and relaxing, waiting for the tower to sparkle and light up again.
La Tour Eiffel sparkling and lit up is absolutely amazing! Nothing like it at all!
Afterwards, we hiked back to the bus, only to find out it stopped running at 9:57 and it is now 11:15... and we have a midnight curfew and we're easily a 45 minute walk from home. So Nefia says she knows of a metro nearby. We rush to the metro, have to switch stations and YP and I high tail it home to make sure the door is held for Carol and Nefia, literally made it 12 on the dot! Then went and wolfed down food as we hadn't eaten real food before our trek up the stairs.
Thursday was the first day I got to sleep in past 7:30 and it was lovely! But I was almost late picking up Lisa!!!!!!
And then, Lisa was there! We both showered before I took her out to get food then on a tour of the city. We went to Sacre-Coeur and the Montmartre district, then Notre Dame, and finally I took her to get Amarino's before heading home. She napped for about 2 hours in my room while Cynthia and I worked on finalizations for our trip.
Lisa got to eat dinner with us at the hotel then we headed to her hotel to get her checked in.
The Courtyard in Paris was a little weird... >.> Apparently the courtyard itself was tiny but the elevator will only work if you have your key card inserted into it to choose a floor... And on top of that, you have to insert your keycard into this placard right by the door to have the POWER in the room work. Talk about weird! Also, halfway across the world and the Courtyard still has IBAHN... but not free
BUT it was airconditioned and there was a giant shower and a hair dryer! Sadly I had left my hair brush at the dorm. Oh, AND it had two full size beds!!! It felt so nice to stretch!
Friday morning, we finally got up about 9:30, when housekeeping came knocking on the door, then headed back to the dorm.
There we finished packing up the last of my stuff before heading out to take Lisa to see La Tour Eiffel. We stopped by the Military Museum on the way home to check out the gardens and see the outside of Napoleon's tomb.
Then we headed back, changed, finished up last minute stuff then headed off to the airport.
Our trip to the airport took forever, much longer than the 1h15 that was quoted, more like 2... Barely made it in time to drop my suitcase off at Baggage du Monde, but drop it off I did. Then we high tailed it to the other terminal, got checked in, grabbed a sandwich pack and a pack of fig newtons, chowed down our food then hopped on the plane.
When we arrived in Edinburgh it was about 10 pm. We got ourselves situated, I exchanged my money, exchange rates sucks but it was way better than what I would have gotten in Paris, then we camped out for the night in the terminal. Not fun, but not my worst night of sleep I can say.
We woke up bright and early, due to the heavy traffic and loud speaker intercom instructions, hopped on the bus to the Haymarket train station, sat around in the cold for an hour and a half, got some hot drinks before hopping on the train to Carlisle.
We arrived in Carlisle only to find nobody in the town knows anything about the bus we're to take... We finally FINALLY find someone about 20 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave then saw the bus pass by to do its round.
Finally aboard the train, Lisa fell asleep, Cynthia dozed and I sat up front talking to the driver and this really awesome guy who looked like a heavy metal punk rocker harley biker but was super sweet and even helped this old lady up and down the stairs of the bus with her bags (even though he had a bum leg)
When we got into town, the bus driver told me to call the bus company from a cafe to see if they could give us a lift to our B&B.
We went into the cafe, ordered food, the lady there was realy nice and pointed out one of the bus employees just across the street. I went and asked him about what the driver said, he personally drove me to the office to talk to his boss who not only agreed to give us a lift, but in his personal car free of charge! I have to say, the attitude of people here versus Paris is like night and day!
Now we are safely ensonced in our very lavendar room at the Sorbietree's Bed and Breakfast in Newcastleton Scotland. Cynthia and I have both showered, Lisa, however, is passed out and sleeping like a baby.
Tomorrow, we shall venture out into the town to see what it has to offer, spend a few days here, maybe stay, maybe not. We haven't decided yet.