In two and a half weeks, I am going to take off for Portugal. This will be my last big trip before coming home. I'm really excited. I'm hoping it will be warm and sunny and that we'll be able to just hang out and relax. I know that, no matter what job I get, I'm going to have to do some real work this summer (unlike what passes for work here in the UK), so it'll be great to have a week or so to just hang around and do something cool at the same time.
We're actually going to go to Oxford first, so I will have completed one of the major life goals I have set for myself. I will have been to Oxford. If you know me at all, heck, if you've ever looked at this blog, you know I adore pretty much anything J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote. I am ridiculously excited to go the the city where he lived, wrote, and taught for so long.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I should tell you about last week. Last week, my dear friend Whitney (another Ole) came down to Norwich to visit for a few days. We didn't really do anything amazing--just hung out, which was amazing in and of itself. It was really good to see her and talk to her again. Since we're drawing to the close of our time abroad, we talked a lot about going home. It had been far too long since I had last talked with another Ole.
Life has quieted down quickly though. Registration and roomdraw for next year are done, and the year is winding down. I go home in four weeks or so. Norwich has been my home for such a long time, it feels. It's hard to imagine I have a home anywhere else. I may not be 100% happy here 100% of the time (but is anyone, anywhere?), but it's where I live! It'll be so strange to leave and know I probably won't be back.
21 April 2008
15 April 2008
Easter Break
I'm finally back from all of my Easter travels. Mom, Dad, and Wes came for 10 days, and then I took off again with a few friends to go back to Europe. I had an absolutely amazing time.
Seeing my family again was really nice, and I had a chance to show them around where I've been living for the past seven months. We went to London, Paris (totally against my will, by the way), Hastings, Canterbury, Stonehenge, and Norwich. So I got to see some new things as well, including the place where Harold Godwinson (last king of the Anglo-Saxons) was killed and the place where St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury was martyred. Oh, and Chaucer's grave, in Westminster Abbey. Dear old Chaucer.
My second trip around Europe was much, much better than the first. First of all, I much prefered the countries we visited. I didn't like Spain, France was just okay, and while I loved Italy, I wouldn't want to spend too much more time there. But I absolutely adore Switzerland (still), and really want to see more of Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Also, they have better food, but I might just think that because it's more like what I'm used to. Really, a bratwurst is not that foreign to me (though the onion sauce that I got with it was, and it was AMAZING). And neither are potatoes...
Also, traveling companions make all the difference. I didn't get as tired and cranky this time around, despite catching a bad cold. I was also much more relaxed and more confident. I didn't feel like the entire trip would fall apart if I screwed up.
So, yeah, we had a lot of fun. We didn't go see too many museums--just the Museum of Communism in Prague, the Albertina and the Freud Museum in Vienna, and the Pergamon in Berlin. I got to see the outside of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the statue of Wenceslaus in Prague (of Christmas Carol fame. He's hiding in a mountain and will someday save the Czech Republic--what's not to like?). We sat in a field in Interlaken for 3 hours and stared at the Alps and watched and old couple and their cat. We took a 12 hour train from Interlaken to Vienna and played cards with a guy from Salzburg on the train. We strolled through a daffodil garden in Bruges. Dave accidentally got left behind in a church in Vienna. We finally found a beer Teri actually liked. Astonishingly, no one got run over by a crazy Belgian or Dutch person on a bicycle (seriously, this is a miracle).
I really would prefer to still be traveling. I really did not want to come back to Norwich. I've been back for two days now, and I feel stifled. I can't imagine how I'll feel when I get back to the States. Do I have to come home?
Seeing my family again was really nice, and I had a chance to show them around where I've been living for the past seven months. We went to London, Paris (totally against my will, by the way), Hastings, Canterbury, Stonehenge, and Norwich. So I got to see some new things as well, including the place where Harold Godwinson (last king of the Anglo-Saxons) was killed and the place where St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury was martyred. Oh, and Chaucer's grave, in Westminster Abbey. Dear old Chaucer.
My second trip around Europe was much, much better than the first. First of all, I much prefered the countries we visited. I didn't like Spain, France was just okay, and while I loved Italy, I wouldn't want to spend too much more time there. But I absolutely adore Switzerland (still), and really want to see more of Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Also, they have better food, but I might just think that because it's more like what I'm used to. Really, a bratwurst is not that foreign to me (though the onion sauce that I got with it was, and it was AMAZING). And neither are potatoes...
Also, traveling companions make all the difference. I didn't get as tired and cranky this time around, despite catching a bad cold. I was also much more relaxed and more confident. I didn't feel like the entire trip would fall apart if I screwed up.
So, yeah, we had a lot of fun. We didn't go see too many museums--just the Museum of Communism in Prague, the Albertina and the Freud Museum in Vienna, and the Pergamon in Berlin. I got to see the outside of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the statue of Wenceslaus in Prague (of Christmas Carol fame. He's hiding in a mountain and will someday save the Czech Republic--what's not to like?). We sat in a field in Interlaken for 3 hours and stared at the Alps and watched and old couple and their cat. We took a 12 hour train from Interlaken to Vienna and played cards with a guy from Salzburg on the train. We strolled through a daffodil garden in Bruges. Dave accidentally got left behind in a church in Vienna. We finally found a beer Teri actually liked. Astonishingly, no one got run over by a crazy Belgian or Dutch person on a bicycle (seriously, this is a miracle).
I really would prefer to still be traveling. I really did not want to come back to Norwich. I've been back for two days now, and I feel stifled. I can't imagine how I'll feel when I get back to the States. Do I have to come home?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
