My First Visitors

I have finally had some visitors here in London!

My mom and sister came to visit and let me tell you, it has been a VERY busy couple of weeks.

Lets go back to November 7.....My mom flew in to Heathrow on November 7 and I picked her up from the airport and headed back to my flat in Greenwich. It's about a 2 hour journey but it seems to go pretty quickly (I think so anyways.) I think she realized very quickly how much walking I do in this city as we had to switch tube stations multiple times and then walk back to my flat once in Greenwich. We didn't do much that evening besides relax and catch up on things because early the next morning we left for Edinburgh, Scotland! I had been wanting to visit this city since before I moved to London so I was thrilled to have the chance to travel more this term!   

We had 4 full days of seeing castles, and cathedrals and meeting locals at a pub nearby. We took a tour bus all around the city and learned a lot about the history of the city and the people who live there. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and worth the 4 1/2 hour train ride. Because we were so close, we also had the opportunity to visit Glasgow for an afternoon as well where we walked around the city center, had some dinner, and found ourselves laughing hysterically while shopping in the north face store. That story is for a different time ;) I can't wait to go back to Glasgow though because we literally only had about 5 or 6 hours to walk around and I know there is so much to see in such a historic city. We passed old universities you can tour and an old cemetery that I want to walk through, even though that seems creepy and weird. It was beautiful and for some reason I just wanted to walk through and read all the old headstones.

It is a hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this city is so old that the headstones I could see had dates in the early 1800's! I want to say some were even before that but....anyways. If nothing else, being abroad has made me realize EVEN MORE how much I absolutely love history and trying to follow as much of it as I can.  It's also funny to think that even when the US is as old as these countries are, it will still be a baby compared to Europe. (Duh, Kristin, Europe gets old along with America...you know what I mean, ok?!) After 4 days in Scotland, we headed back to London...for less than 12 hours haha we got back to my flat around 11pm and repacked for our next adventure to Paris, France! We left at 8am the next morning to get to the train which would take us through the tunnel and into France! It was hectic and I was exhausted but I guess I've always moved quickly in life so overall it worked out. That afternoon we walked around and gathered our bearings and had dinner at a lovely restaurant where I ate the BIGGEST salad I have ever had in my life. It was so yummy! The next morning I got up bright and early to go pick up my twinnie from the airport where she flew in to meet us!! I am proud to say that I managed to figure out their metro system, and the replacement buses being used because they were doing repair work on the line that went all the way to the airport and I did it allll by myself :D For those of you who know how directionally challenged I am, I know you are smiling right now. I have actually become very good at using public transportation out here. Mostly because I don't have a choice but hey! still a huge accomplishment I think. ANYways, I picked up Kimberly and we made our way back to the hotel and the three of us hopped on a tour bus and began the most touristy few days you can imagine. we saw the eiffel tower, the louvre, champs elysee, sacre coeur, and the arc d' triomphe! The tour involved buses and boats and it was actually a good way to see the city for the first time. Due to the fact that I had school work to work on (boooo) I didn't get to see any of Paris at night but I guess I'll just have to head back soon for that experience!!  My favorite part of being there was going to the tippy top of the Eiffel Tower and seeing the magnificent view.  There is nothing to compare it to that I have ever found. It was stunning and romantical and Kimberly and I kept waiting to see someone propose haha especially since they sell champagne (by the glass AND bottle) up there. But really, it was great and as cliche as it is, I LOVED IT. It has especially been fun to travel with my mom and sister and have the time to spend more than a day or even just a few hours in any one of these places. On previous family trips we've been able to travel to France, Spain and other places but they were on cruises and you only have a few hours really in the actual city. Point being, I LOVE TRAVELING and actually getting to explore the cities I am in. The three of us left Paris together, back through the tunnel and in to London! I had a lot of fun showing both my mom and my sis how good I have gotten at using the public transportation and how much I've learned about city. We walked a lot around central london....mainly covent garden area and on Thursday, when I had class they were able to do a lot of shopping around Oxford Circus. Both of them went home with more than enough souvenirs ;). We were also lucky enough to see two amazzzzzing plays! One was called Backbeat and is about the story of the Beatles. It starts in the eeearly days when there were 5 beatles (which I didn't even know) and goes through how they ended up with 4. I thought it was incredible and all the actors actually played their own instruments and well, I was impressed. We also saw a play called the Million Dollar Quartet and this one was even better! Absolutely INCREDIBLE. It is about the one and only night that Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins all played/recorded together. These actors/musicians were so impressive. I would definitely go back to see this one with ANYONE who wants to visit. *hint hint* 

Kimberly and I also had a lot of fun celebrating our birthday together for the first time in 5 years! I'm always in CA and she's always in AZ so we haven't been together on our actual day of birth in forever! We went out to a club called koko which is in Camden and we had fun dancing and such. 

We were fortunate to have really good weather in all our travels! Sun shining every single day in Scotland (crazy!), Paris, AND London! I think even the weather knew they were leaving today though because it was so foggy all day I couldn't see a foot in front of my face and it was very cold. I know it's only supposed to get worse so I best prepare myself!  

So as I said, the two of them left London, back for good 'ol Arizona and I'm sitting here alone in my apartment, skyping with my Javi and trying to get myself focused on school again. I need to start figuring out how to write my second essay because on Thursday we were told we would have to give a 30-40 minute presentation basically with all the information we will be putting in our paper. SO. I need to get on that. It was a lovely couple of weeks of distractions and I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to travel so much so far this term.

Next stop: Bremen, GERMANY!