Markets, Abbeys & Tea [LONDON, part II]

I’m grouping days 2 & 3 of London into one post – if you missed day 1, you can go here!

So, continuing on from where I left off… I was exhausted by the time I returned to my hostel on Saturday night, but after about an hour of uninterrupted sleep from 12-1am, I was abruptly awoken by not one, but TWO snorers in my six bed dorm. This was the first time I’ve been trapped in a room full of snorers, and let me tell you it was pretty awful. I even had some Norah Jones in my ears but nope, I could still hear them.

For whatever reason, I wasn’t too tired on Sunday. My morning started off at St. Margaret’s Church, where I was the only person below 40 years old. People tell me I’m 40 at heart though so I basically fit in well.

I probably should have just worn those sunglasses instead of trying to squint and smile at the camera…

 

I then took the bus for about 40 minutes to get to the Brick Lane Market, which is a really cool area of London with an indie vibe, offering tons of second-hand stuff for really cheap. My purchases? Some new razor blades! Hey, I needed them (no, these were not second hand…).

Baskets of fresh fruit for only one pound!

Some of you offered me great tips regarding where to go and what to see during my stay in London. The Borough Market, a food market underneath the London Bridge, was closed when I was there, but I did see St. Paul’s Cathedral (thanks for the recommendation, Kendra!)

At this point it started pouring rain, so what’s a girl to do while the weather is crummy?? Ummm, Oxford Street, hello! Oxford Street is theeee street for shopping in London, and while most of my time was spent simply admiring the beautiful fashion, I did pick up a dress (for the sister) and a skirt (for me). And the funniest thing happened when I went into the Kate Spade boutique there: the sales lady was from my hometown!

Monday was my last day in London, but it sure was jam packed! I was so thankful to have slept through the night, because I’m not sure I would have dealt very well with another sleepless one.

My morning started with brunch at The Slug and Lettuce, a cute little place right beside the Thames. Besides the good food, I may or may not have been enticed by their 50% off on Mondays deal . Needless to say, it was a great deal, and I slowly sipped my tea while people watching (which I love oh so much!).

Next came a tour of the Westminster Abbey. Although I had first seen it on Saturday, I had yet to go inside. I almost chose not to because of the steep entrance fee, but wow, it was worth every penny! Unfortunately pictures weren’t allowed so I couldn’t capture this magnificence.

Next I walked to Trafalgar Square, home to the National Gallery:

Overlooking Trafalgar Square

The National Gallery is a free art exhibit, and it’s so large that if you’re an art enthusiast you could easily spend an entire day in there. I can’t really say I’m into art (at all, it’s sad actually), but I did go inside for about 4.5 minutes.

From there I walked to Covent Garden Market. This market is more touristy than any other, but nonetheless boasts a huge variety of bakeries, restaurants, and shops. While I was there I noticed a ten-person line for Ben’s Cookies, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I’m not exaggerating when I say that that milk chocolate cookie was one of the highlights of my trip. If you’re ever in London, go to Ben’s Cookies!!!!

Covent Garden Market is also home to London’s most famous fish & chips place:

So fish & chips for dinner it was. I guess I’m just a rebel and eat my dessert before dinner.

I started making my way back to the hostel at this point, but once again caught myself in Leicester Square (home to the theatre tickets). Somehow I found myself stopping at the box office, and when they told me I could have a 5th row seat at Billy Elliot for next to nothing, I couldn’t resist. Billy Elliot was the perfect end to a perfect trip (minus the hostel snorers, who had returned that evening!).

Oh, and yes, these do exist!:

Red telephone booths to match the red double decker buses! 

Are you a fish ‘n chips fan?

So, London, yay or nay for you?

Have a great weekend!

-Emma

Take me back… [LONDON, part I]

Is it too late to apply to the London School of Economics for the class of 2014? Because although I’m back in Maastricht, I left my heart in London…

Sometimes a bathroom selfie is required whilst traveling solo…

My three day trip almost never came to light as my taxi driver failed to show up! (I called the company immediately upon my return and gave them a piece of my mind, to put it lightly. Turns out the driver picked up a party of three instead of a party of one, and now I have an extra 30 euro in my pocket as compensation). I lucked out when a different taxi driver was close enough to my building for me to flag him down – 30 minutes later mind you – but I still managed to make my flight on time.

Ohhh, London, where do I even begin??

My flight was an early one, 8:05 am to be exact. And then as magic (or a time difference) would have it, I had arrived before 8! I took the train from the airport to Liverpool Street, but a cab was required from Liverpool to my hostel – cab fare is not cheap (nor is much) in this city!

Love the double decker buses and English cabbies

My first morning in London was spent in fascination of the EYE… the London Eye, that is. My hostel was only about 10 minutes away by foot.

This is basically a huge ec0-friendly ferris wheel, except you’re inside little glass bulbs as opposed to being in open air. This is definitely more suitable for London weather (which is even crazier than Holland’s!). I paid the 20 pound fee to ride inside; I still don’t know whether or not this was worth about 35 dollars, since you’re basically paying for a view.

The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing all the monuments:

Such as Parliament

You’d swear this was a painting but nope, it’s an unedited photo!

View of the River Thames & London Eye

Parliament

Can’t forget about Ben

St. Margaret’s Church…

…which boasts an unreliable clock 

Westminster Abbey! The church of all churches. Unfortunately I couldn’t take pictures of the inside.

St. James Park

Tip: if you’re at St. James Park and it’s not raining, grab some ice cream and your book & sit on one of the many benches for hours

And the one and only:

Buckingham Palace! Trying to hold down my dress against the wind and be graceful for a picture at the same time

In between all of those sights, some tea was had:

When in England!

And a big lunch held me over until dinner. Although the hostel manager tried to convince me to participate in the pub crawl, I opted for the theatre instead (40 year old at heart?). I took the tube (also known as subway in American) to Leicester Square and scored a ticket to Wicked for a very good price. Some shopping in Covent Garden held me over until the 7:30 pm show time, and since I was still quite full from lunch and tea, dinner consisted of a 3 pound (not in weight, in price) chicken pasta salad from the grocery store… probably the most affordable thing I ate while in London!

I returned to my hostel around 11 o’clock simply exhausted. I guess a time change, a 5 am wake up, and walking all day will do that to you! Too bad there were snorers in my room and thus sleep was made basically impossible….

London: Days 2 & 3 to come tomorrow!

Have you ever stayed in a hostel? 

-Emma

Off to see the Queen, goodbye!

I still can’t believe I only have one more month left abroad. Remember when I wrote my one-month anniversary post? (new readers if you care to see it, you can go here). It feels as though I wrote that post an eternity ago, because so much has happened since then. But then again, when I think about the fact that my one year exchange ends in one MONTH, I can’t help but wonder where the time went. Does that make any sense??

Anyway, a few posts ago I mentioned there was one more city I wanted to visit before returning to Canada: London. As of tomorrow, I will be in the land of the Queen. I was supposed to go on Wednesday but I had to postpone the trip for a few reasons.

Reppin’ Canada

I will be there from Saturday until Tuesday morning, and have a feeling my time will be pretty relaxed and spent seeing the sights and taking in the culture. I was supposed to go with a friend but she ended up not being able to join me. That being said, I’ll be alone on this one, but that doesn’t bother me! Coincidentally a friend from home is in London during the same period of time so we’re going to try and meet up!

Are you comfortable traveling alone?

Ever been to London? Any tips??

Have a great weekend!

-Emma

My Last 30 Days

First of all, thank you for the words of encouragement regarding my big announcement! I must, say we are very excited . The excitement will probably be replaced by blood, sweat, and tears (okay hopefully just a lotta sweat and a few tears) pretty soon, but that’s okay with us!

And for another big announcement: yesterday marked the one-month mark until home. Yep, my flight has been booked.

June 8th, AMS –> XYZ.

To say I have mixed feelings would be an understatement. It’s been half a year since I’ve seen anyone from home, so reuniting will be oh so sweet. But returning to Canada means leaving European life behind. For good (maybe…). Goodbye to my flat, my roommates, my friends. Goodbye to 9 euro RyanAir flights across the continent. Goodbye to horrible weather and understocked grocery stores (okay so those are a little easier to leave behind). 

But am I sad? No. Change is something I crave & desire; unlike most people, I am definitely not a creature of habit and to me, routine = boring. What path I take next is still up-in-the-air, but my options are becoming more clear by the day, and the future is looking exciting.

Goodbyes also get easier. When high school ended, 95% of my friends all went to the same university about 25 minutes from our hometown, whereas I opted to go somewhere about 2 hours west of it (now 2 hours seems like nothing!). Leaving everyone was hard, but eventually it became a more familiar process, and thus it became much easier. And you know what? We’re all still just as close.

2009! Right after we graduated high school

A few of those girls in particular don’t let a week go by before they’re checking up on me, asking how I’m doing, and setting up a time to Skype. Words cannot express how amazing they have been!

Case in point: receiving this letter in the mail a few weeks ago from Jess!

The sweetest!

Or Skyping with Melissa a few weeks ago – she got us tickets to go see Hilary Clinton!

So needless to say, although it will be bittersweet to leave this life behind, coming home to these friends of mine will be insanely awesome!

Oh yeah, and in order to even be allowed home, I should also probably mention that these people will be there too :

However since life is about enjoying the present moment, I have been taking advantage of many opportunities to enjoy the company of many friends I have met during the second semester of my exchange.

The Italians & I (yes, the one non-Italian of the entire group…) had dinner on Monday, but the picture didn’t turn out so I won’t hurt your eyes.

And then Kathi & I enjoyed some sushi on Tuesday. Unfortunately I totally wiped out while biking there. It was pouring rain and slippery and you can just imagine what happened when I made a turn too quickly. Face down, on the ground, with four limbs all around me. It was not my finest moment, but looking back it was pretty hilarious!!

Here’s the proof – look at my shirt!

So with that, here’s to my last month abroad. I’ll be soaking up every opportunity for one last hangout with these people, but looking forward to returning to Canada and starting my next life chapter in the meantime.

{PS if you’re interested in some of the educational differences between North America & Europe, you can check out a post I recently wrote for my school’s blog here}

How do you fare with saying goodbye?

-Emma

POLL: Did I just make a huge mistake or an awesome decision??

It’s official…

 

 

October 20, 2013.

I will be running. And so will one of my best friends from home!

Sorry Manny but this was the only picture I could find of us on my computer?! Prom 2009 haha!

This guy & I have known each other since high school. He’s a great person and was the only one crazy enough to agree to do this with me…

Start sending us tips/tricks/advice to get us through this because Lord knows we’re going to need them.

Oh and PS… WE’RE SO EXCITED!

Tell me about your first marathon experience! Or just cool race stories

-Emma

Four for the price of one! [weekend recap]

May seems to be the month of birthdays. Last week alone held the birthdays of Antonio, Cristina, and two other Italian friends. The four Italians got together and decided to plan one massive birthday party… they called it “four birthdays for the price of one!”

Antonio, Cristina, Giovanni (Cristina’s boyfriend), and Alessandro. The cases may be empty but there were 120 beers in our fridge at this point… I kid you not!

The party definitely was massive. I think around 100 people showed up, so we took up an entire two floors of the building. There was cake, candles, and a round of tequila or two, so I’m pretty sure everyone had a good time.

But don’t worry parents, I didn’t just party all weekend.

Saturday morning was spent enjoying a 4 mile run (oh ya, remember those?). I just ran for fun, no Garmin, no goal pace. The weather was perfect and I loved it. I then met Dominik downtown for a late lunch. He picked a new-to-me cafe, and they had bagels! (a rare treat in Europe!)

Bagel with cream cheese, cucumber, and radish

The rest of the weekend was basically spent cleaning and doing homework. Overall it was a good, balanced weekend – lots of productivity, yet a lot of time spent with friends (a priority as I have about one month left of exchange!).

How was your weekend? 

-Emma

 

Tulips Everywhere!

I woke up Wednesday morning to perfect weather and thought to myself, “I think I’ll go to Keukenhof today!”. So an hour later I was on yet another train, making yet another day trip to the world’s most impressive tulip garden. I must say, having your classes grouped into two days a week is kind of a sweet deal .

This was a looooong trip, but oh so worth it. If you’re ever in the Amsterdam region during the spring season, GO HERE! This is coming from someone who typically has zero interest in gardens, flowers, etc.

There’s no need for any more words – the pictures say it all, so I’ll leave you with a few!

Have a great weekend!

-Emma