Hungry in Hungary

I've failed to post for a while (I'm blaming in on the numerous papers I've had to write) so here's a quick overview from the past couple weeks.

November 6th I ventured over to Stonehenge and Bath. I was disappointed I couldn’t touch or even come close to the stones at Stonehenge (they roped it off earlier this fall, due to vandalism), but it was nice to see some green grass. Bath is a nice town. Pretty much I toured the Roman baths and walked around the city.

On November 7th I traveled to Cambridge. It was great to see the university and the town was gorgeous. Kings College Cathedral was beautiful! Maybe I should spend more time there scoping out the boys!

Last week I was able to go to the British Dental Association Museum as part of a class project. Over 30,000 artifacts were crammed into a tiny room!

I was also able to register for classes for next semester and I found out that I was elected the new Vice President of Education for Kappa Alpha Theta. I know I will be keeping busy next semester with Theta and President of National Society for Collegiate Scholars, along with maintaining my memberships with SIFE, student ambassadors, and being a new member of pre-dental club.

Friday, November 13th, I left for Budapest, Hungary. At first, I was a little hesitant. The diversity in the group was substantial. We had the constant talker, the punctual one, and the spacey/late-for-everything one, along with three guys that almost didn’t wake up to go and me. But I had a fantastic weekend. We all got along great and I haven’t laughed so much the entire semester I have been in London. My eyes were watering, my abs were hurting, and countless memories were made.

We stayed only a couple blocks from the major shopping street in Budapest so we did a lot of shopping. Too bad most of the shoes cost roughly $300. Being a poor college student, none of these items ended up in my luggage.

Saturday was the day I realized Hungarians are not fans of Americans. I had one lady run a shopping cart into me and numerous people gave us dirty looks. But that didn’t stop us from having a good time!

Although I’ve had enough tours to last me a few years, we went on a very informative 6 hour walking tour of Budapest. The tour took us to a huge market and various landmarks where we saw great views. It’s a beautiful city, but at times, the fog made it hard to see. The guides provided us with samples of various Hungarian food- sausages, fried bread with sour cream and cheese, pickles, wine with sparkling water, and hot wine (almost tasted like hot apple cider). I enjoyed sampling all of them, especially since it was included in the tour.

Overall, it was quite a weekend! I had a blast getting to know the group on a different level and seeing the sites of Budapest.

As of now, I plan on exploring more of the sites of London for the next four weekends. I was invited to go to Sweden for a weekend but I’m still debating on whether or not my funds and homework schedule will allow for it.

Tonight, Ryan and I journeyed over to Oxford Street to look at the Christmas lights, do a little shopping, and eat dinner. The lights are gorgeous, especially since it’s beginning to feel more like Christmastime. One month from today I will be headed back to the states. I know I’m going to miss the sites of London and lots of the people I’ve met, but it will be nice to see everyone, eat good food, and sleep in a bed without feeling the springs!

Love,
Alexis
xoxo

Top of the Morning to Ya!

My second adventure for fall break began at 2am on Tuesday, October 27, headed for Dublin, Ireland. The trip started off with another bus chase, but this time my travel partners (Leah and Paul) and I didn’t make it. The city bus was scheduled to arrive at 2:43am on its way to Victoria Station where we would meet up with another bus to take us to Stansted Airport. It ended up that we were standing at the wrong stop and although we waved the correct bus down and attempted to chase it, we weren’t fast enough and it drove right on pass. We ended up taking a taxi to meet the airport bus. We were still able to make it to the airport with plenty of time. All sorts of noisy teenagers were on the plane but I attempted to sleep through the noise considering I was on only 2.5 hours of sleep.

Once in Dublin, we took a bus from Dublin Airport to City Centre and managed to get lost finding the hostel. The numerous people we asked for direction were all really friendly and helpful. After breakfast, we headed out to explore the city. We saw Christ Church, toured Dublin castle, and observed St. Patrick’s Church. Again, we managed to get lost but this time a tour bus witnessed it. The passengers on the “Duck Bus” asked in unison “Are you lost?” and all we could say was “yes!” Dublin is a much smaller city than I expected and we were able to walk everywhere, even if we did have to circle a few blocks multiple times.

At 2pm we were able to check in. Our lack of sleep meant naptime. Afterwards, we went for tea, walked around for a bit and then searched out supper options. We finished with supper fairly early and we were all dragging our feet but we walked up and down O’Connell Street and Temple Bar Square. Ironically, we ended up running into students from the same study abroad program. We were all in bed by 8:30pm!

Wednesday was another busy day out on the town. We formulated a plan of action, but of course we ended up deviating from the original plan. Our first stop was St. Patrick’s Cathedral where we were hoping to attend the Coral Matins. Unfortunately, the boys were on holiday. Next, we ventured over to Hertz to see about renting a car for Thursday but you have to be 25 years of age. We then walked to the train station to buy tickets for Thursday’s trip to Cork. Come to find out, you save over 30 Euros by booking online. After a quick snack at a grocery store, we strolled over to the Guinness Storehouse for a fabulous tour. The Storehouse had all sorts of information about the history & advertising, making of Guinness, and how to pour the perfect Guinness Draught; all were much more intriguing than I ever would have thought.

By the end of the tour, it was about 2pm and we had more of Dublin to cover and train tickets still to buy. We headed back to our accommodations to purchase our tickets and get Aleve for my pounding headache. Buying the tickets was extremely frustrating. The internet that we paid for wasn’t working and the phone ate my money! Eventually booking our tickets worked and we were then able to quench our hunger before heading to Trinity College and the Book of Kells. I was surprised at how colorful and detailed the book was; it was well worth the money for admittance. Because the library was closing, we headed over to Grafton Street in search of dinner options and to look around. We ended up eating a pub that was playing live Irish music. After a little time in Temple Bar Square, we headed back for another early night. We were all in our beds by 10pm!

On Thursday, we got up early to catch the train. Once in Cork, we caught a bus to Blarney and right away we found a place for lunch. We ended up sitting next to a very hot fireplace, which felt nice considering it was dreary, cold, and rainy outside. Next, we headed to the castle. By far the best castle I’ve seen! The grounds were gorgeous and the fall colors were very vibrant. The tour of the castle led us to the Blarney Stone and of course I kissed it! The best part of the rainy and cold weather and the fact that it was not tourism season was no lines! After the castle, we toured the grounds, then stopped for tea and headed to the Windmill Mall. Blarney is a very quaint town but it’s also very outdoorsy. We didn’t have much to do after the castle and mall so we ended up going back to Cork to get a bite to eat and head back to the train station. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet or find any my ancestors because there just wasn’t enough time.

After a long journey on Friday, we made it back to London. I feel like the Energizer Bunny; I just keep going and going and going. I think that is contributing to my current cold. It’s been nice to rest up the past couple days but I was still able to take advantage of Halloween. Although they don’t really celebrate Halloween, I fit right in as I dressed up as a Londoner.
The Christmas lighting ceremony takes place this week and this weekend I’m staying in England but will be traveling to Stonehenge, Bath, and Cambridge. Should be exciting!

Happy First!!! Now I can say I'll be home next month!

Love,
Alexis
xoxo

Holland & Belgium

Fall break started off with an early morning run. I was traveling to Holland and Belgium with my friends Zeny and Brittany. We left the dorms at 5:30am to allow plenty of time to get to our pickup point by 6:15am. Brittany attempted to navigate us to the pickup spot but the tour company happened to give her the wrong directions.

We ended up in a really shady area and we were feeling frantic. When we were on the verge of giving up, I spotted the bus. We all jumped up and down and then took off running after the bus with our suitcases flopping all over the place. Finally the bus pulled over a couple of blocks away at the correct pickup point and we were relieved to have made it just in time.

The bus ride took three hours to get to Dover where we then boarded the cruise boat sized ferry, complete with restaurants and shops on board. Our final destination was Monnickendam, a small town outside of Amsterdam. On our way, we stopped for an hour and half in Amsterdam where we had a quick tour. By then end of the day I had been through four different countries (England, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands) within less than 12 hours. What a day!

Our first stop on Saturday morning was a cheese and clog factory. It was definitely touristy but it was neat to see how both were made and we were even able to sample the cheese. Next we saw a large windmill and then headed on to Amsterdam. Zeny, Brittany and I started off our Amsterdam experience with a boat tour. We were disappointed because obnoxious football (soccer) players drowned out the automated history guide and it was raining so we weren’t able to see much. From there, we headed to the Anne Frank House. The line to get in was about 2 hours long and at that point, we were shivering and didn’t want to be standing in the cold for that long. We settled for pictures and headed for lunch. After hearing how neat the museum was, I regret not standing in the long line. The rest of the day was spent walking around the city and checking out shopping centers. Later that night, Zeny and Brittany went to a show, while I stayed back and people watched at the lodge. The other tour groups were very entertaining!

Sunday we made our long journey back to London, but were able to stop in Brugge. I absolutely loved “Venice of the North” and really wished I could have spent more time there. We only had a few hours so I snapped a few pictures and ate a Belgium waffle with fruit. The guides kept talking up a chocolate factory so I held off on buying chocolate. Once we got to the chocolate factory, I was disappointed because I don’t think the chocolate was as good as it was within the town, but I made a small purchase anyways.

Although the bus ride was a lengthy 6+ hours, it was worthwhile to see the leaves changing. The area also reminded me of eastern South Dakota; lots of hunters and huge of open fields.

Today has been filled with lots of laundry and repacking. I’m off to Ireland tomorrow with Leah and Paul. We will be staying in Dublin but taking the train to Blarney & Cork one day and Westport another. The weather is looking good!