Getting There!

So basically these past couple of weeks have been great! The holidays with family have been great and I am so excited to be back at school. For the holidays, me and my mom teamed up to make chocolate flan cakes (they're delicious) to raise money for my trip to Costa Rica. It's been really great and I've gotten so much support! I am so thankful for it. Thinking about all the things I will be doing get me so hopeful to make a difference in these children and young adults lives and it's all going to be in a matter of months! I send my thanks to those who have already helped and those who keep me in their thoughts. 

Hope you have a great holiday season:)
-Marci

As I said before, I'll be going on a trip with the Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) . I have to raise $1149 to support the project site in Costa Rica, housing, food, and transportation. I will be staying with a Costa Rican family during my time there and I am very excited! Next semester I will be taking Spanish 2002, which is the second part of intermediate Spanish at my university (Georgia Tech)..so it'll be great exercising my skills there! According to FIMRC's website, I could be participating in so many different activities such an dental hygiene education with children (I hope I can do this!) to shadowing a physician in the examination room or even a construction project to the clinic itself. I won't know what I'm doing until closer to the date..but I will  definitely post about it once I do! 


Anyway, if you would like to donate to help fund my trip it would be greatly appreciated! If you would like to, I can send you an address that you can send a check to (again, it is $1149), but please e-mail me for the address!. Any donation would be so helpful and I would be so thankful! Your money would go to funding a clinic focused on children's healthcare where it may be spotty and unreliable and supporting the homestay family so they can host volunteers in their home.

My e-mail is mmoreno3@gatech.edu.


Thanks for reading! Updates soon, promise.

It's Been TOO Long!

Oh well hey there,

So as you may have assumed...I've returned from England and have been working my little butt off at Georgia Tech for the rest of the summer (at CEISMC...the Center for Education Integrating Science, Math and Technology) and it was a great experience and I got to know some really awesome people! Now I'm just taking classes at Tech and the semester is about halfway over. It's been really different adjusting to life back in the United States because I feel like I've been so busy all the time! I've been getting really involved on campus and trying to balance that with working two jobs and school has been different from being able to escape every other weekend. Fortunately, my travelling/community service bug has been heard and I've been accepted to go on a trip with the Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children! This coming spring break I will be going to Costa Rica to work in one of FIMRC's clinics. I am very excited to able to go, this past semester I have taken a history of medicine course and it has been the most fascinating thing I have learned about in college so far. However, it also has shined a light on how sparse modern medical care can be and how modern medicine isn't really something we've had for very long. It makes you feel grateful to have all these vaccinations and antibiotics that cure us of diseases that would take out thousands of people. Anyway, I'm going to try and keep up with this blog since I feel like the rest of this year is going to be quite the adventure!

Slovenia & Croatia

Things have gotten a bit hectic with exams and packing for the States...woo! It's almost all over, because today is my traditional alcoholic beverages exam and me and Andrea and going to study by shopping...and discussing the beer brewing and wine making processes, of course! (And perhaps tasting some traditional alcoholic beverages as well, we'll see.) 


Anyway, to continue on about my lovely Topdeck trip! After we left Venice we headed over to Postojna, Slovenia to see the largest cave system in the country. We took a tram-like transport into the heart of the caves and took a 2km walking tour to hear about the stories and natural phenomenon inside. It was crazy! Then we continued on our long excursion to Pag, Croatia. By the time we had gotten there, we missed the latest ferry and had to wait about an hour to get to our hotel; however, this was definitely not a problem since we had the chance to soak up the beautiful Mediterranean and sample some 'Chipsy' paprika flavored chips. (DELICIOUS!). Our arrival to the hotel (yes, I said hotel, not hostel!) was met by a buffet of Croatian food, heavy on the meats and fish. Juuuuust the way I like it. Undoubtedly tired from sitting on a bus all day (I promise you, it's more exhausting than you think) me and Kate went back to our room and watched Criminal Minds until we passed out. The next couple of days were just about relaxing and catching up on that whole 'sun' thing that Britain seems to be missing out on. I got a little sunburned, but honestly, I was hoping to! We finished up our time in Croatia with a nice seafood dinner where I had the best calamari that I ever had the chance of tasting...oh man! We left Croatia so we could spend the afternoon in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. This city was definitely one of those places you don't expect much from, but then they just amaze you. As Slovenia was once part of the Hapsburg empire, you could see Austrian influence in the architecture. There were dragons on the bridges...weird faces sculpted into the streets. It's somewhere you should be longer than an afternoon, and seriously gorgeous. It was great to just sit at a cafe with friends and chat about how much we missed our mums and grandmums. Overall, I'd say it was a good couple of days.


More to come!

Semi-Charmed Life

I don't want to be your good time,

I don't want to be your fall-back crutch anymore.

I'll walk back out into a brand new day,

insane and rising in my own weird way.

I don't want to be the bad guy,

I don't want to do your sleepwalk dance anymore.

I just want to feel some sunshine,

I just want to find some place to be alone.

Lack of updates, I blame exams. Sorryyyy. The lyrics are from Santa Monica by Everclear...I'm on a nineties kick, ha!

Adios!

So here goes an attempt to sum up probably one of the most entertaining and valuable learning experiences of my life, ever. As stated before, I have been on a trip going across what I like to call ‘Eastern-Western Europe’. Leaving from Leeds, I took a National Express bus to Liverpool to catch my flight with Ryanair down to Rome (the bus cost around 5.50 pounds and the flight 26 pounds after all the taxes). How excellent is that?? Well, I arrived in Liverpool and got lost, and I do recommend getting lost in a city since you get to see so much that you wouldn’t think of seeing otherwise. I arrived at my bed and breakfast (Standridge Hotel, I believe), and I think it’s run by a couple that lives on site. It was close to John Lennon airport and came with FREE TEA! (And coffee, but I don’t drink it much) So, the day prior to my flight was spent watching BBC, drinking tea, and writing my final paper for medieval studies. The next day was really nerve wracking since I was going to go to Italy on my own, so thankfully I found the Terravision bus that took me to Termini Station in Rome (think the Victoria station in London, but everything is in Italian…scary). After getting tickets for the metro, I had this awful fear I wouldn’t figure out how to validate my ticket since some tourist websites stress validating your ticket or the tourist police would get you. HEY, SURPRISE, IT’S REALLY OBVIOUS WHERE YOU VALIDATE YOUR TICKET AND IT’S REALLY NOT LIKE THERE ARE SCARY TOURIST POLICE ON THE METRO WAITING TO TAKE YOU TO JAIL. You put your ticket through a machine, and you NEED to so you can get to the platforms of the metro, so if you’re taking it…your ticket will be validated and you don’t need to worry about it. On the buses however, all you have to do is find a little box at the front and stick your ticket in. Not hard at all. I found my hostel, Plus Camping Roma, and it was a really nice (out of the way) campsite. It’s really easy to get to with public transport -- but it just takes awhile. The campsite was definitely more than I expected, it had a computer lab, wi-fi spots, a restaurant and bar, a market, and a swimming pool! So while I was waiting for my Topdeck tour to start, I was definitely not bored. One word of wisdom though- a lot of Italians don’t speak English…so if someone tells you that, they were really lucky or a big fat liar. If anything, most of them can understand Spanish (if you speak slowly), so if you know Spanish from high school or university courses, I would definitely use it over there. I went into the grocery store to try and find contact solution…and then I was too scared to leave the campsite anymore. Later that day I met up with the new additions to the Topdeck tour and our leader, and it was way more than I expected. Our leader Lety, is pretty much the bomb. She’s from Spain and has many similar mannerisms to my mom, so it’s actually really funny sometimes. We went on a walking tour of Rome and came back to the campsite for some yummy wine and Italian food prepared on-site and rested in our super sweet bungalows that were heated and had in-suite bathrooms that were immaculate! So that’s all for Rome…so that leads to VENICE! I had never been to Venice before, so I was quite excited. The drive was longer than I would have hoped, but hey, coach travel (in my opinion) is pretty fun. We spent the majority of the day travelling to our new accommodation which was also another Plus campsite. Like the one in Rome, we got bungalows that were really home-y and luxurious (as far as campsites go). Now, the next day we took a small tour and saw St. Marco’s Basilica, the winding streets of Venice, and went on a looooovely gondola ride! After this action packed morning, we had the chance to get lunch ourselves and we ended up at a restaurant next to a fish market (yuck), and me being me, decided to be daring and get the spaghetti with fish. Surprise! Fish actuallymeans OCTOPUS TENTACLES. It tasted good until those suction cups reared their ugly head in my otherwise beautiful bowl of spaghetti. Me and my friend Kate ended up wandering around the city looking for places to buy souvenirs…and I ended up getting a pretty sweet Venetian mask and some postcards. We tried some gelato, and I’m going to go ahead and say mango and tiramisu are my all time favorite flavors. We had to go back at 16.30 to get back in time for dinner, and much like the night before..it was excellent. Topdeck chefs are kind of the bomb.com, but after dinner…we had a TOGA PARTY. It was pretty cool since it was everyone on our tour, and then another group of training tour guides joined us…a group of really attractive tour guides. Although we called it an early-ish night, it was definitely tons of fun, you know, since togas always mean a good time. The next day we left Italy for Slovenia/Croatia…so a new post will follow including both of those countries. Peace out girl scouts!

I bet you can't guess what this is!

Wooooo main canal in Venice

Close up of St. Marco's Basilica

View of the Alps from my airplane!

Send Me On My Way

Channeling my high school self...you know when I was in AM in love with Rusted Root. 'Send Me On My Way' was the song played in the background of our graduation slideshow..and it was a song in Matilda if I'm not mistaken. I'd be lying if I said I didn't almost cry during our senior slideshow, and this song is definitely one of my favorites ever. Now that I've justified the title...somewhat...I'm being sent on my way to EUROPE! It's weird, in high school I always wanted to study abroad, but now that I'm literally on my way to travel by myself, it's unreal. Looking back at when I was kid, Matilda was one of my favorite movies because I related to Matilda. No, I didn't have vain, self-centered parents...or even another sibling, but I've always had this really awkward love for learning about things, reading, and feeling smart. I love feeling smart. Now that I'm older, I want to be a lot more like Ms. Honey...I want to be that teacher that inspires someone to be the grown up that I wanted to be when I was younger. So, in sum, I am SO glad that I had all the teachers I had, all the good ones and especially the bad ones.


Wait, what?


Yeah, I said it. The bad teachers, too. I hate using the term 'bad' teacher, because who knows, they could have been someone else's favorite..they just did not teach the way I needed them to. Those teachers have helped me realize that it's crucial to be versatile for every student because you never know what impact you could have on their acquisition of related subjects in the future.


Yes, I know this is a travel blog, so I'll get on about that. I'm leaving for London with Jessica and Ebony on Thursday, and we will be spending a few days in London and then a couple in Brighton before we head back into Leeds. After that, I plan on sticking around my dorm for a while before I leave for Liverpool and then..ROME! It's going to be quite the adventure considering I will be camping in Rome, and then head off on my trip of the eastern bit of Western Europe. When I get back expect pictures and fun stories from...
Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium!




Signing off until my return...

Tubthumping

UPDATE: I GOT THE INTERNSHIP!!!!!

London (Part DEUX)

The next day in England was definitely an experience...me and Alex ended up sleeping in too late to go to church services at Westminster Abbey, but we were determined to visit some sites. We started off with the Tower of London (which I just actually read about for my Medieval Studies course...ha!). The tube ride there was interesting to say the least...the stop we had to take to transfer was closed off because of a protest! Not thinking too much of it, we arrived at the Tower Bridge stop and called Charlsie who was apparently surrounded by hippies and there were helicopters everywhere - again, we didn't think too much of it until we put two and two together and got her phone call saying she was literally trapped in the protest and couldn't get out. We continued on to the Tower and found the Yeoman Warders tour (like the little mascot of Beefeater gin) and it turns out that they're old British soldiers, so they really know their military history! If you go to the Tower of London, I definitely recommend it doing one of their tours! You learn all about traitors, Henry VIII, and of course, the history of the fortification itself. After we finished the tour, me and Alex explored the rest of the buildings like the CROWN JEWELS. They were SO amazing, so if you do like sparkly things and tradition- go and see it. They even have the crowns from monarchs from a LONG time ago! Along with a mini-Royal Armouries and torture exhibit, they have a recreation of Edward I's bedroom and 'palace'...it's an old medieval palace so don't expect Buckingham or Kensington Palace! We pretty much spent the majority of the day there...and walked all the way down to the British Museum to see if it was open. It wasn't. However, by getting to the British Museum, we got to see the aftermath of the protests. The couple of pictures I have a really bad quality...but I guess that's what you get for having a camera that's not meant to take pictures in the dark. Anyway, we finally met up with Charlsie and went to a club, and after we left there..it was a really long way back home. I thought we were lost (but Alex was right and we were going the right direction) and two really nice Italian guys pointed us in the right direction. We woke up the next day, checked out, and went hunting for PLATFORM 9 3/4!!!!!!! After a long (and confusing) walk through King's Cross, we finally found it and then headed over to Baker St. for some Sherlock Holmes lovin'. That's about it...besides the coach ride home anyway.

Tower Bridge!

TOPSHOP that was targeted by riotters, there's paint all over it
and the windows are smashed.

I guess they were raving for the government to do something
about budget cuts? Clearly very effective...oh wait. No?

View of Tower Bridge from London Bridge (YES! They are
two different bridges, I promise)

I may not post for awhile (if I do, it will be around April 14th) because I'm going to start my journey across Eastern-Western Europe! The anticipated itinerary is:

Leeds to Liverpool and then Liverpool to ROME, and from Rome to Venice to Pag Island to Ljubljana to the Tyrol to Prague to Berlin to Amsterdam and back to London to Leeds. Prior to that, Jessica is coming to visit me and we're going to explore London and go to the beach in Brighton! So expect AMAZING stories when I get back. Also, I'll know if I get either of the internships I applied for this summer... It's gonna be an exciting next couple of weeks.

MIND THE GAP! London (Part One)

This past weekend I ended up in London...and what a weekend it was. Let's start with the fact that Daylight Savings Time is not the same day that it is in the United States. Sunday was the start of British Summertime, and every device I have knew this but...MY PHONE! Which just HAPPENS to be my alarm clock. So, the only reason I'm blogging right now is because I overslept through breakfast (I am so mad about that) and if I go to my Spanish class, I'd be about 20 minutes late. SO, I'm just gonna chill out, do some homework and get this blog done! So, me and my friend Alex took the Megabus (which is sometimes as cheap as a one pound fare for a single!) down to London at like 6 in the morning. We arrived at around 10.30 AM to the Victoria Bus Station and took the Tube to our hostel. As you may or may not, I had quite the experience with the Tube before this, however, this time I have a new found appreciation for it, and kind of LOVE the concept (Hey MARTA, you could learn from London about this). Anyway, we started off the day by getting Tesco's meal deal (my best friend) and then ate in Hyde Park! It was a gorgeous day, as it was almost 60 degrees. We went to do a Sandeman's Free Tour which was fabulous, as usual. We got to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster (Royal Wedding!??!!!), and learn tons of crazy stories about British history and culture! We even passed a giant statue of Abraham Lincoln and learned why Britain supported the South during the Civil War (quite cunning, I'll give them that). We met up with some other friends and headed off to a pub, but they were all really expensive. However, I shared the wonderful drink that is the snakebite (half ale, half cider, splash of blackcurrant liquor)! After unsuccessfully finding a place that catered to our student budget, we felt like exploring the city. So we walked around London until around 3AM and a few funny things transpired. First of all, we kind of got lost, or I think we got lost...We decided to take one of those rent-a-bikes, but they're not really suitable for short people. After riding around for a bit, I guess my legs were tired or something and I tried to stop and just ate concrete right in front of a bunch of security guards. After a brief exchange of witty insults I might have won, since I did make them laugh! We walked to the green space near Buckingham Palace and just hung out in front of a pond. The walk back home was INCREDIBLY long, because Hyde Park is definitely deceptively large. When we finally made it back at 4AM, I can safely say that I passed out until morning. 

Wellington Arch, AKA the beacon that always led me back to Hyde Park.

BIG BEN!!!

Houses of Parliament...amazing!

I Feel It All

So this past weekend, I went to Bath and Stonehenge. Both of which were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! It was a very relaxing weekend since I don't think Bath and Stonehenge are known for their rockin' parties. I mean, maybe Stonehenge...but no one really knows. Anyway! I'll start off with Bath. If you couldn't guess why Bath is called Bath, I'm not going to explain it to you...but you should probably Google it! We arrived there and saw a park that looked JUST like the (500) Days of Summer park! The afternoon was spend exploring the town (but not actually going into the baths...it was 12 pounds!), we saw a little bit of the baths from the outside, the abbey, and just admired the city and it was beautiful. Everything in Bath is supposed to conform to a certain type of architecture and then be used with bath stone. The weather was gorgeous since it was in the south of England, and perfect for window shopping (and buying the most delicious fudge I'd ever had!). After touring the city, all of the lovely folks on the Don't Be A Tourist trip went to Marmaris which was a Turkish restaurant. It was delicious! We finished off the night by climbing up to get a beautiful view of the city at night and then heading off to a beer garden to have a chat. The next day we packed up all our things from the hostel we were staying at (it was a YMCA!) and headed off to Stonehenge. Contrary to warnings of it not being what you expected, I enjoyed it. 

If you think you're getting anywhere close to those stones...you're wrong. Those stones are as old as the Pyramids in Eygpt and they'd be crazy to let thousands of people touch those stones on a regular basis.

After Stonehenge, we headed off to a village called Avebury. Avebury is surrounded by stones similar to Stonehenge and you can actually touch those!!! So we hugged some stones, climbed on top of them..yeah! We continued our drive back to West Yorkshire and stopped by Broadway, a tiny town that seemed to be full of families and the elderly. It was precious! There was an old couple that sold ice cream dressed in pastel pink old time-y uniforms..it was just picturesque. Besides the trip, as of lately, I've been applying for internships and looking into potential part-time internships for the fall. As of right now, the Carter Center internship is looking pretty interesting AWESOME. If I apply for it, hopefully I'll get it! For the summer though..I'm waiting for responses to my applications. And now I've got my mind all preoccupied with graduate school or law school!! AHH! Only time will tell! Well, I'm off to London this weekend and I'll be scouting out for some interesting clothing finds. 

Adieu!

PS: First photo credit goes to Santiago Almada!

Hello!

This is officially my new favorite song ever. Nothing really exciting to say about the past weekend, but I'm going to Bath and Stonehenge on Saturday and the Leeds Beer Festival for Saint Patrick's Day, so there will definitely be a post after both of those!

Kilo Sale?? What A Wonderful Idea!

Hey all! So, I'm sort of known (I'm kind of a big deal...except not really hahaha...anyway!) for my nostalgic pangs that happen at least once a week. Basically, I have this addiction to 8tracks.com which is user-created mixtapes with a theme (usually). These last two weeks, I've been searching for mixes including songs I would have listened to in middle school and high school, and then low and behold, I get an e-mail about this mysterious "kilo sale"! Apparently every semester there is a giant vintage sale where they fill in an auditorium full of vintage clothes and for 15 pounds (approximately 22 USD) you can get a kilo of clothing (approximately 2.2 lbs)..which is a GREAT deal! I ended up getting some really cute clothes and the best thing about vintage is that it's economically & environmentally friendly! As you may tell...another thing I really like besides nostalgia and vintage clothing, I l-o-v-e lists (Yes, that was a Nat King Cole reference). So here goes! Top five reasons you should shop for vintage/thrift/donate (or formerly loved) clothing!

1. It's (generally) cheaper than what you can find in stores, if you do it right. While I'm sure a set of Chanel earrings from when Coco Chanel was still alive will pretty much annihilate your bank account, but you never know what you can find!
2. It's good for the environment! You're recycling clothing and saving the resources that it would have cost to produce a whole new item. While it seems like it's not that big of a deal, it adds up!
3. You remember in those television shows or movies from when you were a kid/teenager where the character was mortified when another girl wore the same dress as her to homecoming? Yeah, the likelihood of that happening with a vintage piece is unlikely!
4. The satisfaction you get from finding something absolutely incredible is such a rush. I mean, that's really for any purchase, but when you get something vintage, it's something not mass produced (well, not anymore) and it's quite rare!
5. Even if you're only browsing through vintage shops, it's great to try on the fancy dresses with your friends!

BONUS: Vintage/thrift from stores like Salvation Army & Good Will is SUPER cheap, and that means that even if it's not quite exactly how it should fit or how you want it to look, it's not a huge financial loss if you try and alter it and mess up. No pressure fashion design..sounds good to me!

Adorable pink ruffle-y shirt!

This sweater is different than anything I would ever get, but the detailing on the edges makes it fun, and it could play down an outfit that seems too masculine, I think, anyway.

This dress is so warm! It's quite a heavy khaki material and it's reminds me of something that 's comfy enough to wear on a nice walk or picnic..so stoked!

I had to get this...the contrasting stripes and pastel colors were calling my name.

I may or may not have an addiction to stripes...so nautical and loose fitting, perfect for the summer!

Going the Distance

This weekend I went to Ireland with Andrea and Jessica, and it was quite the adventure! Andrea and I left for the airport and arrived at around 6:30PM...and we were so worried about missing our flight -- but we ended up having more than enough time. Anyway, when we arrived in Dublin...we were pretty much beat, so we went to bed. The next day is when things finally got interesting(er). We started off the way by going to two of the National Museums of Ireland (the archaeology and natural history ones), and they were really cool! The natural history museum was full of animals that were native to Ireland on the first floor, and the second floor was animals from all over the world! The most impressive animal was a tiger that was given to the National Museum by George III as a gift...it was a really old and well preserved tiger! In our adventure to the museum of archaeology, we walked through St. Stephen's Green, which is a big park full of statues. The next museum was also very, very cool because it had ancient remains from Ireland and some random travelling exhibits! Very informative. Afterwards, we decided to end our sightseeing at the Old Jameson Distillery, which was my personal favorite. As you may or may have not read, I am taking a class on traditional alcoholic beverages, so the distillery tour was an interesting explanation of how whiskey is made. I was also chosen to be a whiskey taster, so I now know the differences between Irish whiskey, scotch, and American whiskey...and believe me, they are different. All whiskies are made with barley, and this barley is roasted. So scotch's barley is roasted using wood...thus giving it a smoky kind of taste, but on the other hand, Irish whiskey is made with a fuel source that emits no extra taste so the full taste of malted barley is presented. It was REALLY cool! We ended our day in Temple Bar until Jessica arrived and then like the night before...ended up being really tired and going to bed. The next day, we woke up super early and ate breakfast at the hostel...a lot of breakfast. We were planning on saving tons of money that day (which kind of got negated by buying souvenirs...but, hey, I would have spent more had I not done this). So we did a little bit of this (that may save you money if you're travelling!)

1. Does your hostel offer free breakfast? Do they have bread for toast and jelly/peanut butter for topping? Sounds like you should be eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, eh?
2. Sandeman's tours are amazing...they're free tours in major cities like Paris, Dublin, and London (and more...) where the guides work on tips, so you're going to (idealistically) get an excellent tour!
3. Bus passes are overrated. That is all.
4. Don't forget (well, unless you're not a student) that you're a student...so I think "Can I get the special?" should be numero uno on your phrases in another language!

A view of the north side of Dublin from the bridge.

Our itinerary for the day included going on a walking tour of Dublin and then the Guinness Storehouse! The walking tour was free, and is number two on the short list above...we saw most of the main attractions in Dublin and got a lovely historical background on its history! We ended the tour back in St. Stephen's Green and began our trek to the Guinness Storehouse which was okay, but it should have been a guided tour instead of a free for all..in my opinion. We ended the day in the Temple Bar area again so we could listen to some traditional Irish music, and it was GREAT! As we were walking home, we saw this street performer that was dancing with fire and it was so entrancing.

Anyway, that's all I've got about Ireland. Unfortunately there's no exciting trips this weekend, but later I'll post about the kilo vintage sale I went to this afternoon! I'm done with midterms, so life will be back to normal until finals.

Keep Calm & Carry On

                    
On an unrelated note, and I don't feel like editing my last post since the photo adder seems to dislike me right now...when in doubt, listen to Disney soundtracks, eat cupcakes, and keep on keepin' on until the weekend...


Life? Life is good.

Much Ado About Grits...

So I got back from Warwick and Stratford-Upon-Avon last night, and it was a wonderful trip! Unfortunately, I was in a little bit of a hurry to leave so I forgot my camera...sad day. I'm getting all my pictures from friends though (Thanks Alex & Andrea!). We started off the day with the usual Don't Be A Tourist drill and played speed dating to get to know some of the other people on the trip (you're sitting on the bus and the window seat stays seated while they aisle seat moves back or forward one seat and you chat for a bit) and I ended up meeting another history major from Leeds Metropolitan University! So that was pretty cool. Warwick castle was BEAUTIFUL. I loved how touristy it was, however lame that may be. I got to attempt to take the sword out of the stone, but I was not successful. How disappointing. We got a delicious lunch at the carvery in the castle and I got to try what is apparently considered a delicacy...fried fat. If you know me, you must know that I love to eat anything, so the vacuum cleaner I am thought of as totally loved it. After Warwick, we headed off to Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was really pretty considering all the architecture was from the Tudor times..so think Britain with those black and white houses. I know that's how I thought of England before I got here! So basically we went to visit Shakespeare's house...we had tea. Just kidding. However, we did enjoy a nice walk through various sites that he would have been at like his granddaughter's house (okay, maybe he would have been dead by the time she was around), his birthplace, his grave, and his church. It was all very exciting! Sunday, we went to the Spiceworld exhibit at the Leeds City Museum, and it was fabulous! We got to dress up and do karaoke and learn all sorts of random Spice Girls facts that I'm sure will show up on Who Wants to be a Millionaire...right?? Anyway, I need to get cracking on that last 2,000 word paper before I go to IRELAND this weekend with some fantastic people.

Don't Stop Believin'

This is me. I am writing a 2,000 word paper. I am not going to be working on this paper tomorrow. I will be in Warwick & Stratford. Problem? Yes. Do I care? No...So, pictures of Warwick Castle and Shakespeare's hizzouse tomorrow. and hopefully I look more like this...

No, not like a caterpillar..but the smiley fact that is the caterpillar. Maybe I'll even get a cupcake with a smiling caterpillar...oh the possibilities! The title..is random, but somewhat relevant. I need to start believing that this paper isn't the most boring thing I've ever written. Although, I do get to talk about how cynical and annoying film critics can be in respects to films about history...considering they constantly forget that they're HISTORICAL FICTION. Sorry, I guess it's pretty easy to forget that fiction isn't supposed to be real...I'll give the critics the benefit of the doubt.


Kiddddding!


Anyway, back to work so I can have a relatively stress-free weekend!


2nd photo via www.weheartit.com

Fearless

Sometimes, I think fashion world is just playing a horrible joke on society in general.

As you may or may not recall, harem pants briefly made an appearance into stores (a couple of seasons ago, I don't really keep up), well, today while shopping for a toga for the Otley Run...I recognized something that had faded into my memory as a brief eyesore...HAREM PANTS!!!

Ugh, as much as I love the silhouette of a dropped crotch...It's quite unflattering. Anyway, back to the Otley Run...I successfully completed one last night (give or take one or two stops). Pictures to come soon...it was such an experience!


So here's a list of ten things I'm looking forward to in the next year (I guess this post would have been more appropriate in January, right?)


1) Travelling, of course. France, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Belgium, & the Netherlands...SPRING BREAK 2011. It's going to be tough to top!

2) Trying new food! This kind of goes with travelling...but I'm definitely especially excited to have old favourites and then trying some soon-to-be favourites!

3) Growing my hair out. As small as this is, I don't think I've had long hair in quite awhile, so we'll see how patient I am about this...

4) Being able to see certain people that are pretty nifty that I miss a whole, whole, lot. So I can basically sum it up with this.

5) Adhering to my New Year's Resolutions. Also known as pretty much eliminating the chance of any what ifs, because "what if?" is probably my most frequently asked question...that or "why?". The point is, I'm not saying "no regrets" (If you know me, you probably know my rant about how I think "no regrets" is a cop out, but I digress) but this year is my year for sure.             
               

6) The final season of Greek. I am OBSESSED with this show! 

7) New fashion. So excited for spring! This month is going to get warmer (up to 50 degrees, hopefully.) Maybe I'll actually get to use my shorts I brought...eventually.                                                         

                  

8) Disney Princess Half-Marathon with Katy! I need to start training...and technically it's next year, but it's going to be A BLAST.

9) Cowboy boots. I cannot wait to come home to my precious pair of cowboy boots (or maybe just get a replacement pair from here!)

10) Mexican food. When I get home, I am so ready to scarf down SO many tacos & flan.

all pictures except for the Greek photo courtesy of www.weheartit.com

Croeso y Gymru (Welcome to Wales!)

This weekend, I booked a trip with Don't Be A Tourist to North Wales...and it was AMAZING! As you may or may not know, despite my sometimes impulsive nature, I love planned trips. Our tour guides, David and Emma were great and knew a lot about the culture and had everybody on the bus do a sort of "speed dating" so we got to meet new people! We formed into groups and learned some interesting facts about Wales.

1. To say good morning, you say Bore da.
2. The mines in the Great Orme are 4,000 years old!!
   
3. The animal on the Welsh flag is the red dragon (I'll explain later)
4. There are 4x as many sheep as people in Wales!!

Anyway, we started off the day in Conwy, a city famous for a castle that was built by William I of England to keep the Welsh from uprising aga

inst them. It was breathtaking and absolutely confusing. So I can see how it was probably perfect for keeping enemies out..or confusing them once they got inside. After the castle, me and Andrea wandered around the city with Jessica, Quinn, and Robert in search of the smallest house in Britain. We finally found it and it's probably the size of a children's playhouse! No joke! Even I would probably have to crouch to crawl into the door...and I'm only 5 feet tall. We got back onto the bus and headed to the seaside town of Llandudno, where Lewis Carroll met the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. We got to our precious hostel that was pastel yellow and Victorian (I was in love), and took a quick r

est before we were to climb up the Great Orme!

It was really steep..so kind of tiring, but it definitely warmed us up and introduced us to the majority population of Wales...the SHEEP! At the top of the Great Orme, we had a beautiful view of Llandudno and the ocean. As we continued our hike, we made our way to the UFO hill. Apparently, it is a popular place where UFOs are frequently sited, so people write messages to extra-terrestrials with big rocks! I, myself, wrote a message to the aliens...So perhaps Alpha Phi will be on a planetary basis. Ha! Anyway, after climbing this lovely mountain, we headed off to a very filling dinner at Fish Tram Chips. After exploring the city a bit, we headed back to compose ourselves before heading out to the pub for the evening. I'm not sure what the name of this pub was, but there was a karaoke night! After much hesitation, my friend Jessica convinced me that we should go up and preform a song. We WERE going to sing Don't Stop Believing by Journey; however, it was already being done...we settled on Love Song by Sara Bareilles (kind of awkward considering our audience was 40+ for the most part). After this (unexpectedly) exciting night or dancing and singing, I headed off to bed to get ready for our next day of travel! We started off the morning with a bang...also known as a hike to Aber Falls. It was gorgeous! I haven't done that much walking in a while but it was certainly refreshing and I cannot wait to do it again. After Aber Falls, we went to Betws-y-Coed. It was a lovely small town where I got quite the meal.

It was a traditional Welsh supper including baked eggs, Welsh cheese, and potato and leek mash all baked together in a kind of casserole. (Picture included...I miss my food sometimes.) It was SO good and it came with chips! We left the city (which was literally a one street city...so interesting) and began to make our way to Allen's Sheep Farm...and we learned about 10 different types of sheep. Apparently wool is a by-product of sheep farming, and the real gain is lamb. I don't think I could eat lamb...not after thinking about the fact they're slaughtered before they even lived for a year! Anyway, we saw a demonstration of how a sheep dog herds, and it's amazing. They have this look in their eyes and it's like they're stalking their pray. Quite the spectacle. After that, I literally slept the entire ride back to Leeds except for the rest stop (it was almost a four hour drive, I think). So I guess you can say I had a pretty exciting weekend!

With this post, I wanted to post some easy ways to save money while abroad, mostly because I have plenty of time in between my classes, so here goes!

1. If you have any groceries in glass containers, definitely wash them out after you're done and use it as a cup! (I used my Nutella container as a cup!)
2. Invest in a Nalgene or aluminium water bottle...you'll be thirsty if you're doing anything strenuous or just walking a lot.
3. If you have a meal plan and they offer fruit or something you can throw in your bag (or pockets), take it! Even if you won't eat it at that meal, it makes a great snack or lunch.
4. Search around for meals, just because it's the first thing you see and you're hungry isn't a good reason to pay an extra 5 dollars, pounds, euros, or whatever for anything!
5. Pre-drink.
6. Hit up discount stores, just because your university may recommend somewhere doesn't mean it's the best. (If you're in the UK...Discount UK is the bomb.com)
7. THRIFT. You never know what you can find...
8. Before you leave, invest in good quality things you'll use a lot. A cheap umbrella isn't going to do you much good when the wind blows it inside out permanently (personal experience...)
   
   

Now it's time to do work on my *hopefully* excellent Medieval Studies paper! Adios!

I Shop, Therefore, I Am.

So I figured it's about time to make a post about some of little things I've picked up around town! I've literally been resting all day (finally) and catching up on some Gossip Girl. Just a side note, Nutella & bananas are the ultimate snack... especially when you get bananas from the dining hall for free and Nutella for 99 pence! Anyway..down to the nitty gritty.

I got this shirt from the vintage fair at the Corn Exchange in Leeds, this is the best length where it can be a dress or a shirt! This shirt is from Germany..but I'm not quite sure what time period, it's definitely post 1950's.

Perfect weekender bag...totally using this for all my weekend trips!

Another sweater that I think is pretty much fantastic! The rhinestones add something to the jewel tone...mmmm.

I am in LOVE with this dress, it seems like it'd be perfect for a day out shopping or maybe a day at work depending on how it's put together, you know. It's such a precious dress, and it has those adorable heart buttons!

Detail.

As you all know...it's super cold in England, so I've had to invest in a couple new sweaters. One is my favourite just because it's a v-neck...and coral!

This sweater is great..it's long enough to wear with some skinny jeans or with leggings! I have another sweater similar to this one...but I would say the colours of the stripes are more pastel-ish.

I LOVE this shirt! I don't think I've ever worn vertical stripes and this definitely elongates the torso...and the colour! You can't really tell what the sleeves are like, but they are FANTASTIC! Then, the purse that I got...it matches perfectly with that first dress, doesn't it?

That's all I've gotten so far...I'm sure I'll have more by the time I end up on the plane back home! I'm not looking forward to the fact that I'm going to have an overweight luggage though...ugh. Well, I should probably be productive and start working on reading Parzival (for my medieval studies class) and getting ready for Wales!

Oh yeah, I'll be in Wales for the weekend so expect pictures by Sunday!

STUDYING Abroad, I Have to Remember That...

So I think I need to post blog about the more than fantastic classes that I am taking here since I am supposed to be studying on my study abroad, shouldn't I?

Let's start with my Spanish class.
It's definitely an experience, you would think that Spanish would be a relatively stationary thing when you look at it at first. WRONG! I never thought about the fact that Spanish here would be taught from someone from Spain! The thing is, in the States, you're going to learn (at least more than likely) from someone from South or Central America, right? Well, the two have some really big differences that are tripping me up. First of all, they pronounce their c sound with a -th sound.

For example,

When I say my name (or anyone in my family says it), it's

MarCela.

Here, my professor says my name like...

MarTHela.

Interesting, right? Also, carro (car) means chariot in Spain Spanish...and coche means car. Which has gotten me some awkward looks from my classmates and professor. It's super interesting, and we also learn a lot about the culture of Spanish speaking countries in this class, so it's fascinating to learn about Spain instead of other South American countries that are so prominent in American Spanish courses. My professor is definitely amazing, probably the best I've ever had! Perhaps now I can learn Italian since I have French and Spanish (somewhat) down!

Next, I am also taking a medieval studies class on the age of chivalry. I'm not usually too interested in medieval history, but this class sounded particularly interesting. So far we've learned how debunk lots of modern interpretations of chivalry and we're getting down to business as to how it really was. The second week of classes, we took a visit to the Royal Armouries in Leeds...and it was FANTASTIC! To the left is a picture of the Hall of Steel, which is a lot of armour displayed ALL THE WAY TO THE FOURTH FLOOR! It's very interesting to learn all the history of why and how certain armours were developed...and not only do they have displays of weapons and armour, but they also have a library full of manuscripts from that time period. We got to see the Armouries librarian dress up in a full suit of armour...and it turns out every August, they have a joust! I wish I could see it...I'm sure I'm going to love this class more as it goes on as soon as I learn to discipher old French and old English, ha!






The next class I'm taking is Deviance, Crime, and Social Control. This is a sociology course focusing on the concepts of crime and deviance and how they intertwine. I do enjoy this class, and it's interesting to get the British perspective of crime and deviance. I remember on the first day of class, we were discussing two big deviant groups in the UK, "football hooliganism" and "hoodies". Now, I had no idea what either of those were until I asked some of my friends from Leeds, and still it's a little hard to grasp the concepts of these being large social problems. Anyway, on the note of crime, it's interesting to hear about high profile crimes as well...because every country has different crimes that are considered particularly heinous (or if they would be terrible crimes in both countries, a lot of the times the news isn't publized in another because it has nothing to do with the populace at hand). In fact, I should be writing a paper for this class...ha!

The final class that I am taking is Traditional Alcholic Beverages...because you probably would never have the oppourtunity to take this class in the States! There is so much chemistry behind brewing a beer (as we haven't learned about wine yet), and it has taken 4 lectures to cover not even all of the beer making process! In March, we will brew our own beer in groups, and I am so excited! We get to design a logo and an advertisement, and it's going to be a blast. However, these past lectures have sort of scared me into knowing one mistake can absolutely destroy a beer's intended taste! I'll definitely post more once the brewing proccess has begun.

Anyway, that's all I've got!

First Couple Weeks In Leeds

So I know I've been in Leeds for almost a month...and I said I was going to keep a blog, but I guess things got a little too crazy. Now that they're settling down, I'm taking this rainy (typical) Sunday in England to study and blog! How exciting. Anyway, I'll start off with the adventure I took on the almost 24 hour journey from San Antonio to Leeds. I left for the airport with the usual 1.5-2 hour time gap to get through international security, and I ended up having more than enough extra time to spend with my family before I had to go. While getting ready to head into security, I realised that I left my raincoat at home! So my dad had to drive all the way back home to go get it so I did not freeze once I got to England...and believe me, I would have without it. After finally getting through all of that, my flight was delayed because the plane was late from where ever it was coming from! I had a connecting flight in Charlotte, so if it was delayed enough, there would have been significant problems. However, plane arrived eventually and everyone boarded and there were literally no more than 20 passengers in a giant international plane! I ended up meeting a man from London and we talked about culture differences and the fact that I was going to have to go on London Underground during RUSH HOUR. I started telling him about Tech and my study abroad program and then he began to speak badly about Leeds, which was funny since the other man next to us piped up and revealed he was a Leeds graduate! The flight attendent told us via the intercom that due to the lack of people on the plane, that we were free to move to any free seat. This was very nice since I pretty much took over the entire middle row of the seats and slept for as long as I could (which wasn't very long...too many butterflies). Anyway! The interesting part of this story is when I finally got off at London Gatwick..I had to find the Gatwick Express to get to London Victoria. That wasn't too hard, and before I knew it, I was in London. Funny thing is...the Underground is underground, right? Well, they're not done building the elevator (um, talk about handicap unfriendly AND luggage unfriendly), so I had to lug my huge suitcase down the stairs if it wasn't for the awesome guy at the Tourism office who offered to take my luggage all the way down to the train and give me a tour of London the next time I was in town! BAM!
Marci 1, London: ...Still winning.
So, what I didn't know about the Underground is that it's pretty much cutthroat to get on the train. It took about 20 minutes to finally get to the front of the chaotic mob that was attempting to shove themselves into this tiny traincar, right? WELL, like I said, cutthroat world...I got pushed over by a bunch of miserable looking people and ended up tripping over my luggage- embarrassing, right?? Well, this guy with missing teeth that was arguably an ex-punk rocker from the 1970's/80's was nice enough to hold back the masses so I could get myself and my giant luggage onto the train. We had nice chat about how everyone in the Underground looked like they just saw a train run over a kitten or something..and then we talked about his bike accidents. Unfortunately, I did not get his contact details...but he was definitely a character that I won't forget. When I FINALLY got to King's Cross, I was early so I waited for about an hour until my train to Leeds got there. Nothing really particularly interesting happened until I was about 5 minutes from Leeds and the train came to an abrupt stop. You know, it seems normal, a train stopping when it's close to let other trains enter the station first...5 minutes go by...then 10...and eventually 30 minutes later the captain finally annouces that we couldn't go into the station because...

SOMEONE GOT HIT BY A TRAIN.

All right, now you don't hear that every day. The authorities were investigating so here I am...so close to my destination but in reality, I was about an hour and a half away from my destination. It was terrible, and then the thought of the train going over the rails where someone's body was..it wasn't too pleasant. Past that, I arrived at Leeds safe and sound and found people to share a taxi with. Surprisingly enough, I stayed awake to do a couple really essential things and then passed out until the next day...

Now, that's only my first day. FIRST DAY. In a nutshell, I ended up going to many of the international student's events and met people from countries I had never met people from before! Croatia, Finland, Denmark...it's really amazing how international this school is. I ended up trying so many different foods and despite having a language similarity...England is so much more different that I thought it would be.

Things I've randomly noticed:

I'm clumsy, and I fall A LOT so I think it's kinda funny when I do and I laugh. However, here if I laugh at myself fall, I guess I appear insane or something because I've gotten the strangest looks...

Maybe this is just a difference from Tech, BUT they go out literally every night.

Costume parties are frequent and encouraged (it's amazing)

They say "hiya" instead of "hey/hi/hello"

Jeans aren't prominent here. If you're not a fan of the leggings as pants fan...you'd die. I however...love it.

Besides that, I have had the chance to travel a little bit in Yorkshire and outside of Yorkshire (but not too much, YET!)

So far, I've been to York, Harrogate, and Liverpool.

York and Harrogate are very similar to me in the sense that they are very small towns in Yorkshire...and they are both very beautiful in the spring. I've learned more British history in the past couple weeks that 12 years in public school and 2 years in university have taught me...I might be a pro now. Who knows? I have some really particularly pretty pictures...

Clifford's Tower in York
York Minster..in, well, York
The gardens in Harrogate.
New Zealand themed garden in Harrogate

Things that we did:

York

• Visited the Castle Museum...they had rooms from all sorts of different time periods and an entire exhibit for the 60's!
• Saw York Minster...it's gorgeous.
• Wandered the Shambles..it's the picturesque street of old England!
• Visited the Richard III Museum and confessed to our sins before an 'execution'...too bad the executioner was on holiday!

Harrogate

• Visited the Royal Pump Museum...and tried sulfur water. While it's healing attributes are undeniable, the taste doesn't seem worth it!!!
• Visited the gardens. They were gorgeous even without the flowers!

Liverpool

• Visited the Liverpool Cathedral, the largest Anglican cathedral in Europe.
• Took a stroll through one of Europe's oldest China Town's. The smells were incredible.
• Took a bus tour of important Beatle's sites (childhood homes, Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, etc.) Our tour guide was amazing.

To end this post, I'll write a little bit of what the next few weeks will entail since I've got to get some of this homework out of the way!

• A trip to North Wales
• *Possibly a trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon
• DUBLIN, IRELAND
• Bath & Stonehenge
• Easter Break: Italy, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Spain(possibly)

The end!