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Paris

The City of Love

Bonjour...So, I've been in Paris for about 2 and a half days so far and it's been pretty great other than the language barrier. Fortunately, unlike us Americans, most people know multiple languages and English happens to be a popular one. The weather has felt like summer...we have finally been able to break out the shorts and dresses and leave the jackets behind. Friday, when we arrived, our professor Danny, Britney and I went to a cafe and ate a late lunch and walked to Notre Dame. Since we walked (and kinda took the long way) we got to see the Seine River, Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre and many other amazing buildings. After that we got some AMAZING gellato in the Latin Quarter which is similar to the French Quarter but for the young crowd. It's a very cool place. We also got to see the gathering fountain that college students supossedly gather around often. We then walked back to the hotel around 7 and because of the long day and month I took a nap and didn't wake up until 11 pm. Then I did a little homework and went to sleep. Saturday, we slept in until about 9 30, went to the Louvre for about 3 hours, ate lunch at another cafe outside to people watch, walked around a few shops, and looked for the catacombs for our scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, by the time we found out where they were, it was closed so we had to postpone it until Sunday. We then visited Frederic Auguste Batholdi's grave for our scavenger hunt. He is who built the Statue of Liberty. After that, we headed back to the hotel to shower and have a mini wine and cheese party in one of the girls' rooms before we went out. We just so happened to be here for the biggest party night of the year. It is at the end of final exams and is a Music festival will small stages with bands all throughout the city. We went back to the Latin Quarter, found a great seat outside a cafe, and watched the night unfold. We left at 2 am with the party still rockin, but we knew we'd have plenty to do the next day. That brings me to today. Alex and I woke up and took the metro to Montmartre and visited the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur which was absolutely beautiful and had a great view at the top of the hill. Then we wandered around the town a little and did some souvenir shopping before heading back to the hotel to meet up with everyone else. We met up and then headed to the catacombs. They were very interesting (although kinda creepy). It took us about an hour in line and about 45 minutes to walk through. It was amazing to see this mass graveyard that someone had actually decoratively arranged bones in the 1800's so that the public could walk through. It had thousands of thousands of human remains which was just astounding to see in person. After that adventure, we headed back to the Latin Quarter for lunch and gellato. Alex and I broke off from the group again and sat for over an hour people watching and eating and talking. I think this has become my favorite part of Paris. It's part of the culture and it's great to just sit back and take in the rest of the world around you. We picked up some more gellaton which was again awesome and took a picture at our last scavenger hunt stop. This is where we called it a day, headed back to the hotel, and I just finished working on our Public Relations presentation that we are giving tomorrow in class! There's so much more to do in the next two days! I'm so excited. I still can't believe I'll be back in Baton Rouge in three days...It just hasn't quite hit me yet!

Auvoir!

Posted by cgomez7 3:41 PM Comments (2)

London Comes to an End...

To Paris we go

Sorry it's been so long but we've been busy and I could never find the chance to write. This also means that this one will be short and probably not as specific as I wish it could be! So last I wrote, we had seen Avenue Q....Friday we had class, picked up some great tickets for a good price to the Lion King and then got a few extra scavenger hunt clues. Lion King was absolutely extravagent and absolutely AMAZING!! The dancing, the singing, the costumes, the props...everything was amazing. During the weekend, we saw the changing of the guards at buckingham palace, had a day trip to see stonehenge and bath (a city with roman baths from the natural hot springs), and did some shopping. This week we have had class a few mornings, visited parliament and westminster abbey, taken a tour of the london tower, taken a trip on the london eye, visited oxford, seen wicked and had high tea, visited JP Morgan's Public Relations department, visited the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, seen the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, taken the same picture the Beatles took on Abbey Road at 530 AM, seen St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and of course visited the rest of our scavenger hunt sites. It's been amazing! There are still so many things I want to do in London so i guess I just need to come back soon!! For the next five days while I'm in Paris I won't have any Internet unless I pay for an Internet Cafe so unfortunately I'll just have to write in a word document and then post it when I get home! Pictures are slowly getting up on my PhotoBucket but they'll eventually all be up!! Thanks for coming by again,

Cheers from London!

Posted by cgomez7 4:29 PM Comments (0)

My Birthday and more!!

The first couple days of London

So, on my birthday yesterday, we packed up our things and took the train to London. After passing by the Kensington Gardens, we pull up to a great looking Columbia Hotel. We moved in and got cleaned up and decided to go out to dinner for a birthday celebration. I decided that I was having sushi withdrawls so we went eat at a place called Yo! Sushi. It was great and a very cool place. The way it worked was that they had different colored plates that were color coated by price. The food was placed on a conveyer belt and went around the large bar that we sat around in the restaurant. Then we picked up some ice cream before heading back to the hotel. While getting ice cream, we discovered the most amazing dessert ever; it's a belgian waffle with ice cream on top...It is AMAZING!!! This morning we had class once again in a great classroom. We had class in the Kensington Gardens. After class, we went pick up tickets to see the musical, Avenue Q and had some lunch. We then went get a picture with Harry Potter's platform 9 3/4 for our scavenger hunt. We also got a picture of the Sherlock Holmes Museum for the scavenger hunt too. After, we met up with the group at the British Library. It was a major chance of a lifetime. We got to see the original Magna Carta, Guttenberg Bible, written lyrics to a variety of Beatles songs, books from Da Vinci and Sir Issac Newton, Mozart, Beethoven, Beowulf manuscript and much more. It was the most amazing experience. It's hard to believe that these renowned, historical people actually touched the documents we got to see. We then went back to the hotel for showers and getting cute for the show. The show was AWESOME. It was funny but had quite interesting topics to talk about. It was a 7 person show and they used puppets and great music and discussed life issues seen in a modern big city. It was set in New York. Now, we are in the hotel and doing some homework. So far, London is GREAT! I'm excited for all that's to come...I know there's a lot to do in this city and it'll be a packed week.

Posted by cgomez7 4:40 PM Comments (0)

Going to Edinburgh

...it's a little late but i didn't realize i didn't post it!

From the land of the Scots,
I’m on the bus traveling from Skye to Edinburgh at the moment. Yesterday, we went on a boat trip from the Isle of Skye to see some of the “Small Isles” that surround it. We saw some sea lions and once again beautiful views. I k now I keep saying the same things but it’s just so hard to explain the breathtaking views we’ve seen on this trip. Even the pictures don’t do it justice. It’s just so clean, serene, and absolutely stunning. The water was so aqua blue and clear it looked like you could just start drinking it. (don’t worry I didn’t try though) We got off at one of the islands and hiked around. I tried to scale a rather large rock that was pretty steep but I didn’t have any equipment so I didn’t quite make it all the way up. Once again I got a great flipping pic with an outstanding background. After a long day of boating and hiking, we drove back to Broadford which is the city in Skye we stayed and we stopped for a really late lunch on the way. When we returned to the hotel, I grabbed my computer and did some uploading and homework and talked to a guy that lived not too far away from the hotel (in Inverness) and was working in town. He was a great interview and he told me many stories. He talked about his travels and it definitely makes me want to travel more in the near future. I’ve decided that when I graduate a semester early I’ll just backpack and visit places we missed on this trip (Italy, Prague, Amsterdam, Greece, Spain…etc.) for a semester. Also, right when I get back home I’m looking into what I need to do to work for an embassy because I think that would be an amazing job! My new friend Neil who I talked to in the hotel said he knew a girl that did that and said she’d never had a better experience. I’m thinking maybe some PR at some foreign embassy…if you have any connections let me know! Well, as for today, we woke up early and had breakfast and loaded the bus for Edinburgh. We stopped at Loch Ness and took a swim with Nessie. She’s really quite nice. We took a few pictures and got some sweet souvenirs. I got an awesome postcard that a lucky person will get…they’ll be really excited to see it haha! Well, that brings me to now and we’re about to stop for lunch and then continue our rather long drive today. Thanks for stopping by, and by the way last night I got all of my Ireland pictures up and I’m hoping that tonight I can get the start of my Scotland pictures up too!!

Posted by cgomez7 12:40 PM Comments (0)

To Glasgow we go..

Well, we have just arrived in Glasgow and are hanging out in the hotel until we can go eat and then check in at 1. I have had it brought to my attention that you need a password to see my pictures...if i can get rid of it i will try but if not then the password is chelsea1...I hope ya'll enjoy the pictures! Sorry about the inconvenience

Posted by cgomez7 3:03 AM Comments (0)

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