7 weeks and counting

7 weeks until this ends. I hadn't thought about what I would do when it's all over. It's crazy to think about. 7 weeks until my parents arrive and I meet them in Florence. Where did the time go? This whole semester has breezed by, with me becoming ever more comfortable with England; with the people; the culture; the lifestyle. I've grown steadily accustomed to walking the same streets, seeing the same businesses, and saying hello to the same people. What will I do when this all ends? There is no way I can go back to what I was before. I've changed. In good ways I think. My life has been forever altered by this experience, and I am forever thankful to those who have believed in me and those who have helped me to get to this point in my life. England will forever have a piece of my heart, and I know that no matter where I go, this can and will always be one of my homes. :) I have met people who have forever altered my life, and who I will NEVER forget. I have seen places that I never thought I would see. And I've done things, that I never thought I would do, but I'm glad that I've done them, because these experiences, these people, these places and this time will stay with me forever and always. So here's to a semester that I will never forget. Here's to the beginning of a new chapter of my life. Here's to the future. May it be as bright, as hopeful, and as full as I wish and want and hope it to be.

Just some complications...

Come to find out that we could not get a train from Milan to Barcelona.....so what do we do? We hop on a train to Genova, and then proceed to Nice. Ha! France! Love it! Especially since I speak the language! Then we head to Marseille, beautiful there indeed! And then to Montpeiller, then to Pontbou Espagne....on the border into Spain. We then proceed to get immensely lucky to catch THE LAST train to Barcelona Sants Station...and arrived only 15 hours after we planned on originally getting in. HAHAHAAA!!! When life throws you troubles, you have to go with it. When there are no other options, you simply have to go with it, because you cannot do anything else....you roll with the punches and in the end....everything usually turns out the way that you want it to....And it did in this case, we are in Barcelona and it is truly beautiful! Nice and warm and our hostel is great too! We went to the beach today....and although each of us gets on the others nerves every once in a while...we are getting through it though, although when we get back to London, each of us will spend some much needed time away from each other.

The Adventures of CBS....

Otherwise known as the Adventures of Chris, Bryan, and Sarah, who traveled all across Europe during their three week Spring Break from Kingston University. We started off in Amsterdam, had a few issues with our hostel, and then proceeded to find another hostel to stay in (while there were 1,700 Scots in the city for the Holland versus Scotland football match). We got lucky in finding Bob's Youth Hostel. Thank goodness. Amsterdam was nice to visit, and I liked the visit to the Anne Frank House the best, although it was extremely sad. Next off to Berlin. And let me preface this by, I NEVER, I repeat NEVER wanted to go to Germany, although I am mostly German. Yet I LOVED BERLIN! It was fabulous! The food, beer, sights, and hostel were all great and I had the GREATEST time! We even took a NewEurope Tour, which is FREE (yes I said it....FREE) and if you want to give tips you can. Our awesome tour guide was Adam, from Atlanta, GA, another Southerner, YAY! After Berlin, we stopped over in Munich for a bit, and I was lucky to procure a fabulous pair of Birkenstock sandals (made in Germany) for only 32 Euro! A steal. :) Yay SHOES! An overnight train brought us to Rome, where it was lovely and warm! And for some reason we had the not too smart idea to break in our Birkenstocks in Rome...DON'T EVER DO THAT. My feet were swollen and huge by the end of the day and I wanted to die. Although I was delightfully happy to be back in the Eternal City of Rome. I love it there. We spent two lovely days there, seeing all the sights and eating gelato, pasta, and pizza, a true vacation come true. Then we hit up a ferry to take us to Athens, which took like 16 hours....I know....ewwwwww. Haha. We got into Athens, and spent the next dreary day (it rained all day) exploring the city, and bonus my Kingston ID got me into the Acropolis for FREE!!!! Yes sir! We then hopped a ferry to Paros and spent the next three days there, although many of them the sun wasn't out, but the island itself was soooooo BEAUTIFUL! Crystal clear waters, and such, it takes your breath away. We left there this morning and are now back in Athens for the night before heading back to Italy and Rome in the next few days. I'm hoping to catch a Mass while near Vatican City, so we shall see. After that, on Easter we head towards Milan and then catch a night train to BARCELONA! The day we get into Barcelona we are taking a quick trip to Madrid.....to do what you may ask????? To find, buy, and ingest as much TACO BELL as humanly possible!!!! Back to Barcelona where we will be until the 16th when we fly back home. Hoping to see some amazing sights, soak up the warm weather, eat some paella, drink some sangria, go out dancing, and see one of my sisters...KATIE BOYD! Super pumped to see her, I miss her and all of my Phi Mu's soooooo much it's crazyyyyyyyy!!!! Well I hope this blog finds everyone well and dandy....watch out for uploaded pictures on Facebook in about a week and a half.....it's almost May already....where has the time gone??????

:)
Loving Europe
MUCH LOVE TO ALL!!!!!