Alison's Adventures in Europe

My final post

2009-07-14T17:02:00.004-04:00

Well, this brings me to an end of posting about my trip. The journey home was just your average flight and adjustment to the time difference. I loved the trip, and can't wait until I have the chance to go back to Europe for another one. However, I am very happy to be home. I love the weather here (hooray for sunshine!), the people that I missed so much, and the familiarity of home. It's been so much fun to share my journey with all of you. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for taking the time to read my blogs and look at my photos! :)

Liverpool

2009-07-14T16:56:00.004-04:00

Our last stop on the trip was to visit Liverpool, England, to see where the Beatles originated. We took a bus tour titled "The Magical Mystery Tour." The bus drove us around and showed us the houses where each of the band members grew up, special places mentioned in their songs (such as Penny Lane and Strawberry Field), and other significant buildings in their lives. We also went to The Cavern Club, which is the pub where the Beatles played over 200 times throughout their career, so they were there before and during their journey to fame. There were Beatles themed shops, signs, statues, and memoirs everywhere. I'm sure those who live there get quite annoyed with it all, but it was very interesting for us tourists.

The city of Liverpool was not that interesting. It's mostly an industrial city that's known for its crime. Apparently it's been cleaned up in the past few years and isn't dangerous anymore, but it still holds a stigma that most English avoid. The Beatles definitely created quite an income for the city from tourism though.

If you're a Beatles fan and want to see photos from Liverpool, here they are: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199316&id=30308465&l=1885bb9931

Scotland

2009-07-14T16:42:00.004-04:00

After we traveled through southern England, my family went up to stay in Scotland for a few days. We stayed mostly in Edingburgh, which is one of the neatest cities I've been to. It's surrounded by the gorgeous Scottish mountains, has tons of character and old buildings, and is filled with history and things to do. We spent a lot of time walking around, took a guided walking tour of the city, went into Edinburgh Castle, tried out a few of the pubs and restaurants, enjoyed listening to the bagpipers everywhere, and did some shopping. There was still so much of the city that we didn't get to discover because of its size and the amazing amount of things to do while there. Some of the highlights were having tea at the same place where J.K. Rowling wrote the first few chapters of Harry Potter on napkins (back when she was poor), the walking tour of the old sights and hidden places of the city (and hearing many interesting stories about the history there), visiting the castle (which actually was used in battle many times), and just exploring the city.

One day while in Scotland, we decided to take a day bus trip to the Highlands. We went through Glascow and a few small towns on our way. We also stopped and took a boat tour on Loch Lomond, which is the lake that the famous song names. The mountains around Loch Lomond are breathtaking. We stopped in Aberfoyle, which was a very tiny town that is apparently known for its wool. They had a sheep herding demonstration when we arrived, only they showed it to us using mallard ducks. The Border Collie ran around after about 6 dugs and herded them through tunnels and over a bridge when commanded to do so. It was very interesting. We then drove through a scenic national park with absolutely beautiful views. It's hard to describe how amazing it was. The mountains are so green, the mist from the clouds gently hangs over the mountains, and there are rivers, valleys, and cattle spread throughout the mountains to finish off the view. I took many pictures of it, so you can have a sample of what it was like. We ended the trip at Stirling, which is a history town with a castle. We didn't go into Stirling Castle, but looked at the outside of it. The William Wallace (the guy from Braveheart) monument can be seen from Stirling Castle, so there are photos of that. We walked around Stirling a little and looked at the Church of the Holy Rude, which is where Mary Queen of Scots' son was coronated as an infant (after she was exiled for her Catholic faith). There were other neat historic buildings in the town as well. The day trip was totally worth it, and definitely an adventure!

For pictures of Edinburgh (and more stories to go with the photos): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197088&id=30308465&l=0fe2b4bae3

For pictures from the day trip to the Highlands: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197120&id=30308465&l=6a74fb0cab

Bath, England and Cardiff, Wales

2009-07-08T18:13:00.002-04:00

I went with my family to Bath, England to see the Roman Baths that are there. Hot springs naturally flow here, so the Romans (dating back to B.C.) travelled here and built stone buildings around them. They used this as a vacation place and as a sacred place to sacrifice and worship their pagan gods. This means it's one of the oldest buildings in England. The hot springs still come to the surface here, and you can feel the heat over the pools. It was interesting to walk through the ruins of the building and see the baths. The Bath Abbey was right outside the Roman Baths, so we also looked inside. It was a beautiful old church. Then we walked around the town of Bath, and saw many of the old stone buildings. Jane Austen also lived in Bath for a few years, so there's a Jane Austen Center there that we went into.

Then we took a train to Cardiff, Wales. We went to Cardiff Castle, which was right in the city. The castle mostly was a place where rich people lived in history. There were castle walls, a large open space in the center, a keep in the center, and the Victorian House, which is where the rich lived. The castle never really saw battle, but still has lots of history involved. More information about the castle is in the captions of my photos.

For pictures of this trip, click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196847&id=30308465&l=aae08e831b

Windsor Castle and Stonehenge

2009-06-29T21:46:00.002-04:00

My family and I traveled to Windsor Castle, which is where the queen resides most weekends. She was actually there while we were there, but we didn't see her. It was a neat castle with a ton of history (as most things are in Europe, of course). King Henry VIII is buried there in the St. George's chapel, and the gardens are beautiful.

Then we went to Salisbury, which is the town near Stonehenge. We went to the Salisbury Cathedral, which was a beautiful, huge Cathedral. It has the highest spire in England. It also holds one of the only 4 remaining versions of the Magna Carta, and it's the best version that's still readable (if you can read Latin, that is). We walked around the town a little, which is really cute.

Then we took a bus out to Stonehenge. The land around Stonehenge is a national park, so there's nothing really around it. There were many burial mounds where they have excavated many objects that tell them about the area. There also are large trenches dug for miles around Stonehenge, which they believe date back earlier than the stone formations. The trenches could have been paths which the people walked on to get from the River Avon to Stonehenge. They don't really know what Stonehenge was used for, but there are many beliefs that it was a holy place of some sort, or a space to bury their loved ones.

For photos of these places, look here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196927&id=30308465&l=4c572f439d

The first weekend with my family

2009-06-29T21:02:00.002-04:00

In the first weekend, my family arrived and we finished packing up my things and toured several places. They came to see me in Brighton, and I showed them around. Dad was happy to be near the sea, Mom and Erin enjoyed the shopping. It was fun to feel like I was somewhat of a local and show them how to use the buses and where to shop. Then we went back to campus, where I showed my family my dorm room and finished packing. Then we left and traveled to London where our hotel room was.

In London, we went to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace, toured the Tower of London, went into St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, went to Abbey Road and found some Beatles shops, and did lots of souvenir shopping. We also walked around and just looked at the sights in London, since there are so many amazing things to see!

We then went to Stratford-Upon-Avon and Warwick Castle. I had been to both of these places earlier in my trip, so I was able to show my family around them and see some new things that I didn't get to see before. In Warwick Castle, the new things I was able to see were the birds of prey show and place where they keep the birds, the peacock garden, the mill and sections around the outside of the castle, and was able to walk around the grounds more. In Stratford, I showed my family how to get to Shakespeare's birthplace. We went inside and toured the Shakespeare center and the house, which was new for me. Then we walked through the town and found a few more houses related to Shakespeare (such as his daughter's house after she married her husband and Shakespeare's neighbor's house). Then we walked to Holy Trinity, the church where Shakespeare is buried. Unfortunately, there was a special service going on, so we didn't get to go inside. We then walked around the town a little more to see the sights and to get some dinner.

To see photos of this first weekend, click on this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196832&id=30308465&l=6dc08dff6d

Home in Michigan again

2009-06-29T20:55:00.003-04:00

My family and I arrived safely back in Michigan last Tuesday. After adjusting to the time change, catching up on sleep, and unpacking, we're all finally starting to get back on track at home. I have been working on uploading all of my pictures from our last week in the UK to the computer, and have finally finished! I'll write a few posts on what we did in each place and post the pictures for you to see.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support while I was in Europe. I hope you all were able to learn something new and enjoy the photos that I posted for you all during my trip, since those were my goals in sharing them with you.

Update from Scotland before I return home

2009-06-20T17:31:00.003-04:00

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to post a quick update to let you all know that I am currently in Scotland! My family arrived safely, and we've toured tons of places in England, Wales, and Scotland. I will be updating about these in a few days when I have more time. Until then, I just thought I'd let you know that things are going well, and that Scotland is beautiful! I will have many photos to post of the past week, so make sure to check back in a few days to see them.

We will be flying back to Detroit on Tuesday. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! However, I am definitely ready to come home again. It'll be great to have hot weather, my own car, my cat, my bed, toilets that are easy to flush, accents that I can easily understand, and other familiar luxuries that I have taken for granted. I love learning about new places and cultures, but it's always nice to come back to the place where I feel comfortable and at home. :) Please pray for a safe return trip for my family and I.

Last days in Brighton

2009-06-11T19:10:00.002-04:00

Sadly, my time here at the University of Brighton and St. Dunstan's has officially come to an end. I have really enjoyed the experience, and have learned so much about myself, culture, relationships, communication, and more.

My last day at St. Dunstan's was difficult, since I will miss is there so much. I helped Syd type a letter, and he had me write a Post Script on the letter saying that it was typed by an "American girl" who is leaving after she's finished typing it. It was cute and weird to be typing about myself. I also read part of one of the stories he's written, and he had a character drive from New York City to Niagra Falls and back in the same day. I told him this wasn't really possible, since they're really far apart. He was really intrigued and was going to change it so that the characters took a helicopter there instead (it was hard not to laugh). Everyone was sad that I was leaving, and wished me well in the future. A few people want me to keep in touch. I'm going to stay in contact with the other intern, so that we can chat about social work as we continue through our careers. My supervisor gave me a nice card that is a photo of a painting that a St. Dunstaner made, and a postcard of St. Dunstan's. It was a very thoughtful gift.

I then went out to dinner with my American classmates for one last fish and chips meal as a group. It was fun to spend one last evening all together. We all pitched in and gave our professor and her husband a framed photo of us as a group. They loved it, and were really grateful that we were a great group.

Today I've been packing and cleaning my dorm room. Tomorrow morning my family will be coming to Brighton so I can show them around and they can help me carry my things. I will then be traveling around with them for the next week and a half. Hopefully I'll be able to update this here and there during this time, but if not, you'll know why.

For some more pictures of St. Dunstan's, go to the end of this album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2190759&id=30308465&l=d715fec0e4

First few days of the last week

2009-06-09T17:41:00.005-04:00

The past few days have been very eventful! I thought they even warrented a post.

First, I celebrated Henry's 113th birthday on Monday with the St. Dunstan's staff. The mayor of Brighton even came to give him flowers. He was aware of what was going on, helped (a little) to cut the cake, and said, "Thank you, God bless" into a microphone to everyone. He's a very sweet man. He was very tired after a long birthday weekend, since he travelled up to London to receive a birthday cake from a Royal Navy helicopter. Pretty exciting for him! Everyone is saying that he's a teenager again. I have a few pictures that are in the link below.

On the same day was the 93rd birthday of Syd, one of the St. Dunstaners that I have been working with. He needs help writing letters and a few books that he's authored, so I help him a few times a week with these tasks. He was very excited that the mayor was at St. Dunstan's on his birthday, and she came over to meet him and kissed him on the cheek. It was all he could talk about after that. :) He recently had his autobiography published, and gave me a signed copy of it! I'm excited to read it.

I also attended an afternoon tea at a local girl's private school, called Rodean. It's a very prestigious school that is right on the ocean, and it beautiful. It's for girls ages 11-18. It costs around 30,000 pounds per year to go there, which would equal about $45,000! The girls do community service at local agencies, and St. Dunstan's is one such place. Thus, my supervisor was invited to tea to thank all the charities who welcome the girls. I got to tag along and have a tour of the school. I felt like I should have brought my doll, since we drank out of fancy tea cups and ate little sandwiches and cakes. It was very girly and fun.

This evening we had a party for all of our supervisors and the professors at the University of Brighton who helped us on our trip. It was a fun little party with hors d'oeuvres. We each gave our supervisors a gift and thanked them for allowing us to be at the agencies. It was nice to meet everyone and chat about our experiences at our placements.

It definitely has been a busy week so far! Tomorrow is my last day at St. Dunstan's. I'm really going to miss it! I'll be taking pictures throughout the day so you can have an idea of what it looks like inside. For now, if you look at the end of this album, you can see the new photos that I've added from Henry and Syd's birthday party: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2190759&id=30308465&l=d715fec0e4

Amsterdam, Holland and Brugge, Belgium

2009-06-08T15:21:00.003-04:00

This weekend my friend Catherine and I travelled to Amsterdam and Brugge. Both were very beautiful, unique cities with a ton of facinating history! This was our last weekend excursion while we're here in England. We also had a new experience on the way over - our bus was running late, so they decided to take us in the tunnel to France instead of the Ferry that we usually take. It was much faster, and a fun experience. Everyone has to drive into a long open train, and the train takes you through the tunnel. The train is sectioned off in case one part has an emergency (such as a fire or something), so the whole train and tunnel doesn't collapse. The tunnel is actually built below the ground under the English Channel, so we couldn't see the water or anything.

We arrived in Amsterdam on Saturday morning and took a boat tour on some of the canals. The city basically is built around hundreds of canals and has over 1,000 bridges, which makes for a very picturesque boat ride! It was very pleasant to ride along and get an overview of the city. When we got off the boat, we took a walking tour through the city to the museum district. Many of the roads in the city are old and small, so cars cannot drive on them. Thus, almost everyone travels around on bicycles. They even have tiny roads along all the streets for bikes. We all almost were run over by bikes several times, since they like to rule the road! They ring their bells at you so you can jump out of the way in time. When our free time came along, Catherine and I went to the home where Anne Frank and her family hid during the Nazi invasion. I unfortunately was not allowed to take pictures inside, but it was really neat. It was larger than I thought it would be, though still quite small. Appparently Otto Frank (Anne's father and the only one to survive the concentration camps) wanted the home to remain unfurnished, as it was after the Nazis arrested the family and removed everything. They had models and photos of what it looked like from Otto's memory. We also saw her original diary in a display case. It was very sad.

We shopped at an outdoor flower and souvineer market, looked around the city, and I found a gorgeous old church to go to for mass. It was called St. Francis (but in Dutch). The mass was entirely in Dutch, but they were kind enough to print out the readings in English. I think it's interesting that I can say I've been to mass now in 4 different languages on this trip: Latin, French, German, and Dutch. I then went on a tour to an old working windmill, which was in a pretty location in the countryside. We also went to a cheese and clog (the wooden shoes) factory. They explained how they make their cheese, and we actually watched our tourguide (who also happened to be dressed up in actual traditional Dutch clothing from the 17th century) carve the first part of a wooden shoe. We could then try the shoes on (they're surprisingly comfortable) and taste the cheeses. I bought some delicious Gouda cheese, which is one of the most popular from Amsterdam. It looks like cheddar, but tastes different (it's hard to describe). Then the tour guides took us on a walking tour of the red light district of Amsterdam. This was the one part of the trip that I absolutely despised. I thought it would be just walking around the city lit up at night with a few girls walking around, but it was much more focused on the girls than was comfortable or enjoyable. I left this part of the tour early and went back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep.

The next day we went to Brugge, Belgium. It's a beautiful little medival city with horses and carriages, bikes, and lots of people walking around on the brick streets. It also has many canals, which made for many lovely pictures. I felt like I was going back in time when walking around. We tried a Belgian beer, which I actually liked because it was so sweet. It was basically like drinking raspberry juice with some beer in it.

I also found two stunning churches. The first one I went into was The Church of the Holy Blood. It was built with two stories, the lower for the poor and the upper level for the rich. It obviously is not used in this way anymore, but it was interesting to see the differences between the levels. The poor bottom level was all stone and was very plain, but it did have some amazing statues. The upper level was really beautifully painted and very elaborate. I was not allowed to take pictures in the upper level, however. They also have a vile of what they believe to be Christ's blood there. I was able to venerate it by touching the vile. The priest then gave me a photo of the reliquary which is holding the vile, so this is the only picture I have of the upper level of the church.

The other church was called Our Lady. It was a beautiful, huge church that has the highest spire in Belgium. Unfortunately, the outside was under construction, so my photo has scaffolding all over it. I was able to see the front and side sections of the church, but the back section required a small fee. We did not have time to pay and go to see the back half, which I made me sad. However, we did see an original Michaelangelo statue in the church, which is one of the few that exist outside of Italy.

After walking around the city, we drove to a chocolate factory. We did not get to see how they made the chocolate, but they gave us free samples and the opportunity to buy some. We then travelled back on the ferry from France into England.

For all of my pictures from the trip, here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2192962&id=30308465&l=ca2a4d2041

Cologne, Germany and Brussels, Belgium

2009-06-02T17:24:00.003-04:00

This weekend I took a tour of Cologne, Germany and Brussels, Belgium. It was a really fun trip! I haven't laughed so much and so hard in a very long time. The three girls that went with me and I all just experienced a lot of funny situations and just had a ton of fun together. The sights were awesome too of course! I think this was definitely one of my ultimate favorite trips so far.

First we started out driving all of Friday night to Cologne. When we arrived in the morning, we walked along the Rhein River to the Dome Cathedral, which is a really old, breathtaking gothic Catholic church. They started to build it in the 1200's and finished in the early 1800's, so that just goes to show how much detail they put into it. During World War II, when all the opposing countries bombed Germany to death, they purposely respected and avoided the Cathedral. Five bombs did accidentally land on the Cathedral, but not one of them went off. I think Someone upstairs was watching out for it! I went into the Cathedral and all the way up into the highest point in the bell tower. I could see all of Cologne from the top! I have lots of pictures of this for you to see! We also went into the Lindt Swiss Chocolate factory and had free samples (who could turn down free chocolate??).

I went to mass at the Cathedral on Saturday afternoon. It was Pentecost, so I was able to witness Confirmation in Germany! I couldn't understand a word of it because it was all in German, but it was amazing to realize that the same Holy Spirit in the same Church is here in Germany, in another language, and everyone was the same faith! It's pretty awesome being Catholic. :) The Cathedral was so huge and open that about half way through the mass, all the music and the sound from the microphones built up and started to ring around the church. It kept circling around for the rest of mass, so it was difficult to hear the Bishop. I've never heard something so amazing, since it was too old for sound-proofing.

After mass I went out to a German pub with my travelmates. I tasted the German beer, but I'm not a fan of beer so I thought it was gross. ;) I did, however, enjoy a delicious glass of German Riesling white wine. We found a pub that was playing polka music, so I was very excited! They didn't have any space to dance, or I would have. They had some creepy fake mannequins playing the accordion and the tuba, so it was technically live music, but the people weren't real. There were a few older ladies who were really excited and were clapping and cheering for the mannequins. It was quite funny. (I can tell I've been in England for awhile, since I just used the word "quite").

On the tram on the way back to our hotel in Cologne, we had a hilarious and wierd experience. We got on the correct number tram that we were supposed to take, and were riding it for a few minutes when it stopped and opened its doors in the middle of an open field. We thought it was odd, and waited for people to get on. Nothing happened for a few minutes, and suddenly and older man appeared in the doorway and started talking to us in German. We said we only spoke English, and he just kept saying the same thing over again in German. We thought he was a confused older man trying to get onto the train until he started whistling and pointing out of the tram. This is when we realized that he was the driver and he was kicking us out of the tram into the field! We had no idea what he was saying, but he kept pointing back to the station we had just passed. We walked back to it and laughed at the wierd experience. We waiting for another train and then tried pronouncing the stops in German while riding it. The German people sitting next to us were laughing at us and told is in English that we weren't very good at German. It was fun.

The next morning we drove to Brussels, Belgium. There we stopped to see the Atomium Monument, which is a giant iron structure that resembles the Iron Crystal molecule. It has restaurants inside and is a big tourist attraction. There were some people at the base of the monument square dancing in traditional Belgian skirts. It looked like a ton of fun! After we took pictures of it all, we drove to the city center. We walked around a market area, the Cathedral (St. Michael the Archangel and St. Gudula), and lots of neat shops. We also walked to the Grand Place, which is a beautiful old square that is surrounded by detailed buildings on all four sides. In the center of the square were artists painting the scenery and selling their work, and a jazz festival that was setting up. We found an AMAZING Belgian waffle place that we rushed to for our lunch. The waffle was covered in a sweet glaze, then topped with strawberries, whipped cream, and drizzled with chocolate! It was a heavenly treat. We walked around the area more and went into the Cathedral, which is absolutely gorgeous! There was a section inside that you had to pay a Euro to go inside, so I did. They had tons of old chalises, monstrances, reliquaries, priest vestments, a high altar, and paintings that were hundreds of years old! They even had a relic of the true cross. I was very impressed! After this, we drove to the Parliament building, which is the seat of the European Union, for pictures.

It was a very long, packed weekend, but definitely worth it! I can't wait to go back to these countries sometime in the near future and see more! :)

Here are my pictures for you:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191765&id=30308465&l=451cac4722

New Brighton Experiences

2009-05-29T09:38:00.005-04:00

This week I had a few unique experiences. First, I met the oldest man in Europe! His name is Henry. He lives at St. Dunstan's, so I dropped by to visit with him one day. He is 112, and will be 113 in about 2 weeks! He's amazingly coherent despite his age, and likes to crack jokes. He squeezed my hand tightly and told me to "be good" and to "enjoy life." I guess I should follow his advice. :) The queen has visited him at St. Dunstan's (not while I was there, unfortunately), he has a tour bus in Brighton named after him, and he's been on the news several times. He just likes to be known as a typical guy, however. His grandchildren live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, so we already had something in common!

I also went swing dancing in Brighton. I learned the Jive, which is a different form of swing than I usually dance. It barely has any footwork, and was a ton of fun! The people were all really nice, and I got to practice dancing with lots of them. I also convinced two of my fellow classmates to come with me, and converted them into swing dance lovers! :) We're going to try to go again next week, since we had so much fun! Here's a video of the couple who taught us (they're amazing!): (sorry it's sideways again)

Also, if you are interested in more pictures of Brighton and swing dancing, check out this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2190759&id=30308465&l=d715fec0e4

(You've seen some of the photos before, just go to the end of the album to see the new ones)

Ireland

2009-05-25T12:55:00.006-04:00

This past weekend I went with three of my fellow classmates to Ireland. We started out in Dublin, which is in the Republic of Ireland (the southern part). We were somewhat disappointed because it was very urban, touristy, and basically all about beer (Guinness, to be exact). The city has been fought over so many times that many of the old buildings were destroyed or not very pretty anymore. However, there was still a ton of great history, interesting sights, and lots of fun to be had!

We stayed in a hostel, which was an interesting experience, to say the least. We had some obnoxious roommates who like to go out and party until the late hours of the night and come back drunk to slam the doors and turn on all the lights. The bathrooms were pretty gross too. Other than that, I enjoyed the hostel atmosphere. They had activities going on, movies showing, lounge areas and an outdoor patio where anyone could hang out and meet people, and they offered us a simple breakfast each morning and a free walking tour of the city.

The walking tour was great! Our tour guide was very enthusiastic, and explained much of the history of the city, showed us famous landmarks, told great stories, and even shared the devastating parts of their history, such as the potato famine. I learned a ton about Ireland that I didn't know before.

We also took a bus tour through Dublin and saw parts of it that we hadn't walked to yet. We went into the two cathedrals in the city, both are Anglican. They were stunningly beautiful and filled with history! Christ Church Cathedral, the largest, even had a medival crypt underneath the church that we could go into. It was pretty neat. We also went in to the Guinness Storehouse, where the famous beer was first started and is still made. It was a pretty cool building. It was seven stories high, and the middle of the building resembled a giant pint glass. At the top, you could see the entire city of Dublin through all glass walls. We also checked out a few of the Irish pubs and had some traditional Irish food and drink. I discovered that a "Colar of Bacon" means the meat from the collar of a pig and "mash" means mashed potatoes. I sounded like a dumb American when I asked what they were, and got a few eye rolls from the Irish locals. However, the food was excellent! :)

On Sunday, we took a bus ride up to Northern Ireland to Belfast. The ride there was very pleasant, as we got to see some of the Irish countryside. (To be honest, it looks exactly like England's). We took a bus tour around the city. It was much less touristy, and we were able to see a lot more of the strife of the Irish political battles. There literally is a fence that they call the "Peace Wall" that separates the British people who want to be part of the United Kingdom (and who are all protestant) from the Republican side who want to be part of the Republic of Ireland (and who are predominately Catholic, but a diverse crowd lives on this side). There were many buildings missings where they had been blown up only a few years ago, and many murals and memorials all over mourning the fighting and lives lost. It was very sad, but interesting. I also learned that Belfast is where the Titanic was built. I saw the dock where it was first put together.

Then, after a very long, early morning and using basically every type of transportation (a taxi, an airplane, a train, two busses, and walking), we arrived back in Brighton, England. I have taken a nap and a nice hot shower, so now I have the energy to tell you about my journey!

Happy Memorial Day to those back home, and Happy Bank Holiday to those in the UK!

For Ireland pictures, check out this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2189776&id=30308465&l=ca5308d578

Paris and Versaille

2009-05-18T18:08:00.004-04:00

This past weekend I travelled to Paris and Versaille, France! It was an amazing trip, and I was able to see many famous and breath-taking sights!

First, we travelled by bus into Paris. We went to the Notre Dame Cathedral first, which is gorgeous! Then we took a boat tour on the river that goes through Paris, and saw many amazing sights from the boat, including the Eiffel Tower. We then went to the Louvre, which is the famous art museum where artworks such as the original Mona Lisa is kept. I didn't go all the way inside to see the artwork, but I did go inside the building. It's absolutely gigantic. I was told that you could take 2-3 days to go through the artwork before you saw it all. The building used to be a palace before it was turned into an art museum.

I found a church in Paris that I went to for mass on Saturday afternoon. It was entirely in French, which was definitely a new experience for me! The church was beautiful, and the people had such strong Catholic devotions! It was amazing that I still knew what was going on even though I couldn't speak any French. (I just responded quietly in English). We all said the Latin and Greek parts of the mass though, which was neat that we all could suddenly speak the same language while in Church.

On Saturday night, the tour company took us on an illuminations tour of Paris. The city looks totally different and very romantic when it's lit up at night. The Eiffel Tower was gorgeous while lit up. At 10pm they even changed the lights on the Eiffel Tower so it looked like it was sparkling! I took a video so you all can see it. It's at the bottom of this post (sorry it's sideways, I'm not sure how to turn it). This tour was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

On Sunday morning, we went to the Palace in Versaille where Marie Antoinette lived. The gardens there are very elaborate and beautiful! It was so huge that it took over an hour to walk through about half of the gardens. There are fountains and marble statues everywhere!

We then went to Sacre Coeur, which means Sacred Heart. It's a bascillica built on the highest hill in Paris. From the church, we could see all of the Paris skyline, which was amazing! The bascillica was also amazingly beautiful. Behind the church was a little market area that was like a hidden gem of Paris. There artists gathered and painted/sketched scenes from Paris. There were also shops and cafes, where I bought a mouth-watering crepe filled with warm chocolate! I also bought two prints of paintings of scenes from Paris.

I wish I had the ability to type every detail of the trip here, but that would take months, since there was so much to see! These were the main highlights that I can remember. Here are some pictures to help fill in the unspoken details:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2188536&id=30308465&l=901b0f8409
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2188545&id=30308465&l=0797b4f5f7

Here's the video of the Eiffel Tower sparkling (and if anyone can tell me how to turn it, let me know):

My first full week

2009-05-15T10:40:00.002-04:00

This was my first full week of classes and internship. It was very busy, but quite enjoyable!

At St. Dunstan's, I attended a few sessions from a conference that was held in the building. I learned about some of the new projects they're working on to help those losing their sight, a condition that sometimes comes with sight loss called the Charles Bonnett (pronounced "bonay") Syndrom (it causes visual hallucinations of patterns, people/animals/objects, and occasionally scary things that don't exist), and had tours of the nursing floors and the IT Training room (where they teach people how to use a computer without using much vision). I also spent quite a bit of time just talking with St. Dunstaners. They all have such amazing stories, and they just love to share them!

My classes were pretty easy this week, since they were the first ones. The first class we all just shared what our agencies do and what our tasks are each day. We also talked about a few business items and were given our first assignment (which is only a 1.5 page paper about our agencies - just about the easiest assignment there is!). The second day of class, we met the three students from England that will be coming over to EMU in July and August to do the same thing. They're not Social Work students for some reason, but they're possibly interested in it. They will have placements in Ypsilanti and will live on EMU's campus. They seemed pretty nice and we were glad to meet each other. We can ask them for help while we're here, and they can do the same as they're preparing to leave and when they're in Michigan. It's a neat partnership.

The weather here this week has been pretty awful. Monday and Tuesday was incredibly windy (I heard it got up to 120 mph in some places) and chilly. Wednesday and Thursday were overcast, chilly, and breezy. Today it rained and was quite cold this morning. The sun is coming out now, but it's still really windy and cold. It's funny to say this, but I miss Michigan weather! At least it wouldn't be so windy and the sun might have a chance to come out and warm up the air in Michigan. I think it's so cold and windy here because we're right on the ocean. It is pretty cool to walk out of St. Dunstan's each evening and look at the ocean while I'm waiting for the bus, though.

Leeds Castle and Canterbury

2009-05-10T17:21:00.003-04:00

Today I went with some of my classmates on a tour of Leeds Castle and Canterbury. It was an amazing trip!

Leeds Castle was really neat. It actually had a moat, but no dragon. ;) I was somewhat disappointed by the inside, because much of it had been somewhat modernized. I believe some of the decendants of the royalty who lived there in the past only stopped living there in the last few years. There are several rooms used as conference rooms (they're still historic-looking, but not as cool as they could be) and 23 of the 24 bedrooms are currently used (I'm not sure who uses them). The castle is most known because it was one of the homes that King Henry VIII lived in. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, lived there with him. The castle also had beautiful gardens, many birds (they had an aviary, a duckery, and famous black swans that were a gift from Winston Churchhill), and a maze that we didn't have time to go into (in case we got lost and couldn't get back to the bus on time!).

Then I travelled to Canterbury, which I absolutely loved! It was a very cute, old town. Our tour guide said that almost all of the buildings were around 400 years old, with many being older. The Christ Church Cathedral, the head of the Church of England, was gorgeous! I learned that St. Thomas Becket was murdered there. Also, St. Augustine of Canterbury built his Abbey there. King Henry VIII destroyed it when he started the Church of England (and destroyed many other Catholic places), but the ruins still stand. I saw them and the gravesite of St. Augustine. I also found a small old Catholic church which had St. Thomas Becket relics on display. It was quite a historic and holy place!

For photos, here are two albums:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2186800&id=30308465&l=2bc92c9b86
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2186818&id=30308465&l=1dc3d5910e

This week will be my first full week of my internship and classes will begin. It should be a pretty busy week, but I'm looking forward to it!

London

2009-05-09T17:34:00.002-04:00

London is amazing! We took a bus tour of the city, which took a long time (and was very cold), but we saw the highlights. The weather was crazy! It started off raining, then the sun came out a little bit. Then it started pouring and hailing on us, while the sun was partly shining! It was incredibly cold and wet, so it wasn't very fun sitting on top of the bus in the wind. I got some great pictures, so it paid off to be a tough tourist! I unfortunately do not have much time to write a detailed post, but to see my pictures, click on these links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2186515&id=30308465&l=ff31758e16
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2186516&id=30308465&l=2445ab3da3

Tomorrow I'm heading to Canterbury and Leeds Castle. Stay tuned for pictures and more updates.

St. Dunstan's

2009-05-07T14:34:00.003-04:00

My first day at my internship was yesterday. I am placed at St. Dunstan's, which is a home, rehabilitation, and learning center for people who were previously in the military and are blind (or going blind). It is a HUGE place that's seven stories high, with large wings that house many different departments, activities, residences, and more. They have a gym, a pool, an arts and crafts center, a sports center, a restaurant, a lounge and dining room, and tons more that I haven't even discovered yet, I'm sure. With a place so large, I thought I might feel lost. However, I already feel more comfortable there than I ever did at the agency where I was an intern this past semester. Pretty much every person I ran into knew my name and that I was coming, and they welcomed me with open arms. I even have a name badge that sets me apart as one of the staff, and my title is "Student Social Worker."

On the first day, I walked in the door and was greeted by one of the security guards who already knew my name. He introduced me to my supervisor, Lynn, who is a quiet but incredibly nice lady. She took time to explain the agency to me, answer my questions, and show me around a bit. Then I had a fire tour, which is basically a tour of the building with a security guard who showed me what to do in case there's a fire. Then I had lunch with another intern, Julia, who is a social work master's student from the University of Brighton. She's very friendly and showed me what she does and how to get my lunch. We talked for a really long time about how the social work schools and professions are different between our two countries, and she explained their government structure to me a little. Then I went to a training on how to guide blind people if they need assistance. One man helping with the training (he also works there) was actually blind, and when he found out I was there, he was very excited. He knew I was coming and already knew my name. He came over to chat with me, and bought me tea and a cake (which is basically a biscuit with jam inside). He's a very friendly guy (or chap, as they call them here). My supervisor also offered to give me rides to and from campus when she can so I don't have to take the bus all the time. To say the least, I was incredibly impressed by their hospitality!

Today I accompanied a group of St. Dunstaners (this is what they call residents and those visiting who are members) on a day trip to Uppark House. It's an old English home that was built in the late 1600's. It belonged to several rich people, but none that are very famous. It was a beautiful house. The trip was really fun. Each employee was paired up with a St. Dunstaner, and we helped them around the place. For those who had a really hard time seeing, the home actually let them touch a few artifacts and cut flowers from their elaborate gardens so they could smell them. They did a great job allowing the people to get enjoyment out of the trip using their other senses. I was paired with a man named David, who is 91 and was drafted during World War II. He had many great stories to share. I also spoke quite a bit with a man named Gordon. He was very friendly, and told me all about how while he was in the army, he was stationed at Buckingham Palace. He would be in the changing of the guards, and has seen the queen many times. He was even at her coronation. It was so much fun to just talk to the St. Dunstaners and get to know them. I'm really looking forward to going in each day, which is an awesome feeling!

This weekend I'm off to London, Canterbury, and Leeds Castle. I'll continue to update pictures when I can! :)

Brighton

2009-05-05T18:34:00.002-04:00

Hey Everybody!

I finally have the internet in my dorm room now, so you can contact me via Skype. I also can update things more often.

I spent the past two days mostly in downtown Brighton. It's a really fun city with tons of things going on and loads and loads of shopping! It's right on the ocean, so it has some shore-like characteristics to it. It's very large with tons of bus transportation throughout it, so I've gotten pretty acquainted with the bus system. It's somewhat overwhelming, since there are so many buses to choose from! Even though I've explored the city for two straight days now, there are still sections of the city that I haven't seen yet, if that gives you an idea of how large it is. There's an event called the Brighton Festival that goes on every year for almost the entire month of May, so there are a lot of random events going on all over the city as well. It's really fun to hang out there.

I have been bonding with my fellow classmates really well. We've been getting along for the most part, and have become quite close despite the fact that we barely knew each other before we came. It's amazing how quickly you get to know people when you're immersed with them for several straight days in a strange country.

There are many little things that are different about England than I expected. There are a lot of phrases that are different. Examples are asking for the "toilet" or the "loo" instead of the bathroom or restroom, "having a lay in" means sleeping in, a "lift" is an elevator, and many more. It's sometimes a bit difficult to communicate when we use different terms, and it's also a bit of a challenge to understand the accents sometimes. Today someone English told one of my classmates that her accent was hard to understand, which made us laugh. It's been fun trying to figure out all of the little differences.

I need to get some sleep now, so that's all for today. If you want to check out the first of my pictures, go to these links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2185834&id=30308465&l=f82265f0ba
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2185858&id=30308465&l=a441777c8c

The first few days...

2009-05-03T16:31:00.003-04:00

Hello Everyone!

I have officially and safely arrived in England! It took me a few days to have access to a computer, so I haven't been able to update this until now. I'll give you a brief overview of what I've been doing so far:

On Friday, May 1, I arrived at the London airport at around 7am (England time, so it'd be 2am Michigan time). I only slept about 10 minutes on the plane, so it was a very long day! I then got on an underground train that took me to a station in London. Then I walked in London across a street (I wasn't really in the mood to look around much yet because I was feeling pretty lost) and went into another train station. From there I took a second train to Brighton. My professor picked me up from here and drove me back to the dorms at the University of Brighton. It was a very long and exhausting trip, but I am glad I'm here now!

I haven't had a chance to explore the campus much, but so far the University seems really nice. The dorms are great. Each of us have our own room and bathroom. We share a hallway (called a flat) with other people who have their own rooms, and we have a common kitchen and living space. Europeans apparently think we're neat freaks and don't hold my passion of keeping the kitchen clean, so it's pretty gross. None of us are going to use our kitchens much because of this and the meal plan that we're getting from the cafeteria. The cafeteria is sort of like a restaurant, but reminds me of the Eastern Dining Commons One hall. The food the first night was alright, and I haven't eaten there since.

On Saturday morning we got up bright and early and got on a tour bus with other American students who have been at the University of Brighton all this past semester. We traveled to Oxford, where the Oxford University is located. We walked around it and saw the University, which is absolutely beautiful and really really old. It's basically considered the Harvard of England. We also walked around and got lunch and shopped a bit. Then we all piled back onto the bus and travelled to Stratford-Upon-Avon. This is where Shakespeare was born, lived, wrote his plays, and died. He's also buried there in a huge old Anglican church. We walked around a bit and got some fish and chips (which is pretty good) and ate in a park by the Avon river. Then we went to the Shakespeare theater in Stratford and saw his play "A Winter's Tale." The play was really good. It was definitely typical Shakespeare in that it was very depressing and had really random parts and the people were all very connected in unique ways, but was definitely worth attending. After this we went back to the Bed and Breakfasts (called Guest Houses here) and crashed. Then Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast together. Then I (and another guy) walked across town to the only Catholic church for morning mass. It was a low mass, so there was no music, but it was still interesting. They say the creed a tiny bit differently. I'll go more into detail on this another day.

After church, I met back up with the group and we went on a walking tour of Stratford. We saw all the Shakespeare monuments and buildings where he lived, the church where he's buried, and many cool old buildings that have carvings of Shakespearean scenes from his plays. Then we got some lunch and got back on the bus. We then went to Warwick Castle, which is a really really really awesome old castle that many of the royalty lived in and used throughout the centuries. The earliest date that I found on the informational signs were in the 1000's. That's really old! They also had a lot of people dressed up in time period clothing walking around, shows going on of jousting and sword fighting, birds of prey shows, the personal quarters that many royal people lived in, and tons more. It was really awesome. Then we rode the bus back to campus.

Needless to say, I am exhausted after a really long 4 days. I feel like I've been here for weeks already because each day lasted so long (especially since I didn't sleep for about 24 straight hours the first day). I am definitely looking forward to a full night's sleep tonight!

The next two days I have free, so I'll be resting, checking out Brighton and campus, and finding out about where my field placement will be. Tomorrow (Monday) night I'm having dinner at my professor's (Laura) home that they're renting on the beach. That's when we will find out our placements and hopefully meet some of the U of Brighton students who will be coming to Eastern in July (they're also Social Work students, so we're doing an exchange).

More updates to come! I hope that gave you a bit of an idea of what I've been up to! I can't use Skype at the moment because I don't have my own internet (I'm in the library right now). When I am able to use it in my dorm room, I'll let you know so that I can contact you easier! I hope everything is well back in Michigan. Keep me updated! :)

Here's a link to pictures from this weekend:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2185834&id=30308465&l=f82265f0ba

Info before I leave...

2009-04-17T17:18:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

As I travel to the UK for my study abroad experience, I figured it would be best to start a blog so you can keep up with my adventures! It will be easier than e-mailing everyone individually. Plus, I can keep you updated more often, and you can check it whenever you have time.

Anyone can comment on the blog, so if you have something you'd like to say, you can post it. Just remember that anyone can read these comments. If you want to talk to me personally, it'd be better to e-mail me.

I also recommend downloading Skype (at http://www.skype.com/). You can talk to me live through the computer and you will be able to see me through my computer camera. You will need a microphone and speakers, however, so that we can hear each other.

I will try to update this several times per week to keep you all in the loop! Please keep me in your prayers! :)