Tea and Wine

_{Well my excuse of not having a computer has come to an end; my new computer cord that my lovely parents sent me finally arrived. As many of you have heard my computer cord because, of the voltage difference sparked multiple times in the library, and died, ultimately causing my computer battery to die as well. So now with a charged computer I can write my blog postings and add pictures for you to see. What have I done in the last three weeks… I start with most recent and make my way backwards.}

                    _{This past weekend was our one weekend a month to stay at the manor, we have decided it’s much needed to have a weekend at the manor to get caught up on homework and relax a little and give our bank accounts a much needed relaxation as well. So Thursday we had a marketing exam that did not go very well for the whole class so we went out. We (a group of about 12 of us) went bowling then went out on the town in Grantham. I was so close to breaking a hundred in bowling but didn’t make it. Friday and Saturday pretty much consisted of hanging out in lounge area, watching movies and writing my large paper that had a rough draft due today, Monday. Sunday we got up and after working out and having brunch we had planned on going to the next large town over and going shopping, for they have really cute stuff for amazing prices. Our train was to leave at 12:45, so we called to have a taxi come at 12:15… after calling again it finally arrived at 12:35 making it too late to get to train station and head to Nottingham… so we lay around once again and watched soccer/futbol all day. Saturday also marked our ½ mark on this journey. A mark that is bittersweet. We then went to our family’s house for dinner. They had their one year old Grandson over too who was so much to play with. Our friend Veronica came over for dinner as well.}

                    _{Last weekend, Laura’s Mum and friend Tony were here, it was their second weekend here. They came into town Thursday and we went out to the Goose for dinner, which is one of the local pubs here in Grantham we usually go out to. We then got up on Friday and drove down to The Cotswold’s. The Cotswold’s are a collection of small countryside villages that have beautiful cottages! We had the most amazing relaxing, tea and wine filled weekend. We drove down to Stonehenge one day and saw…well… the large, old, no one knows how they got there, ROCKS; and it was in creditable! The drive down there was so pretty, the countryside of the UK is beautiful. As were the area that Stonehenge lays one. It was a perfectly sunny day that just added to it all. The following day we drove to Stratford upon Avon, which is the birth town of William Shakespeare. We saw five places that were in his family. Both nights for dinner we made dinner at our lovely cottage and had wine glass after wine glass, Mom you would be jealous. We also ate lunch at small cafes that were nice. Sunday night we all went to our family’s house for dinner and it was fun for Laura’s real mom to meet her British mom. It was a great night. Laura’s mom and Toni were beyond generous and nice to me. I loved having them here and it was sad to see them go.   It made me miss my family that much more.}

                    _{Three weekends ago Laura’s mom arrived in London. After dinner on Thursday Laura, Veronica and I hoped a taxi, rushed on the train and headed to London. Laura’s mom came traveling with her from Toni from college. They rented a Flat (apartment) in London and so we were to meet them there. On our way to the flat we passed them outside a pub having a glass of wine. So after lugging our luggage up over five flights of stairs( (and we figured we weren’t flying so why not go all out on packing and each had a suitcase) we joined them for a glass of wine. Their apartment was right across the river from the London eye and was in a neat area surrounded by pubs and the National Gallery in which we went to one day. We also went to Camden Town, changing of the Guards and Wicked!!! Wicked was my favorite part of London and one of my favorite parts of my stay here. The production was amazing! We dressed up and had Champaign before the show. It was just an amazing night.}

_{On a side note a few things have happened in the States in Which I must make note of:}

                    _{My mother had her birthday and though I wished her a happy birthday via every social media way possible…here’s one more.}

                    _{Also my little brother turned 19 yesterday. It’s still so weird to think he’s so old, not to mention towers over me in height and is in college!}

                    _{Finally I have to congratulate my cousin Kristi and her husband Brian in welcoming my newest  baby cousin Alexis Blakely Bissonette who was born on October 20th, 2010. I can’t wait to meet her when I get home.}

                    _{This weekend were heading to Amsterdam with a beyond large group or students, and I promise I won’t wait three weeks to update you on our trips. Until then..}

_Cheers!

Homesick

Laying in bed wishing I was home....sometime being so far from home isn't so spectacular.

Esta es la historia de Como me siento enamorado de Madrid, Espana.

September 29, 2010 air traffic control and baggage claim department of airports in Spain go on strike.  Airlines flying in, out and around Spain find themselves having to cancel hundreds of flights.  We spent all week walking on glass and checking the status of our flights. There was three separate groups heading out to Spain last weekend, one destinded to Ibiza, one to Barcelona, and then Veronica, Laura and myself to Madrid. The flights being cancelled included that in which seven of our classmates were on. Laura Veronica and I had planned to fly out to Madrid Spain the following day, September 30^th. 

            We had spent the first part of the week studying for our first British Studies two hour essay exam; covering over two eras of history and three questions in which to answer. After the essay was over it was vacation time and we were off to the airport, still unsure if we would be taking off or not.  We had dinner at the manor and then took a taxi to the train station. It’s here where our travels to the airport alone went downhill. About half way down the mile long driveway I realized I had forgotten my passport back up in my room, of course making the taxi driver turn around ( hey at least I didn’t get to the airport, right!?!) After arriving at the train station, we had another bump in the road and mistakenly got on the wrong train, heading forty minutes in the wrong direction. The ticket collector came around and clearly we didn’t have the right tickets, thankfully he gave us a print out of three additional train switches we could take to get us back to the airport. After a few shady stops along the way we made it to the airport, and only ten minutes later then we were originally scheduled, if we would have gotten on the right train in the first place. After all this we settled in for our night of  “sleeping” or in better terms attempting to sleep in the airport.

Then our weekend had an amazing change. After two hour delay we were finally taking off for Madrid, after all our upset in travel yesterday we finally made it Madrid, Spain and it was amazing. We had the ultimate girls’ weekend!

After getting settled in at our hostel we showered and headed out to explore. We headed to Sol, which lies in the heart of Madrid as well as the heart of Spain. We walked around seeing the Plaza Mayor as well as many other historical sites. The view was amazing. Old decorative buildings lining narrow cobble stone streets. We walked around and had a mini photo shoot of the sites until around ten o’clock. Ten o’clock is also about dinner time for the Spanish culture. So we headed back to our hostel and cooked spaghetti, I know it’s not a traditional meal from Spain but hey it was only three Euros when all said and done! We crashed soon after that knowing we had to big days ahead of us and getting little to no sleep the night before.

               Friday we woke up and went on a shopping mission. We went out back to sol which was shopping center with decently priced clothes. We did some damage in Spain, shopping wise! Spanish culture then calls for Siesta time from 2-4 everyday. During Siesta time one leaves works and heads home for a nap and then returns back to work to work much later then your standard 9-5 job. Our siesta time on Friday and Saturday was spent on the roof time doing nothing but soakin’ up some sweet Spanish sun rays! After siesta we got ready for the night.

               Laura and my friend from school, Sean, studied abroad last fall in Sweden and met a classmate Javier who is from Spain and currently lives in Madrid. We met Javier that night and he took us to el parque de siete tetas, in English, the park of seven boobs. The park contained seven large hills that overlooked all of Madrid. It was a view that my camera will never do justice for and I will never forget. We sat and watched the sun set , had a photo shoot and conversed in Spanglish with Javier.

  Javier is currently a Spanish teacher in Spain, working with elementary school age students and special education kid, which made it easier to communicate. We both were infatuated with each other language and the four or us spent time just conversing in both English and Spanish. And surprisingly I remembered more then I thought I would, not saying I’m good by any means but I was impressed by myself ha.

    After spending time at the park we went to his house and met his parents, who were so welcoming and had our laughing so hard. His dad kept trying to give us food and drinks. I could have stayed there all night with them. We then left to meet us with some of Javier friends. After drinking in another park, we headed out for the evening, or should I say morning. For in Spain the clubs don’t open until about one, one-thirty in the morning. Once it hit about five five-thirty in the morning Laura, Veronica and I had one thing on our mind… OUR BEDS! And we called it a night, arriving back at our hostel in bed around six in the morning, which to them is calling it an early night, crazy huh!? Needless to say the following morning we were pretty useless. We Laid in bed until Siesta where we laid out on the roof again.  Finally we got cleaned up for the day and walked around other parts of Madrid we had not seen.

    

Later in the evening we met up with Javier again. That night we went out for Tapas and Sangria, in which us girls had been waiting all weekend for. Let me tell you the Sangria was worth the wait and was amazing! We called it an early night that night, still around midnight or so for we had to catch a shuttle to the airport at 3:25 am on Sunday. The trip home was smooth, for we slept every part of the way home still trying to recover from the weekend. Con todo Madrid encabeza la lista de lugares que he viajado. Realmente han caído en el

I'm Safe, I Promise

    For those of you who have heard, as well as those who haven't I've added this blog to forward on the information that’s on our side of communication. I posted this also for my own blog memories of the trip. Just know through all of this I'm very safe where I am, as well as very cautious when I travel. Try not to worry too much about me. The next two weekends I will with Laura's mom too, so I know that will make my mom feel a little at ease as I hope it does to you as well. I'll keep you posted on any updates and hope you will do the same, as my lack of television and newspaper makes getting news somewhat tricky.

 

Dear UWEC Students in Europe, Fall 2010:

 

As you may be aware, the US State Department has issued a travel alert for U.S. citizens in Europe on October 3, 2010. This travel alert expires on January 31, 2010. The full text of the alert is below:

 

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_5171.html

 

Please read the travel alert and follow the Department of State’s recommendations in order to maximize your health and safety abroad. Remember that the CIE already registered you for your time abroad at the State Department’s travel registration website.

 

Furthermore, please review the safety information found on pages 16-18 of your on-line Study Abroad Handbook, located at http://www.uwec.edu/CIE/sac/AcptStudents/uploads/GuidesF10/SAHandbookF10.pdf, and above all, listen to the safety and security information provided by your on-site liaisons.

 

If you have questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us!

 

Sincerely,

 

Cheryl, Colleen, Karen & Samantha
UW-Eau Claire Study Abroad Staff