katebirdsong-blog

[katebirdsong-blog]

One more week until I'm finished with exams and I'm heading home for good! #almostthere #onemoreweek #homestretch (at University of Keele)

[katebirdsong-blog]

Last day of classes and we get cake in my British Culture Studies class. #cake #ldoc (at University of Keele)

[katebirdsong-blog]

For Sale

If anyone from AppState is, or knows someone, who will be studying at Keele University in the fall and who might be interested in purchasing the stuff I can't take with me, message me. The items I am leaving are just essential things that everyone needs, like dishes, cookware, hangers... Things like that. I can't really bring any of this stuff home and I don't want to throw it away. I posted on AppState Classifieds but I figured this might reach more people who will be attending Keele next semester. Anyway, message me. I can provide pictures of everything I would be leaving.

[katebirdsong-blog]

Flight one... Next stop Paris!.....For a 1.5 hour layover. 🇺🇸✈️🇫🇷 #longflight #Paris #naptime (at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport)

[katebirdsong-blog]

Sorry!

So, as stated on my regular blog, my computer is on the fritz and I've been crazy busy. I'll be posting more pictures as soon as I get a new computer and I get everything sorted out.

[katebirdsong-blog]

Massive Apologies

I know there is has been a lack of post in the past month and a half or so and I feel kinda bad about it. Unfortunately, school comes first and my assignments have been frying my brain cells so, typing up these posts has been difficult. I will get around to posting stories but, I can't guarantee when it'll be. My computer is also dead so, I'm working on my iPad, and that's just a whole different issue. So, sorry again.

[katebirdsong-blog]

Ok so in case everyone didn't know this, I have the greatest best friend in the world. Like there is no competition. To answer your questions @laurajoy95 yeah I laughed for like a solid 20 minutes. Everything in the basket did make me go WTF?! But in a good way! I loved it all, obviously, you know me so well. Seriously, this pretty much made my semester and it makes me that much more excited to be coming home next week!!! I love you and miss you like crazy!! 😘 PS- I had the same idea for the googly eyes. What other purpose do they have? 😜 #carepackage #studyabroad #exchangestudent #Europe #england #bff

[katebirdsong-blog]

Cliffs of Moher! It's crazy windy!!! #ireland #studyabroad #gettinblownover (at The Cliffs of Moher)

[katebirdsong-blog]

3 ft from death selfie... #ireland #cliffs #couldhavedied #atlanticocean #studyabroad (at The Baby Cliffs)

[katebirdsong-blog]

Quat spotting in Ireland! #phimu #phimusabroad #limerick

[katebirdsong-blog]

King Jame's Castle #ireland #studyabroad (at Limerick City, Ireland)

[katebirdsong-blog]

An article posted by Keele.

[katebirdsong-blog]

Contiki Day 3: Paris to Lucerne

Not much happens on travel days. We spend hours on the bus, stopping every once in a while, and then driving some more. We try and come up with various activities to occupy our time but, most of the time a good majority of us ended up sleeping, due to the previous nights’ activities.

Anyway we arrived in Lucerne, Switzerland that night and we immediately went to this, what we thought was supposed to be a watched demonstration. Turns out it was really just a 5 minute sales pitch. We had a few minutes to look around the watch shop and the few stores that were still open. I bought myself a Christmas present, an actual Swiss Watch but, that was about the extent of my shopping there.

We had about an hour to look around the town and take some pictures. It was pretty but because, it was Christmas Eve nothing was open and the town looked deserted. It actually reminded me of Disneyland because, there was no liter, no graffiti, and it was just perfect. It was kind of creepy because, we were the only ones there but, it was fine and we got to enjoy some nice Christmas lights.

As we made our way to the hotel, we kept making really sharp turns and the bus was tilted at an interesting angle; I was just really happy that it was dark and I didn’t have to see how close to the edge of a cliff we were. My suspicions were confirmed the next day. Our hotel was quaint and had amazing views of the surrounding mountains and the city below. Other than that there wasn’t much. After dinner we exchanged our Secret Santa gifts. I received a XL Toblerone and a nifty Paris shot glass. All the gifts were pretty much the same but, it was still a nice gesture since we were all away from home.

The rest of the night half the group hung out at the bar and the other half went to bed. Not one of the more exciting nights.

[katebirdsong-blog]

Contiki Day 2: Free Day in Paris

We woke to the first of many early mornings to come….Alright, it wasn’t that early but, I had woken up at 4, again, so it was early for me. Breakfast was actually better than expected; it was continental but, our tour manager made it seem like we would have stale toast and water every day. After breakfast everyone met at the bus and we headed to the Eiffel Tower. We had tickets to the top observation deck and after a seemingly eternal wait, (because it was colder than expected) we were all smushed into the elevator. I do have videos posted from this ride a little while back. Some of our party figured out that they were a little scared of heights on this ride; what a time to find out!

Anyway the first elevator only took us up to the 2nd observation deck; we then had to get on a second elevator that went straight up the tower. It was kind of a tense moment only because, you knew where you were going but, how far up it actually is hadn’t sunk in yet. I have no issue with heights but, the idea of being that high still gives me a little bit of an adrenalin rush. Well we made it to the top in one piece. Unfortunately, it was an incredibly cloudy and drizzly morning so, the views were less than spectacular. It was amazing to be able to see the city from here but, it would have been much nicer if we could actually see it. The clouds just cast a sadness over everything.

I still took a million pictures, and we explored the other levels; getting different perspectives along the way. Some of the group wanted to go to the little gift shops inside the tower but, all the workers were on strike so, they weren’t open. From what I could see there was an ice rink and glass floor on the 1st observation deck but, we didn’t stop to look because we were running out of time. I did pop into one of the souvenir stalls at the base of the tower to get some post cards and a hat because my ears were freezing!

We hopped back on the bus and were dropped off at the Arc de Triomphe. At this point we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. I latched myself onto a group of other ladies and we ended up staying together for the rest of the trip. After getting together and figuring out the plan for the day, we started our decent down the Champs Elysees.  For any who don’t know, this is one of the most famous streets for high end shopping there is. Needless to say, I did not buy anything. We walked for a while, just talking and taking pictures; we popped into a few shops but, no one really bought anything. We were actually on a mission to find Le Grande Palais, where we were going to find one of those hop on hop off tour busses.

Eventually, we did find it (it wasn’t extremely difficult seeing as we had a map) and it turned out a bus had just left so, we had 20 minutes to kill. Across the street from Le Grande Palais was Le Petite Palais. You could go into both and tour around but, the tickets were a little pricey and we didn’t have time. Major thing for this tour, we saw the cities but, there wasn’t much time to explore further than the main sights. The bus finally arrived and some of the first sights were things we had already seen; he Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, etc. I still took tons of pictures because, as a building sciences major, I have an, sometimes ridiculous, obsession with buildings of all forms.

I will say one of the most fascinating things about all of the cities we visited, was the visible influences of other cultures. What I mean by that is for example, there is a very distinct Parisian style but, there are buildings and monuments that don’t necessarily fit that style; such as at one end of the Champs Elesees there is an Egyptian Obelisk with hieroglyphs on each side, there is a building that looks like a Greek/Roman temple, and so many more. This influence of separate cultures can be seen all throughout Europe and I understand why but, it’s still an interesting sight to see.

Sorry for the ramble, I digress. One of the main purposes for us doing the bus tour was so that we could see all the sights we wanted but, only get off for the ones we wanted to explore. It was time efficient and we didn’t run the risk of getting lost. So, we puttered around the city, taking pictures of everything. We passed by the opera house, which was the inspiration for The Opera Populaire from The Phantom of The Opera. We finally got off at the Louvre. Unfortunately because, it was Tuesday, the museum was actually closed. So, we did not go inside, although I really don’t think we would have even if we could. Just standing outside, and taking in the enormity of this famous building, I knew it would take ages to actually walk through and look at all the art on display.

It was fun walking around taking pictures of the building, the architecture and attention to detail was incredible; just not something you see on modern buildings. Everyone wanted a picture with the pyramid, which was cool. Well, I thought so, apparently others aren’t happy with the popularity of the pyramid. To each their own. While we were there we were actually on the hunt for this famous hot chocolate shop but, we couldn’t find it. We ended up at this restaurant called Le Palais Royal for lunch and it was amazing. I can’t, for the life of me, remember what my entrée was but, it wasn’t as important as the appetizer and desserts that we all shared.

For our appetizer, we all split an order of escargot. If you go to France, it is a necessity to try it. I was a little wary about eating snails so, I just told myself it was a mushroom, which is exactly what it looked like, so I could get over that little mental wall. It basically had the consistency of a chewy mushroom and they are cooked in so much garlic and herbs that it was all you could taste. Even for the squeamish eater, I would still definitely recommend it, at least once. Our dessert was also delicious and much more familiar for our palettes, crepes. We had 3 different kinds; one with strawberry jam, one with chocolate sauce and ice cream, and one with bananas and chocolate sauce. All were amazing.

After lunch we headed back to through the Louvre and towards the bus stop. We waited a little while and bought some street art for our secret Santa gifts and took pictures of the Love Lock Bridge. We decided that walking would be much quicker than waiting on the bus so, we headed off to Notre Dame on foot. It was nice to walk along the river and see some of the less popular sights. I think it took us as most 20 minutes to walk from the Louvre to Notre Dame.

When we arrived I was so excited. I was more excited to see Notre Dame than I was to see the Eiffel Tower. It was one of the most stunning structures I had and have to this day ever seen. There was a giant Christmas tree set up in front and it was just an amazing sight. I loved it. One of the annoying/funny things was that, the entire time I was there the only thing I could think about was the song, “The Bells of Notre Dame” from Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. Amazing song but, I couldn’t get it out of my head. We explored the outside for a little while, getting shots from the lesser known angles of the building, i.e. the back.

We were also looking for another bus stop for our tour because, it was getting late and we needed to get to our meeting spot. We found it, arrived at the very last minute and settled down for the relatively short bus ride. We found our meeting place, and I got another crepe, just a plain one this time. I was under orders from one of my friends to get the street vendor crepes. We hung out for a little bit and finally the bus arrived to take us back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

Dinner that night was actually one of the better dinners on the tour as a whole. The food was good but, it was the location and entertainment that made it. Our dinner that night was actually at the Moulin Rouge, which looks nothing like it does in the movie! I was only slightly, disappointed. The show was fantastic but, everything was in French so we didn’t really know what was going on. It was still a good show. I don’t have any pictures because cameras weren’t allowed so, sorry about that. After dinner we went to this bar right next door for our first official night out.

Overall, while I liked Paris, it wasn’t my favorite city. It’s beautiful but, just a bit over rated compared to some of the other cities we ended up visiting. This state of mind actually surprised me because, I thought Paris would end up being my favorite (well second favorite, Rome will always be my number 1) but, I don’t even think it medaled in my rankings. I liked it more than London but that may be because, I have seriously grown bored of London because of its familiarity.

Either way, I had some amazing times and some interesting new experiences because of Paris and I don't regret any of them.

More posts coming. I did warn you that this would be a long process.

[katebirdsong-blog]

Ready to party like Gatsby at the re-freshers week ball #keele #gatsby #keelesu #dissallusionedbythejazzage This was from last Friday. Just finding relevent photos that I haven't shared yet.

[katebirdsong-blog]

Be Excited...

Yes, be excited, all of the pictures from Switzerland are up on my pictures blog! I know it's taken forever and I haven't added anything in relation to my experiences in a while but, I promise I will be writing and uploading tomorrow. I hope to get through at least a couple more days. When it comes to the pictures, those will still be slow due to Tumblrs limitations. Sorry! Anyway check out the new pictures HERE and message me with any questions.