An Epic Four Days

After Falmouth,
One of the Lecturers drove my friend Danielle and I back to Southampton in 3 1/2 to 4 hours, which was just the perfect amount of time because we made it to our train with 15 minutes to spare! We were heading back to London with ALL of our things from the semester-- and looking back at that I cannot even imagine how we carried everything.

We connected with one of my father's friends who lived in Central London, about 4 "blocks" away from Oxford Street. A perfect location.
We went to sleep, and then woke up bright and early to get ourselves to the Bus Station because we were headed to Amsterdam!!! Danielle and I stayed two nights in Amsterdam, and we found the people on a site called Couchsurfing.org It is a great site to connect fellow travelers in the hopes of finding somewhere to stay in a foreign city. Also, the site could be used if you would just like to meet up with a native and need someone to show you around.

Anyway, the first night we had was very interesting to say the least. Danielle and I were obviously exhausted after coming off a 12 hour bus journey and it was difficult to make the guy we were staying with understand that we just wanted to go to bed. Anyway, we lived and were moving to another couple's place that evening, but that meant that we had to carry all of our stuff with us that day. We went on the Sandman's Free Tour of Amsterdam which was very good and very entertaining. It ended at Anne Frank's House, and it is with deep regret that I was not able to go up into the attic, because the line was 2 hours long and we had limited time and money. Here are a few pictures to illustrate all that was done :)

The couple we stayed with the second night were absolutely precious. They made us a fabulous vegetarian dinner and fresh pressed mint tea-- which I later tried at home! We traded a lot of stories and ideas and had an overall great time with them! The day after, we spent some more time in the city and then headed back to the station to go on our 12 hour bus ride back to London. 

Once we hit the French Border we had to all get off the bus and through Boarder Control. I was very excited to tell them that I was leaving the UK the next morning and that I would never have to go through boarder control again. I got questioned so heavily, why did i pick Southampton, why was I still here, how can I afford my studies, do I have a job? etc etc etc. 10 minutes later, I was stamped and ushered through to head back to the bus because we were getting on the Ferry to cross the Channel to Dover. We were a bit annoyed because on the ferry there was no real place to sleep and it was absolutely frigid. But one of the most amazing things, we got to see the Cliffs of Dover from the ferry as the sun was rising. It was gorgeous and way more impressive than I ever imagined! 

Later that day-- i cannot remember if when we got back to "our" apartment if we slept or just showered and got ready for the day-- 

anywho-- we arranged to meet some friends to walk about London and get some drinks at this bar called All Bar One. 

Here are more photos of that (A photo says 1000 words right?) 

I then went out to dinner with Cape Cod family friends to an a fabulous "Chip Shop."  I had salmon fish and chips which was probably the most delicious thing in the world-- maybe. But it was pretty good!!

Next morning Danielle and I were up at a glorious 5:30 or 6am to catch the first Tube to Heathrow-- for our final flight home!!! 

Arrived at Dulles!

And thus concludes my time abroad! I had an amazing journey, and thank you all so much for sticking with me and reading my blog. I will hopefully remember to continue to update it every once in a while (Especially because I have an awesome penguin story!).

So Long!

Sara

Falmouth: Boats, Dolphins, BBQ, and research

This is a long time belated post. I am sorry I have been so lax on my posting these past few weeks.

After Portugal and Spain George and I then spent a weekend at his Parents house and then a few more days in the glorious Hatfield. But then, it was time for me to head back to Southampton so that I could pack all my things and go to Falmouth. (June 26- July 9)


I did not take many pictures while in Falmouth, but I can rustle up some of my friends for the blog.
The purpose of Falmouth was a two week field course to study the chemical, physical and "biological" properties of the Fal Estuary. We did three boat trips, one offshore on Calista, One estuary on the platoon and Bill Conway, and a geophysical habitat mapping on the Grey Bear.
Group 10 Fal Website  I apologize in advance for the terrible mistakes the website is ridden with.

I am not going to go in to all the detail about what we did on each trip etc but I will say that the geophysical mapping day was my favorite. (I started spelling like an American again) That day we used a device called a side scan which worked almost like an echo sounder which relayed and image back to the boats computer and then printed the image out. Bed forms and cool rocks generally showed up. We later streamed a video in the water and we saw a variety of Sea Stars and a crab and lots of kelp.

At the end of all the boat and lab work we had endless numbers of pages of raw data which we then had to compile onto that dreadful website (which we had approximately 2 days to complete). After that we then had about 2 1/2 days to complete a 6 page (single spaced, A4) fully referenced report of our choosing based on the data we collected. Here is my paper, if you so wish to read what I can accomplish on zero sleep for 2 weeks and more specifically, 2 days.  (I hope that link works).

Anyway, the times that we were not working our little tushies off, we were going out and exploring Falmouth. We also had a 4th of July All "American" BBQ on the beach.

Anyway, that is pretty much it for Falmouth. It was an absolutely amazing experience, and I would do most of it all over again (the paper I could have done without). 

Sara

I wrote this in the airport so be kind,

After spain george and I caught our 1 hour and 20 minute, 7.20 am, flight to Lisbon, Portugal. We arrived promptly at 7.40am.

as soon as we arrived I fell in love. The city was much quieter than madrid and absolutely gorgeous. Most of the buildings were completely covered in decorative tiles. George and I caught the bus from the airport and made our way to the hostel. The Hostel man said that we were too early to check in but we could leave our bags and go explore. Which is what we did. We walked everywhere!! We went to the main Plaza and then wandered about the city and grabbed a cup of coffee. The weather was gorgeous, the sea was gorgeous everything was absolutely perfect. We then decided we wanted to go see this castle, St. George Castle to be precise. We followed all the signs, wandering up all the hills and mountain sides, winding through the tiny little cobblestone roads and alleys till we came across the castle gate. If you had a student ID the price was cut in half, luckily George and I were had such a card :).

It was the best 3.50 euros I have spent. The Castle was absolutely gorgeous and huge. We walked the entirety of the walls, admired the view and wandered the grounds. The story of St George was this (In the words of the Tour guide we were eavesdropping on): Near the village of Lisbon, there lived a dragon, and every few months or year the town would need to gather all the virgins and pick one to sacrifice to the dragon. As long as the dragon had a virgin to eat then it was happy and did not attack the town. One time the girl who was picked was the King’s daughter. He was very upset that his daughter was picked, but the villagers insisted that it was only fair. He was very distraught by this. But one man, George, went to the cave and slew the dragon and saved the princess. The king was so overjoyed that he built George a castle in his honor.

Whether or not a St George ever existed is still up for debate, but personally I would love to believe that there was once a dragon who could taste the difference between virgins and floozies.

Regardless, by the end of our wandering we were getting fairly starving and started to look for somewhere to eat. We started heading back down the hill through some little neighborhoods looking for somewhere authentic. We hit the jackpot. A little local restaurant down an alley where nobody spoke a word of english. Half the menu was hand written, and I am pretty sure the owner lived upstairs. It was perfect. As I know no Portuguese it was a “point and smile” moment. I tried to get something beefy because I kept imaging my friend’s mother’s amazing Brazilian cooking and for some reason thought it would be similar. What we got was not beefy. We got two huge plates of food which we could barely finish + “tapas” of cheese, olives, and bread. One dish was rice with pork and sausage, and the other was fillets of chicken with a delicious sauce on it. The meal overall was very inexpensive for what we got, and to be honest we did not need two dishes.

We wandered around again and ended up going back to the hostel and chatting with the people who were staying in the same room for a while.

The next day George and I ventured to Cascais (pronounced cash-caysh) which will come tomorrow. But as a teaser it is probably the most beautiful little resort/old fisherman town I have ever been to.

Sara

Exams are finished, lets go to Madrid!

So, after my three 2 hour exams full of writing and thinking, I am finished! (Well until Monday where I begin my Falmouth adventure)

I packed my backpack and decided to go to madrid for 3 days and Lisbon for 2 and a half days.

Madrid was absolutely insane, food was great, people were everywhere, tour guide was awesome. George was having some issues with spanish culture, and to be completely honest I was a bit as well. Nothing I couldn't get used to of course, but we would generally not go out till like 8pm for drinks and Tapas so that free food would be our dinner and we could go to bed at a normal time and not 4am in the morning like the spanish folk.

Our hostel was absolutely gorgeous. It was owned by the Spanish government as a building of extraordinary artistic history.  It was pretty nice but it had awkward hours because everyone was leaving and entering between 12-4am every day. We also met a Mexican who was traveling to Europe for the first time on his own and he joined us on some of our day trips and such. His name was Fernando-- he was cool.

(Madroño) Berry Shot in a ice cream cone dipped in chocolate

Plaza Mayor

Churros con Chocolate

Free Tapas from El Tigre

Anyway, the first day we just explored the city and stopped by this bar called Madroño. I had heard about these berry shots from some friends who had gone before but it was just by chance that George and I found the one of two places who really do it in Madrid. That evening George and I went for Tapas, and went to this bar called El Tigre, which was 12€ for two very large (possibly Liters) of beer, and with it came a plate of chicken wings, fries in hotsauce, and bread with ham and cheese on it. It was a really fun place, there were absolutely no seats, it was all bar space and it was completely packed. 

The next day we did a free tour of Madrid which was very very good. Click the link if you are interested, they do tours of 13 cities across Europe if you are going soon. 

At Puerta de Sol there was an ongoing protest due to the reelection of the new Governor or Mayor-- I could not hear the tour guide very well. 

 On our last day we went to a huge park and relaxed a bit. There was a giant lake in the middle of it where people could rent paddle boats by the hour. 

We also went to this really good Tapas Bar called El Boñar de León. George and I got two rounds of drinks and with it we got a Spanish omelette, ham and cheese, and a plate of fried sardines which were very good and fun to eat.  It was a fun place that was apparently hit or miss for the quality of the food. 

We also went to see the sunset at the Egyptian temple which was absolutely gorgeous!! 

I hope my abbreviated Madrid visit post is ok since I kinda wrote it in a hurry!!

Lisbon tomorrow!

Sara

Something wicked this way comes...

Why hello there!

Long time no see. I am currently writing on an iPad so let's see how this post turns out. I know I promised a month ago for more posts but exams arose and alas I was too busy getting my study on.

Any who, I left off wandering the beautiful countryside. So we left that place to discover something even more magical, the place where Shakespeare was born! It was a ridiculous 2 hour train journey from London and we need up only being there for 3 hours because I was an idiot but I will get to that later.

We arrived a t the beautiful Stratford upon Avon, lives in towe since we had to go to Southampton afterwards. It was a gorgeous day and aside from a few stressful money issues to start with it was a happy day. We fell in love with the picturesque scenes of the 16th century buildings. We wandered the city dotted with subtle Shakespeare-isms and went to his birthplace, a cute little cottage. We then started to wander to the church where he is burried. When we got there there was a sign for Shakespeare's birthday celebration. Sarah was in heaven! (<3) we listened to the organ man rehearse for the big night which filled the church and made the scene perfect. Around the church there was a canal that we decided to sit at for a while before moving on. I looked at my phone and realized the time was 15:15 I stopped to think for a moment and realized our train was at 15:37 (which does not translate to 5:37 which I stupidly thought it had). So just as we were scheming on how to cross the canal to the park on the other side we bolted across an unfamiliar town following little iron signs to the station where we thankfully caught our train. (sorry Sarah I failed at planning).

We caught our ridiculous train to London, then a bus to Southampton. And then slept for a few hours until we had to catch another bus to the ferry port so that we could catch our ferry to Caen, France.

Wee caught the little shuttle bus from Ouistreham (pronounced (i think) we-strum; as in "we strum a guitar" -- that was for you Trimble.) to Caen and the first thing you see is this absolutely gorgeous gothic cathedral, and to the right a huge castle. Of course Sarah and I were very excited about this castle and proceeded to walk the entirety of the walls. The view was gorgeous. Also it was here I decided that cats love castles-- I will get back to this in my post on Lisbon. We toured the very French little town doing some shopping and eating French things, like baguettes and croissants. We set our path towards things that looked old and cute and found the abbey for men-- which has a french name, but I can't seem to look it up at the moment on this iPad. Then as the day was ending and the sun was setting Sarah and I went to a little market and bought a bottle of French cidre and euro champagne. We climbed back to the top of the castle to one of the towers with a cannon and sat and watched the sunset.


Back in Ouistreham we split a delicious pizza and creme brûlée. The waiter was very confused as to why we would want to split a 12 inch "personal" pizza. We then caught our overenight ferry back to Southampton where we slept the rest of the day.

I will upload morer pictures tonight. I promise!!

That is sarah's and my journey throughout europe (really only uk and France).
We spent the next few days in Southampton and then I had to send her off back to the states which I was veery sad about! I love you Sarah!

Xxxx
Sara

Sara(h)s Vs Europe (pictures to come)

So it has been quite a while since my last post because I have been ridiculously busy between finishing coursework, my friend Sarah visiting and travelling!

To set my parent's minds at ease-- I got all my coursework finished and turned in on time!

I managed to get up to George's house a few days early to finish a bit of my coursework up before Sarah got here. On Friday the 22nd of April dear Sarah arrived nearly an hour early-- unheard of for international flying! We collected her from heathrow and got her settled in and allowed her to passout and sleep in the next day.
We then went to St. Albans, which is a town near hatfield with a really beautiful cathedral and nice shopping area. There was a street market going on and a group of monks singing and dancing down the streets passing out pamphlets about G-d or something. After sitting at a lovely  little cafe we decided to continue to meander our way to the Cathedral. The Cathedral was absolutely gorgeous and we walked around inside of it-- it looks soooo much larger on the inside than from the outside! Then we ended our day by buying some cider and taking the bus to the lake and sat on the hill and relaxed.

The next day we did the London thing. And literally did EVERYTHING. We probably walked about 10+ miles that day and finished in a nice little dim-sum restaurant for a lite bite before we left. We saw all the royal wedding set up and news programming being. There was the Morning Joe at MSNBC that was set up at Trafalgar Square. We went to the Globe Theater and almost were able to enter for free, but were told off for it. . . . oops.
 Sorry Dad, I failed you.
We would have gone to Greenwich but I was not entirely sure I knew my way around it and we were both completely exhausted by the end of the day-- so we decided to head back to George's house a bit earlier than planned.

Next morning, we were up again and off to St. Pancras to catch a train to Barsby. We were both expecting a relaxing day in the country side to allow our blisters to go down. However, when we arrived we were whisked away to Foxton Locks which is a beautiful area with a canal running through it. (Hence the Locks) It was an absolutely gorgeous and in the words of Yogi the Bear, "It's a fine day for a pic-a-nic!" So we had a lovely little picnic between two of the holding ponds-- while Chalkie the dog, was IN one of the holding ponds. We walked around viewing the country side and all the rapeseed oil (or oilseed rape) which has a beautiful yellow flower that covers the majority of England during the spring months.
Later that day we went to go buy some chickens for the Marriotts new chicken castle. We each got to pick one, we got a small black and brown one, a speckalty one, a white one with a black collar, a BIG white fluffy one named G, and a HUGE blue brahma named Eagle.

We delivered the chickens to their castle and when were taking them out of the box, one of the chickens laid an egg in the box! Now that must have been an incredibly uncomfortable experience, laying an egg with two other chickens with you!

The next day we did a nice long walk in the countryside and just enjoyed the fresh English air.

Next half of this post is to come within the next few days.
Sorry again this has taken so long, but there is more Shakespeare, France and Sunny Southampton to look forward to!

Also pictures will be posted soon, my internet is acting up so cannot post them now.

Cannot believe I only have 2 months until I come home!!!
Sara

A unique view of wales, and how to avoid them in the sea.

It has just occurred to me that I have not written an update in a very long time!

Well after Budapest I have been swamped with work, and spent about 15 hours in the library in the past 4 days!!

Anyway the first weekend of Easter break I went on a horse riding holiday with the Riding Club at Southampton University. It was absolutely amazing-- beyond words. We stayed at a B&B at Cwmfforest Riding Center, Trans Wales Trails, in Breacon. We got there and had an amazing roast dinner and a lemon pot for dessert, and chatted with the owner about ourselves so he had an idea of which horses to give us.

Next morning woke up to the lovely sound of Wales in Spring time i.e. baby lambs. Got geared up, went to eat breakfast and then to get our horses. My horse was names Jonah and he was a black cob with a strip on his face-- was adorable and a very easy ride! Here are some pictures:

We did about 20 miles on horseback with pub lunches every day. It was absolutely amazing. I wish the pictures did this trip justice.  On the last day we jumped over these ditches which looked a lot bigger when you were in them than they did from a distance!! It would have been a lot of fun if I could have felt my legs, because at that point we had done 8 miles and I could no longer feel my knees so was basically gripping to Jonah's mane and holding on for dear life so I did not end up in the mud. I cannot express how amazing this trip and scenery was-- I am tempted to go back in the summer-- though it is not quite in my budget. 

This past week I had a week lone "field course" that basically involved becoming certified for First aid and CPR and Sea survival. Essentially how to avoid death via hypothermia, sharks, debris, when your shipwrecked or floating in the sea. I also got to drive a RIB and to be honest I drove that boat like a pro! I really enjoyed it and this course got me really excited to spend the rest of my life at sea! 

Also my friend Sam is backpacking her way through Europe raising awareness for awful wasteful practice of Shark finning  and asking for donations for the Rob Stewart Foundation. Please check it out and if able to-- any size donation will be greatly appreciated!! (Even if it is just $1!)
SAVE THE SHARKS CLICK HERE

It is going to be a fabulous blog!

Sara

Budapest: The Final Chapter

I guess I should finish my posts on Budapest before I go to Wales this afternoon.


On our final day of traveling in this amazing city we decided to take a more "relaxing approach." And by that, I mean it was a full day of going back and forth across many trams, undergrounds, buses and rivers in order to finish everything we wanted to do. We started the day stopping at a little stand for some breakfast and ordered two things that we had no idea what they were or how they were going to turn out. George ended up with a french pizza like thing with some bacon or ham in it. And I ended up with a very heavy piece of bread with bacon, onions, potato, and sour cream and possibly some other things that I have no idea what they were-- but it was delicious!!
    We wanted to go to "the island" for sake of a better name; oh well I guess a better name is what it is called "Margaret Island" and for my father's information, since I know he will be anxious to go look it up, is where the Dominican Convent once stood. Margaret, daughter of Bela IV of Hungary, lived at the convent. The ruins are quite spectacular though I wonder what it would have been like if it was still standing. While walking around the island a small creature took my attention for about 20 minutes. The allusive red squirrel! Which looked like a miniature fox. I was WAY too excited about this and left George with Flat Stanley next to a statue somewhere in the park to go chase after this squirrel. I have yet to see one in England but seeing one in Budapest kinda made my day!

The island is made up of a few hotels, a water park, pool, and many many many parks and statues etc. And again to my animal lover's delight a little ZOO! There were tons of birds, a few peacocks which all displayed their gorgeous feathers. Some deer like creatures and little horses. I wanted to play with them but George wouldn't let me-- probably for the best. 

We then made our way to the Funicular Railway which George had been so eager to ride. We somehow navigated our way there via numerous Mickey D trips to use their Wi-Fi to orientate ourselves. George proceeded to tell me all about cogwheel rails and how they are used to climb up mountains and hills that are too steep for normal rail. The wheels are cut like gears and match one of the rails, so the wheels fit in to the cuts in the rail and then is able to pull the tram/ train up the mountain. I hope that explained it well enough. All I know is that we were on the tram for about 20 minutes going up hill-- George trying to contain his little boy excitement :-D. When we got to the top there was a very overpriced restaurant and a few over-looks of Budapest which were not able to find too easily. But the most exciting part of the top was finding FUNNEL CAKE. And no, not the kind you get at fairs or carnivals that are deep fried and covered in powdered sugar. It is is cinnamon sweet dough wrapped around a wooden stick and rotated over coals for a while. It ends up (pictured below) in a literal funnel shape. It was absolutely DELICIOUS! Sugary and crispy on the outside and soft and cinnamony on the inside. PERFECT snack/ pick-me-up on a cold day. 

We walked by heros square while trying to find somewhere to eat. We went back down far far away from the Turkish thermal baths that we were planning on going to that evening. We found this nice little restaurant on the iPad app and decided to try it. There ended up being another couple who were American. We were sitting at different tables but they were next to each other, and the woman started asking us questions since she heard us speak English. We ended up talking with them the WHOLE evening, they were from Virginia near D.C. which was really cool. And they were just really awesome to chat with and hear about American life for a while. She did a really good Sarah Palin impression and decided that, *pardon my French,* the Brit's insistence for calling it "Fillet Mignon" (Rather than filet) was because they hated the French but did not want to look like idiots so they were really saying "Fuck-you-Mignon" Which frankly, I thought was hilarious. We eventually had to leave their company to head back to the baths. 

 The baths were absolutely amazing. The outside temperature was quite chilling at that time of night but we suited up and joined the crowds of night bathers. There were lots of tourists as well as the local Hungarian people who just wanted a relaxing Sunday evening. I must say soaking in those waters was the absolute perfect end to a very tiring and exciting trip. Relieved all my foot and back pains from carrying bags and walking up lots and lots of stairs. I highly recommend doing the baths on the last day you are in Budapest because it will just be the cherry on top of a perfect trip!

Next morning got on our flight to head back to the UK, at the pleasant  time of 5AM. 

I am off to Wales for a Horse back riding Holiday! So keep posted in the next couple weeks about that trip!!!

Sara