A mini update.

So I have been neglecting this little blog of mine pretty solidly the last week or two. Oops! I have just been busy with classes, pub trips, a few impromptu trips to London with a few of my flat mates, etc. I have also been devouring novels like it is my job lately. This past week I have read The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye and Slaughterhouse 5. Yeah I have been really into reading classic novels lately for some reason soo if anyone wants to send me a novel or two for Valentines day I would love you to pieces :) I can send you a few in return! I adore my classes this semester! I am taking The Monsters of Geography, Climate, Environment and Society Interactions, Living Natures and Animal Geographies. The latter two are my favorites! Plus we are going on a field trip to the zoo where my good friend Alex works soon which is going to be so fun(Universities in England are huge on field trips, I have already been on three). In other news that beautiful little sister of mine is all booked in to head this way for her March break! We are going to hang around England for a few days then head to Paris and I am sosososo excited! For those of you who don't know my sister is really cool so naturally we are going to have an awesome time! Thats it for now but I have plans for a few more posts this week so I will do my best, happy Monday everyone!

Into The Wild.

Well I just finished reading Into the Wild, I have never seen the movie but have heard good things about it so I figured that book would probably be good as well. For those of you who don't know its a book based on the life of Chris McCandless. After graduating from university he donated his entire savings (around $30,000) to charity, changed his name to 'Alex Supertramp' and began a nomadic life. He spent a few years travelling around America mostly hitch hiking meeting other people living similar lifestyles and picking up odd jobs when necessary. His dream was to go on a "Great Alaskan Odessy' as he called it which he did in April 1992. He hitched his way to Alaska and made his way into the wilderness with only a 10 pound bag of rice, a rifle, some books and a bit of gear. His remains were found 5 months later in an old bus used by hunters and the autopsy reports revealed he had starved to death nearly a month before his body was found. The novel is very well written but reads like an essay of which the authors main thesis is to prove that Chris McCandless was not mentally ill but instead noble for this daring act. Obviously this is a controversial topic it seems that people either respect McCandless for what he did or think of him as an ignorant and ill prepared young man who got what he deserved. I'm not going to tell you what I think because I think you should read the book yourself and form an opinion (then we can have discussions about it ;) ). My main problem with the book was how the author spent more then a few chapters going on about trips he himself had taken to Alaska trying to compare himself and his adventures to that of McCandless. He went on and on about how much alike they were (even though they had never even met in real life), he even compared their relationships with their fathers. I almost got the sense that the author was using McCandless life and death as a way to bring attention to himself because a big part of the book was about himself which kind of annoyed me. There's so much more I have to say about this book but I am hoping someone will read it first then we can compare notes! Let me know if you do or if you have already read it! :)

Exeter Castle.

I don't have class on Wednesdays (yay, hooray, yippee!!) So I decided to spend part of today exploring the Exeter Castle, its literally 2 seconds away from the city center but it feels like your walking into another world! The castle is huge and built out of beautiful old stones covered in bright green moss, so lovely! And its surrounded by beautiful lush gardens and hidden walking paths. It is certainly my new favorite place in Exeter. Also the weather lately has been unbelievable! So bright and sunny, the air is still cool and crisp but I have to remind myself its January, this would be April or May weather in Canada! Anyway here are a few pictures I put some on facebook as well.

Got me a bike!

I know what you're thinking..that looks like it belongs to a 12 year old girl well this is even more true is you saw it in real life. But I think maybe that will come in handy I mean no one is going to want to steal a 12 year olds bike especially one with purple flowers all over it..also it was the cheapest one I could find and I didn't know it looked like that till I bought it! Oh well its already making my life sooo much easier (Exeter buses are the worst and walking everywhere blows) so I can handle looking a little dorky on my purple bike. Yay bikes!

Update.

I thought I would give everyone a little update about how my trip is going since I have a bit of time to spare. So we got to Paris with no problem, I went with my friends Lisa (from Australia), Rob and Eric (from the UK). The hostel we stayed at the first three days was okay, the rooms were fine nothing special and the free breakfast was decent but it was really far away from everything (sometimes an hour on the metro) and was in kind of a sketchy area of Paris, we didn't really feel comfortable walking back from the metro stop late at night. On the second day we were there a huge storm started and lasted for 3 or 4 days which sucked. We didn't get out to see as much as we hoped because of this. Because of the storm our train to Rome was canceled and we wouldn't be able to get on another one for almost a week! So after a few hours debating what to do Lisa and I decided to spend three more nights in Paris and the boys went on to Amsterdam for those days and we decided to meet back up in Luxembourg on Christmas. Lisa and I ended up booking a budget hotel that was much closer to everything and was only 3 euro more then we were paying at the hostel! We ended up having such a great time!! The weather cleared up and we got to do everything we wanted and tons more! I really suggest going to Paris around Christmas the lights are unbelievable and everyone was so friendly and great! So we left Paris on the 23rd to Luxembourg which is only about a 2 hour train ride and stayed at a great hostel there! We met back up with Eric and Rob and another group of travelers and we all had a great time together. There isn't that many sight seeing things to do but Luxembourg is a beautiful country. We all went out on Christmas Eve for a big dinner and lots of beer! On the 25th Lisa and I went to Brussels, we got there late and only stayed two nights. I wasn't really a fan of Brussels to be honest we didn't get to see or do much because we were there for such a short amount of time but the city was covered in ice literally COVERED I think I fell down at least 5 times just trying to get around and we had some uncomfortable encounters with men there. So from Brussels Lisa went to Scotland were she is going to travel a bit more then head back to Australia and I came to Bruges! I love Bruges so much, its so tiny but everywhere you look is a photo op. I rented a bike and have been riding around eating 'frites' and drinking beer! Belgian beer is soo good! Pretty much all the museums here revolve around food haha today I went to the french fry museum and tomorrow I am going to the chocolate museum and a brewery! I have lots of pictures, but something happened to one of my memory cards and I think my pictures from Luxembourg and Brussels may be gone :S I bought a new one for the rest of my trip and am hoping I can fix the other one when I get home. Anyway thats somewhat of an update! I have so many stories and things to share and I have met tons of great people from all over! In a few days I will be heading to Amsterdam to meet up with my dad I cant wait! Then we are going to Berlin and London. I will update again when I get home I really hope everyone has had a great Christmas and has big New Years plans! :)

Family.

I live in a residence that is mostly full of first year students, so for a lot of them this is the first time they have been away from home, and over the past few days I have watched families from all over come to excitedly pick up their son or daughter and take them home for the holidays. I love hearing the happy chatter fill the hallways and see the loving embraces as family members reconnect, but it makes me a little sad. This is the first year in my life that I won't be spending Christmas with my family, and although I could not be more excited and grateful for the opportunity to spend the next 20+ days traipsing around Western Europe it's still a little heartbreaking to know I wont be there to watch christmas movies with them, and eat dads Christmas day breakfast and spend full days sitting around with Alex in our pajamas doing nothing but enjoying spending time together. I love my family and I am really going to miss them over the next few weeks.

Parlez-vous Anglais?!

Well I leave for Paris in two days so I thought I should brush up on my French maybe memorize a few important phrases..
So far I have learned:

La liste des vins, s'il vous plait = The wine list please.

and..

Vous etes tres beau = You're very attractive.

Thats all I could remember. Luckily they make handy little books for the language challenged like me.


Now I just have to figure out a way to use it without looking like a huge dork. I got the Italian version too, just to be prepared.