Cindy's in Europe

OFF TO NYC TONIGHT!

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:11:42 -0700

So last summer I was fortunate enough to spend my summer in Europe…and this summer I’ll be moving to Manhattan for my internship! Follow my new blog to keep up with me :)

Missing London today. Must go back in 2014!!

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:12:43 -0700

Missing London today. Must go back in 2014!!

How are you so rich? I wish I was this happy. _____-

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:10:53 -0700

I wouldn’t consider myself “rich”. This was a study abroad experience that I’ve saved up for and it really was life changing!! I think everyone should travel as much as they can, since the experience really is priceless.

Mumford & Sons' CD is out tomorrow!

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:49:25 -0700

This makes me miss Galway so so much.

Take me back.

So I miss the UK

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 22:37:07 -0700

A lot. I’m so used to being active everyday, going out to places and now that I’m back in a location with triple digits weather, I feel like such a lazy bum. I saw Brave last night, and that made me want to go back to Scotland.

I’m ready to go back now. There’s nothing to do in this state.

Home

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 05:30:00 -0700

After 26 hours of travelling, I finally made it back home. I already miss Europe and want to go back! I guess it’s time to find something productive to do now that I’m home. For those that have been following me on my adventures for the past 6 wees, thank you! I definitely recommend studying abroad, if you get the opportunity to do so, you should!

Farewell, Europe!

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:25:00 -0700

6/21/12 Last day in Edinburgh:

I will be leaving bright and early at 4AM to catch a taxi to the Edinburgh airport, and it’ll be a 22 hour journey till I get home (cheap flight, lots of transfers). I can’t believe how fast the last 42 days went by. There will never be enough time to spend in Europe. This is the first time I’ve been out of the country for more than a month, and as cliche as it sounds, it was one of my favorite experiences so far. Europe is amazing.

We had something planned almost every single day, and we definitely took advantage of everyday and traveled all over the country. From going to Paris for the weekend to taking day trips to various country sides in Ireland and Scotland.

Out of all the cities we’ve been to, I think Edinburgh (& Scotland as a whole) is my favorite, with London being a close second. Galway, Ireland has to be my favorite country side and the most picturesque place we went to is Glendalough in Ireland.

We did so much everyday that our days were starting to blend together. It’s bittersweet to be leaving such an amazing country, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to going home to my comfortable bed and home cooked meals. One thing I’m definitely going to miss are the pub culture. I really wish we have that back in the States. Tonight we had dinner at the Abbey, our favorite pub in Edinburgh- we had our first meal there so we decided that it’s necessary to have our last dinner at the Abbey as well.

I’ve met some pretty amazing people here, and I’m sure I’ll keep in touch with them this upcoming semester. Well, it’s time for me to try to get some sleep since I’m waking up at 2:45AM, this has been one of the best trips I’ve ever been on, and I’m sure I’ll be back in Europe within the next few years!

Hamish the Highland Cow

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:08:00 -0700

Hamish the Highland Cow

Modern art museum in Glasgow

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:06:00 -0700

Modern art museum in Glasgow

Loch Ness

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:04:00 -0700

Loch Ness

Glen Coe, Loch Ness

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 04:24:00 -0700

Final days in Edinburgh:

We had a full day field trip to Glen Coe and Loch Ness yesterday. The weather is gorgeous, and we made a few stops on the way. We met Hamish, the highland cow.

I don’t think I can ever get sick of looking at the landscape in Scotland.

One of our last stops is Loch Ness, and our entire class decided to jump into the 1 degree Celsius water just to say we did it. It was probably one of the best and worst idea we’ve ever had, but it was fun and I’m glad we did it.

Today is our last day here, homeward bound tomorrow :( Time to go take advantage of our final day in Edinburgh!

Royal Botanic Garden, Holyrood Palace

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:29:27 -0700

Days 7 & 8 of Edinburgh:

I only have two more days left in this amazing country. It didn’t rain (surprisingly) yesterday; we took full advantage of the sun and headed to the Royal Botanic Garden after class, which is only a 30 minute bus ride away. To my surprise, I’ve actually walked around this area last Thursday while we decided to explore more of Edinburgh, I just didn’t realize that we walked for at least an hour. The garden was beautiful, lots of grass, plants, and lots of bees.

My friend saw some ducks, and did some duck calls and they actually approached us! but quickly walked away when they realized that we didn’t have any food to offer them. There were also many squirrels, and I tried to get close to one and ended up chasing it around the tree. Our friends decided to go into the glass house, while my friend and I decided to nap in the reception area for a good 45 minutes and waited for them while they explored more of the gardens

Today we visited the Holyrood Palace, which is right by our housing. We got through it relatively fast, and it was a lot smaller than I expected. The Kings & Queens of Scots stayed at Holyrood palace, and it’s the official residence of the British monarchy. It’s usually used for ceremonies and entertainment purposes. Honestly, after going to the Palace of Versailles, every palace I’ve been to after that will never compare. Regardless, it was still an awesome day and we enjoyed going through the palace.

We headed towards the Surgeon’s museum afterwards. I was most interested in body parts and learning about deformities, but it was a little disturbing.

We headed to our favorite pub, the Abbey for dinner. I’m seriously going to miss the pubs when I get home, the atmosphere is just so unique and the food is unbeatable. Tomorrow we have a 12 hour long fieldtrip to the highlands, Glencoe and Loch Ness!! I decided that I’m going to jump in even though I’m already sick…it can’t get any worse now, right?

Ghost tours, National Museum, St. Andrews & Glasgow

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:45:51 -0700

6/15-6/17

After class Thursday, we decided to explore more of the city. Edinburgh is phenomenon, I like it so much more than Dublin. We climbed the Scott Monument (287 steps) and enjoyed the view, went to a park and just enjoyed the scenery.

We went to this park that had awesome architecture. It’s disappointing that I won’t be able to walk around this much and explore once I’m home; Arizona is not as exciting as Edinburgh.

Wind > My hair

That night we took a Ghost tour. The tour guide was a great story teller; although I don’t believe in ghosts, he made the entire experience worth it. We learned many interesting stories.

On Friday, we made a day trip to St. Andrews, home of the first golf course. We explored the golf course, old ruins and also the University of St. Andrews. If it wasn’t for the intense rainfall, St. Andrews is a pretty unique city.

I saw Dolly (the first cloned sheep) at the National Museum. The museum was very interesting, probably my favorite museum so far in Europe compared to the many others that I’ve been to. Today we took a day trip to Glasgow and saw the city center. We were lucky that it didn’t rain much, or else today would’ve been as miserable as St. Andrews.

There was a market at Merchant city, and most of the stands there were photographs and artworks. An artist there did a series of famous cat paintings (cat mona lisa, whistler’s mother, etc). The one I really liked, the frame is way too heavy so unfortunately, I did not get it. I ended up getting a small cat Mona Lisa. I’m looking forward to our final days in Edinburgh, time to make the most of the last four days.

Arthur’s Seat

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:21:30 -0700

Arthur’s Seat

View from the Scott Monument

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:16:44 -0700

View from the Scott Monument

Food for Thought

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:58:57 -0700

6/14/12:

So food is much cheaper compared to London. Although the pound is still more expensive, everyone feels much comfortable eating out here. We have our breakfast served from the dorms everyday (and it’s fabulous), so we usually go have a nice dinner out. Here’s some of the things I’ve had in the past few days:

First breakfast, only £3.95 including coffee!

Coffee @ the Elephant House

Spaghetti with wine sauce & clams

Tiramisu

Roast beef with potatoes

Limited edition Coca-Cola bottles that we got while waiting for the Olympics torch

Hike to Arthur's Seat, Britain's Men Olympic Volleyball Team

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:52:00 -0700

Day 2 of Edinburgh:

After class today, we decided to climb to Arthur’s Seat, which is at the Holyroad Park, located right behind our housing area. The climb uphill was a bit of a struggle for me; instead of taking a trail like a normal person, we decided to scale the mountain to get up there faster. I realized that it was a bad idea when all of us at one point were pretty much crawling our way up the steep slope. We took many breaks on our way up there:

half way there, we got to see the ocean. The view was phenomenal:

After about an hour, we finally made it to the top. It was definitely well worth it; looking down was kind of scary, and I couldn’t believe that we made it all the way up!

We headed down a complete different path by walking around the mountain. By doing so, we stumbled onto St. Anthony’s Chapel (or what’s left of it), and that was pretty cool too:

The British and Belgium men’s olympic volleyball team is staying at the same place we are, so tonight we headed over to see a game. I’ve only seen a high school volleygame before, so this was much more interesting, and more exciting since they’re going to be playing in the Olympics! The Olympics torch will also be arriving here in Edinburgh on Thursday

Cheers to a great second day in Scotland!

6/10/12: Edinburgh!

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 19:45:29 -0700

It’s 3:43AM right now, and I’m all packed up and ready for the airport! The 10 days here in Ireland was way too short, and the next 10 days are going to fly by as well. My journey ends in exactly 12 days…welp, Scotland, here I come!

Photo

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 13:52:32 -0700

Day 8 in Ireland- Galway Stopover

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:29:00 -0700

best fish and chips so far in Europe

Day 8 in Ireland- Galway Stopover

Cindy's in Europe

OFF TO NYC TONIGHT!

Missing London today. Must go back in 2014!!

How are you so rich? I wish I was this happy. *_____*-

Mumford & Sons' CD is out tomorrow!

So I miss the UK

Home

Farewell, Europe!

Hamish the Highland Cow

Modern art museum in Glasgow

Loch Ness

Glen Coe, Loch Ness

Royal Botanic Garden, Holyrood Palace

Ghost tours, National Museum, St. Andrews & Glasgow

Arthur’s Seat

View from the Scott Monument

Food for Thought

Hike to Arthur's Seat, Britain's Men Olympic Volleyball Team

6/10/12: Edinburgh!

Photo

Day 8 in Ireland- Galway Stopover

How are you so rich? I wish I was this happy. _____-