5 countries, 5 weeks, 3 girls = BEST Eurotrip '09 ever!

I know it has been well over a month (or 2?) since my last post. But to be fair, I have been a bit preoccupied with a little travel. At my univeristy here, we have a whole month for Easter holiday (we stretched to 5 weeks!) and what else are sheltered American girls to do but travel?! Thus, a Eurail Pass and hours of hardcore planning later, we began our travels April 1, 2009. It was a time in my life I will never forget, will be forever grateful for, and something I hope to share with everyone when I get home. Despite the exhaustion, hours on trains and ferries, challenges like dodgey hostels and stolen bags..... it was all well worth the experience and all we got to do and see.

It would be exhausting to you for me to share all I experienced and everything I loved about that trip (because I could go on for pages) so here's an attempt at a brief overview:
Grace (from Oklahoma), Kate (from Canada), and I started in Barcelona, Spain. We were trained here and quickly learned how hours of simply walking around cities would be the bain of our existence the next month. My favorite parts here were Parc Guell, Montjuic, Port Vell, Sangrada Familia, and Las Ramblas. I would like to explain everything, but again, trying to be concise for your sake! Took a train from there to Paris, France - AMAZING - and so surreal. We did everything there, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, The Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Arc de Triumphe, Champs Elysee, baguettes, wine, crepes (yum!), and more. Was surprised the French we met were actually pleasant and not as "anti-American" as I expected haha. Right, then to Nice, France in the south which was lovely (after the trouble with a friend's stolen bag and passport). No real notable sights, but a nice beach and park on top of a cliff, and a particularly interesting hostel with a Pink Lady ha. So then off to Venice, Italy which was so neat-a city of little islands and waterway roads. So beautiful as well, didn't take a gondola ride but did take too many bridge pictures and rode to other islands like Burano. We stayed just outside Venice at a nice B&B in Spinea, with such kind hosts, and were here for Easter Sunday. We then went to Vienna, Austria and stayed with a flatmate of mine back in England whose family lives in Vienna. I can't explain how nice it was to be in a home and do laundry! Vienna was gorgeous, such white buildings and a a vibrant atmosphere of a city (plus amazing gelatto!)
After Vienna, we had lots of travel, train to Rome only for a bit Kate split off from Grace and I to travel with friends visiting from home.Then a train to Bari, Italy (a port) where we barely caught the 15 hour ferry to Greece! A little more travel and we made it to Crete, the largest Greek island. Finally truly warm weather and a neat, different, less western European culture. We had a great hotel here but happened to be here for the Greek Orthodox Easter (a week after ours) so everything was closed! It didn't matter though, because we could walk to the beach and still got our Greek salad (which I am now a huge fan of). So another ferry back to the main island, stayed a couple days in Athens with an old friend from NC Governor's School about 4 years ago who was studying there. Athens was THE best smelling place ever, orange trees ans honey suckle allll over the city. Such a delight to just walk around. Saw the Acropolis and Parthenon, such incredible history. Last here was Santorini, another Greek island. Greece in general was my favorite country, but Santorini was SO fun and breathtakingly beautiful with cliffs of white houses going down to the sea, and the most incredible sunsets. We rented ATVs and rode all over the island, saw black sand beaches, did a boat excursion to volcanic islands and hot springs, rode donkeys up through the steep town (just like in Sisterhood haha) and got some sun too just like a real vacation. I miss the kebabs there too!
OK, almost done, promise. Another couple days of travel, and by the way, Greek trains were the worst but the ferries were so nice, almost luxury which was nice since the rides were so long. Spent a while in Rome, Italy which was also amazing. The history with the Coliseum, Palentine Hill, and the Roman Forums was so cool. Not to mention, our hostel was right across the street from the Vatican City, and of course we went to the Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica, and even the Papal Audience (was literally within 10-15 feet of the Pope, I'm not even Catholic, but that was still pretty cool!). Also, the Spanish Steps and Trivy Fountain were pretty neat, and I definitely threw my 2 coins in the fountain following the rules - 1 for my wish, the 2nd to return to Rome again. After Rome, we spent 1 day in Florence, Italy, which was beautiful as well but a very different atmosphere than Rome. And finally, Pisa, Italy where we saw the Leaning Tower finally fall over. heh, just kidding, but it must soon, it was really leaning! By this time at the end of our journeys, we were so tired that we spent the day playing cards in the Park, and flying home that night.

I apologize for the length, but honestly had soooo much more to tell. The food, the people, the cultures, the trials, the learning, the fun language phrases, the train travel, the best company, and a great selection of European cities all made this trip one of a lifetime. I want to sincerely thank everyone who supported me through it, especially my family, because I was in all honesty SO scared before flying out. England is a bit more of a comfort and I have never traveled on my own like that, in foreign countries and so much unknown. It was so exciting and truly an adventure that I would do over again in a heartbeat. The whole time my only wish was that my family and friends from home could be there to share it with me. I feel SO blessed and lucky (and hopefully at least a little more traveled and cultured!). I love you all and if you want to know anything about my Europe Trip please don't hesitate to ask, I just think I've already bored everyone enough about it! (sorry family, ha for the long Skype talks of my incessant babbling over it!)

Now I'm back to the actual school part of this 'study' abroad deal. Such a downer after such an adventure, but again, still worth it. Wish me luck in revision (their studying here)and exams. I'll be home June 15, GSO airport just after 7pm and cannot even wait to see everyone! xoxo -Krys

Everyone's Irish on March 17th

A couple weeks ago, I got to spend 5 days in the beautiful country of Ireland, starting on St. Patrick's Day! My group of 6 students from Keele flew only 50 minutes Ryan Air to Cork and arrived just after the parade (which we heard wasn't so great, so didn't miss much there) and were greeted with crowds of people from all over, many dressed in lots of green. Even saw a few leprechauns, too bad I did get their lucky charms... I miss those. ha, well the Irish pubs were fun, they served green beer that night and we got to see traditional Irish dancing. I went to Blarney Castle which was beautiful, especially the gardens, and got to kiss the Blarney stone at the top of the castle-- some sort of Irish tradition for good luck in love. I even got a Claddagh ring, my favorite souvenir!



Then we went to Dublin and explored lots. I was sick for this part but kept going of course, time to get better later at home. We had such a fun and diverse group and the whole trip would not have been the same without them! Our hostel got us a free walking tour of the city so we learned lots about Irish history, then we just had to go to the Guinness Brewery, and yes I drank the complimentary pint- not too bad (better in Ireland of course!) Only wish I could have seen more countryside of Ireland, but I definitely loved our trip regardless.I had SOOO much work to do right before I left and lots just last night too. Essays I left for last minute because of all the trips and excitement going on here at Keele. But I'd rather stress hard for one or two days over essays, and spend my quality time enjoying being abroad. Like a friend of mine said, 90% vacation, 10% study haha.

I spent this past weekend in Portsmouth, on the southern coast of England, with my friend Bennett -who was an excellent tourguide : ) -and his family. Saw Southsea, Spinnaker Tower, the Solent waters, Gunwharf Quays, Portchester Castle, went ice skating, driving through the lovely countryside, and had a proper homecooked English Sunday Roast, compliments of his mum. It was certainly a fun, relaxing weekend just before the crazy European adventures awaiting me in 2 days! Grace, Kate and I depart April 1 Wednesday afternoon for 33 days, traveling with our Eurail Passes to Spain, France, Austria, Italy, and Greece. Words cannot describe how anxious I am, I know this will be the trip of a lifetime!


And what is even better, one day after I get back to England, one of my best friends from home, Alex, is flying here to spend a week with me at Keele!Wish me luck, I won't be able to have much internet access over the next month so feel free to leave me email or facebook messages and I'll check them when I can! (and let me know if there's a "must-see" for me to remember) I love and miss you all, bon voyage! xxx

Butterflies aren't fading....

Just got out of a long day's worth of class, one of which we have a new lecturer who is very Scottish, therefore I understood only every other word due to his thick accent. Again, been quite a while (about 2 weeks) from whence I last wrote. Since then, I've been to York, the Black country Museum in Dudley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (and Ashington) as well as kept up with Ultimate Frisbee, and still learning something new about England every day! Classes have gotten much more stressful (especially combined with planning all these trips!) and these papers aren't as easy as I expected them to be. I also finally changed rooms, moving across campus to Horwood Z7 -but you can still send mail to the student union address : ) - it's a flat with 7 other girls who are all very fun and welcoming. Though it was hard to pick up and move after a month into school, it's nice being settled into a permanent room of my own! I've become a rugby fan after watching 2 games so far of the Six Nations rugby tournament (and 6 roommates play it here). It's so intense and has lots of contact and everyone here gets so into it when we watch at the bars on campus.

Trips:

• day trip to York: what a beautiful city, very cold/windy day, loved York Cathedral, almost attacked by geese haha, had wine on a lovely river boat ride, saw lots of incredible architecture, and just had fun!
• British Culture class trip to Black Country Living, an old recreated mining town in Dudley; went down into an old but real coal mine (kinda scary) and learned lots about the industry - called the "black country" because of all the coal and pollution-, took a boat ride through underground canals of limestone caves which was very cool, and had some amazing (best yet!) fish and chips
• spent 4days/3nights in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (well actually just north of there, in Ashington). Claire, a friend of a friend, invited Grace and I. We stayed with her, she was an excellent tour guide and cook, and since it's on the cost of NE England, we put our feet in the sand and freezing ocean! (they say "freezing me bits off" haha), she drove us to Bamburgh Castle (WOW) which is just on the cliff overlooking the water, absolutely gorgeous view, toured there, and couldn't believe people still actually live there! Grace or I plan to marry the owner's (Lord of Northumberland) son (the Earl) . Good plan huh? So back into Newcastle, we saw a great art museum and Yoko Ono's exhibition which had some cool participatory art. One night we watched Love Actually (my first time) which was twice as awesome because it's a British film that we watched IN England! : )

Currently, I will be hibernating this week/weekend to complete all of my essays before going to Ireland... OH YES! I get to spend St. Patrick's Day in Ireland!! March 17-21, going to Cork then Dublin, and am sooooooooooo excited!! And don't worry, I will kiss the Blarney Stone ; )
Received my Eurail Select Pass in the mail today, Grace Kate and I will be traveling 5 countries in 1 month for Easter break: Spain, France, Austria, Italy, and Greece! Already have our flight there starting in Barcelona, booking hostels, and researching more. This is all still so surreal, and I can not believe how incredible it all is or how lucky I am! Thank you for being there for me.
On our 7 hour coach ride home yesterday, I was thinking about whether or not I've "changed" so far, and I honestly don't know if I have or not. Hope so, and hope for the better! I'm still truly missing everyone, and wishing I had more letters... ; ) feel free to skype anytime still! krystal_trout
love you all! xxxxx cheers

Beautiful and Brilliant!

It's been a couple weeks since my last post, but I've been pretty busy with class (not so much), day trips, birthdays, and more union nights. I met more English students and have continued having a blast with the other internationals like myself. It's been so interesting just learning the differences in how we all view life and taking chances. They are so surprised that I've never been to New York, the Midwest or even the west coast of the US, even though I have a car and could just get up and go. Being here is making me realize how unadventurous and safe I have been and just the few places I've seen make me want to see and experience so much more. But on the opposite side, being away from my family and friends only makes me love and miss them so much more. Certainly no place like home : )
Let's see, recent adventures and news:

-I threw one of my close friends here, Grace, a birthday party at my house with a few of the people we've met so far. Cake, ice cream, candles haha... all she was missing were her friends and family from home. A few English friends had birthdays as well that we all got to celebrate.
-Day trip to Chester, one of England's oldest cities with the most standing city walls built by the Romans. A few girls and I got to walk around on top of them and the perspective and views were incredible. I met a Gladiator reenactor who shared so much about the history of the Romans (we couldn't get away!). The buildings and city were so adorable with black and white Victorian houses and shops. Had lunch at a nice pub on the river, the epitome of quaint.
-"Where's Wolly?" (aka, Where's Waldo?) themed social night out for our Ultimate Frisbee team. We all dressed up in red/white striped shirts and danced all night at the student union. That whole group is so much fun and just carefree. It doesn't even matter that I'm not great at frisbee, we always have a good time at practice.
***-and my favorite!!: OXFORD! Charlie, Grace and I just took a road trip yesterday to the city and were blessed with the absolute most beautiful day. Clearest sky and warmest sun since I've been in England, and Oxford itself is just breathtaking. We ended up taking one of the cheesy guided walking tours, which worked out well because we learned lots about the University and got to see inside 3 of the 38 colleges (so many of them!) While wandering around on our own, we came across Oxford University's own a capella group, Out of the Blue, singing in the streets. It was brilliant and they were such great singers. Also saw inside New College where parts of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was filmed (I definitely recognized it, got to love HP), and we couldn't help but act like witches and wizards haha. I couldn't imagine getting to live and study there, such famous scholars being in those same buildings and truly beautiful surroundings, I felt really lucky to have had such a great visit.

- new things I tried: Cornish Pastie (English traditional food) and Indian food (Chicken Tikka Masala and Korma?) ha was interesting but not my fav.

Words that I sound funny pronouncing to them: Jaguar, Birmingham, meercat, mirror, so much more... will add later

English vocab: rubbish bin (trash can), love or duck (what people call us), ta (thanks), you alright? (hey, how are you?/ what's up?), jumper (shirt), cheers (bye, or thanks), quid (same as pounds, like our bucks), ayup! (a range of meanings, it's a Yorkshire thing haha), brilliant (really cool), and more too.

Now in the planning stages for our month-long travels on the main land of Europe: we're thinking Amsterdam, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Greece, and more.... but we'll see what we can fit in and afford.
Love you all! xx

LONDON!!

We just got back Sunday from 4 days in London, such an amazing trip!!! Another American international student here, Grace, and I went alone...just booked a coach ride and a hostel (Globetrotters Inn- very nice and clean!) and had quite the adventure. I got to see everything I wanted and more: Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, Saint Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, National Gallery, the Tate Modern Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Harrods, Thames, Tower of London, London Bridge, St. James Park and Palace (where the Princes live!), Kensington Gardens and Palace, Notting Hill, the Portobello Market, Covent Garden and Jubilee Markets, Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station ; ), Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms (almost), and I think more that I just can't remember right now. Despite ALL of the walking and completely exhausting days, it was all so beautiful and historic and surreal. Just perfectly lovely : )

The best part was just walking without aim or purpose and coming across some of the most unique things. The first day we wandered into a courtyard between buildings and saw some students from the Westminster school which was just next to us. Found Benjamin Franklin and Rudyard Kipling's houses, as well as came so close (within 2 minutes) of seeing Prince William because he had just left through the gates of his house (St. James Palace) just before we got there. Probably as close to royalty as I will ever get! Also, we wanted to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace and thought we had just barely missed it, but that day (Saturday the 7th) just happened to be the 41 Gun Ceremony with firing canons and tons of uniformed horsemen all celebrating the coronation of the Queen 57 years ago! I love experiencing things we don't even plan or, in this case, had no clue existed!

The trip ended perfectly with lunch sitting on a fountain in Trafalgar Square in the warm sun (rare!). Over all, definitely a successful long weekend and I feel so lucky to have experienced London -- and proud to have done it on my own! I only wish I could have shared it as well with my family and friends from home.
Going to see the Pottery Museums with my British culture class this weekend, and currently making plans for a Stoke City football (soccer) game and hopefully Ireland for St. Patrick's Day!!
Still loving and missing everyone and home, quite terribly actually. xoxo

They drink soooo much!

So I know university is all about having fun, experiencing new things, meeting people, etc, but I think learning a thing or 2 is quite important as well. Ha, well here we only have lecture (class time) 1-2 hours per class per week. There is a lot of outside independent reading (which I'm used to) but entire grades depend on either 1 final exam, or 1 final and 1 essay. I suppose the structure of university here is just more student led, which will be an interesting adjustment from 5 papers per class per semester on top of several exams. Overall, my tutors (professors) are all really nice, as are the other students who have been welcoming. It seems lots of British people just love Americans, who knows why. One guy even told me I sounded like I was straight from a movie!
Oh, and another huge difference- people think American college students drink way too much, well they haven't been to the UK! Their student union is pretty much a huge dance club 3 nights a week, and the other 2 nights are for the other like 5 bars/pubs on campus. Weekends are usually pretty dull they say. But the students drink SO much (I would say too much, for me at least, but I don't want to judge as a "foreigner" haha). It is lots of fun though and it's been interesting trying to dance like they do as well.
I already miss my family and friends terribly but I still anxiously await our travels ahead. And mom would be proud that I'm drinking hot tea (cuppa tea) pretty much every day now : ) I'm also a big fan of their biscuits (aka. cookies that go with tea), yum! And tried bangers and mash tonight in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Going now to get some reading done (on a Friday night?! haha) and then explore Hanley tomorrow with some British girls. If anyone is curious about anything, just comment with questions, I'd love to share everything!
Love you all, Cheers!
xx

Getting Acquinated

Today was my first day of class after only a weekend of getting adjusted to British life. After such a hassle getting off on a plane finally (so sorry mom and dad!) and missing my shuttle to the school from Manchester, I managed the buses and got here safe and sound. Everything is so wonderfully different and the people have all been very kind and helpful. I've already seen some of the nearby cities in Stoke-on-Trent, like Newcastle-Under-Lyme and Hanley. Made several international friends, from all over the States, Canada, Australia, and more, and even a few from here at Keele. But hope to meet more through class and societies (like their school's clubs). I live about 1-2 miles from campus (20-30 min walk) in Keele Village, which seems SO far compared to App's campus, but it's a beautiful walk. BUT the food is not bad (just had cottage pie last night! mmmm) and the teeth are not all ugly : ). Hope to visit lots of places with my British Culture class, so I will have more to talk about. And I'll post pictures and Skype as soon as I get internet in my house! Cheers

Temporary mailing address (until I'm moved to my permanent block or flat!) - I love letters ; )

Krystal Trout
c/o Students' Union
Keele University
STAFFS
ST55BJ
UK