Hello- Dragonette
Bounce- Calvin Harris
Motivation- Kelly Rowland
Dirty Talk-Wynter Gordon
Rolling in the Deep- Adele
Barbara Streistan
The four songs that would remind me of sussex, lol. Obviously, I didn't pick up on a lot of songs here.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The Quirks
- I feel like every single cup of coffee I've had in Europe is weak. WEAK COFFEE!
- On that note, coffee with milk is called white coffee
- They like sweetcorn on their pizza
- They have interesting sandwich combinations such as brie and cranberry
- Sometimes, the street lights go from red, yellow, green instead of green, yellow, red so people start driving at yellow
- No toilet seat covers, anywhere
- The mall closes at 6pm, smaller shops start closing at 5pm
- The men in London dress impeccably well
- Bathrooms feel very scarce, especially when you really need to go
- If there is a bathroom, you usually have to walk down a small flight of stairs to get to it
- No tip jars to be found
- Gerkins are pickles!
- On that note, coffee with milk is called white coffee
- They like sweetcorn on their pizza
- They have interesting sandwich combinations such as brie and cranberry
- Sometimes, the street lights go from red, yellow, green instead of green, yellow, red so people start driving at yellow
- No toilet seat covers, anywhere
- The mall closes at 6pm, smaller shops start closing at 5pm
- The men in London dress impeccably well
- Bathrooms feel very scarce, especially when you really need to go
- If there is a bathroom, you usually have to walk down a small flight of stairs to get to it
- No tip jars to be found
- Gerkins are pickles!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Je voudrais une crêpe, s'il vous plaît
I just came back from Paris last night and it was so much fun. I'm glad that it met my expectations because Amsterdam failed me, but that will be another post soon. This is the first legitimate post of a trip and I apologize for easing into this blog so late in the game. Anyways, I will start by saying overnight coach rides are the most tiring and uncomfortable way to travel, ever. I've done it to head over to Amsterdam and Edinburgh so I'm glad Paris is my last torturous ride. We left on Friday night and arrived in Paris at 8 in the morning, to the site of the Arc de Triumph. We then wasted no time and proceeded climb the Eiffel Tower immediately. We were only able to climb up to the second story, but that is quite high enough to see the city. Taking the elevators would have taken way too long. Afterward, we made our way to the Avenue de Champs Elyees, one of the most expensive and famous streets to live on. It was a very big road with posh stores and loads of tourists. We ended up finding the famous macaron shop, Laduree, on accident and of course we stopped by and had some macarons. From what I can deduct, they also had a little cafe on one side of the shop and the other was filled with gorgeous, decadent desserts. Expensive albeit, but so pretty to look at! I bought a super big caramel au beurre salé macaron, the size of three for 4 euros and I was a happy camper!
We continued to walk down the Champs Elyees and ran into the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, Place de la Concorde, and finally the Musee de Louvre. The famous glass ceiling was super surreal and just magnificent. I have visited France before when I was younger, but I don't remember a thing. I was seven! Regardless, I had a stack of postcards that I routinely looked at when I was younger so I always had a hunch as to what it looked like. Over ten years later, I came back to the place that showed me the world! Anyways, by the time we got to the Louvre, I was absolutely exhausted! We were walking for six hours by that time and I couldn't enjoy the museum for the life of me, unfortunately. It was free entrance for students so I don't feel too bad. Then, we visted Notre Dame and took lots of pictures there. It was a very amazing cathedral with breath-taking stained glass windows. After the Louvre, we went to the Musee de Armee, which is where Napoleon was buried but we didn't care that much and just took pictures. We grabbed some dinner afterward and headed to the hotel to take a nap before seeing Paris at night! Honestly, we were all so tired! Christine, JB and I forced ourselves to the train station for a half hour ride into the city to see the famous L'Opera, the Arc de Triumph at night, and le Tour de Eiffel. We saw it twinkle at midnight and it was the perfect way to end our trip to Paris!
The next morning, we visited Chateau du Versailles, which is right outside of Paris. The palace was built for Louis XIV because he thought his Louvre was too small. What a man! It was designed by Andres-Charles Boulle from the palace to the gardens. The gardens was maybe 5 times bigger than the palace itself. I lost interest pretty quickly because I wanted to go to the market down the road. It was so much better than the farmer's market in Irvine, just because everyone spoke french with amazingly fresh ingredients. It was only because we were in France, haha. We definitely did not have enough time at Versailles but that's what you get when you go with a tour group. We ended the trip with a quick stop by Montmarte, which is also outside of Paris where the Moulin Rouge is. We saw the famous cathedral Sacre Coeur and did lots of souvenir shopping since it's cheaper than in the city of Paris. There were so many con men, street vendors and street gamblers at every touristy location. The men who sold cheap Eiffel tower key-chains and figurines were mostly extremely dark black men and the con men in Montmarte were really dark too. I'm not sure what they do but they held a small bracelet in their hands and are really aggressive in approaching you. I was walking up the steps toward Sacre Coeur and one of the men reached for my wrist to do his little trick and whatnot. They are so aggressive and you just have to walk fast and look scared and they won't approach you!
After all of that, we finally headed back to the University of Sussex and I was completely satisfied with my trip to France. I do wish I took more photos but I've always had that problem. Hopefully Christine posts pictures up soon!
It has been so surreal being able to go to so many countries and I have a couple more trips and two weeks to explore London. So far I've lived in England, visited the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, and France. I can't wait to visit the last country of the Italy! I swear, I will take a lot more pictures! Overall, it has been fabulous!
We continued to walk down the Champs Elyees and ran into the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, Place de la Concorde, and finally the Musee de Louvre. The famous glass ceiling was super surreal and just magnificent. I have visited France before when I was younger, but I don't remember a thing. I was seven! Regardless, I had a stack of postcards that I routinely looked at when I was younger so I always had a hunch as to what it looked like. Over ten years later, I came back to the place that showed me the world! Anyways, by the time we got to the Louvre, I was absolutely exhausted! We were walking for six hours by that time and I couldn't enjoy the museum for the life of me, unfortunately. It was free entrance for students so I don't feel too bad. Then, we visted Notre Dame and took lots of pictures there. It was a very amazing cathedral with breath-taking stained glass windows. After the Louvre, we went to the Musee de Armee, which is where Napoleon was buried but we didn't care that much and just took pictures. We grabbed some dinner afterward and headed to the hotel to take a nap before seeing Paris at night! Honestly, we were all so tired! Christine, JB and I forced ourselves to the train station for a half hour ride into the city to see the famous L'Opera, the Arc de Triumph at night, and le Tour de Eiffel. We saw it twinkle at midnight and it was the perfect way to end our trip to Paris!
The next morning, we visited Chateau du Versailles, which is right outside of Paris. The palace was built for Louis XIV because he thought his Louvre was too small. What a man! It was designed by Andres-Charles Boulle from the palace to the gardens. The gardens was maybe 5 times bigger than the palace itself. I lost interest pretty quickly because I wanted to go to the market down the road. It was so much better than the farmer's market in Irvine, just because everyone spoke french with amazingly fresh ingredients. It was only because we were in France, haha. We definitely did not have enough time at Versailles but that's what you get when you go with a tour group. We ended the trip with a quick stop by Montmarte, which is also outside of Paris where the Moulin Rouge is. We saw the famous cathedral Sacre Coeur and did lots of souvenir shopping since it's cheaper than in the city of Paris. There were so many con men, street vendors and street gamblers at every touristy location. The men who sold cheap Eiffel tower key-chains and figurines were mostly extremely dark black men and the con men in Montmarte were really dark too. I'm not sure what they do but they held a small bracelet in their hands and are really aggressive in approaching you. I was walking up the steps toward Sacre Coeur and one of the men reached for my wrist to do his little trick and whatnot. They are so aggressive and you just have to walk fast and look scared and they won't approach you!
After all of that, we finally headed back to the University of Sussex and I was completely satisfied with my trip to France. I do wish I took more photos but I've always had that problem. Hopefully Christine posts pictures up soon!
It has been so surreal being able to go to so many countries and I have a couple more trips and two weeks to explore London. So far I've lived in England, visited the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, and France. I can't wait to visit the last country of the Italy! I swear, I will take a lot more pictures! Overall, it has been fabulous!
Monday, August 1, 2011
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