Thats it, everyone. I (katelyn) am moving to Liverpool. I cant even begin to explain how wonderful it was. Alex, Katelyn, and Bryce hopped on a 6:15am train in Edinburgh and were the first to arrive from our little group. We met a super nice guy named Angus who worked on the train selling food and drinks. He was thrilled to tell us all about the places we were zooming through. He also gave us some free cookies because I guess we looked really hungry.
Eventually Ingrid, Karriann, and James arrived and we met Ingrid's friend Steffy who we stayed with. Steffy was amazing and even made us homemade American breakfast in the morning. She took us all over. We went to the fantastic Beatles story tour and took 3 milion pictures of all the cool stuff. This museum was the greatest museum ever. Not only is it obviously filled with Beatles stuff, but it's interactive and gets you up close and personal to the kind of people they were. There was a yellow submarine room with an actual submarine, fish, the song playing in the backround, and memorabilia. At the very end there was a giant room painted all white with a white piano and the lyrics to "Imagine" on the wall. In the back there was a wall filled with a collage of faces. It was amazing. We all just stood there for a while singing the song and thinking about how perfect life was in that moment.
After the museum we went to find "The cavern" where the Beatles started out. We found it and saw you had to pay to get in so we Just stood outside looking at it for a while. I was taking pictures when I noticed Steffy was gone. Ingrid just said she was off being Steffy. I brushed it off and went back to taking pictured. I looked over a while later and she was coming over to us and said she talked to the bouncer and he said we could go in and have a quick look for free! Apparently she told him how overly obsessed with the Beatles I am, so he let us in. There also happened to be a Beatles coverband playing when we were there so that was awesome.
After that, we went to Lennon's bar which had Beatles stuff all over. They were also having a karaoke night which was a blast. We just sat there enjoying the perfect day, and singing along to the songs we knew. It was wonderful, neither of us wanted to leave.
Hope all is well back in the states and you guys get through this crazy winter! Love you all! :)
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Goodbye Scotland, Hello England.
First of all, we are exceedingly sorry for the late update, but we have been very busy. The last two weeks have been crazy insane with trips, tours, and classes. Thank you for being patient with us.
About a week and a half ago, the whole group piled into a coach bus for the great Macbackpacker's tour. We had the most hilarious tour guide named Neil. The drive from Dalkeith to the isle of Skye took 9 hours, but with Neil as our guide it felt more like 4. We took many stops along the way, including various "sexy background" stops for pictures. It is literally impossible to take a bad picture in the highlands of Scotland. Once we figure out how to put pictures on our blog we will be sure to impress our followers with lovely scenery. The most exciting stop was at loch Ness. A group of us even took the plunge into the icy water to swim with Nessie! During our time in the highlands, we visited castles, (including the one from Monty Python and the Holy Grail) became more youthful by putting our faces in a river, and visited the faeries in the Faerie Glen. Neil told us some pretty great stories about the faeries that we are excited to share with you, but if you have a spare minute or two, Google it. They are eerie and very interesting.
After the highlands we had a lot of class days and some tours. Lots of exploring, lots of walking. We even went on a tour of "Dark Edinburgh" which was a walking tour of Edinburgh where we heard ghost stories, trudged through mud in graveyards, and even traveled down Jacobs Ladder. Which has another creepy story behind it. Katelyn even saw a ghost. For people who know me (Katelyn) you can probably guess my feelings about that tour. Unfortunately, Alex and Karriann accidentally missed the bus on the way to the tour so she missed it, but it's ok because she went on a similar ghost tour previously during the week.
Classes have also been insane. We suffered through our first two tests and have turned in our first couple assignments. People in our group are starting to get colds, it hasn't hit either of us yet (knock on wood) so we are being very careful. But other than that, things are still going great!
Right at this moment, we are sitting in the train station in Liverpool, England. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Ingrid, James, and Karriann, who took a later train. We will be in Liverpool until Monday when we will make our way to London, England. We were sad to say goodbye to our palace in Dalkeith, but we are excited to see what the rest of Europe has in store for us.
Once again, we love you all, thanks for reading and stay warm! :)
About a week and a half ago, the whole group piled into a coach bus for the great Macbackpacker's tour. We had the most hilarious tour guide named Neil. The drive from Dalkeith to the isle of Skye took 9 hours, but with Neil as our guide it felt more like 4. We took many stops along the way, including various "sexy background" stops for pictures. It is literally impossible to take a bad picture in the highlands of Scotland. Once we figure out how to put pictures on our blog we will be sure to impress our followers with lovely scenery. The most exciting stop was at loch Ness. A group of us even took the plunge into the icy water to swim with Nessie! During our time in the highlands, we visited castles, (including the one from Monty Python and the Holy Grail) became more youthful by putting our faces in a river, and visited the faeries in the Faerie Glen. Neil told us some pretty great stories about the faeries that we are excited to share with you, but if you have a spare minute or two, Google it. They are eerie and very interesting.
After the highlands we had a lot of class days and some tours. Lots of exploring, lots of walking. We even went on a tour of "Dark Edinburgh" which was a walking tour of Edinburgh where we heard ghost stories, trudged through mud in graveyards, and even traveled down Jacobs Ladder. Which has another creepy story behind it. Katelyn even saw a ghost. For people who know me (Katelyn) you can probably guess my feelings about that tour. Unfortunately, Alex and Karriann accidentally missed the bus on the way to the tour so she missed it, but it's ok because she went on a similar ghost tour previously during the week.
Classes have also been insane. We suffered through our first two tests and have turned in our first couple assignments. People in our group are starting to get colds, it hasn't hit either of us yet (knock on wood) so we are being very careful. But other than that, things are still going great!
Right at this moment, we are sitting in the train station in Liverpool, England. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Ingrid, James, and Karriann, who took a later train. We will be in Liverpool until Monday when we will make our way to London, England. We were sad to say goodbye to our palace in Dalkeith, but we are excited to see what the rest of Europe has in store for us.
Once again, we love you all, thanks for reading and stay warm! :)
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Castles, Kilts, and Pubs.
Well, we made it. After a 7.5 hour flight, 2 hour wait in Amsterdam, and then another hour on a plane, we finally made it to Scotland! We landed in Scotland at about 7 am Thursday morning. We were jet lagged, sore and hungry. After what seemed like an eternity at the Scotland airport, we made it through customs and got on our bus for Dalkeith.
Scotland is just as beautiful as you may think. Fun fact for our friends and family back at home: there is green grass here. While on the bus we saw people golfing in January. Crazy. The Dalkeith house is a giant palace with a huge lawn out front, a marble staircase, and freezing cold hallways. Us ITCers got off the bus thinking this place was a tropical paradise, but that didn't last. Scotland has a different kind of cold than Minnesota and Wisconsin, its damp and goes straight to your bones. So we bundle up to go everywhere, even the bathroom.
Our first day here was both exhausting and exciting. The Wisconsin in Scotland group is also staying at the Dalkeith house with us so that makes everything interesting. In total there is about 75 students all staying in the building, which makes mealtimes crowded, but it's great to talk to them and share fears and excitement. Each of the students were given keys and rooms to share. Alex is in a lower level room with 6 other girls, and Katelyn is in a upper level room with 2 other girls. We were sad we didn't get to room together, but it's nice to get to know some of the other girls. We were told not to sleep until 9pm (3 pm at home), which was difficult because we arrived at 7am. (1am at home)To try and keep us awake, our professor decided to give us a tour of Dalkeith and then have our first class at 2, which most of us barely made it through. Alex had to elbow me a couple times...
After class, a group of 6 of us decided to explore the grounds to keep ourselves awake. We walked on some trails in the woods where I (Katelyn) saw a sign that said "stableyard". My first thought? HORSES. So I led our little posse all the way down the muddy hill until we saw a giant stable area. They were just about to close so we couldn't actually go in, but there were horses outside in a pasture that we could see. The horses here are huge and gorgeous. I'll probably be visiting them again soon. When we were done with the horses walked back and ate dinner. Dinner consisted of chicken wrapped in bacon, mixed veggies, and these little potato log things that resembled a pierogi. It wasn't awesome, but it did the job. Then it was finally time to sleep.
The next day we woke up in a dreamlike state. This beautiful palace couldn't actually be our home for the next 2 weeks, right? It's still so hard to believe. We had breakfast from 7:30-8 and then class at 9. Class was harmless and actually very interesting. After class we grabbed our bagged lunches and headed to town to catch a bus to Edinburgh. In Edinburgh we traveled along the "royal mile" which is a road from the Edinburgh Castle to
The Holyrood palace. The road also has tons of shops and pubs running along the street filled with food, scarves and countless kilts. In case you were wondering, yes, men actually do walk around with kilts on. We didn't see too many, but there were a couple.
The Edinburgh Castle is beautiful, we got to take an audio tour through the whole thing. We saw all sorts of things from where prisoners were held to the crown and jewelry worn by the royal family. After we were done with that, we tried not to get blown away and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city. For dinner, a couple of us in the group found an adorable little pizza place and got free soda and a student discount. The locals here are so nice and open! When we were done eating we walked along the street and happened to find a display of illuminated terra cotta warriors.. It was random but very cool! Our evening was spent in a little pub called whistle binkies.. super classy, I know.
So far, things are going great! We definitely miss our friends and families back at home, but it's been a blast. We have been very busy, but loving every minute. Stay warm! :)
Scotland is just as beautiful as you may think. Fun fact for our friends and family back at home: there is green grass here. While on the bus we saw people golfing in January. Crazy. The Dalkeith house is a giant palace with a huge lawn out front, a marble staircase, and freezing cold hallways. Us ITCers got off the bus thinking this place was a tropical paradise, but that didn't last. Scotland has a different kind of cold than Minnesota and Wisconsin, its damp and goes straight to your bones. So we bundle up to go everywhere, even the bathroom.
Our first day here was both exhausting and exciting. The Wisconsin in Scotland group is also staying at the Dalkeith house with us so that makes everything interesting. In total there is about 75 students all staying in the building, which makes mealtimes crowded, but it's great to talk to them and share fears and excitement. Each of the students were given keys and rooms to share. Alex is in a lower level room with 6 other girls, and Katelyn is in a upper level room with 2 other girls. We were sad we didn't get to room together, but it's nice to get to know some of the other girls. We were told not to sleep until 9pm (3 pm at home), which was difficult because we arrived at 7am. (1am at home)To try and keep us awake, our professor decided to give us a tour of Dalkeith and then have our first class at 2, which most of us barely made it through. Alex had to elbow me a couple times...
After class, a group of 6 of us decided to explore the grounds to keep ourselves awake. We walked on some trails in the woods where I (Katelyn) saw a sign that said "stableyard". My first thought? HORSES. So I led our little posse all the way down the muddy hill until we saw a giant stable area. They were just about to close so we couldn't actually go in, but there were horses outside in a pasture that we could see. The horses here are huge and gorgeous. I'll probably be visiting them again soon. When we were done with the horses walked back and ate dinner. Dinner consisted of chicken wrapped in bacon, mixed veggies, and these little potato log things that resembled a pierogi. It wasn't awesome, but it did the job. Then it was finally time to sleep.
The next day we woke up in a dreamlike state. This beautiful palace couldn't actually be our home for the next 2 weeks, right? It's still so hard to believe. We had breakfast from 7:30-8 and then class at 9. Class was harmless and actually very interesting. After class we grabbed our bagged lunches and headed to town to catch a bus to Edinburgh. In Edinburgh we traveled along the "royal mile" which is a road from the Edinburgh Castle to
The Holyrood palace. The road also has tons of shops and pubs running along the street filled with food, scarves and countless kilts. In case you were wondering, yes, men actually do walk around with kilts on. We didn't see too many, but there were a couple.
The Edinburgh Castle is beautiful, we got to take an audio tour through the whole thing. We saw all sorts of things from where prisoners were held to the crown and jewelry worn by the royal family. After we were done with that, we tried not to get blown away and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city. For dinner, a couple of us in the group found an adorable little pizza place and got free soda and a student discount. The locals here are so nice and open! When we were done eating we walked along the street and happened to find a display of illuminated terra cotta warriors.. It was random but very cool! Our evening was spent in a little pub called whistle binkies.. super classy, I know.
So far, things are going great! We definitely miss our friends and families back at home, but it's been a blast. We have been very busy, but loving every minute. Stay warm! :)
Monday, January 27, 2014
We've Got Two Tickets For The Long Way 'Round...
Today, January 27th, students all across
the University of Wisconsin- River Falls campus will be starting to get back
into their daily academic routines. The overwhelming piles of syllabi, the
discovering of the ever-so mysterious teachers, and the grogginess from the
under slept night before will be common for many. However, for the ITCer's, January
27th is the marking of the last two days before our anticipated
European adventure.
For those who don’t know, International Traveling Classroom (ITC) is a study abroad program through UWRF that backpacks through several different European countries during the spring semester. Hitting eight different countries, which include Scotland, England, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Ireland, will demand several responsibilities from us as the students traveling; it will not only include packing for a three-month journey, but it will also include preplanning hostel locations and figuring out transportation methods for independent travel time, just to name a few.
Now, planning for a 3-month long European trip sounds like an exhilarating task for an adventurous expedition, but as this is run through a university, not even the program’s title can escape the academical aspects of this endeavor. So along with regular classes and homework, a 6,000 word essay is also demanded and is due by the end of the trip (but was highly suggested for us to start and/or finish early). We, Alex and Katelyn, commend our fellow classmates for starting and/or even finishing their essays already, but for us, just to prove our skill at procrastination, together, our combined total word count is… drum roll… 23 words!
Even though the trip will require more than just our lethargic efforts, we are truly looking forward to and anticipating what a life-changing experience this will be. We will be challenged by the limits of our comfort zones, tested by the journey of friendship, and of course, seeing how far “winging it” will actually take us.
But even though the countdown until take-off continues, procrastination aside, we want to wish our friends and families well for the time we will be apart.
We will continue to post throughout our academic and adventurous endeavor, but for now we say,
“Au revoir! Arrivederci!” and “Auf Wiedersehen!”
For those who don’t know, International Traveling Classroom (ITC) is a study abroad program through UWRF that backpacks through several different European countries during the spring semester. Hitting eight different countries, which include Scotland, England, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Ireland, will demand several responsibilities from us as the students traveling; it will not only include packing for a three-month journey, but it will also include preplanning hostel locations and figuring out transportation methods for independent travel time, just to name a few.
Now, planning for a 3-month long European trip sounds like an exhilarating task for an adventurous expedition, but as this is run through a university, not even the program’s title can escape the academical aspects of this endeavor. So along with regular classes and homework, a 6,000 word essay is also demanded and is due by the end of the trip (but was highly suggested for us to start and/or finish early). We, Alex and Katelyn, commend our fellow classmates for starting and/or even finishing their essays already, but for us, just to prove our skill at procrastination, together, our combined total word count is… drum roll… 23 words!
Even though the trip will require more than just our lethargic efforts, we are truly looking forward to and anticipating what a life-changing experience this will be. We will be challenged by the limits of our comfort zones, tested by the journey of friendship, and of course, seeing how far “winging it” will actually take us.
But even though the countdown until take-off continues, procrastination aside, we want to wish our friends and families well for the time we will be apart.
We will continue to post throughout our academic and adventurous endeavor, but for now we say,
“Au revoir! Arrivederci!” and “Auf Wiedersehen!”
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