Paris again.

So I just spent another five days in Paris. I finally left Gemma's place in Cambridge on Wednesday night and got the train to London. My flight out of Luton was at 8pm so I figured I'd get to have a pretty cruisey morning. Wrong. It turns out Luton Airport is in the middle of nowhere, so I had to leave my hostel at 5am, get the night bus to Marble Arch, wait for half an hour then get the bus to the airport. When I was waiting for the nightbus it started to snow! Which was kind of cool, because I hadn't seen snow yet on this trip, but kind of not, because it was freezing!

I got to my hostel in Paris without any dramas and was halfway through checking in when Zoya and Melissa appeared. There was a lot of squealing and hugs all round, I think the receptionist was a little taken aback - but amused all the same. I dumped my pack in the four bed room I had booked and went to see Zo and Mel's room. They somehow scored a studio apartment next door to the hostel for less than I was paying for my four bed! And it had a third bed...how convenient. Slowly, over the next four days, I moved all of my stuff into their apartment - it was amazing. We could cook and hang out and have dance parties to the Glee soundtrack (which we have become obsessed with).

We went to the Eiffel Tower and the Christmas Markets on the Champs Elysees on our first night. We had crepes for dinner and chocolate covered fruit for desert...healthy!

On Saturday we had a fabulous day at Disneyland. I went last time I was in Paris with Timo but was keen to go back...because it's great. It was the coldest day I've experienced yet on this trip...like, stupid cold! We actually all ended up walking funny all day because our feet hurt so much. We ate disgusting amounts of candy, drank about 12 hot chocolates between us, went on rides and ran around like idiots all day.

My favourite part was lining up to get a photo with a Disney Princess. We all wanted to get our photo with Raiponce (Rapunzel) but then half way through she left and Tiana from The Princess and the Frog came out. This was fine, any Princess would make us happy. The Prince though...he was a little odd. Every single time a kid went over to get a picture with them he would smooth their scarf down...this may not sound that strange, but it looked wierd. By the time we got to the front of the line Zoya and I were in hysterics...I think Mel was slightly embarrassed. We got our photo though and were all very happy.

About half way through the day we decided to get fairyfloss. It was ridiculously big, bigger than the one Timo and I got last time. We sat down to eat it and kids kept walking past with their parents and then just stopping and staring at us with envy. The best part was when one kid stopped and Zoya just looked at him and started licking her fingers. Mean. But amazing!

Sunday was our last day in Paris and we decided to walk to Galeries Lafayette, the biggest department store in the city, and go shopping. Unfortunately, everything in Paris is closed on Sundays. It's so silly! I swear the only things that are open are small convenience stores, Starbucks and the cinemas. This worked out for us in the end though, we got Starbucks and went to see Harry Potter. Great day. The memory of seeing HP in Paris will stay with me for a long time...We laughed inapropriately all the way through. Why? Well, it turns out the French word for wand is 'baguette'...I'm sure you can see why this was so hilarious. In serious moments the subtitles would say "Where's my baguette, Hermione?" or "Take their baguettes!"...except, obviously, the whole sentence was in French. Good times.

I really had a great time in Paris with the ladies, I love that city! And I cant wait to see them again in just a couple of weeks for Zo's 21st birthday and Christmas!

Love to you all,

xxx.

CDG Aéroport.

I'm in Charles de Gaulle airport at the moment killing time. I have just over five hours until I can check in for my flight. Why am I here so early? Well actually I was late and missed my flight. It wasn't my fault, it was Paris' fault for being stupid. I left my hostel nice and early and went to Gare du Nord train station to catch RER to the airport. Then the ticket machines wouldn't accept my card...and they dont take notes...and the ticket offices were closed...and none of the shops would give me change. SO frustrating. Eventually, after running around frantically for like 20 minutes I found a ticket office and got on the train. Then I realised that my booking didn't specify which terminal I should hop off at. So I hopped off at Terminal 3 and asked at the info desk. "Easyjet fly from Terminal 1" they told me, so onto the airport shuttle I went. Then at Terminal 1 they told me to go back to Terminal 2A. Then after walking all around 2A I was told that Easyjet actually fly from 2B. By this time I had well and truly missed check in and was thoroughly pissed off. I then had to pay 50 euros to transfer onto the next London flight, which is at 6pm. Gah. What a day.

I really shouldn't compain though - I just got to spend four amazing days with two of my best friends in Paris. And tomorrow I get to see my Mum for the first time in 15 weeks. Happy days.

"The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge"

Since Friday I've been staying with my friend Gemma at The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the gloriuos Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge - more commonly known as Jesus College. It's amazing here...completely amazing. I've been having such a good time. I was meant to leave yesterday...then I was going to leave today...now I'm leaving tomorrow. It's a good thing I have a flight booked on Thursday or poor Gem may have never gotten rid of me!

When I arrived it was about 5:30pm and it was so misty you could only see about ten metres in front of you - it was a bit spooky really. Gem picked me up from the station and we walked to her College. It's pretty easy to see that Jesus is one of the more posh colleges here at the university. The grounds are beautiful and old and just lovely! On my first night we went to a formal hall, which is like a fancy three course dinner and everyone wears gowns (like graduation gowns) and drinks wine and has a grand old time. It was a kind of hilarious experience though. At the beginning of the meal one of the fellows said grace in Latin and then all of the students responded...in Latin...I was seriously like 'woah...so fancy!' Then everyone sat down and had their meals. After most people had finished eating the fellows stood, so everyone else stood too, and exited the hall. Before the last fellow left he turned and bowed to the students and a cheer erupted. I was so confused. Apparently it's tradition that if the students haven't been too rowdy one of the fellows is meant to bow to them before they leave. But if they haven't behaved well and they don't get a bow they're meant to throw forks at the fellows...I'm told that it hasn't ever actually happened - but I had this hilarious image of a headline in the student newspaper "Jesus College fellow chased by fork wielding students." accompanied by a picture of a terrified, middle aged man running away from Gemma and her friends.

The students also do this thing called 'pennying' at formal. If someone wants to 'penny' you they drop a penny into your glass of wine and you have to down it as quickly as possible. It's against College law and if you get caught doing it you get thrown out of formal...Gemma's a rebel though, so I did get to experience it. 

On Saturday Ali arrived and the three of us went to Brunch at the College cafe. It was my first proper British fry up and it was amazing! Best breakfast ever. Brunch is usually only available on Saturdays, but during exam period the College puts it on every day. How great is that? ...how much do I want to go here instead of ANU...

Well, that was until I found out that Gem has to write three essays a week for her tutorials and they're not even worth anything...and then I found out that the students here have 30+ contact hours a week...I so wouldn't be cut out for this place! 

After brunch Gem and Ali took me on a tour of Cambridge. It really is a lovely town...

King's College - the most posh College there is. It's so GRAND! But unfortunately this photo is a bit rubbish...

 

Helpful signs.

Pretty.





Also pretty. Gem and I outside Jesus.

One of the courtyards at Jesus. You're not allowed to walk on the grass, but apparently when you graduate you're allowed to go out and touch the horse. Cool.

We had a great afternoon that involved making banoffee pie (the BEST pie in the world, if you didn't know) and then going to a classical music concert that Gem was playing in. It was really nice and relaxing. We then returned to Gem's room, ate the entire pie and watched 'Mamma Mia'...which is a great film (partly because of how "yummy" Colin Firth is - Gemma's words, not mine :P)

On Sunday we went to see Harry Potter with some of Gem's friends. It was amazing! Really amazing. Gosh I love Harry Potter...I'd really like to have a massive rant about it right now, but shall restrain myself. I also found out that the guy who plays Edmund in 'The Chronicals of Narnia' films goes to Cambridge, which I thought was quite cool...then I found out that his name is Skandar and I laughed...poor guy. That night we went to to 'Life' - one of Cambridge's few clubs. It was an interesting experience. Very cheesy - it reminded me a lot of ICBM at home...but not as cool because it wasn't full of Dendies <3 It was a great night though.  

Yesterday Ali and I were both meant to leave Cambridge...we decided that it really didn't matter if Ali missed a couple more lectures and I wouldn't be doing anything in London anyway, so we stayed another night. We cooked a fabulous dinner for Gem, to thank her for her hospitality, then watched The X Factor. The X Factor is HUGE over here...apart from Simon Cowell being a bit of a babe I really don't understand the appeal! 

Sadly Ali had to leave this morning, but I'll be seeing her in Manchester in a few weeks. I'm off tomorrow to spend one night in London before flying to Paris to see my beloved Zoya and Melissa.

I've had the most amazing time here and it's all thanks to Gemma. I love you babe! LOVE! 

That's all for now, 

Love you all! 

PS: Check out this T Mobile ad, it's amazing! I'll be visiting Heathrow next Wednesday (to pick up my gorgeous mother) and I'm a bit sad that this wont happen to me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo

This Charming Man.

I love The Smiths. They're amazing. 'This Charming Man' has to be my favourite song of theirs, because it's so good to dance to and it's in 'The History Boys' ... The Smiths formed in Manchester in the 80's and the people here seem quite proud of it - there's Morrissey stuff everywhere! It's great. I'm totally okay with seeing this face everywhere I go ...

Babe. Shame he doesn't look like this anymore...

The floors of my hostel are all named after different singers or bands from the greater Manchester area. I am on the fifth floor - New Order. This is cool, because New Order are great! But really, really uncool because every time I go to my room I have to hike up five flights of stairs! I'd prefer to be on the first floor. Then I'd only have to climb one set of stairs, and I'd be on the Morrissey floor :)

Manchester is a cool city. The people here are SO friendly, they've been my favourite thing about it. Everyone greets you with "Alright, love?" and I mean everyone, even the teenage boys. And they all have amazing accents ... for my first two days I had to say "Sorry, what?" every time someone spoke to me. I felt pretty bad about that, but as I said, they're all so friendly anyway it didn't matter. I have been wondering though, what do you call a person from Manchester? A Manchesturian? Cos that sounds kinda silly.

I didn't think that Manchester would be a very nice city to look at, with its industrial history and all. But it really is quite pretty. There are a bunch of grade one listed buildings here - The Town Hall, John Rylands Library and the cathedral are just a couple and they're all lovely! I forgot my gloves the day I went to the library and the cathedral, and it was too cold to take my hands out of my pockets - so no photos were taken... The town hall, as I said, is lovely - but I think the giant Santa Claus really adds to it ... don't you?

Speaking of grade listed buildings - I have a story about a building we saw in Edinburgh. A few years ago Microsoft bought the building that used to be home to the main post office in Edinburgh ... at least, I'm pretty sure it was the post office ... anyway, they then drew up all these plans to knock down the building and then build a shiny new one. Unfortunately for them, it was a grade two listed building, so they weren't allowed to alter the exterior at all. So what did they do? They ripped out the insides and built a shiny building INSIDE the old one ... it was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Then, they decided that they didn't really like it after all, so they left. The building, not surprisingly, has been empty ever since.

The Christmas Markets have just started here. It's so cool - the Brits have Christmas markets and ice rinks etc in every city leading up to December 25th. How amazing is that? I love festivities!

So for the whole time I've been here I've basically just walked around and looked at stuff. I went into the Manchester Art Gallery and the People's History Museum, but I didn't last long. I'm still all museum-ed out from Europe! I walked all through the gay district and down Canal Street. Anyone who's seen Russell T Davies' 'Queer As Folk' will know why that's cool. All in all I've had a pretty good time, despite being a bit down and lonely.

My loneliness will be coming to an end tomorrow though! As you all know I spent a few months in Kenya last year living and volunteering with a bunch of other young people from around the world. I made some great friends while doing this, mainly from the UK. Tomorrow I'm going to stay with my lovely friend Gemma in Cambridge and we will be joined on Saturday by Alison! I am so excited!

That's all for now,

Love to you all xx

Eggnog.

Last night I went on a ghost tour with the lovely Blake and Melissa. We went into Starbucks to get some hot drinks, because it was absolutely freezing, and I mentioned that I had never tried eggnog. Blake was so outraged  by this he asked the barista to give me a taste for free. It was possibly the most delicious thing ever. Today I got an eggnog latte, it was delicious also. I love eggnog.

The ghost tour was good...but our guide was weirdly upbeat and didn't believe in ghosts...or talk about ghosts...it was a bit strange! But enjoyable all the same. I found out that the main cemetery in Edinburgh is the second most popular place in the city for public sex. Public toilets currently hold the top spot. Ew. We also got told a disgusting story about a guy who killed his best friend and then cut open his head, ate some of his brain and then drank a bunch of his blood. Gross, right? Then I found out that that happened in 2003. Wtf?

I had to say goodbye to Blake and Melissa today at the train station...I may have gotten a bit weepy once my train got going. Then bombarded all of my friends with texts saying "I had to say goodbye to my new friends and I'm sad!". Whinge, whinge, whinge. My friends are all so lovely though, none of them replied with "Suck it up, man. You're traveling around Europe!", which is exactly what I would have done. I love you, friends! Namely Kimbo and Jo and my Muzzah.

I didn't get up to too much in Manchester. I found the tourist information office, got a map, then walked around for ages looking for a new coat. I found one eventually, which was good because I was about to either freeze or punch the next passerby in the face...

Then I cooked dinner and went to the cinema to see what time Harry Potter was playing on Friday...what an interesting life I lead, I bet you're all glad you check out the blog today! I mainly just wanted Mel and Blake to know that I miss them and I think that they're fab! And that I'll definitely be coming to visit them in Canada soon...

Third gap year? Perhaps I should just start considering the possibility of a gap life. I'm up for it.

Love you all xxx

Woooooooo! Olly Moss is the best!

Take That - take two.

My post disappeared...I added a post yesterday and now it's gone! Just gone ... I dont know what I did ... I'm fairly technology illiterate, but I'm pretty sure I would have noticed deleting my own post ... I think dark magic must be behind it. I guess I'll just write it again...

The other day I was walking down the street and I bumped into Robbie Williams. It was pretty cool. I love that there are famous people just walking around! No entourage or anything, they're just going about their business. It's so cool. I hope to run into more famous people soon. Hopefully one of these people...

They're all British or Scottish...so I figure my chances are good, right?

On Saturday night I was going to go to the Rugby match between Scotland and New Zealand with my friends Blake and Melissa, but for some reason they dont sell tickets on game day. Is that normal? I dont know, but I think it's stupid! It all turned out for the best though because instead I went to see British India and a tiny little pub with two other friends from my tour and then went dancing and it was rad. Good times.

Today I decided that it was time to stop being lazy and spending all of my time shopping and actually do something active. Climbing Arthur's Seat seemed like a good idea...until I was halfway up it and about to die! It's been a while since I climbed anything, so it was tough anyway, but the track to the top of Arthur's Seat is also particularly hazardous...I'm pretty sure I'm lucking to be alive! The path was frozen over in several places and therefore hell slippery - I saw more than one person slip. I, suprisingly, managed to stay on my feet! Woo.

Arthur's Seat

The view.

I'm leaving Edinburgh tomorrow which I am pretty devastated about. I have to say goodbye to some lovely new friends and leave the coolest, most beautiful city ever. On the bright side, I have heard great things about Manchester, which will be my next stop!


Love xx

P.S: Is this not the lamest magazine cover you've ever seen? It's everywhere!

Wild and Sexy.

Yep, wild and sexy, that's me. Not really, but that is the best way to describe Scotland!

I arrived in Edinburgh last Friday and fell in love instantl. Seriously, I hopped off the plane at the airport (which is in the middle of nowhere) and thought to myself "Wow, I fucking love Scotland." Since then my love has deepened.

I spent my first day and a half walking through the shops on the main street of Edinburgh searching for warm clothes. It's freezing here all the time! Once that was done I could walk around and enjoy the sites without my teeth chattering.

I had seen pictures of Edinburgh Castle on Timo's camera and remember being thoroughly underwhelmed... It's amazing though! I dont think pictures can really capture how cool it is, especially not with my dodgy photography skills, but here's one anyway.

The whole city is just beautiful. The Old Town and the New Town are both UNESCO world heritage sites and it's so easy to see why! Have I mentioned that I love it here?

On Monday I started a five day tour of the Scottish Highlands with a company called Haggis Adventures. I was really excited to do it, but was worried that I'd be stuck with a crappy group or a boring tourguide or that being on an organised tour would just be a bit shite. It was incredible! I don't think I've ever had so much fun or seen so many beautiful places in such a short time.

Our tourguides were Leo and Allan, two genuine Scotsman. Leo was from just outside Edinburgh, had the best Scottish accent ever and was hilariously adorable all the time. Allan sounded and acted just like Billy Connolly. They were both great. On the tour we went to Loch Ness (I have been convinced that there is a creature in there), Inverness, the battlefield of Culloden, The Isle of Skye, Fort Augustus, Glen Coe, Oban and many places in between. I cant get over how stunningly beautiful the highlands are. I spent all of my time on the bus just staring out the window at the passing countryside.

I learnt a lot about the history of Scotland and many myths and legends on the tour. I wont try to tell them all here though. My favourite story was about a highland Princess who, on her wedding day, fell off of her horse while crossing a river and mutilated her face. Her fiance then refused to marry her (cos who wants an ugly wife, right?). So she went back to the river all upset and the Fairy King appeared. He told here that the river was magic and if she dipped her face into she would be beautiful forever. She dipped her face in and lived happily ever after. We stopped at this river on the Isle of Skye and, needless to say, half of the bus dipped their faces in it...

The water was so cold that it hurt!

I did have one day from hell on the tour. Most of you will already know about this from facebook, but I'll tell the story again anyway. The day started out fine, then we had a photo stop...I cant even remember what we were taking photos of, but we climbed to the top of a hill to take them. This hill was really slippery and muddy and covered in sheep shit. As I was walking down the hill I slipped and slid all the way down on my ass...it was all over me...it was horrible! So I got changed and put all of my clothes in a bag in the back of the bus. Then we stopped to get lunch. Our food took forever, so we had to run back to the bus. As we were running my bag popped open and the entire contense spilled out in the street. This was ok. We were going to a ceilidh (a Scottish dance party basically) that night so I was still in reasonably high spirits...then as I was pulling clothes out of my pack to wear to the party I discovered that half of my stuff was soaked. Then, about two minutes into my first dance at the ceilidh the heel of my boot got caugh on something and tore off. I then decided that the best way to cope with my terrible day was to buy several gin and tonics. I had a fucking fabulous night! ...Unfortunately, when we arrived back in Edinburgh no one could find the bag that had my clothes in it..oh well, shit happens! The tour was still amazing and I have a good story to tell.

Here are some photos from the tour...

A memorial for my clan - The MacIntyre's.

Lovely Leo

Right before taking a tumble down the hill...

Me and some Highland Cows (pronounced 'Heeley Coos' with a Scottish accent)

You know it.

I'm back in Edinburgh now. I was really sad that the tour ended and I had to part with all of my new friends. Luckily there's a bunch of us all staying in the same hostel for the next couple of days :)

Love to you all!

Get ready for some pointless ranting...

Hi everyone! Welcome to my brand spankin' new blog! I decided that seeing as I'm traveling by myself now and have an increasing desire to blog about absolutely nothing I would create my own page.

I hope you all continue to enjoy reading it!

Love xx