Full Circle

"Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of another."--Lawrence Block

Here are some pics of me during my first 2 weeks in Leicester:

I have less that 3 weeks left in my stay in the UK. It's been a year and one month since I took the plunge and decided to leave everyone and everything that I have ever known and been comfortable with to start a new chapter in my life and stand on my own feet in a foreign country. I've finished my Master's degree in Bioarchaeology, which was absolutely the hardest thing my brain has ever had to deal with. I've traveled to so many different cities and more countries than I have ever before. I've met some of the most amazing people. I've experienced a different culture and completely fallen in love with the place I can now call home, Leicester. Yet I'm leaving.

I left not really knowing myself and not having experienced a multitude of cultures. I'm leaving with a better understanding of myself. I've also become friends with people from more countries and cultures than I can count and I have loved every single second of it. When I left Dulles airport I had no idea what to expect and I was absolutely terrified, but excited. It's weird saying this, but I am a completely different person now. I love who I've become and who this country has shaped me to be. It's amazing how much one person can change in just a year.

I've taken advantage of every opportunity and taken more chances than I ever have before and I'm proud of that. Gone is the person who was too scared to go after what I wanted. I realize some people who read this blog might think that I'm taking my time for granted since I've visited so many places while I've been here. I visited these places to get an idea of what this country really is like and tried to meet new people everywhere I've gone and do things like the locals. I came here to learn not just about my degree, but about things I never knew existed. You just can't replace these experiences. I am unbelievably grateful for this chance. I wish everyone could do the things I've done. Yes I always seem to want to go do more, but I do these things for the right reasons. I want to help people, I want these places to change my life and they have. Seeing the world makes me feel whole as cheesy as that is. There's just something about going to a completely foreign place and seeing where you end up and who you end up with.

I still don't have my life figured out, but I'm more okay with that. I'm on my way to where I want to be and that's what matters. It's such a bittersweet feeling knowing that I'll be leaving Leicester/UK soon. I've started a life here, made friends, settled in and now I am uprooting myself again to go back home. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond excited to see the people I've known forever and love dearly. I just don't want to get stuck in one place. I want to be able to achieve my goals and I know my family and friends will help me in whatever way they can. It's just an odd feeling being on your own to be plunked right back into the life you left behind over a year ago. I'm not sure how to cope with that yet, but I guess I will figure it out once I get there.

All I can say now is that I will be enjoying my last few weeks in Leicester, traveling to the places I've always wanted to see in England, going to my favorite haunts, and seeing the people I am going to miss so extremely much.

Now here are pictures of me taken in the past 2 weeks. If you didn't know me before and can't see my character change you can definitely see the physical change.

One of my favorite quotes is "to travel is to take a journey into yourself" by Danny Kaye. I don't think I ever understood it completely until I came over here and restarted my life from scratch. Now that it's happening all over again I see it in a whole new light. Right now my life is coming full circle from a year ago to now, but I'm a completely different person with a new outlook on life and new ambitions. Let's see where this takes me.

"One of the great things about travel is that you find out how many good, kind people there are."--Edith Wharton

I've Been Pooped On By Too Many Species

"When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the other passengers in his car."--Will Rogers


This may seem like a very odd post compared to the ones I've posted in the past month about my travels. However due to recent events with certain species I felt it necessary to comment.

I have a weird relationship with nature and sometimes it literally poops on me. I am a very outdoorsy person as long as I don't come into contact with a spider.... then awkward panicked flail action that we all know so well comes into play and I am filled with horror while every onlooker thinks I'm insane. Mais c'est la vie.

Here's a recap of my weird animal shenanigans as I like to call them.

Cows

When I was around 7 years old my parents and I were visiting the UK. We happened to be in a field near cows. I can't remember why so please recover quickly if the suspense was killing you. I was cold so I was wearing my dad's fleece jacket that he loves so much. I've never met a man more dedicated to fleece in my life. But that's another story. I survived a 10 minute lecture on why I should not get to close to the cows and to above all not let it lick his jacket. What happened next? I gigantic cow came up to me and licked my literally from my knees up to my face. My Dad watched in absolute horror and disbelief and I think his eyes nearly bulged out of his head as my natural instincts took over and I went to wipe the disgusting cow spit off of my face with his precious fleece. Oops. I've never borrowed his jacket again... The point of this story is that I knew how to react to that. Total disgust. Like this:

Here's a picture of me right before it slobbered all over me to my Dad's horror. 

Less than a year ago I took a trip to Hadrian's Wall and a few of us went on a walk at night. We literally could not see our hands in front of our faces it was so dark. We were walking past a field thinking they were empty and were just enjoying having an adventure when.... A cow decides it would be funny to moo a deep guttural horror movie like moo right as we walked by at a sound level of epic proportions. Never have I ever been so terrified of a cow... 

Sheep

Sheep and I just don't get along for some reason. Mishaps have been occurring since I was 7 and have not stopped since. They also have seemed to amplify every time I've been in the UK. Maybe I'm not around livestock in the US but oh well. At the age of 7 I visited my Aunt Kathy in Kippen, Scotland. There was a field full of sheep right next to her house and me being the weird curious child that I was decided I wanted to pet one. Bad choice. I started petting it and immediately became confused as to my my jeans were being tugged down and towards the fence. I looked down and a sheep is, I kid you not, staring me right in the eye and attempting to eat my own jeans off of me. I've never liked sheep since. But once again instinct kicked in and I knew what to do. I ran the heck out of there before I was eaten alive and probably made a face something like this:

As some of you may have read in the Archaeology of Sheep blog I had another adventure with sheep. I was on an archaeological dig in a field that was infested with sheep and lambs. At one point I looked up only to find 10 sheep about 20ft away just staring at me. Apparently they had been like that for a while. I also had a lamb follow me around for a good 2 hours for no apparent reason. 

Birds

Whether they be pigeons or sea gulls or another spiteful bird of flight everyone has been pooped on by a bird. It's just the most disgusting poop of all. I won't go into detail. However, it's worse than stepping in it because they always seem to poop on you when you're going places instead of heading home or when you feel like you look great today only to find out they pooped on your hair or clothes. Most people react in an exasperated and REALLY? WHY? Of all the places in the world that you could've pooped it had to be on me. (^%###$%&^%&) Or some version of that.

Exotic Animals

Not only have I had encounters with regular livestock you find in your fridge, but I have also had run ins with animals most people don't encounter in suburbia.. that is unless you're me. There is an exotic animal farm right down the road from where I live and a friend of mine happens to live next door. He invited me over to help him petsit 2 baby monkeys. I thought this was just going to be hours full of cute energetic monkeys climbing on me and all around fun. Guess again Emma. Guess again. I was holding this adorable diapered monkey on my chest and I was under the impression it was sleeping. Nope. It was laying in wait. For what, you may ask?  To punch me in the nose and shove its fist up my nostril. I was certainly not prepared for that....or having a monkey dangle from my nostril. I assume it looked something like this:

That same day we walked outside to see the camel... I should've known that my day was just going to get weirder. I guess it was hungry but I turned to look at the llama for one second and the next thing I know I had been bitten on the boob by the camel... All I know is that I was deeply offended with a hint of "did that really just happen?"

Alright that isn't a poop enounter, but I felt it was weird enough to include. Now we've all stepped in dog, cat, or horse poop at some point in our lives. It's like a right of passage as a human being. But I guarantee this next thing has not happened to 99.99% of you.

The weirdest thing you will ever be pooped on:

A bee. Yes you read that correctly. I was walking back to my flat the other day and a bee landed on me. After raking up a nest in the 5th grade and getting stung by 10 yellow jackets I have never been a fan... it's more like I've been terrified. I still run out of the room yelling for my dad to kill a wasp whenever I see one in my house. Sad I know, but I'm scarred for life. Back to my story. This bee landed on my hand and I inwardly panicked, but stayed calm on the outside so I wouldn't get stung. About 5 seconds later it flies off and I see the characteristic brownish pile of poo on my hand the size of a small dot. I just stood there staring at my hand. I had no previous protocol to follow if a bee decides you are the perfect toilet. Did I get angry? No I can't run after the bee and punch it in the face for being so rude. Scared? No that's just silly. Everyone poops. Confused? YES. Amused? Slightly. Bewildered? Yeah that sounds about right. Mostly I just walked back with a blank stare on my face trying to figure out if I was the only person in the world these things happen to. 

"The shinbone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room."--Unknown


UPDATE:

Literally 2 days after I posted this I visited a friend in Ipswich and we decided to go to the zoo in Colchester. We were really excited that we got the chance to feed some elephants. I went up to the gate they were standing behind and presented my small piece of lettuce. The next thing I know I have elephant spit dotted across my sunglasses and my right cheek. I guess mother nature liked this post and decided to add another weird occurrence to this list. I can now not so proudly say I have been spat on by an elephant.

An Overload of Chocolate and Waffles

"If you're not living on the edge you're taking up too much space."--Unknown

I've done it again! I was bitten by the travel bug and decided to go to Belgium. It wasn't a completely random choice. 3 years ago I had the amazing opportunity to work in Pompeii on an archaeological dig. I met some great people and got a chance to visit them in Belgium! I arrived in Brussels via the Eurostar, which is just plain amazing. Downtown Brussels is not a very welcoming place and it is one of the most difficult places to find your way. I looked like a typical tourist with my backpack, but oh well. I made it to the center of town in about 30 minutes and somehow found a tourist center and a very friendly guy mapped out a route for me to walk so I could see all of the highlights. It was a great plan in theory... but the map didn't show all the roads there were and I ended up getting horrifically lost. But I visited about 675 chocolate shops to cure my frustration. I ate so much chocolate that after a few hours I didn't even like it anymore which definitely says something.

The most amazing thing about Brussels in my opinion was the city center. There were beautiful buildings right up against one another and it was just overwhelming in the best way possible.

My next stop was a rather odd, but really funny statue called Le Mannequin Pis. It's a little boy peeing and they dress it up in different outfits. Not really sure why, but it was definitely hilarious to watch the different reactions of the different cultures visiting it. The Asian groups were by far the best. It was a look of shock, giggles, then pointing and taking 50 pictures with it. Mostly everyone was just a mixture of confused and amused.

After getting lost a few more times and site seeing more I found myself in a park. For those of you who don't know I have worked on analyzing over 12,000 oyster shells and other molluscs such as mussels  or whelks, and have become a sort of expert on them and also have never been able to eat seafood since then. What did I find when I walked into the park? Giant statues of mussels in all different colors... I think I am cursed to be followed by shellfish for the rest of my life. 

Not sure what cheesy person decided to have giant statues of brussel sprouts in Brussels... Or who thought a cone filled with peoples' legs was a good idea for a statue, but it definitely got my attention.

I made it back to the train station after using my french speaking skills, which I would've been completely helpless without. I met my friend Jessica that night and went out to dinner with her, Els, and their boyfriends. It was so nice to see friends I hadn't seen in years.

The next day Jessica took my scuba diving in Holland. We all LOVE scuba and I haven't had a chance to go diving since I've been living in the UK. It's been a tough year without being underwater at all! It was a chilly 55 degrees Fahrenheit on land and 16 degrees C underwater. A friend of Jessica (Nik) and I walked from the shore and gradually disappeared underwater. The water was pretty murky and cast a green glow, but I expected that after diving in estuaries before. We dropped down to 80ft and it was like diving blind. The water was absolutely pitch black. Our lights did us very little good. We decided to stay at 40ft where there was a reef and more light so we could actually see instead of swimming unknowingly into the belly of a whale.. or something like that. 

As you can see I was wearing A LOT of neoprene to keep warm! I recently obtained (with great pride and hard work) my divemaster certification. I consider myself to be a decent diver and I am experienced in difficult situations. Borrowing gear when necessary is always appreciated, but it is the hardest thing to overcome. Nothing fits quite well enough and getting buoyancy under control when your gear is wiggling around in odd ways is difficult. It must have looked like I was on an invisible elevator ride underwater for a few minutes. It felt like I was back in my basic open water class again! Frustrating to say the least.

After I got my bouncing fiasco under control I noticed my surroundings more. I floated there in pure shock for a minute as I realized I was completely surrounded by oysters the length of my arms... I told you I would never escape from them! I wanted to take one, but I would've been arrested for destroying part of a reef so I refrained. I still can't believe how big they were or how many. Other than that we saw about a million lobster and crab. At one point there were so many mini jellyfish it seemed like water had stopped existing and had been replaced by jellyfish. Good thing I had a wetsuit on to avoid stings. It was a pretty neat experience.  The second dive was much colder for me. My wetsuit was still wet and the day had gotten colder. I was literally shaking the entire time I was putting my wetsuit on, but I pushed through since I am not the kind of person so say no to diving unless I'm on the verge of dying.

The next day Jessica and I travelled to Ghent. It is a pretty cute little town with an abundance of facades on houses. I think we might have seen every single one in the city that day. 

I'm not quite sure what genius decided he was magic and could squeeze a building that was too wide for the space in there... The result? A probably realization that he could not perform magic and a building intruding on the other buildings' personal space... and awkwardness. Can't forget the awkwardness. 

The morning consisted of eating Ghentish noses (no I didn't take up cannibalism). Google it. They are a chewy candy. We also saw the Belfry, smallest pub in Belgium (with only 2 tables and seating to fit 5 people), and some Socialist buildings with a statue of the man who stole the loom making industry secrets from England and took it back to Belgium.

My favorite part of Ghent by far was the Gravensteen aka Castle of the Counts. It had a moat!

It was used from the 13-17th centuries and had a lot of reconstruction from those periods. The most interesting part was the weapons room where they were all on display. The were literally taller than I am... I mean I know I'm short but good lord. 

What buff beast of a man wielded that without breaking his back? What is getting stabbed by that? A dragon? That is overkill, in my opinion, to use on a human. I mean it gets the job done and seems like it could skewer about 40 people at once, but what happened to the smaller swords???

Another part I thought was interesting was the hospital ward/prison. Turns out the put all prisoners and the mentally ill in straight jackets. They also had cushioned helmets for epileptics so they wouldn't hurt their heads. I'd never seen it before and I thought it was pretty interesting.

I guess I'm just morbid, but I also liked the holes in the ceilings people used to drop hot oil on those attacking the castle or fling tar/poo/whatever they threw at people.

Speaking of poo. We also identified several toilets in the castle. We became sort of experts after learning a lot about them during our dig in Pompeii. I'm sure my parents are bursting with pride over this lovely talent of mine.

Moving on to the next day before I think of something worse to talk about than poop. The last day in Belgium was spent in Bruges. It was definitely my favorite of all the places I'd been in Belgium. I started out the day by climbing the Belfry... all 366 steps. The view from the top was definitely worth it.  Almost dying on the way down after I tripped and then skidded on some water was not. I survived so I can't complain. 

After that I went off in search of nothing in particular except to discover whatever I could! What I found first was a chocolate shop. I bought 16 pieces of chocolate and within 2 hours they were gone and I felt disgusting but satisfied. 

After I recovered from my chocolate eating binge and most likely looked and felt something like this: 

 (Photo credit: http://johnoh.multiply.com/journal/item/55/THE-RULES-OF-CHOCOLATE)

I then took a boat tour and saw a lot of the back of houses, but enjoyed myself thoroughly. I also became very adept at sneaking up the back of the walking tour guides and listening to their explanations of monuments and buildings. I obtained a whole new level of creep, but I learned a lot.

I discovered that Bruges has one of two works of Michelangelo that are outside of Italy, which was a sculpture of the Madonna and Child. I also saw the smallest window in Bruges, which was the size of my face. Rubber ducks made of chocolate were also pretty popular. I later found myself in the City Hall's Gothic Room.

I made my way back to Leicester without getting lost and without incident! I think that's a record for me. Overall Belgium was really enjoyable. I loved seeing old friends and exploring a new country is always fun for me. Maybe I'm just weird, but I missed having some sort of adventure. They country lacked that essence for me. It was nice to visit once, but I can't see myself going back or telling everyone they MUST go there. If you're looking for a relaxing vacation with cities that are mostly the same then go there! Don't let me hold you back. It just wasn't my favorite place that I've been.

BUT it has the BEST chocolate and waffles on the planet. Have you ever had a very thick hand made waffle with chocolate drizzled on top with whipped cream and strawberries? Go to Belgium for that. It WILL be worth it. 

"I travel light. I think the most important thing is to be in a good mood and enjoy life, wherever you are."-- Diane von Furstenberg.     And I did exactly that :)

Paralympics 2012: Truly Inspirational Athletes

"Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does"--Nelson Mandela

I always look for quotes to start these things off because I feel like they set a tone for what I'm writing and can sum up what I want to convey without me pretending to be philosophical and inventing my own quotes. After attending a Paralympic event the other week this quote really spoke to me. The whole world watches the Olympics and for a brief period of time everyone is united in the fact that we are watching these athletes compete together, watching them meet people from all over the world and how they all represent their countries. Each country wants their own to win, but I always find myself rooting for everyone playing, especially if who I want to win is not competing. Sports, especially international events such as the Olympics and Paralympics, really do bring people together.

Needless to say I was extremely excited to be living in England during the games. A few friends and I made our way over to the stadium and sat in the nosebleed section, which has a surprisingly amazing view. The entire stadium was filled and a record number of attendees were there that night. It was a cool thing to be a part of. The atmosphere was incredible. Excitement was oozing from everyone. You just don't get that enough in daily life.

The Olympics are ridiculously impressive and to me are the ultimate challenge for athletes. The Paralympics, at least in my opinion, represent more than that and require more mental and physical strength to overcome their disability, to take control of their lives and adapt to what it has dealt them, and to obtain a world renowned level of athleticism. I feel like I am a decently in shape person and I love working out; I do it every day. I felt like a tub of lard sitting in the stands, the entire bag of snack food I had brought didn't help, as I watched people who were missing limbs, had mental illnesses, and lacked vision or hearing competing at such a high standard. No one has an excuse to not exercise, especially after seeing something like this.

We were lucky enough to get to see a track and field event, meaning we got to see TONS of events. When we got there javelin throwing was the main event. This quickly turned into about 4 different events going on at once and none of us knew which event to concentrate on. We just wanted to see everything.

We saw a Chinese man jump over 15m and set a new world record. He then did his second jump and broke his world record. I can barely jump 4ft much less 15m....    

The main events were the 100m heats for various different disabilities. We had no idea which heats were which as they called them things like T45 or T52. Not exactly explanatory, but we had fun nevertheless. The blade runners were by far one of my favorites. They are never the same length as the uninjured leg and they walk awkwardly. Not sure why they don't have blades that would make their legs even. Does anyone know?

Several world records were broken that night. We definitely picked a fantastic night to attend! My favorite race was the T52. Here's a picture so you know what I'm talking about.

 Toooooo cool!! We also got to see some world champions and the one and only Pistorius! He won his heat by about a mile.

The last events of the day were the blind 100m heats. There were varying degrees of sight capabilities and some could race without a guide. I can only imagine the courage it takes to run full speed at a target you can't see while being watched by thousands of people. These athletes really set the bar high for what a person can achieve.

If anyone reading this ever gets a chance to go see a Paralympic event I highly recommend it. It is just as thrilling, and much more inspirational, than a regular sporting event. As a huge sports fanatic I had high hopes, which were undoubtedly surpassed. I'm just happy that I got to experience it for myself. Go see the games and cheer on your country and all of the competitors! A chance like this doesn't come very often!

P.S. They had little remote controlled mini coopers that acted like carts to carry the javelins back to the athletes. We really got a kick out of them. It was a funny and unique way of doing things.

And yes I made odd sound effects every time I saw it move around.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."--Ambrose Redmoon

Barcelona! The City of Amore and Thieves

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." --Martin Buber

It's taken me what feels like years to start writing this, so I apologize for not being on the ball and missing out on a few weeks of posting! I recently went to Barcelona and I can safely say I have fallen in LOVE with the city. For anyone who knows me this might be surprising. I usually HATE big cities and avoid them at all costs. They are just overpopulated, too busy, and not enough foliage for my liking. I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures... That will be explained later on... :(

Laura and I were ridiculously excited to visit Spain. Luckily she was fluent in Spanish since I could barely say hello. I could've spoken to everyone in French, but I would've seemed pretty insane. We boarded our evening flight and it still hadn't hit me that we were going to one of the countries I had always wanted to visit. We arrived at night and got a great view of the mountains with little lights dotted all along them where people were going about their daily lives. Being in a plane does weird things to your thought processes, at least for me it does. I kept thinking about how no one really paid any attention to the plane flying overhead with a hundred people on board. Everyone was going about their daily lives and we each had our own purpose for going to Spain and we had no idea how we would affect people there or how the experience would change us if at all.

Laura and I stayed outside the city in a place called El Prat de Llobregat. It's a very industrial part of town, but we decided to go exploring. We have never been the type of people who were able to resist exploring anywhere no matter if it seemed like nothing was there. Little did we know we would discover quite possibly the best playground of all time. It had slides, mesh passageways, tubes to climb through, and swings. You never really realize how little you used to be until you get stuck in something like that...     Laura and I really like see saws for some reason and we found the mother of them all. It was attached to a pole sticking up about 10 feet high. The see saw was hooked to the top of it so it could go up and down, spin in a circle, AND rotate side to side... all at the same time. We were prime entertainment for anyone who encountered us that night.

The next morning we got up early and headed into the city. Excited just doesn't do the feeling justice. I had no idea what to expect when I got there, but I was blown away. It was a huge city, but all of the buildings were old or had some unique character like all of the buildings Gaudi designed. We made our way around the Plaza Catalonia down La Rambla, which is a HUGE stretch of road that acts as a market for food, flowers, paintings, jewelry, etc. We also found Gaudi's house of bones. I had only ever seen a picture of this house in passing, but I immediately decided Gaudi was a genius. I can't really do it justice, but here's a picture so you can see what I'm talking about. His designs are just WEIRD, but so innovative and different. That's what really impressed me. It made a lasting statement, which is hard to have on me since most architecture tends to bore me.

We spent the rest of the day laying out trying to will our skin to get tan instead of the paper white sheen we had acquired after living in England for so long. We managed to skip over the gay beach and ended up on a topless beach. We didn't even notice until we ran in the water and were walking back to our towels. It was an.... interesting experience. All I have to say is that some people should not go topless and some people need a MUCH better plastic surgeon since it looked like they have pineapples underneath their skin. I've noticed that the people who look nice tend to steer towards the classier side in Barcelona... while the people you REALLY don't want to see bare it all, do. Yikes.

The next day Laura and I were ridiculously stoked. We have always been addicted to bike riding. It's pretty much a staple of our friendship. We had booked a biking tour of Barcelona with the Travel Bar Group. They are amazing. Use them if you ever go to Barcelona, you won't regret it. 

We spent over 3 hours riding around Barcelona and saw the beaches, Olympic village, Gaudi house of bones, other Gaudi works, La Sagrada Familia, the port, bull ring, park with a ridiculously large and elaborate fountain, and an Arc de Triomph. Needless to say it included everything and more that I wanted to see.




That night we decided to stay in town for dinner at the same place where we did the bike tour since it had a bar and restaurant attached.

Little did I know I would end up having a date! The bartender was by far the most attractive Spanish guy I had seen. He ended up being our waiter and somehow thought Laura was spanish and that I was french. We were just glad we didn't look like Americans. He ended up asking me out for drinks later that night. Laura and I ended up rushing back to our hotel and took ridiculously fast showers and I think I got ready faster than I ever have in my life... and I was still late. I blame the trains that only come once every 30 minutes and we never got a schedule. Oops. We met up after I searched for Plaza Catalonia and asked a very nice Spanish man where the heck the store was that I was supposed to be meeting Javier. I'm just glad my french came in handy.

And here's a picture!

We went around some back alleys to a little known bar and had drinks. I won a drinking competition and some guys about killed themselves laughing that I could out drink a guy 3 times my size. HA. I guess I have England to thank for that. We decided to go meet up with Laura and along the way I was pretty much swept off my feet. He stopped me and told me to stand still and hold my arms out and then just spin. So I did what any girl would want to do, I spun, and ended up in one of those fancy dip things that you always see people doing on tv. We got bored with the bar and decided to take a walk on the beach. Yet again he stopped me to dance and I learned a bachata in the middle of the port in the moonlight. Yep. I was smitten. It was literally like a scene out of a movie. Not sure how I got so lucky. We got to the beach and were talking. The next thing I realize is that my wallet has disappeared. Javier takes off running down the beach and confronts the guy, meanwhile I'm standing halfway down the beach completely helpless trying to be consoled by a girl speaking to me in Spanish... We comb the beach and Javier ends up getting punched and gets into a fight. The rest of us called the police, but by the time they got there the guy had gotten away. Javier managed to get back the wallet and my driver's license, but the jerk had gotten away with my money, both credit cards, and my camera. Of all the things someone could steal it had to be my camera. Pictures are the best way to remember everything and now all of that was gone. Needless to say I was upset, worried, anxious, and scared. 

I started the next day off with a thrilling trip to the police station to give them a statement. I thought it was going to be a bit like the DMV and would take years to even get a number. Turns out I only spent 30 minutes there and spent the rest of the morning hanging out in the restaurant with Javier and socializing with everyone there. Laura met up with me later that day and we spent the afternoon on the beach!

 That night I was supposed to hang out with Javier again, but my phone decided to smite me and didn't receive calls... Just my luck!!




On our last day we spent the morning buying souvenirs then decided to rent bikes again to visit the Sagrada Familia. I usually hate cathedrals and they almost always get boring after 30 minutes, but I think I could've stared at this one for hours. It was designed my Gaudi if that gives you any clues to its quirkiness. The carvings are different on all 4 sides and progresses from the birth of Jesus to his death in a really original way. There are ridiculously huge pillars that are topped with sculptures of local fruit. The pillars are designed after trees and if you turned the cathedral upside down the decorations mirrored the mountain range that surrounded Barcelona. Pollution had darkened the outside significantly so I wasn't prepared for the brilliant white of the stone on the inside. There was also stained glass everywhere in every color imaginable that illuminated different parts of the cathedral in multitudes of color depending on the time of day. Gaudi was an absolute architectural genius.

After that we rode around trying to recreate some of the pictures I lost on Laura's camera. It wasn't exactly the same, but at least we both have pictures thanks to her camera. The afternoon was spent on a beach in El Prat that was still just as beautiful, but tourists never came to that area so it was deserted except for some locals. The water was also SO MUCH warmer. I really didn't want to leave!! Thank goodness we had a night flight. It would've been much more depressing if we had to leave during the day without getting to lay out on the beach one last time.

Even after getting robbed I still love Barcelona. All of the tour guides warned us that once Barcelona gets a hold of you you will never want to leave and that's exactly what happened to them and also to me. I'm going to attempt to find a job there in the film industry or as a scuba divemaster. I just can't imagine myself staying away for too long. Now... to learn Spanish!

Again, sorry for the lack of pictures :( The next trip I take I will make sure my camera isn't stolen!

"Once in a while it really hits people that they don't have to experience the world in the way that they have been told to." --Alan Keightley

Road Trip Part 3--A Man Named Wallace, Arthur, and the Zombie Apocalypse

"The Journey, not the Arrival matters"--T.S. Eliot

Annnnd we're back in Edinburgh! There was just so much we felt we needed to see so we explored the city more before heading off to our next destination. Just as we arrived at our parking space it started raining... No big deal right? I'm used to it. Except... my stupid self left my rain jacket back in Leicester and all I had was a very permeable sweatshirt. Sarah and I grit our teeth and spent almost the entire morning outside visiting these lovely places:

That's Scot's Monument on the left and "The Shame of Edinburgh" on the right. It was SUPPOSED to be an exact replica of the Parthenon in Athens...

 NAILED IT. They took almost 8 years to do that and didn't even finish the foundation when money ran out. When they got the money again they decided to just leave it...

And that sums up how we felt all day in the rain.
We decided to go indoors to dry off so we went back to the National Museum. This time we started on the bottom floor like normal people and saw something pretty cool and creepy things.

I'll start with the creepy things. Yes that is a glove and dagger from the 15th century. Yes that is actual blood on it.

I just love full face masks that make people look like serial killers. Don't you? This was the mask of a churchman who was wanted for traveling around Scotland preaching against the religious changes that Charles II was forcing people to accept. He was never caught. Personally how dim do you have to be to not realize that is not actually someone's real face? Slightly sketchy situation in my opinion.

Now for the cooler things.

Sarah became and astronaut. We discovered the Lewis Chessmen who were made of walrus ivory and had the BEST facial expressions.

 We saw the first cloned sheep. I didn't realize she was already dead. Oops.

An AWESOME electric cello was there. I contemplated breaking the glass so I could play it, but I had a feeling I didn't want to end up in a Scottish jail.

I FEEL OLD knowing that this gaming system of amazing childhood dreams is now in a museum...





After playing with all of the objects that were mostly dominated by 8 year olds Sarah and I decided it was time to hit the road and say sayonara to Edinburgh. We were once again on the move and I was trying my best not to take out vehicles, pedestrians, foliage, and curbs as I was driving. We did feel really bad for the car at one point on the way to Stirling. There was some road work and a rather large bump in the road... we had passed it once on the way to Glen Coe and hit it at top speed which made both Sarah and I yell WOAHHHHHHHHHH for 20 seconds straight. As I neared it this is what happened in my brain.

"Emma there's that horrendously large bump. What would a normal person do? Well some people would slow down, but I'm not really in the mood. Oh well"

This is the conversation between Sarah and I right after those thoughts.

Sarah--"Hey Emma... do you remember that huge bump we went over before"

Me--"Yup. We're about to hit it again"    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

The car survived... Not sure about unscathed, but we were never charged anything for damage so I'm just going to assume the poor thing is alright. If anyone ever wants a sturdy car get a Vauxhall. I swear Sarah and I should be the people who test them for any kind of damage possible. This car was prepared for us and that's saying something.

We got to Stirling and managed to find the Wallace Monument without any trouble. We decided to hike all 200+ stairs to the top. I'm not sure what midget population of anorexic people lived in the UK way back when, but it really shows when you climb up a staircase an ant would find cramped, especially when it's a slippery stone and it's raining like crazy. Here's some pictures of Sarah's near death experiences and my near heart attacks after we made it to the top and back down without her slipping and used the stairs as a very bumpy slide.

That sword was taller than I was. That man must have been a goliath.

After we had explored the Wallace Monument we were pretty wiped out and made our way back down into England to Kendall where our bed and breakfast was located. On our way we made a wrong turn and tried to turn around literally 10 times, but the space was so narrow we just couldn't without backing into someone's living room. There was a cat sitting on a car watching our every move. I have never felt more judged by anything on the planet. It followed us with those judging eyes at our pathetic attempts at trying to leave this odd residence we randomly found ourselves in.

Just look at those beady little judgement eyes...





We finally arrived at the right bed and breakfast and Me being an exercisaholic decided to go for a run. It had just finished raining, which meant SLUGS. So many slugs. I felt like a mass murderer. I just gave up trying to avoid them because I'm pretty sure the cop I ran past doing a weird avoidance jump run thing thought I was on some sort of  drugs. He definitely gave me a funny look as I ran past on my way back. Sorry slugs...


We then woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to make the 6 hour drive down to Cornwall. Our first stop was Tintagel, birthplace of King Arthur! They had one heck of a castle. It was a 2 part castle set on 2 different cliffs facing each other and the only way to access either side was a steep, slippery, and rickety staircase. They must have had buns of steel climbing up there frequently.

I'm not sure how Sarah and I managed to do this, but we found a back way to the castle by completely bypassing the tourist paths that were easy. We went through a sheep field around a cliff, down a mini valley, over a cave, and up a path to the tourist building to buy our tickets. We still have no idea how we did that. It was an adventure. Sarah and I bought the world's best present for our friend Laura. Sarah got her a pencil sharpener that was a working catapult and I bought a bow and arrow and the arrows had suction cups on them. I ran around the whole site jumping out behind rocks and pretending to shoot things. I love being 5.

Look how terrifying those steps are. The mini blobs on top that are barely visible is the castle ruins...

We tried to get into Merlin's Cave, but we of course timed it so we came right at high tide when they were flooded. We at least got some great pictures.

After that we climbed up the other side of the ruins and explored the entire area only to find a sign that says "Beware this cliff could collapse at any time. It will eventually all collapse and fall into the sea."
THANK YOU SO MUCH for telling me that AFTER I climbed up here and am looking out over the edge. Jerks. The English have a distorted sense of humor sometimes...

Sarah and I completely entered nerd heaven here and ran around exploring the rest of the day. We were kicked out at closing time and went into town to have lunch in a local pub.

We then drove another few hours to our hotel. We woke up the next morning ready to go on an epic fossil hunt. Turns out we have no idea how to find fossils. We spent about 3 hours and all we found are what we are assuming to be fossil poop... Yay poop... Buzz kill.

Our morning was anti-climatic, but our afternoon drive back to Leicester was filled with the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse.

It was a dark, foggy afternoon and looked like something out of a horror film. We were the only cars on the road and had passed under a thick patch of trees so we couldn't see anything but fog. Then suddenly out of NOWHERE a creepy figure of a woman slowly lurches across the street in such a zombie like fashion that the Walking Dead show needs to hire her immediately.

Man, look at that splendid view. Perfect for driving.

The rest of the trip consisted of us discussing:

1. Worst countries to be in during the zombie apocalypse: Any country in Asia... too many people to eat us. Africa... same problem and too many scary animals to eat us.

2. If you could have anyone in history be on your side for the attack who would it be?     Chuck Norris, George Washington, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Batman, Spiderman, The Hulk, Thor, Jason Bourne, Terminator, Houdini, Ivan the Terrible, Abe Lincoln, etc.

3. What skills should you acquire to convince someone they NEED you in your awesome amazing safe house?   Knitting (don't judge you need clothes fixed and made), scuba so you can build a dome of safety underwater, knife throwing skills, sniper, cooking, washing, ninja, ventriloquism (throw voice so zombies think I'm in a different place and then ninja them to death), climb trees, fort building, agriculture, build a batmobile, fire breathing, tank driving/construction/operation, baking, become an electrician, to name a few.

I hope you feel more prepared. Sarah and I do.


"We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment" --Hilaire Belloc