Krissy visits "New England" & Taylor Swift in Ireland!

Hiya.. The past week has been madness here in Newcastle. Last Saturday at 8am I picked Krissy up on the airport. Krissy and I have been friends since we were 5 so it was only fitting she came to England on a little vaca while I'm abroad. I felt bad that her first trip to the UK was going to be to Northern England and not London so I made sure to show her as much here as possible. Saturday we just spent the day relaxing, playing video games with the British boys and drinking wine. On Sunday, I took her to the markets by the Tyne river. We got the best burritos and just walked around. At night, we went to Brittany's for her pre birthday extravaganza and then went on a club crawl. Since Krissy can't legally go out and party in America, I was excited to show her Newcastle's nightlife. Since I had class during the week, Krissy got to spend her mornings sleeping in and of course, meeting my cleaner. Did I ever mention my room gets cleaned once a week? If I was ever going to go live in a college dorm England was the perfect place for it.. We spent the rest of the week walking around Newcastle (because the weather was gorgeous every single day she was here), getting meals and going shopping. On her last full day in Newcastle I took Krissy to the coast. It's a 30 minute metro ride away and I've never been so I was excited to go. We had such a nice day and ate fish and chips. It was good while we ate it, but since we hadn't eaten anything else all day we felt sick on the train ride home! Myself and two of the British boys walked Krissy to the metro early Thursday morning and sent her back on her way to New York. On Thursday, I only had one class because many of the lecturers were on strike because of pay and pension cuts.. so that was interesting.

On Friday, I woke up at 6am to leave for Belfast, Ireland! I met Brittany and two other American girls Sheila and Kate at the metro at 6:40. We got nervous because the first train wasn't until 20 minutes after we arrived, but we made it to the airport fine for our 8:40 flight. We then realized that our flight was delayed.. and kept being delayed until we departed at 10:30. The delay was fine since we had nothing planned for the day until 6:30pm .. the Taylor Swift concert! Plus we all got £5 vouchers to spend on food in the airport. I hate flying, but this flight was literally only 30 minutes in the air so all was well. We went to our hostel and walked around Belfast a little, going in a huge mall and getting dinner before the concert began. All our seats were separate, but we still all had a good time. The next day we slept in late and wandered more around Belfast. There isn't much to do there, but we did find out that the Titanic was built there. We went to a museum, laid in the sun for hours and went to a burrito place that was just like chipotle. We went to bed semi early because we had to move the clocks forward and check out of the hostel at 10:30. We spent the majority of Sunday at St. Georges Market where we got lunch on Saturday. The people at the burger stand recognized me and Britt from the day before and talked to us about Newcastle. We stuffed our faces and went on to the bus station to head to the airport. When boarding our plane I find out we are taking a tiny plane with propellers home to Newcastle. Almost cried walking up the steps to the plane (which were like a step-stool), but took my seat in the last row and held Britt's hand for the 20 minutes we were in the air. We had a fun weekend with a lot of girl bonding, a little Taylor Swift and a couple of nice Irish people. Sad to say this was my last weekend trip, but will be traveling in April to Spain and Italy and meeting up with my sisters in London!

XX

Belfast, Ireland

The Big Fish!
Taylor Swift.

At the coast w/ Krissy.

A weekend with the parents..

Hello! This week wasn't very exciting, but last weekend is a different story..

On Thursday, I went on my first travel adventure by myself. This was only because I was meeting my parents in London and no one saw any fun in that. (Brittany jetted off to Paris instead.. way less exciting..) I took the train on Thursday at 5 rather than having to wake up early and travel. I was nervous about meeting up with them since neither of them had a phone that would work in the UK and I didn't know where their hotel was. We decided to meet at the tube station that was sorta near their hotel.. right across the Westminster bridge. After a 3.5 hour train ride and two tube transfers I found my Dad inside the tube station. (I told him to meet me on the bridge) Things were all fine and dandy until I asked my Dad to carry my bag. He was unable to do so because he could barely walk. It was day one of their trip to the UK and my father had already fallen out of the bathtub. I will spare you poor souls the details, but let's just saw the sliding glass door that was the door to the bathroom was open 2 inches and he wanted to close it while standing FEET away.. enough said. We spent the evening just catching up. The following morning Dad's leg had gotten worse. Luckily, we had tickets to a Double Decker Hop on - Hop off bus or as some people in this family refer to it as.. The " Hip - Hop Bus". We spent our time at St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace and other touristy attractions. We also went on a River Cruise and spent a lot of time on the bus because there were tour guides. We went out to dinner and went to see Thriller Live! After getting lost trying to find a tube station closer to the hotel we took a cab to the theater. My Mom disliked how there was a female singer singing Michael Jackson's songs and threatened to leave at one point.. she was fine after they sang Heal the World. The show was Okay.. I think London theater is much different than the shows we have on Broadway. On Saturday, We almost took my Dad to the hospital because he couldn't walk. However, we just left him in bed and went to Westminster Abbey. There was quite a long line to get in and it was expensive, but it was very pretty. I'm glad I got to see it before the Royal Wedding takes place there in April. On Sunday, the only not sunny day of the weekend we took a ride on the London Eye. It never stops and you have to wait behind these metal gates before getting on. Similar to a horse racing gate, once the gates go down you basically have to quickly jump on before they close the doors. We were quite worried that Tom may miss the jump, but we all safely made it on. After some souvenir shopping and trying to jam all the new clothing my parents brought me into two bags we went to one last dinner. We went to Slug and Lettuce which was quite good (Tom loved the ribs..) I rushed back to get my baggage and was off to the Westminster tube station to return back to Newcastle. The weekend went quite quickly, but I'm glad my parents got to experience the UK and some nice weather while they were here. It was so nice to see them, but scary because that means I'm at my halfway point here. See you in 10 weeks Joy & Tom!

XX

London Eye.
Forced to tie his shoes, because he couldn't bend down.
Tower Bridge.

Two weekends in Newcastle!

Hi! It's been some time since I've updated on here. The last two weekends were spent out and about Newcastle so I wasn't so anxious to write about one of my trips. Last weekend I spent time with Britt since it was the last time we will both be in Newcastle for a weekend together until May! We went to a museum, went to the Tyneside markets and of course, went to dinner. This weekend I spent time with my British friends from my building. We really just spent our time going out to eat and hanging around.. mainly because I got sick again! Everyone who knows me well enough knows I do get sick quite frequently, but twice in 4 weeks is a bit much. I did invest in some Airborne before coming here, but it doesn't seem to be working so well for me. I hate the taste of "Zesty Orange" and it just doesn't seem to cure me. I'm hoping the medicine "Lemsip Max" does the trick (They have no American medicine here.. not even Advil!) This week I will be spending time catching up on work and getting ready for three very exciting weekends. It's always fun to have plans, but it was nice to have a two weekend break in between my travels. On Thursday evening I will be traveling via train to meet up with my parents in London. It's their first time in London (My mothers first time leaving the country) so I'm excited to see them and show them around. It's insane that I left home two months ago already. It feels like I've been around this town so long, yet it feels like I left Long Island just yesterday. The following weekend my friend Krissy from home will be visiting! I'm extra excited because I get to show her around Newcastle. (no one in my family wanted to make the trek all the way up North!) This is her first time out of the country and she received her passport a mere few weeks ago. Then last, but not least Brittany, myself and two fellow American girls will be flying to Ireland to go to the Taylor Swift concert! Shall all be exciting. Until then I plan on getting better and doing some work.

XX ( I now have turned slightly British.. they don't hug XO.. only kiss X )

Before going out!

From the top floor of the museum.
Around Newcastle!