Wineries, Golf, and Sun :)

Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a great Father's Day. I know I did.  

Last week I had a somewhat eventful weekend compared to my the rest of my days since I returned from across the pond.

My days at home have consisted of One Tree Hill and job searching. I don't have any money so I don't even like to go out and waste gas until I get a job. My family thinks I've been a lazy a** and don't understand my method of preserving the few dollars I still have to my name. I've had a bunch of interviews this past week so fingers crossed that something comes my way soon cause I could use some fun adventures. 

Sorry about my tangent, back to the original point of this post. Last weekend my dad did some fun things so I took advantage of this to tag along. My sister had to go out east (for you non Long Islanders, out east means the east end of Long Island and usually the north fork) for her summer camp orientation and the rest of us decided to spend a gorgeous day driving around the beautiful north fork.

We saw a bunch of dream houses and went antiquing in Greenport. Boy wouldn't I love a house out there on the water. I'll just buy one with my next pay check, nbd. We stopped for some clams and wine at Claudio's, a Greenport favorite. After we went to one of the many wineries in the area for some live music and good wine :)

Before we picked my sister back up we stopped at a goat farm to pick up some fresh goat cheese. The farm had an unofficial petting zoo. We made friends with all of the baby goats and a pony. They also let the public watch the goats getting milked. This was no one person sitting on a bucket slowing milking each goat. They had an efficient system going and only need one farmer to milk EIGHT goats at a time! Pretty impressive. I really have no idea why I was so interested in the goat milking...weird, I know.

By then Kiersten's orientation was over and we headed back west to pick up my grandma and get sushi for dinner. 

The next day we lucked out with another beautiful day. We spent Sunday washing all the cars and then headed to the driving range. I knew I didn't golf for a reason. I was not very good at it.

All in all it was a great weekend with great people and a nice break from Netflix and job hunting.

Under Construction

I've decided to totally reconstruct my blog. New look and possibly new name (not too sure about that one).

Since I spent every last penny of mine over in London I am in no position to hire a designer for my new design. I decided to look in house and I am going to use what little photoshop skills I have, and with the help of the Internet, design my own blog. Fingers crossed it all works out.

With that said please bare with me over the next few weeks while my blog is getting a makeover.

Bittersweet

This past week has been filled with change and crazy emotions. On Saturday I returned home from my semester in London. Those were the fastest and best five months of my life. I met amazing people all over Europe and was able to see things I never thought I'd get the chance to see.

The adjustment home has been a little difficult. I miss living in a city and being able to walk or take the tube everywhere. I miss my friends I made and all of our adventures and travels. And of course I miss being legal and going to the bar to grab a pint (or two).

Since I've been home I've been unpacking, catching up with friends and family and reflecting on my time abroad. I've also gotten back on track with my healthy lifestyle and attending my first Weight Watchers meeting since before I left.

I was ecstatic when I weighed in and they told me I only gained 3.8 lbs! That's less than one pound a month! I was expecting the damage control to be a lot worse than that! As cheesy and embarrassing as it is to say, I am proud of myself.

I am missing London tremendously but its nice getting back to reality where I don't eat fish and chips with ale everyday.

A Sister Act

I know its been forever since I've last posted. Shame on me. 

I have so much to tell you all about my journey in London and Europe these past few months. But today I wanted to talk about my sister. 

She left London a few days ago to go back home. When I found out last year she was coming with me I was so upset and angry. London was supposed to be my adventure not our. 

Now that she's been gone a week I could not have imagined my time here without here. We traveled everywhere together. She's was always there when I wanted to see a musical so I didn't have to see it alone. And whenever I just needed someone to grab a bit to eat with and talk to she was right across the street in Regents Park. 

We've grown together as people and as sisters here. This experience would not have been the same without her. Here are some photos from our time across the pond :)

Emily's first night in London

Arriving in Italy!

Gondola ride in Venice

Sometimes we get a little crazy

Let's go Oooouut tonight

Our stepdad came to visit!

Watching Changing of the Guards with Mum!

Tea time on Easter

Ireland with our missing link!
 

G'day mate!

Santorini!

Wine tasting in Santorini

Sometimes we get along

Parent Trap house!

Emily's last week :(

Champagne at Harrods..so posh!

Emily's last night out at our favorite bar

Just got back from a trip to the Salzburg. Get ready for a Sound of Music post soon!

Scotland: The Land of My People (Well, some of them)

I know its been a million years since I've last posted. Well maybe not a million years but still over a month, which is totally unacceptable. I've been so caught up in the amazingness of London that I have been neglecting all of you, and for that I am sorry. But the good news is my classes are officially over and I have two months to call London my playground and to catch you all up on my thrilling adventures. I'll start off where I last left off: Scotland.

Before I went I figured this wasn't going to be far off from London or our trips to small English towns like Bath or York. After-all, the U.K. is the U.K., right? Boy, was I mistaken. Scotland had its own culture entirely. They take tremendous pride in their gruesome highlander ancestry, their breathtaking scenery, and gorgeous medieval castles. Not to mention, it is the birthplace of Harry Potter.

Friday morning we met out tour group at King's Cross Station for a six hour train ride. Our train took us through the gorgeous English country-side and through New England-like seaside towns in Northern England.

When we arrived in Edinburgh and I stepped off the platform my eyes drew right to our tour guide Graham who was waiting for us in the traditional Scottish kilt and knee high socks. He walked us a few blocks to our hostel where we checked in, dropped off our stuff and headed back out on our walking tour of the Royal Mile. The highlight of the tour being walking through a cemetery (as a big scardey cat I was not too keen on walking through a field of dead people in the most haunted city in the world). J.K. Rowling spent a lot of time in this cemetery and got many of the names for her characters from the tombstones. As soon as Graham informed us of this my eyes were peeled the entire time for a familiar name. Nothing. Not even a common name like James, Harry, or Lily. As I gave up hope and walked out of the graveyard I saw it. There it was, "William McGonagall". We finished out tour at the Edinburgh Castle which lies atop a volcano and offers and amazing view of the city.

After we were released from our tour my friends and I headed to dinner at the Deacon Brodie pub. Deacon Brodie was the man who inspired Jekyll and Hyde. For desert we walked down the road to Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling would sit for hours each day while she wrote Harry Potter. The cafe was adorably decorated with an elephant and Harry Potter theme. The bathroom walls were drowning in notes to Jo written by visiting fans from across the world.
    

The next morning we were up early and already saying goodbye to Edinburgh. We spent the next two days on a bus driving through the Scotland Highlands. There was a very simple schedule for this tour: ride the bus for an hour or so, get off for five minutes for a photo opp, get back on the bus, and repeat. The first day we saw the gorgeous scenery and mountains where scenes from Braveheart, Harry Potter, and Skyfall were once filmed. Our last stop of the day was at the Clansmen Center where all fifty of us squeezed like sardines into a room smaller than my dorm. We were shown how the Highlanders used to live; everything from what they wore, what they ate, and the gruesome ways that they'd kill each other in battle. I won't go into details, but boy am I glad I was born into this modern age. Life for a highlander was miserable.

I found Nessie!

Our hostel that night was in Fort Agustus, a village on Loch Ness that is not bigger than my campus. The town was so tiny that there was only one pub open for dinner. After dinner our entire tour hung out in the hostel bar playing drinking games and singing karaoke. It took me back to my high school senior trip at Rocking Horse Ranch.

Sunday morning we were up early again and back on the open road. We circles are Loch Ness with unfortunately no Nessie sightings. On our way back south we stopped at the field where the Battle of Culloden took place almost 300 years ago. There was a tomb stone for each clan instead of individual soldiers. The whole experience was a bit eerie but still very interesting. My only regret is that I didn't learn what clan my Scottish ancestors were apart of before I came on the trip.

After our last stop it was straight back to Edinburgh where we caught the train back to foggy ole London.

Sick Days with the BBC

Today I woke up with a terrible migraine and went back to sleep until two. Of course once I woke up I felt a little better but half the day was already gone so doesn't that mean that legally I'm not allowed to be productive? For the remainder of the day I watched Downton Abbey! This show is like crack to me! I just love the whole dynamic of this show. I especially love the three sisters.

I'd like to think that those are me and my two sisters.

Don't you see the resemblance? Clearly the only difference is we have class and they don't.

Canals, Cannolis, and Carneval: My Weekend in Venice

One of my favorite things about living in London is its proximity to everywhere else in Europe. Where else in the world are there so many different cultures, all with their own unique history, sandwiched into such a small geographical space? I flew here on January 4^th with the full intent of seeing as many of the world’s greatest cities as possible, and blowing every last cent in the process. I quickly had booked trips to Italy, Scotland, Paris, Greece, and Ireland. I didn’t except the start of my travels to come so quickly, but sure enough Venice has come and gone.

           

I packed four days of stuff into a severely tiny Vera Bradley backpack. (After this trip I invested in a “backpacker’s backpack”.) My fellow travelers and I were definitely thrown some curveballs throughout our trip but they only added to our entire experience. Five of our group’s of seven woke up at 3:00 a.m. to catch a 6:30 flight Milan. After landing at Malpensa Airport we took a train to the city’s center. Once we got off the train and stepped out into Milan I was in disbelief. “Oh my gosh, we’re in Italy! I can’t believe we are in Italy!” I repeated over and over again. I’m pretty sure my friends were getting annoyed with my obnoxious excitement.

            

The next few hours were spent walking about Milan and within the first two hours I was able to cross “eat pizza in Italy” off my bucket list. The restaurant was a huge tourist trap. There was even a boy who looked as if he’d just stepped out of Mary Kate and Ashley’s “When In Rome” standing outside trying to sell the restaurant to us; but the food was out of this world non-the-less. After spending the day exploring the Fashion Capital of the world we headed for the train to Venice, but not without stopping for what would be the first of many gelatos.

Eat pizza in Italy - check!

Upon arrival in Venice I was purely running on adrenaline. My back hurt from carrying my bag all day and I was exhausted from going non-stop since 3:00 a.m.; but none of that mattered because I was in Venice! We bought our transportation passes for the weekend and tried to find the right bus that would take us off the island of Venice and to the restaurant where we planned to meet with the last two girls of our group. Before I continue, let me say that Venice possibly has the most unorganized bus system of anywhere in the world. They don’t tell you where the bus is stopping or what stop is what and they never check for tickets. Hearing from many people that the Italians are some of the friendliest people ever, I asked a local girl if she knew where our stop is. Of course she told us that we were on the wrong bus. We got off at the next stop only to find out we were on the right bus all along. But now we were off of the island in Venice on a fairly dark and uninhabited street at 9:30pm in a foreign country. Did I mention I had the only internationally working phone? We had no way of reaching our friends to let them know we were lost. After two hours of getting on and off three different buses, walking over two miles, and getting pizza from the only open place we could find we were able to get a hold of Maurizio, the landlord of the apartment we rented. Maurizio had met our friends at the restaurant as planned and brought them back to our temporary Italian villa. He was kind enough to make a second trip to find us and drive us back to safety. Once the door opened to the apartment there was a series of running hugs as we were reunited with our friends. Our journey was scary in the moment but I now look back at it as one of those funny travel movies filled with a bunch of obstacles. On day two we rose early to begin our time in Venice. Maurizio kindly offered to give us a lift to the bust stop but made a detour to the main house on his property where he showed us his huge screened in porch, where he likes to host parties with his guests in the summer, and a liter of week old puppies. Us being the girls we are we went crazy over the puppies. Staying in a local’s apartment may not have been the most traditional way of traveling to another country but it added something to our trip that a hotel or hostel would not have been able to. We got to see first-hand what real Italian country life is like and we received the amazing hospitality that Italy is known for.

Emily and my room

Our dining/living room

Our kitchen!

Our kitchen!

The remainder of the day was spent walking around and exploring the city on water. We were so immersed in the island’s beauty that every time we walked over a bridge we all stopped to take pictures. I probably even took multiple photos of the same place without realizing. For breakfast we found an adorable Italian bakery with the most delicious pastries. The weekend we visited coincidentally happened to be Carneval di Venezia. People everywhere were wearing masks and others were dressed in elaborate costumes. Most were elegant gowns and attire from the 16^th and 17^th centuries, but every now and then I saw a herd of cows or the Simpsons. Of course I had to join the bandwagon and buy a carneval mask.

All of us in our Carneval masks!

One of my many pictures from a bridge.

            

Our next day was a little more structured. We started our morning at the same bakery as the first day and then we were off on the Vaporetto del Arte, a boat tour up the Grand Canal. The view of Venice’s colorful buildings from the canal was amazing! I have never seen a more vibrant and gorgeous city. After, we went inside the famous Saint Mark’s Basilica. The walls of the basilica were completely covered in the most breathtaking paintings. The next up on our itinerary was a gondola ride. How could I possibly go to Venice and miss out on the gondolas? Our gondolier, Christian, was another quintessential friendly and outgoing Italian. He sang to us a bit but mainly answered our questions about his life in Italy. We learned that he has been a gondolier for 20 years and would love to visit the states. New York is his number one place to visit so he was very excited when my sister and I could tell him all about it.

Christian, our gondolier!

            

That night we ate our last dinner in Italy and savored every last bite. Before we headed back we stopped for cannolis and wine to take back to the apartment. As soon as we tried to head back to the bus station it began to rain, thunder, and lightening. We were all in a panic because we had no shelter and couldn’t find our way back to the bus. A little elderly man saw us looking lost and in generous Italian fashion he asked us if we needed directions. By the time we reached the bus it was snowing too. I will forever remember Venice as the place that had thunder, lightening, and snow all within the same hour.

Last dinner in Italia! Spaghetti with seafood!

            

The next morning we only had a few hours before our flight home so we said our goodbyes to our guardian angel and new friend Maurizio and our Italian villa. We decided to spend the last of our time in Venice bidding adieu to the food. Within two hours we had an entire day’s worth of food: Italian pastries, an entire pizza with wine, and gelato. These foods summed up our time in Italy so we felt it was only right to end our trip with them.

Carneval di Venezia!

            

Before I knew it we were on the plane and heading back to London. I am so grateful to have been able to experience Italy’s culture, people, and food. I hope to make it back there soon but until then, arrivederci Italia!