Lindsay's trip to Europe!!

Happy father's Day, Dad! I hope you are having a great day, and I wish I could be there to share it with you. (I will be calling you tonight)

Right now we are in London and have been since Wednesday ( I have not posted in a while. I have been really busy)

We went to the British Library the othger day which completely blown me away. I saw so many historical things such as the original Beowulf manuscript from the 10th century, Beethoven's tuning fork, the original Jane Eyre manuscript, original handwritten lyrics from the Beatles with doodles and scribbles on them, the Magna Carta, and so much more cool things like that. It was absolutely amazing.

I have also seen 2 shows since I have been here: Avenue Q ( really funny) and The Lion King (I have already seen it but amazing nonetheless), and tomorrow we are going to see Wixked. I am very excited.

I went to the the Changing of the Guards today at the Buckingham palace. It was very cool. The guards marched and played instrusments. They played the theme from Star Wars at one point. I videotaped it.

The only bad thing about being here is the amount of schoolwork we have to do. It takes away from the time I could spend exploring the wonderful city.

Oh! and I saw Stonehenge yesterday--so cool! I learned about it all semester in Astronomy, and I finally got to see it! It was very exciting.

The people here are also very rude. They do not like Americans and have no problem letting you know that. Customer service also means nothing to a lot of Europeans. They also do not bathe. But oh well. I am having a great time.

I love seeing things that someone hundreds and sometimes thousands of years ago wrote or touched or impacted in some way. It's so amazing.

Also, tomorrow morning some of us are waking up at 4 am to go to Abbey Road and recreate the cover of the beatles album. We are going early so there will hopefully be no traffic and we can stand in the middle of the normally very busy intersection.

Anywho, we leave on Friday to go to paris which will be exciting, but I need to try and get all of my work done in London so I actually have time to enjoy Paris and my birthday, so I will be trying to get most of it done throughout some of my nights here.

Anywho, still a lot of exciitng things ahead of me...visit with Parliament, tour of Chase PR firm, high tea at the Orangery, Westminster Abbey, the London eye (huge ferry wheel overlooking London), the Eiffel Tower, and my brithday of course!

Whew! All that was a lot but that's the update as of now--Miss and love you all!

So we are still in Edinburgh and it is definitely my favorite city so far. It's great, and I have bought lots of souvenirs here because I love it so much. And plus won't it sound cool when someone asks were you got something from and you're like oh it's from Scotland? I think so.

Today we toured the Edinburgh castle which is really cool. I saw the oldest building in Edinburgh, which was constructed in the 10th century! It is still standing and looking good. It's amazing. I also saw the room in the castle where Mary, Queen of the Scots gave birth to James whom became king at age 1.

Tomorrow we will see Mary's residence where she lived for a good while.

This is one palce I could definitely stay for a while. There is old Edinburgh with lots of old buildings and cool architecture then you look across and there is New Edinburgh, which is more modern. I almost wish we had more time here so I could see more things.

Anyways, Wednesday we leave on a train for London.

When I get back, ask me to tell you the story of William Burke and Willima Hare. It's a good one but I am ready to get off the computer now and it's a lengthy story.

Oh and everyone wish Brett a Happy Birthday because today he is 21! Happy Birthday babe!!

we just arrived in Edinburgh today...It's very cool and beautiful. It's also known to be a very spooky town and tomorrow night we are going on a haunted ghost tour with an encounter with a poltergeist. It is ranked on the top 10 list of scariest places in the world. O jeez. My first haunted house was last summer. I am not sure I am ready for this. I'll let you all know if I make it out alive. Say a prayer.

So Scotland is amazing. I like it better than Ireland, actually.

Right now we are in Skye and the people are so incredibly friendly and nice. One guy carried my suitcase and my roommates 2 suitcases up the stairs all at the same time to our room. I wanted to give him something for it, but in Europe, you are not supposed to give tips because they are taken as an insult.

Last night it was 10 PM and it was still not dark outside. How crazy is that?? And the sun rose at like 4. It's insane.

Glasgow was really cool and kind of eerie and quiet. I like it. We went to this musem and I got to see lots of stuffed animals, and artifacts and paitnings from Salvador Dali, Monet, Picasso, and Van Gogh among others. It was an incredible museum.

Today we went on a boat ride through the mountains of Skye and got to get off on one of the islands, and I climbed a mountain, yep. I kins of want to take up rock cli9mbing now and do it more often. It was a lot of fun and felt like I had conquered the world.

There's also TONS of sheep in Scotland. They are everywhere you look. I think they are my new favorite animal.

Shortbread is also very popular here. I've eaten many since I've been here. Maybe I will bring some home.

Anywho, tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh where we will get to climb a volcano, go on some ghost and witch tours, and more exciting things like that. Edinburgh is supposed to be a very creepy town.

I keep forgetting I am here to do work and to study. Oh well. Europe is amazing.

Well it is about 11:53 PM right now (5:53 PM at home) and I have just packed up all my stuff because tomorrow we leave on a plane for Glasgow, Scotland. We will only be there for a day then we take a bus to Skye and are there for 2 days, and then on to Edinburgh for 6 days. It is a little bittersweet leaving Dublin, for it had its ups and downs.

The actual city of Dublin reminds me a lot of New Orleans and New York. I definitely enjoyed the countryside more-so than the actual city. (Just wait until you see the pictures. I think you all will agree.)

While in Ireland, we visited the Guiness factory, went to a rugby match for a team from Wales, went on a tour of Wicklow county, which is south of Dublin and is absolutely beautiful! While there, we saw the lake from the fishins scene in P.S. I Love You (which is also the lake that Michael jackson hid out by for a while). We also saw where they filmed the wedding scene from Braveheart.

Today I went on a cliff walk which is north of Dublin which was also beatiful. As soon as I can I will upload pictures, but the pictures hardly do the scenes justice, if at all. They simply cannot capture the panoramic beauty. We walked along a a cliff next to the Irish Sea along a 100ft drop, so ithat was really cool. Hiking is a lot of fun. I love to hear the grass blow in the wind and the rocks crumble underneath my shoes.
(Oh and dad, there were 2 jetskiers in the sea and you should have seen how high they were airborne after hitting the waves! it was crazy! I took some pictures of them and you can see them jumping. It's pretty cool).

But anywho, more adventures await in Scotland. And now I am getting into my pjs and going to bed because we have to leave for the airport at 5:10 tomorow morning!

'til Scotland...

1. Money is disappearing. Dublin is VERY expensive. Euros are blowing me out of the water. For example, when I went to the ATM, I withdrew 100 Euros. later that night i checked my bank account and $157 ...so the exchange rate makes your money vanish.

2. Alcohol content is greater here than in America. This was something I knew beforehand but failed to acknowledge last night . . . lesson learned

3. Guiness tastes like coffee and Bulmers tastes like apple cider

4. The Irish are very friendly, but Irish men can be too friendly

5. The Irish are not nice drivers. I have almost got hit by a car several times now. When it is cars turn to go they will not stop and wait for anyone to pass.

6. The guy responsible for Guiness beer is also responsible for the Guiness Book of World Records (pretty cool)

7. When I walk down the street I feel like a movie star because the Irish are so fascinated to see American women so they stare out of their cars and honk their horns and whistle.

Top of the mornin' to ya! So with a slight delay , we ended up not having to stay in NJ and made it to Dublin! I saw St. patrick's cathedral today and it is absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to see it from the inside on Sunday. We are staying in a hostel here, which is pretty interesting. The shower is right next to the toilet with a curtain and it reminds me of a public restroom because to get the wayter going you have to press a button and continue to pump it or else it goes off in a couple seconds (like it does when you wash your hands in a bathroom). But is a good experience, thus far.

I have been taking tons of pictures and am a very obvious tourist, but I am ok with that. It is also really funny seeing the driver's seat on the right side.

Oh! And there was a truck inside Dublin Castle that said 'Egan' on it! How cool is that?! I took a picture of it so when I upload it you all can see.

KK well off to do more irish things! or maybe a nap first

So we might be partying in New Jersey tonight...we should be boarding our plane to Newark right now but our plane has been delayed almost 2 hours...so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we are still able to make our flight to Dublin--I REALLY hope we make it cause as much fun as New Jersey is, I think Dublin just may be more fun. SO I shall let you know how it works out--keep your fingers crossed! until next time . . .

So I just created this blog to keep everyone informed and updated as to what I am up to and what I am doing while I am in Europe. I'll try to update as much as I can and will include several pictures for everyone to enjoy!

When I leave on Tuesday, I fly out of New Orleans into JFK airport in NYC. From there I go to Dublin then to Scotland then to London and finally to Paris where I will celebrate my 21st birthday! Woo hoo! Can't wait! Talk to all of you on Tuesday!

Here is a map of where I will be going: