Well it was a very long day yesterday, and a VERY long flight home. But I'm finally here! It's so great to be back. I am going to miss London, and I am going to miss the convenient location for traveling, but it's time to go back to normal. I'll be applying for jobs on Monday - hopefully I'll find something soon. I will only be in CT for two months and three weeks, so the longer it takes, the harder it will be to find something.

This was the journey of a lifetime. I got so much out of it, and I'm so glad that I put in the effort and made it work. Thank you all for your support and your encouragement. Thank you for your comments and for making me smile when I was so far away.

I'm home for the summer, so to all the people that I'm writing this for, I will see you very soon.

This is Nikki,
Signing Off

It is now 9:05 am. My plane leaves Heathrow in five and a half hours. I'm all packed, and I can't believe that it's time to go. It feels like it's been a very long time since I've been home, but I also feel like I just got here!
But I got to do so much, and I had such a great time. I made awesome friends, whom I will be keeping in touch with, and it's just time. I can't wait to see Mom, Tim, Dave, and Ty when I get to Logan at 4:50 this afternoon (EST).

I will never forget this.
Here's to you, London!

Until next time...



Nikki

When I got back from Scotland it was time for me to see London. All my papers had been turned in, classes were over, and I had no exams. I was free from obligation to have my last two and a half weeks to explore the city I've been living in for 157 days.

The day after I got back from Scotland, Jena, Elise, and I had been planning to use our Big Bus Tour voucher that Butler had given us at the very beginning as compensation for not having had time to properly tour London. So we took the Tube to Tower Hill, where the closest pick-up point was. We had a bit of a hard time finding it because we kept walking in the wrong direction, but eventually we found it. They gave us headphones to plug into the seats in front of us to hear the commentary. We got off at Buckingham Palace. We happened to be there right at the start of the Changing of the Guards. We hadn't planned this, and we would have liked to stay and watch, but there were so many people standing at the gates, that we couldn't see anything. And there were police officers who kept telling us to move along, so I was scared to stay in one place for too long. We walked through Green Park to Picadilly, because I had an assignment at the Hard Rock Cafe Shop. Once the assignment was complete, we went through Knightsbridge and down the Brompton Road. We walked up past the museums and the Royal College of Music, and ended up in front of Royal Albert Hall. We went past that too and took a seat in Kensington Gardens a few yards to the right of the Albert Memorial to eat the lunch we had picked up at a grocery store on the way.

We caught the Big Bus a little down the road and rode all around Kensington Gardens, then up to the tip of Regent's Park, then down Regent Street and through Picadilly Circus. We got off near Trafalgar Square and took pictures with the lions. Then we walked to Leicester Square and took the Tube back to Mile End.

That night was Stephenie's last night, so we all met up later (minus Becca, who was still traveling) and went to Canary Wharf to have dinner at Pizza Express. We took group pictures in Canary Wharf, and when we got back to campus, we took individual photos with Stephenie and said our goodbyes.

The next day I went to Westminster Pier and caught the riverboat that was included in our Big Bus tour the day before. The ticket was good for 24 hours, so I made sure to be there before 10:30. Jena and Elise couldn't go that day, but they did not miss anything. The boat took me from Westminster Pier to Tower Pier, with a grand total time of 15 minutes. There wasn't any commentary or anything. It was neat, but I'm glad it was free. Then I went into the Tower of London. I joined the guided tour group, and I swear to you that it is very possible that I had the very same guide that Barbie and I had eight years ago! If it is indeed the same guy, it's even more coincidental because that there tour was his first in six months!

I didn't stay at the Tower for very long. It's generally an all day thing, but I think I was only there for two hours. After the tour ended, I went to see the Crown Jewels, then I had lunch at their new cafe, and then I went into the White Tower. I started feeling sick after a while, and it was pretty hot out. So I called it a day and went back to campus.

That day was a Wednesday. On Friday, Jena, Cristabel and I met up with two guys we met in Egypt: Paul and Damien, and went to an Australian club called Walkabout (We're pretty sure Damien is gay, and Paul seemed to be in some kind of relationship, so we all just went as friends). We stood around talking for a while before they busted out the good music ("Sweet Child O Mine" by Guns & Roses to be exact) and we started dancing and singing at the top of our lungs. I had never actually been out dancing before, and I had a lot of fun - until I drank a bottle of water too fast and instantly felt quite sick. That was the end of the night for me. All I wanted after that was my pillow. (This is probably another reason that it's good that I don't drink: I don't think I'd be able to handle it!!)

The following Tuesday, I had to say goodbye to Cristabel, and then Wednesday morning, I had to say goodbye to Jena. It wasn't fun - I got very lucky to make such good friends while I'm here. I'm really going to miss them, and we have all established that we ARE going to see each other again. We are going to stay in touch, and continue to be friends. We all bonded so well because we were all in this together. Studying in a foreign country for months, and living away from home and family for so long is a very difficult thing to do. You really need to make friends in that kind of situation, and they really helped me get through it.

On Thursday I went to the National Gallery. I thought all the Impressionism work would still be there, because we say a poster advertising the exhibit when Jena, Elise and I were in Trafalgar Square just days before. But the Impressionism exhibit was gone. All that was there was religious art. I wasn't bored, but it got very repetitive, and I'm not all that fascinated by religious art. After that I went to the National Portrait Gallery. I was intrigued by a display they had on women authors. Alongside a small black and white photo for each one was a mini biography.

My next item on the agenda was St. Martin in the Fields. It's a church in Trafalgar Square, and I wasn't planning on going inside - which I wouldn't have been able to do anyway because it was completely encased in scaffolding. I was going to just take pictures of it, but there was no point because the only thing you could see was the steeple. Then I went in search of the Photographer's Gallery. I searched up and down Charing Cross Road, which is where my map said it was, but I found it a few days later on a different road altogether near Covent Garden. The map might be a bit old.
Then I went and sat in Leicester Square for a little bit, watching the cute kids standing near the fountain, and marveling at the larger-than-life poster of Pirates of the Caribbean on the cinema in the square.

Sunday morning I woke up early to say goodbye to Becca. Elise and I helped her bring her stuff down out of her flat and walked with her to the blue gates to wait for her cab. After she left, I could have gone back to bed, but by that time I was already pretty wide awake and I didn't want to waste the day. So I got dressed and went to Baker Street where, thankfully, the Sherlock Holmes Museum was open. There was no student discount, and I think six pounds was a little steep to walk through a house clothed in fake memorabilia - but it was still neat and for the most part authentic looking. Then I walked around to the top of Regent's Park and went to the London Zoo. It was okay - not worth what I paid to get in though - basically if you've been to a zoo before, you've seen the grand majority of them. I wasn't too impressed, and a lot of the animals were not in view.

After I left the zoo, I walked up to Camden Town and took the Tube up to Hampstead Heath. I had a book with me, thinking that this was a just a huge beautiful park, but it was more of a wooded area to hike through with paths and clearings. It was really pretty, but I didn't have a map, so I didn't walk too far in. When I came back out and started walking toward the town of Hampstead to get back on the Tube, I found a bench and thought I would read for awhile, since that's what I had come here to do. I was sitting for barely three minutes before my allergies started kicking me to death again. Thank God I had a bit of rolled up toilet paper in my bag from when we were in Egypt. Sometimes we really take tissues for granted. If I didn't have some with me, I think I may have died. I found a pharmacy in Hampstead and shelled out a lot more than I ever normally would have for non-drowsy Benedryl and a travel pack of Kleenex - these tissues turned out to be like linen napkins!!

On Monday I went to Tower Bridge and paid to see the exhibition. This included a lift up one tower, a film at the top, displays along one of the walkways, a film at the other end, displays in the other walkway (although you had to turn back because it was a dead end), and a lift down in the other tower. It also included entrance to the Engine Rooms, which were impressive, but there was a slight lack of interest in how it all worked on my part.

Then I went to Monument, which was built in recognition of the Great Fire of 1666. The fire burned for four days and destroyed thousands of homes and most of the City. It started in a bakery on Pudding Lane just 311 feet from the monument. I climbed the 311 steps to the top (and I had to share the steps with those coming down, which wasn't easy - especially since I was dizzy!). The top was very cramped. The platform only extended a few feet from the perimeter of the structure, and you practically had to climb over the corners of the building when walking around!

That was the last of the London Sightseeing that I did. I had made up a whole schedule of stuff to do, but my apparent insomnia kept me from going out on some days, and time restrictions made to scratch off a lot of the other stuff too. But I did get to see a lot, and hey - I LIVED here for five months! Plus along with all my travels and the other places I saw, I'd consider this a more than well-rounded trip.

On Tuesday night, Elise and I went to see the musical "Wicked." It was fantastic! It was amazing, and it was soooo good! It's the untold story of the witches of Oz based on the book "Wicked" by Gregory MacGuire. It puts a whole new spin on "The Wizard of Oz" and I love it!! If you have the chance to see it (it plays in New York), GO!

On Wednesday night, Elise and I went to Wetherspoon's because it was her last night. That's the pub that we've been going to all semester because it's cheap, and it's only a ten minute walk from campus. In the past week and a half alone, we went for Jena's last night, we went when Elise's parents were in town, and we went for Becca's last night as well. We toasted to last nights, because Elise's last night was the night before my own. She left yesterday, and now it's just me.

Until next time...



Nikki

I arrived at Glasgow Prestwick to be greeted by Janet and Charlie. It was very fun to have people waiting for me at the airport for once! Every time this semester that I saw people being greeted by loved ones I got a little jealous. Not this time!!!

We stopped at Robert Burns' cottage on the way in to Glasgow, but it had just closed. It was cute though, with the same thatched roof that Anne Hathaway's cottage had.

When we got to Janet and Charlie's house, they showed me my room and let me get settled for a bit. Their house is beautiful, and once again, I had a room with two beds in it all to myself! When I went downstairs we waited in the sitting room for Lawson and Ellen to arrive. David also came, and Liz and Lindsey as well. They toasted my arrival, and we chatted for quite some time. I showed them some of my pictures from Egypt, and they showed me their pictures from Egypt as well. We traded Egypt stories and discovered that even though we went with different tour companies, we did a lot of the same things.

The next day, Janet and Charlie took Lindsey and me to Stirling Castle. That place was amazing! There was so much to see that we were there for several hours, and I don't even think we saw it all. It only rained once while we were outside, and it lasted about 90 seconds.

We stopped at the Wallace Monument on the way back to Glasgow. We took a free shuttle bus to the top of the hill that it stands on. We didn't go in though; because we had to be back in time for Lindset to get ready for her concert, we just walked around outside and took pictures until the next shuttle bus came up to bring us down.

Lindsey's concert was amazing. I had never been to a choir concert before. I was expecting it to be more like the band and chorus concerts we had at school. But it was in a church, and there were kids off all ages. Some sang solos, but Lindsey was in a quartet instead. The song was "Morning Hymn" from The Sound of Music. The four girls went to the back of the church and sang a cappela from there. It sounded really good - the four voices harmonized perfectly.

After the concert we went to Liz and John's house. Janet was there, along with Lawson and Ellen, and Liz, John and Lindsey. Craig came in right before I went back to Janet's house for the night.

The next morning, I showed Janet and Charlie the rest of my pictures before John and Liz picked me up. They brought Lindsey and me to Edinburgh for the day. It rained alllll the way there, and some of the way back too. But it was beautiful while we were out walking. I wasn't counting on the weather in Scotland to be so lucky. But that phrase that I first heard in Maine: "if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." That really doesn't pertain to any part of New England. London, sure - but Scotland even more so. Sometimes all you're missing is snow to have a year's range of weather in one day, and I'm sure that there are some days with the whole nine yards.

When we got to Edinburgh we first went to Frankenstein. It's pub-like restaurant with a heavy Frankenstein theme. It was like another restaurant at Universal Studios. The food took a very long time to come out, but the food was very good, and the whole experience was fun. I guess they have some kind performance at night. Frankenstein comes out of the central wall over the bar or something.

After lunch, we split up. John and Lindsey went to another monument, and Liz and I went to the Castle. (I'm a little disgruntled with Scotland, because both castles I went to didn't offer a student discount, but at least three pubs I passed advertised a student discount on alcohol - that's not fair for those students who don't drink but rather enjoy a little culture instead!) This castle was great too. It wasn't as big as Stirling Castle, nor was there as much to see, but it was still nice looking and interesting. They've touristed up the place a bit, by having you walk through elaborate displays and dioramas. It was tasteful though, and fun to see lots of bright colors in an otherwise somewhat drab environment.

We stopped at some souvenir shops on the way to meet John and Lindsey again. And then we all stopped in some stores on the Royal Mile on the way back to the car. We took a little detour on the way back, driving around Arthur's Seat and looking at the new godawful Parliament buildings.

That night everyone came over to John and Liz's house - except Janet and Charlie. Lawson and Ellen came over; and Neil, Allison, and Lauren; Fraser, Claire, and Christopher came; and all 4 Dingwalls were there. Liz put out cheese, crackers, grapes, olives, and we had beverages and chatted the night away. We used the timer on my camera to get a family picture with everyone. It came out great, and I'm going to frame it. Let me know if you would like a print.

We went to Loch Lomond the next day. It rained a lot on the way there, but stopped whenever we had to get out of the car. We went to a parking area near the power station and walked about five minutes to a lookout point. Then we crossed the street to look at the power station. Then we got back in the car and drove down the road to the oldest pub in Scotland for lunch.

Next we drove to Lomond Shores (I believe it's called). There was a bit visitor's center with a nice gift shop, and then a strip mall along the waterfront. I didn't see a beach or anything like that. There were also kiddie rides and one of those giant trampolines where they actually strap you in with a harness.

We drove in to Glasgow and parked in the city centre. We walked around for a bit so I could take pictures and we wandered in the Princes Square shopping mall. This place wasn't overly big, but the inside was so cool. Liz told me that during Christmas, it's all decorated and lit up and it is so beautiful. I know most malls decorate for Christmas, and it's beautiful. But it's even more beautiful when the shopping mall itself is already beautiful!

Then we drove to the cathedral in Glasgow. We didn't go inside because it sounded like there was a service or choir practice or something going on. But we walked around the cemetary for awhile.

When we went back to John and Liz's house, we had dinner and then I showed them all my pictures from my trip (which took hours), and then we watched their home video from their trip to the States in 2001. After a while Liz went upstairs to bed, while the rest of us finished watching the video. After it was done, Craig, Lindsey, and I started playing silly geography games. Well, the games weren't silly, but we sure were! First I had Craig and Lindsey name all 50 States alternating. They got a tiny bit of help from John, who was observing, and I accidentally gave one away while trying to give a hint for a different one. Craig was quite spastic with some of his guesses: Hollywood, Graceland, Miami, New Enland! And Lindsey guess Winnipeg at one point. They did end up naming them all though!

Then they had me name all the European countries (I came up with all but five I think), and then they quizzed me on the European capitals (I did nearly as well as I did in the country listing). Then they had me name English counties, but I could only come up with eight. Then Craig recited the Scottish counties and I think he got them all. When we got bored with geography, Craig started asking all these questions about Americanisms. He started out with simple things, like "what do you call chips?" and when I said crisps he said, "what do you call crisps?" and I said chips. Then he started asking about everything under the sun! "What do you call lettuce? What do you call an automobile? What do you call money?" We were in fits and giggles until 2 in the morning.

John and Liz had to go in to work in the morning, but Liz took a long lunch to come and have lunch with me, and Janet and Ellen came over too. And then John came home so he and Janet could bring me to the airport. It was so difficult saying goodbye to all of them... I even wiped away tears in the car. I cried more on the bus from Luton Airport to Baker Street Tube Station back in London. I know that I've only met some of my relatives a few times before, and I only met some of them for the first time on this trip. And I know that I was only there for four days, but it was really special. I'm so glad that I made it up there for a visit, even a short one. And I KNOW that I will be back...

Until next time...



Nikki

There were several places that I wanted to go that are in Amsterdam: the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, and Rijksmuseum. So I asked Elise if she wanted to go, and she did. So we set it up and went to Amsterdam for two days.

Two days seemed to be perfect for Amsterdam. We did just about everything that either of us could have wanted to do, and we could have done more if there had been more. The day we got there, we each bought a two-day tram pass, which gave us unlimited access. We went to our hotel (oddly named Hotel Flipper), nearly died going up the very steep curving staircase, settled into our room and relaxed for a bit. After a while we went out to explore the area. We took the tram a few stops up to an outdoor market and walked all the way through it. Then we took the tram even further up to an area called Dam. We walked up the long strip, stopping at souvenir shops along the way. We found a noodle bar and got dinner to take back to the hotel. We both had the feeling that Amsterdam was not a place we wanted to be outside when it was dark, so we made sure to arrange for food before going back.

The next day we did all the big stuff. We went to Rijksmuseum first (and made our way through a lot quicker than I thought we would - I was under the impression that Rijksmuseum was one of the largest museums in the world), then took pictures by the "iamsterdam" sign. Then we found the Van Gogh Museum and fought the crowds just to see his work. There was literally a line of people three deep walking through the museum - I've never seen anything like it!

After that we went back to Dam to find something for lunch. The Red Light District was two blocks from Dam, so we went there while we were in the area. I don't know what the big deal is about that place. There was nothing obviously raunchy about it at all. I know we were there around noon, but Amsterdam can be seedy enough during the day. You would not catch me in the seediest of seedy places in a seedy (but beautiful!) city at night. Then we took a hour-long canal cruise. There are more canals in Amsterdam than in Venice - over a hundred canals in fact. And the buildings that are in front of the canals are very narrow because back in the day they were taxed on their width ( ), so they built the buildings as narrow and deep as possible.

Next we went to the Anne Frank House. It was a humbling experience to walk through the rooms in which she and her family and friends hid for nearly two years. Everything that she pasted on her walls to cheer up her room a bit was still there. They also had her original diary on display under glass. It was strange walking out of that building - knowing that all Anne wanted to do for two years but couldn't was just that.

The last thing we did before going back to the hotel was check out the Sex Museum. Now, I'm a fairly open-minded person, but some of the stuff on display in there was just plain disgusting. It's as simple as that.

The next morning we took the tram to the train station, and then the train to the airport. Elise had to stay there for several hours because her flight didn't leave until that evening. My flight on the other hand, took me to Scotland at last - to have a family reunion, and to finally just be there.

Until next time...



Nikki