InDependentThinking

Although I arrived in Seville and getting here was a bit complicated, the results were amazing!  The city is gorgeous.  I have never been to a foreign city that I could truly picture myself living in, but this is the exception.  The people are friendly and the sun is always shining.  Unlike most cities where the center of the city is full of office buildings, graffiti, and traffic; Seville's center is filled with apartments, schools, cafe's, and Plazas.  A river runs through the heart of the city and parks, boats and restaurants line the banks.  You won't find an abundance of tourists in this hidden jewel of Spain's cities.  Although it is the third largest city, I feel as if the environment could match that of a small town.  People stop each other on the street to talk, and parents walk their children to school.  Most stores open around 9am and close at 2 for siesta time-the hottest part of the day.  Some will open again in the evening ...

May 17 Took the train out to the palace of Versailles.  It was very large and elegant and as extravagant as it is proclaimed to be. It was weird to think that Marie antionette actually lived here. I liked wandering through the vast gardens, although they were not what I expected. I was thinking there would be flowers but instead most of them are simply hedged in lawn or forests with fountains and pathways separating it into a grid. There are some beautiful spots that could be peaceful if not for the insane amount of people. In the main palace I found the most impressive thing to be the size and number of paintings, and of course the hall of mirrors, which is beautiful.   On my way back to Paris I made a quick diversion to the Arch du Triumph, but pretty much just took enough time to take a few pictures and get back out of the crowd.  That evening I ventured to the Eiffel tower and couldn't have had better timing, as I got there just in time for sunset-amazing. Als...

May 16 Today I checked out of my hostel and walked to the train station. As I was waiting for my train to board I struck up a conversation with an elderly man who I found knew English.   He was very friendly and talkative. I found out he was a catholic from Packistan, who now lived in Paris. He told me all about his family and people in Paris. He insisted on helping get to my hostel, but seeing as how he didn't know where it was, we ended up quite lost and the first area I ended up going through in paris was the red light district...not where I would suggest starting. 

May 15 Got up and went out to kew, a Lovely little place. It us About 30 minutes by tube from kings cross, and will cost abou 14lbs but is well worth it. This is my favorite place so far. It is huge but I advise just letting your feet wonder and exploring the grounds. The waterlilly house is gorgeous. I grabbed a coffee and croissant before walking the the rest of the grounds. It is incredibly peaceful even with lots of school kids running about. There are various benches all over and my favorite part of the afternoon was reading Oswald chambers and praying in a secluded little area. You will see adorable elderly couples as well walking the pathways.  As I was standing in one of the green houses an elderly woman commented about the largest flower in the world. " it looks like a fallic symbol!".  Just as I got up from praying it began to rain so I ducked into one of the little art galleries in the gardens. It was truly beautiful absolutely packed with paintings of flowers ...

May14 Woke around 10:30.   Walked to the tour bus stop and took it around the city.  Ate at the hard rock cafe.  Got back on tour and saw buckingham palace then Westminster Abby and walked along inside there. Continued the tour up the river and ending at Piccadilly circus. Took the tube back to kings cross and checked out st pancrus station.  Good advice. Cafe nero has free Internet. Free calling and texting. If you are looking for a delicious hot coco and hot sandwich I highly recommend costa coffee will run u about 7 lbs

Hello everyone! So here is my first trip update. May 13 Arrived in London after a very long flight and crashed at my hostel for a few hours.  Cassie really would have appreciated the interior decorating....my entire room was construction orange from floor to ceiling along with the hallways.  After getting some rest in, I hopped a bus to the river and walked along the water up to Tower bridge and back to London Eye.  I highly recommend this walk as a good staring point for a trip.   I caught a show at Shakespeare's Globe Theater-a rebuilt version of his first theater.  The experience is fun but to be honest unless you are absolutely in love with Shakespeare and understand a random ancient European language, it could get old very quickly.  After the Globe I walked to London Eye and passed lots of street performers on the way which was fun.  London Eye is a bit expensive but great for photos and getting a bearing on your location (it i...

Welcome! Bienvenidos! For the next nine weeks this will be my journal and hopefully a good way of sharing all of my study abroad experiences with you. Tomorrow I will be on a night flight from LAX to London.  I am excited, nervous, anxious, happy and probably lots of other things that I will not know I am until I land.  I will be traveling to Heathrow Airport in London, then taking the "Tube" to a youth Hostel in London.  After seeing the sites in the UK for a few days I'll jump on a train to Paris where I'll stay at another hostel for a few days before flying out to the beautiful city of Seville in southern Spain!  I will be there for seven weeks studying spanish with Trinity Christian College. I know this will be a challenging trip as well as a hard learning experience but I am excited to branch out and be bold.  I think, more than anything I am looking forward to sharing stories with fellow travelers, sitting back and practicing my spanish with the local...