Father- Daughter Eurotrip!! It's BOOKED!

Excitement!

I can officially say that the epic father-daughter eurotrip has been booked! 

My Dad will be arriving in London a couple days after my Lent Term finishes, and then we're off to explore! Some of you have heard me mention this trip as I was putting the final touches on the planning- searching for flights, tours, hotels, and great restaurants. Well, now, it is all essentially booked minus some last minute details as we get closer!

So, you want to know where we are headed? 

We're spending four days in London. This includes a day trip up to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath. I've never been to Bath, so I'm looking forward to it! Highlights of this leg of the trip will also include: the London Eye, the Shard, High Tea at Harrods, and showing Dad the Crown Jewels.

From there, we're off to spend four days in Dublin. We are spending the first day taking in the main sights including some that I did not get to see in 2010. We will then be taking three day trips! The first is a day trip to Limerick, Cliffs of Moher, Burren, and Galway. The second and third trips have us heading to Cork, the Blarney Stone/Castle, Belfast, and the Giants' Causeway.

And, then we are off to a country where both Dad and I have never been to. We're going to Berlin for four days! We're going to be taking in the sights from the Cold War and viewing the memorials for World War II.  And, what is a trip to Berlin without a day trip to Dresden and another one to Potsdam! 

To finish the Euro-trip, we will head off to Paris! It will be five years to the day that I went to Paris for the first time when Dad and I arrive. We're going to take in the sights, eat some macaroons, and go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. On one day, we are taking a day trip to Normandy and the D-Day Beaches. And, before we leave, we will head off to Versailles and Giverny! 

It's going to be an epic couple of weeks, but my Dad and I are so excited for this! We've talked about traveling around Europe since I can remember, and now it's official. We're headed to our homelands of Ireland and England, exploiting our love of Cold War history in Berlin, and indulging in sweets in Paris.

Counting down the days already!! 

Math Camp.

My past week has been renamed as math camp. As my pre-semester math review course begins for the second week tomorrow, I must say that math camp has been both easy and intense. Highs and lows of remembering basic concepts from high school to those moments where I said, "I just had to choose taking language over math at Syracuse." Nevertheless, it's been a good review as these concepts we have spent numerous hours on in lectures, seminars, and problem sets are the base for the classes this semester. After all, it is the London School of Economics.

My week was pretty basic since I did spend most of time either in class or at home doing homework. Several nights, I was left frustrated because I never took calculus. And, I don't know if you have ever had to learn basic concepts that should be taught over a year in a week, but I have. I'm surviving, though. Our test is this coming Friday and will be used only for advice on harder level economics courses...

I did have some fun during the week.

After all, all work and no play, makes Katie a dull person. 

I was able to check out a lot of campus this week including a lot of the restaurants both on and off. I discovered the Fleet River Bakery with three girls in my program for lunch one day. Let's just say that you can't beat seven pounds for a fish sandwich, potatoes, and a huge hot chocolate.  Also finally made it to Lincoln's Inn Fields. It's a park on campus which has the potential for outdoor reading sessions when it isn't raining out.

Lincoln Inn's Fields

The highlight of Monday- Friday was my Thursday. After morning class and lunch, I headed over to Syracuse London! It was a weird and good feeling to be back inside Faraday. I spent an hour or so catching up with the director as well as a few staff members I really got to know while I was there. I'm going to be volunteering as a student guide and on some other events in the future as well as try to begin to form an official SU alumni group in London.

Thursday evening after a math seminar, I headed back to Syracuse London for an Encompass film event. For those who don't know, I participated as one of the US delegates in the Fall 2010 Encompass Journey of Understanding.  The film event was a new recruiting video to get more to apply to this life-changing experience. What was great about the program was that I was able to be reunited with two people who were a part of the program that I haven't seen in two years. Nicole was there as well- she did the program with me.

Aisha was still in high school when she participated in the program, but now she is interning with Encompass, and Ericka was the US/UK coordinator for 2010.  I was also able to meet the new Syracuse students selected for the amazing experience this summer.

I'm featured with Aisha on the Encompass Business Card!

And, the best ending to my Thursday evening was being reunited with my favorite professor, Wolfgang! I knew he was teaching on Thursday evenings, so I saw him briefly during a fire drill. We talked only for a few minutes, but it was great being able to talk to one of the biggest influences on my life. He provided so much support during the grad school process to my capstone, and when I was applying to be  a Remembrance Scholar. He and I are getting coffee in the coming weeks which will be great!

Wolfgang and I in Belfast, 2010. 

Fall 2010

As I'm writing this, I'm watching Notting Hill. One of my favorite movies for numerous reasons. One of them is also for the reason that I've applied to living in Notting Hill for the next year. As part of the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, I'm fairly acquainted to the area and what it has to offer in terms of living as well as tourist attractions. Why you may ask? For those who don't know, when I studied abroad in the fall of 2010, I lived in South Kensington. My flat was situated in between both the South Kensington and Gloucester Road tube stations.  Thus, you see my excitement that has been building up to wait for the e-mail confirmation that I will in fact be living in the old borough. Syracuse University has a great study abroad program in London. They actually have about seven different centers around the world for current students to study abroad as well as numerous partnerships with other global universities. I had always known I wanted to study abroad in London since I was first researching colleges to apply to. As you may have guessed by now through my two prior blog posts that I am a giant political junkie, so London was a perfect fit in 2010 to tune into British politics as well as gain the international perspective on the US. My Fall 2010 semester flew by. I had been interning in Boston for the summer, so I had done a lot of preparation in Boston with some help from my parents. I was only home for about five days before I hopped across the pond to begin a ten-day seminar course before actually landing in London. The course was titled the Pale and Beyond and took place in Dublin and Belfast. The course examined religious and ethnic struggles, the IRA and the troubles, and the 2008 financial crisis that affected the Island. The professor, Dr. Wolfgang Deckers, would soon become a mentor in my academic career to this day. The course did allow for free time to explore Dublin and Belfast as well as many other features of the island including the Giant's Causeway and many of the historical castles and churches. In London, I took four courses- all political science and history. I took another course with Wolfgang on the European Union that included a course trip to Brussels and Bruges, Belgium for the weekend.  My overall favorite course dealt with the special relationship between the UK and the US since WWII. The other two courses I took were Contemporary British Politics & the Modern World and Islam & the West. While I certainly played a tourist in London whenever I could, I was away traveling for many weekends. Besides the first month and a weekend here and there, I traveled the rest of the continent as well as the rest of the UK.  Over the next few months,  I am going to highlight each trip as well as my favorite parts of London, but for now, this summary will have to do. My fall semester in London really opened my eyes and helped change me into the person that I am today. Each new adventure allowed me to learn and explore. For now, I leave you with my study abroad blog that I kept. Pursue that...I'll be back to keep re-telling my stories of my fall semester! http://studyingabroadlondon.blogspot.com/