2 Years Ago...

It's hard to believe that two years ago, I moved to England to start my graduate school adventures.  

Time flew by over these past two years. As my regular readers know, I had quite a lot of adventures and moments to last a lifetime. Some were school and career related with others being captured and lived at parties, coffee dates, or in other countries. 

It's been almost three months since I moved back to the USA officially, and I still feel as if part of me is missing. London was home for so long. The MPA program and the friends I made in the program were the substance of my life for two years.  It's been a cultural adjustment these past few months as I get used to life in Las Vegas, the working world, and driving everywhere.  But, life is about change. And, I'm embracing my new life to the fullest.

Today, though, I'll be reminiscing more than normal by rereading some of favorite blog entries from the past two years. 

After all, this blog served as a way to capture those moments I had. 

My Absence

Hello World!

If you haven't noticed, I took a month off from blogging.

Following my move across the USA, unpacking, and starting a new job, some things fell off to the wayside. The blog was one of the things. But, post this holiday weekend, I'll be up and going again!

Stay tuned!

Greetings from Las Vegas!

Greetings from Las Vegas!

I know that is has been over two weeks since I've last updated the blog. 

From packing and getting ready to move to driving across the country, something had to be cut off the to-do list! But, never fear...I'll this back up and running this week!

First up are re-caps of my days driving across the United States!

Stay tuned!!

Traveling Tales...

Greetings from Bulgaria! 

I'm on my third day of non-stop traveling for around 10 days. 

I'm going to be attempting to blog throughout these 10 days about what I get up to, so I can avoid tons of entries next week!

For now, follow my adventures on my Instagram account, @kewalpole!

Blog Makeover

If you haven't noticed, my blog got a makeover.

Phew, that was really needed.

I have to thank Aubrey Kinch at Kinch Life for doing such a great job on incorporating what I wanted in the new design.

As you will see, the design is much cleaner and easier to read. The colors are reflective of the old design but are also a breath of fresh air!

I'm so pleased with how it turned out! Thanks again, Aubrey!

Guest Blogging!

Greetings from America!

While I plan on blogging on my trip including the reading weekend at Princeton, I wanted to share a post I did over on my friend, Tola's blog! I'm guest blogging about a trip to Seneca Falls, NY! 

Enjoy!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around." -"Love Actually"

The quote above is one of  my favorites from "Love Actually." Actually, it may rank up there on my list of favorite quotes, in general. 

I often think of this quote whenever I travel. Each time I pass through Heathrow airport, it resonates with me.  I'll think of it today as I return to London to begin my second to last term of grad school. Cheers for now! I'll be blogging from across the pond once more!

Bucharest, Romania

Over the weekend, I took a trip to Bucharest, Romania with a friend who is a fellow intern with me! While there were a few hiccups on the day we left, we had a ton of fun exploring a new country.

On Saturday, once we got settled into the hotel, we wandered around for a bit before settling on a restaurant that was offering traditional fare!  We stayed at the Novetel in what seems to be the city center as well as within walking distance of other major hotels. The hotel's site actually used to be the National Theater before a fire, so the front of the hotel reflects the facade of the theater.  As for the food that we sampled the first day we were there, we couldn't eat the whole platter we ordered! Definitely worth it!

Bucharest's 1st Hospital

On Sunday, we took a day trip to visit the famous castles of Romania! Our first stop were the grounds of Peles Castle. The larger castle on the site was closed for the season, but we still got to explore the smaller one as well as the grounds.

Romanian Countryside

Peles Castle

After visiting Peles castle, we drove to Bran Castle which is also known as Dracula's Castle.

Bran Castle

In the marketplace outside of the palace, besides finding some sheep slippers, I also found something that I wasn't expecting:

This pillow pet did not come home with me as I already own one!  #orangenation

Post Dracula's Castle, our tour took us to Brasov, a smaller city in Romania. I found it to be very similar to other Eastern European cities with the large town centre.

Brasov Town Center

Just like the Hollywood Sign!

On our final day in Romania, we took a city tour. We were able to get a private city tour as the majority of the large-bus tours had shut down for the season. We were able to tour the museum that featured traditional houses from all the regions in Romania, the Parliament Palace, several Eastern Orthodox churches, and to see the balcony where Nicolae Ceausescu gave his final speech in the 1989 Revolution.

View from the Parliament Place Balcony

Parliament Place…2nd largest government building in the world!

The Balcony where Ceausescu gave his final speech

End of Communism Statue

Elaine and I had a great time touring Bucharest and the rest of Romania! It was the perfect weekend away from the stress of grad school! 

New Weekly Feature: Five on Friday!

I'm starting a new feature on the blog! I'm joining in on the five on Friday posts sponsored by a. liz adventures, Carolina Charm, Hello! Happiness, and the Good Life Blog. I love reading these posts, and figured it might be time to jump on the bandwagon. My threshold was finally met! 

This Friday, I'm loving:

1. Roar by Katy Perry.  

I know that it may have started to get overplayed, etc. But, right now it's my jam. I especially love it in the mornings! 

2. Sneak Peak of the Mindy Project Season 2! 

Who else caught the sneak-peak up on Hulu? It literally made my Tuesday!  Of course, I have my season pass purchased on iTunes since I will be hopping back across the pond, and that just limits my watching abilities. 

3. Leopard Everything.

It is almost fall! We had a few very hot days this week, but that doesn't stop me from planning my fall wardrobe. I just picked up these pretty pumps the other day! Super excited to dress them up and down!

via Target 

4. Routehappy

Has anyone else started to use routehappy? It's one of my new favorite travel websites. You can make an account, review your experience on a plane or at an airport, and actually book tickets on the website based on the reviews. Entirely free to join! I'm planning a longer post about it in the near future, but make sure to check them out now!

5. Million Second Quiz

I'm a sucker for quiz shows. Trivia, actually. In college, I competed with several friends in trivia competitions. In one, we won over $300 worth of Syracuse merchandise and gift cards, each! I caught the tail-end of the show the other night, and now I'm addicted! Are you watching this show?

What are your fives on Friday? 

Noticing Some Changes?

If you haven't seen them yet, I'm slowly making some changes to this blog.

A Changed Title? Imported Old Posts from Previous Blogs? New Photos?

Yes to all of them!

As I begin my last year of grad school, I want to be able to keep this blog active post graduation next June. The name change to "Wandering Walpole" will allow me to keep posting. Besides, I've been posting way too much lately about matters not concerning England. Flexibility is my goal!

(Note, the URL has not officially changed, yet!)

You may also notice in the archives that I have imported my two prior blogs: "Katie Lives Simply" and  "The Other Side of the Pond."  The first was a blog that I kept during undergrad at Syracuse for a period of a few years. And, the second is the blog I kept during the four months I studied abroad in London during undergrad! 

A lot of the renovations on the blog is still in progress, so get ready for some big changes in the next few months!

Check out my latest article!

Brief Discussion of the Latest Civic Engagement Reports

Amsterdam Recap: Day Two

On our second and last day in Amsterdam for the short weekend away, Nicole and I woke up to head to see the Reiksmuseum.  This museum houses a bunch of Rembrandt pieces as well as being home to one of the 10 best libraries in the world.  Before heading to the museum though, we stopped and grabbed breakfast. Since I was still on my Dutch food eating spree, I had a lovely peaches and cream pancake.

After breakfast, we found ourselves at the iconic I.am.sterdam sign. It's a huge tourist draw- so much so that we ended up counting three different versions of the sign around the city. Here are some fun photos from it:

Famous Sign

I am Katie! 

the "m"

As we made our way into the Reiksmusuem, we found that the majority of it was also under renovation. Nevertheless, we got to see quite a lot of famous paintings. I will have to make another trip back to see the library...

For the rest of the day before we had to head to the airport to make our flight, we found ourselves indulging in mayo french fries, visiting the cheese museum, and walking along the canals. The cheese museum while somewhat cheesy (!) was full of laughs and wheels of cheese. I picked up some herb cheese, and it has made a great snack throughout the week! 

Mayo Fries

Quintessential Amsterdam

Say Cheese! 

Cheese man!

Even though I only got to spend two short days in Amsterdam, it was well worth seeing a city that has been on my list for quite some time. It was so calm and peaceful to be along the canals.  I will definitely be making another trip in the future!

Resolutions...

2013.

I'm really bad with resolutions. 

Well, I actually take that back. 

I'm generally bad at keeping most of them.  Back when I used to blog in 2010-2011, I kept resolutions on my blog that I did generally keep. Among those resolutions were political internships, and getting into the Syracuse London program. Ones that weren't kept? Generally getting more sleep was one that was never kept....some habits die hard.

As we enter 2013, I seriously did think about creating some new resolutions. In line with previous ones that I wish I would have kept would have been to continue to get healthier, get more sleep, etc. Rather than write new resolutions for 2013, I decided to rather focus my attention on my 101 in 1001 days list. As I enter 2013, I know that my 1001 days to complete the remaining tasks on my list is beginning to lose more days.

So, 2013, that's the task. Knock more things off that list, so I can successfully say that I will complete it by May 22nd, 2015

You can read more about my list here:

 http://walpolehopsthepond.blogspot.com/p/101-in-1001.html

"Tea with jam and bread"

1st. If you know the song reference of the title, excellent job!

Last Sunday, Nicole and I had high tea! We had found a GroupOn for high tea for 30 pounds. Splitting the cost, we got a normal high tea service that costs 75 pounds for roughly 15 pounds plus service. It's the little bargains in life. 

Arriving at the hotel overlooking Kensington Gardens, we were swept away right away to an age gone by. Of course, high tea is served everyday, but the hotel decor reminded me of the Victorian era. The first part of  tea? Champagne, of course!  A quick toast to being in London for one month was followed by tea. I choose traditional breakfast and was very glad I had quite a large pot for myself as it was a bit chilly that day. 

Tea and Champagne

Tea time!

With the tea came out the three-level tray of food! Eating our heart's desires...sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, cupcakes, tarts, and macaroons! Yum!! And yes, I posted the photos to make you hungry!

Scones with clotted cream and jam

Spice Cupcake

Whipped Tart

Macaroons!

Tray of Food

As you can see, we left full! It was a great adventure, and I cannot wait for my next experience. On the bucket list is to eventually have high tea at Harrods!

A Little Over a Month Ago...

It's hard to believe that I became an alumna member of #orangenation more than a month ago already. It was a three day weekend filled with a lot of emotions as those four years had been the best time of my life. I started at Syracuse being a CNY native and always loving orange. I left Syracuse a completely different person than I ever imagined and still loving orange.

I had a lot of experiences at Syracuse that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Some moments were more happy than others, but even the somber moments changed me for the best. 

Homecoming Court. Remembrance Scholar. Taking the LSAT twice. Interning in DC and Boston. Heartbreaks. Chucks. Roadtrips. Attendance Records in the Dome. Elite 8 Game in Boston. Meeting Jim Boeheim. Lawrinson. Mayfest. Pi Phi. Class with Hillary Clinton. 113 Page Honors Thesis. Studying Abroad in London. Flip Night. Pita El Saha. Traveled to over 10 countries. Met numerous politicians. Celebrated Obama's victory on the quad. First SU Snow Day in 18 years. And, many more memories...

At the 158th Commencement on Sunday, May 13th, Aaron Sorkin was the commencement speaker. It was a great speech; one that didn't leave the audience saddened by the thought of death (prior year) or asleep.

A day of tears, happiness, goodbyes, see you laters, & memories...

Ashlie, my first friend at Syracuse

Oriana, drinking best friend. 

Jess, fellow social media guru

Lawrinson 12. 

Erin, Ashlie, and I

Hall of Languages

Jordan- Die-hard Basketball Fan

Tracey, Rising Famous Photographer

After Convocation

Dr. Coplin, my Mentor

The Katies. We've caused enough antics and created enough memories forever

5/6 Lawrinson 12

Mom and Dad- My Everything

Launches

The About Kathleen & the Travel Log have officially been launched! Stay tuned!

Quick Change in Hosting Website

I'm back to blogger. I used blogger for the first time I went abroad as well as a personal blog that I kept during my second year of college. Sorry, Wordpress...old habits die hard.

To update your feeds, make sure you add in my new address: walpolehopsthepond.blogspot.com!