Sept 25
Tonight we went on the Ghost Tour. I was a bit bummed that it wasn’t very scary, but it was a lot of fun. We heard a lot about the city and the history of the witch trials and tortures. We also heard about poltergeists that haunt the graveyard and tombs that we were in. In that graveyard, is the grave of Tom Riddle and McGonagal, who was an awful poet. These were right across from The Elephant House where JK Rowling wrote some of Harry Potter and it is across from a castle that inspired Hogwarts. Charles Dickens also got inspiration from this graveyard. He thought that a grave read “Ebenezer Scroogie -Mean Man” and he wondered what kind of person someone would have to be in order to have that put on their tombstone. However, the stone actual read “meal man” because he sold cereal in the market. But I guess it’s good that Dickens couldn’t read very well...ironic.

Sept 26
Today we left Scotland to drive to York. We walked around the city a bit and went into the city walls. Then we went to Evensong at Yorkminster. That Abbey is huge! The stained glass is beautiful and the oldest in Britain. After that we went to dinner and then walked around until we found our way back to the hotel. It was kind of hard to find our way back because on the way there we found out that a woman from Searcy, the accompanist for our musicals, passed away today, so needless to say, we were all a bit sad and distracted.
Jenn, Jillian, and I had a girl’s night tonight and cuddled and watched “Pretty Woman.” It is going to take a while to get used to British commercials, but some of them were really funny.
I am so excited to get to London tomorrow!


Sept 27
We spent this morning walking around York some more and doing a bit of shopping. I decided that I wanted to take a picture sitting in the lap of the Constantine statue, so I climbed up there, right as a great big group of tourists were coming to see Yorkminster. Apparently one lady saw me and crossed herself. I just laughed, because it’s Constantine, it’s not like I was doing some sac religious and climbing on Jesus or something.
Then we got on the bus and drove to London! We have settled into our flats. Jillian, Lolli, Jenn, Courtney, and I are living together. It should be a lot of fun because they are great girls and we get along really well and have a ton of fun. We also have the smallest flat, which is awesome. The others have 7 and 8. We have a bedroom of 3 that Courtney, Jenn, and I are in and Lolli and Jillian are in the two-person bedroom. We also have 2 bathrooms with two showers in our room, along with a living room and kitchen. The only downside is that we live at the very top of the building, which is several stories up; so carrying up all of our luggage was quite an adventure. I am just go glad to be unpacked and to not have to live out of a suitcase anymore.
We can climb out our windows and go to the other girl’s rooms on the fire escape. Since we didn't have internet yet, the roomies and I watched weird British soap operas and some movies.

York: http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053736&l=48376&id=71005171

Today we were in Edinburgh again for the day. It was so wonderful to have a free day and be able to sleep in and have more of a relaxed schedule. I am loving getting to see new places, but I am very ready to be settled into a place and stay there for a while. It is crazy that we have only been gone for a week and yet it feels like SO much longer. I guess that's because we've done so much and traveled so far in such a short amount of time.
We did some shopping today and then tonight we went to a ghost tour, which took us through old graveyards and told us the history of the town and witch trials and things like that. It was fun and kind of scary.

Tomorrow we are leaving to go to York.
Here are more pictures from the past few days.

England 2: http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053516&l=3b5e9&id=71005171

Scotland: http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053517&l=4e871&id=71005171

Edinburgh: http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053518&l=d2126&id=71005171

http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053545&l=d0a2a&id=71005171

Updates September 21-24

Friday September 21
This morning, we left Dublin, which was cold and rainy and took the coach to the ferry that took us to Wales. The ferry ride was a couple of hours long and then we got on a new coach with our tour guide Tony. He drove us to Caernarfon Castle, which was so beautiful. It was really cool to climb the towers and see the countryside of Wales. Wales is gorgeous! It was so nice to be somewhere with sunshine and blue skies. We then got back on the coach and drove to see Snowdonia, which is the second largest mountain in Britain. It was incredibly beautiful. There were waterfalls and sheep grazing all over the mountains.
The coach ride to our hostel was incredibly, long, but it was nice to get to know some of the people on the trip a bit better. We finally got in around 8:15 and were able to eat dinner. Overall, it was a fun day.

Saturday September 22
This morning it was extremely foggy by the lake, but thankfully it cleared up by mid-morning. I believe we are somewhere in England, but we keep driving all over and it is hard to keep up with where we actually are. Our hostel from the night before was in the Lake District. From there we drove to Hilltop Farm, which was the home of Beatrix Potter. It was gorgeous up there! I was so glad that I had seen the movie so that I knew more of her story. No wonder she loved it there, because it is totally inspirational, especially for a writer.
We then drove to Dove Cottage where we toured the home of William Wordsworth and went to the museum about him. We also ate lunch in the town on the Lake District at a cute cafe called Villa Colombina. Afterwards, we walked down to the lakeside to take pictures. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking! I love it here!
There are lots of sheep in Britain. I can’t even count the number I have seen. They are all different colors; I’ve seen white, black, brown, and some black and white freckled sheep. It’s fun to see all the different types all over the mountains. The long coach rides are great for seeing the countryside, but after a while it makes me tired and I started to doze off. That makes it really confusing when you wake up and have no idea what part of the country you are in, but at least it is pretty. I am just in awe of the beauty that God has made.

Sunday Sept 23
This morning we had a traditional English breakfast with eggs, sausage, ham, and baked beans on toast. It was strange to eat baked beans for breakfast, but it wasn’t too bad. During the war when there was a shortage of food, that is what they ate for most meals, and the tradition has continued.
We then went to Hadrian’s Wall and the Housestead Fort. We climbed up the hills to see different parts of the wall and the ruins of the fort. The view from up top was amazingly beautiful!
We then got back on the coach and I fell asleep until Tony, the coach driver, woke us up to say that we were in Scotland. So we got out and took pictures right on the border of England and Scotland. We got back in the coach and drove to a wool mill to eat lunch and do some shopping.
We then got back in the coach and drove to our hostel. We unloaded our luggage and then went to tour Melrose Abbey. The ruins there were very intricate and beautiful, and the view from the roof was great because you could see all over the village and into the mountains. We went to a local pub for dinner and then returned on the hostel for our church service.

Monday September 24
Today we went to Edinburgh Castle to tour. Our tour guide was really funny and informative. I wish we had more time to walk around the castle because there was a lot that I did not get to see. We did get to see the Honours, which are the crown jewels of Scotland. While we were there, we saw the sweetest thing. An old man was carrying his wife on his back up the stairs because she couldn’t walk. I just wanted to cry because it was so sweet.
Then we did a walking tour of the Royal Mile, stopping along the way to look at sites and ending at the Holyrood Palace. That was where the Queen stays, and we got to tour most of the castle. It was really neat to see the bedchamber where Mary Queen of Scots lived. We also went to the Abbey and the gardens as well.
We then met the bus and came to our hostel. This was the nicest hostel we have stayed at because it is brand new. We had our own bathroom with a shower in the room! I’m staying this Courtney, Jennifer, Jillian, Lolli, Sasha, Christina, and Leah. We all stayed together last night and had a fun dance party and good girl talk, so we are excited to be together again for two nights. It will be so nice to not have to pack up in the morning and to be in the same place for two days.
Most of the people on the trip with us are really cool. A lot of us have gotten pretty close already. Jennifer is hilarious and we’ve become good friends. Chris and Dave are two of the four boys we have and they are really funny too. I’m sure there is bound to be more drama later with 4 boys and 20 girls, but so far there has only been slight drama.
Tomorrow is a free day in Edinburgh, so we can sleep in and then do some shopping!

So far I have taken 405 pictures.

Wales: http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053437&l=602d5&id=71005171

http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053436&l=61e00&id=71005171

England (not finished yet): http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053443&l=2e943&id=71005171

Tuesday September 18
I flew from Kansas City to Atlanta and met up with the group in Atlanta. We had to change gates but we made it to our flight to Dublin. I was already exhausted by the time it started. They gave us dinner and some snacks throughout, as well as showing “Georgia Rule.” I was hoping that because I couldn’t hear very well the movie was actually not as ridiculous as it appeared, but I fear that I was wrong. Don’t go see it. I then slept off and on until the flight attendant woke us by turning on all the lights. It was still 3:15 our time!
We landed in Dublin and got our luggage, which thankfully all arrived. We then headed outside to our coach (it’s a bus, but you’re not supposed to call them that here, or they get offended). We kept the bag for Ireland and sent the other suitcase to England in a different van.
We then drove to Trinity College, which is the University of Dublin, where we stayed for two nights. The rooms are fairly big and mine was a suite with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. The bathroom is down the hall. That day we looked at The Book of Kells and then went on a walking tour of Dublin. We saw the Dublin Castle and took some pictures there. The tour was kind of ended by the rain, and was sort of disappointing because Dr. Tullos was leading it, but it was hard to hear him. Of course, once we started walking back to campus, it stopped raining.
I went back to the room and tried to sleep a bit because I was jet lagging really bad, but I couldn’t really sleep.
Later that night a group of us went to a few pubs. The first one had live traditional Irish music, and two people were teaching us some songs. However, they were doing a tour and only stayed at that pub for about 10 minutes. They left to go to another pub, but we did not want to pay to follow and hear more. So went to another pub to watch some rugby and soccer. Chris took us to an internet cafe and we went to a grocery store and some shops and headed back to campus to get some sleep.
It was nice to take a shower. However, when I tried to dry my hair, I think it might have fried the hairdryer, because apparently the converter my parents bought only works for 220-240 volt items. So I guess I’ll be looking for more converters sometime. And possibly a new hairdryer.
So since my hair was wet, I was freezing and could not get warm. I barely slept at all and it was pretty miserable. I woke up every hour hoping that it was 6:30, but since the first time it was only 11:30, I knew it was going to be a long night.

Thursday September 20
I got up exhausted and headed to breakfast, but I wasn’t very hungry since it was only 7:30. We then took a 3 ½ coach ride to Waterford to the factory where they make Waterford Crystal. It was really interesting to watch the crystal being made and hear about the process. The pieces were gorgeous, but also very expensive, and I wasn’t sure what I or anyone in my family would actually use them for, so I didn’t buy any.
We then go back on the coach for another couple of hours to drive to Glendalough to see where the ruins of old monasteries and graveyards are. All of the cravings in the crosses were very neat and our tour guide was very informative. We then drove back to Dublin to finally eat dinner around 7:30. Courtney and I ate at Abrakebra, which is kind of like an Irish Subway/McDonalds. Then we toured some more shops and headed back to campus for the night.
It is interesting that lots of stores in Ireland have a police man standing guard inside at all times.
It is also strange to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road and knowing which way to look when crossing the street. Thankfully, sometimes it is painted to say ‘look left.’

Here are some pictures of Dublin: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053123&l=3f857&id=71005171

Pictures from Waterford: http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053126&l=84278&id=71005171

Pictures from Glendalough: http://harding.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053127&l=1a5bd&id=71005171

I am in Dublin. I will be for a few days. I'll actually update what I have been doing when I have some more time, but I have made it here safely.

The Journey Begins

I am leaving today to fly to Atlantawhere I will meet up with the group. From there we will all fly to Dublin to begin our adventure. Please keep us in your prayers.

So I got this blog in order to update everyone on my journies in Europe. Since xanga is no longer accessable at Harding, I will use this blog to try and keep everyone up to date. I will also be posting pictures on Facebook.

I leave on September 18th. That's two weeks away, which seems really soon and also forever away. There is still a lot to get done....