London and Recent Adventures

Wow...already only 3 weeks left. I was telling someone the other day that I think it has yet to sink in that I've been in Europe traveling to all of these wonderful cities for a semester. Each place had only been the setting of fairy tales, history books, and literary genius before this point, and somehow I was able to be a part of them! The most recent city visit was to London where I was lucky enough to get to stay with my cousin, Robbie. All Cafferys will be happy to know how wonderful it was to keep the family connection while in Europe!

Here's a little summary of some of the adventures while there:

*A night bus trip from the airport through the already holiday-lit Oxford Street to Robbie's townhouse.

*Watching the extravagant changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

*Surviving a weekend in another country without cell phone access (not something I'd recommend, but I did get to know the fun red pay phones very well)

*Visiting Hamley's Toy Store packed with children and parents looking at the newest Christmas goodies

*Window shopping down Regent Street, Savile Row, and Soho (Carnaby Street)

*Taking the London Eye (humongous Ferris Wheel) to the best view of the city!

*Visiting Abbey Road, complete with taking a picture of crossing the street-this was a little dangerous, as it was a busier street than expected!

*Hilarious tour guides on a double-decker red bus, and later a river tour down the Thames

*Riding the famous Tube and receiving the polite reminder to "Mind the Gap"

*Visiting Parliament, Big Ben, London Bridge, and Globe Theatre

Needless to say, it was a wonderful trip!

Here are the facebook albums which you should be able to see with or without a facebook account by using these links:

First Album

Second Album

Later that week I had the pleasure of cooking dinner with Meghan, Amy, and Caroline for our Spain Thanksgiving dinner for our host families. Menu items included turkey, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cookies, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and more. None of us could believe we were making our first Thanksgiving meal away from home (we felt very grown up). We also managed not to burn the kitchen down...it actually turned out absolutely delicious! The actual meal was as much fun as the two evenings of cooking as we explained the Thanksgiving tradition to our host families, went around and said what we were most thankful for, and of course enjoyed the profit of our work.

The next day I had two friends visiting from BC: Will, who is studying in Barcelona this semester, and Scott, who ventured to Europe from Boston for the week around Spain and Northern Africa. It was wonderful to show them around the city and even experience some neighborhoods I had never visited before while looking for the best tapas restaurants and cut-throughs between historic sights. Some highlights included: visiting the three biggest museums of Madrid-Museo del Prado, Reina Sofia, y Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, visiting the streets of El Rastro (open-air Sunday morning market that goes for blocks and blocks), and attending a Flamenco show and later spanish salsa club.

Also this weekend, we took another BC sponsored trip to a beautiful old palace named El Escorial and later, Valle de los Caídos. The latter was extremely interesting because this weekend was the anniversary of Francisco Franco's death-leader of the oppressive government in Spain that only ended in 1977. As a result, there were many people there to attend mass in the humongous monument/Basilica. It was very interesting to be in a Catholic church that had been used as negative propoganda for such a long time. 

This weekend I'll be going to Portugal with Meghan, Amy, Meghan's mom and her best friend. It should be absolutely beautiful and will mark the last trip I have while in Europe!

Un abrazo y muchos besos (A hug and many kisses),

Clare

Paris, Democrats Abroad, Cordoba and Granada

Hello family and friends!

Here is another crazy-packed entry with my activities the past few weeks. I can't believe how much has occurred! If you have access to facebook, that's been the easiest way to put up pictures and I already have too many albums up on that site. Let me know if you don't have facebook/ or know someone with it and I can try to send you some links.

 After the Rome trip, I spent two very nice and comparatively quiet weekends in Madrid with friends and my host family. The following weekend, my amazing friend from Charlottesville, Emily Wheat, and I were able to meet up in Paris (que romántico)! Here are some highlights:

*Very political Frenchmen (every single one that we met) who were sure to share their opinion about why Emily and I should vote for Obama, if we hadn't already.

*Emily and I eating some wonderful meals on the quaint streets of Paris, able to catch up on our respective abroad experiences and look back to memories from high school.

*Visiting the top of the Eiffel Tower the first night. I was in shock at the beauty and size of this structure that I had read and heard so much about!

*Checking out Moulin Rouge while enjoying our freshly made crepes.

*Seeing the incredible Notre Dame at night and on Sunday morning for mass. 

*Walking the Champ d' Elysees with Emily and her friend from William and Mary, Stacey.

*Emily made a wonderful nerdy-english major walking tour, which brought us to several homes of Ernest Hemingway over his years in Paris and the historic Shakespeare and Company book shop.

*Climbing up to the beautiful Sacre-Ceur church to witness a gorgeous nighttime view of Paris

*Finding the stereotype of arrogant Parisians not to be true

Overall, it was an amazing trip, and it was so wonderful to enjoy it with a friend who also appreciated the beauty and fun.

In case I was in danger getting too much sleep (apparently not a possibility in Europe for me), two days after coming back from Paris, the Democrats Abroad program held a huge bash for any American citizens abroad on Super Tuesday (which really became Super Wednesday for us). Below is a more eloquent article from my friend Caroline that she wrote for the BC Heights about the experience.

It was so wonderful to be with Americans of all ages, from many different states celebrating the election night. There were people from both parties there, as there was no big party that we knew of for Republicans Abroad. Unfortunately, as I had class the next morning at 8am, I wasn't able to stay for the final result, but got pretty close, and received a call at approx. 5am from my mom telling me about the new president!

This past weekend the group from BC in Madrid went to visit Cordoba and Granada to witness some of the most gorgeous Arabic artwork and architecture. We enjoyed getting to experience the cities in a different way than usual, with some formal education included from our BC professor. 

While there we were able to partake in some traditional cultural activities of the Andaluz region such as: Turkish baths (a sauna with baths of different temperatures), delicious traditional meals, and a Flamenco show in the historic caves of the gypsies.

This week I'm trying to accomplish as much work as possible while getting ready to visit my cousin Robbie in London. Schoolwork is starting to heat up as we get closer to final exams.

I feel very disconnected from US life these days, with the exception of some pretty funny stories from Chris and my family, but I'm glad to hear that gas prices have dropped considerably! It seems that it's already only about 4 weeks until I head back to the US, so I'm trying to soak up every single moment!