PARIS for the wknd <3

I got to spend the WEEKEND in PARIS. We left London on Friday July 24th, got on a train and headed to Paris. The train was crazy ..verrry loud with lots of dancing, sing, and alcohol (for some).

------> Amanda & I on the Eurostar :)


After only 2 hours I met Paris. With a group of 113 people it gets a little hectic & stressful when we are moving through train stations ..but after a successful transfer from the train station through the Metro in Paris we made it to our hotel. (People say the Metro is easier to use than the London tube. I say FALSE ..people in the Metro speak french, people on the tube ENGLISH). I was already excited to get to spend the weekend in Paris, France but to make it THAT much better ..our original hotel the University of Dreams had booked for us their air conditioning broke ..what to do? UPGRADE OUR HOTEL. We ended up staying at the Concorde Lafayette Hotel in Paris, sooooooooooo nice. (I'll tell you how nice in a sec, haha). We get our keys & blah blah blah, so I go to my room ..

------> my hotel room in paris


The first thing I do when I get into a hotel room is open the window and check out the view.. and this was by far thee best view of any hotel I have ever stayed at, EVER.

------> the view out my hotel window <3


My most important objective in Paris was to see the Eiffel Tower and lucky for me it was right out my window. But that wasn't enough. So a bunch of us met up and walked down the road for dinner. After dinner we wandered ..hoping we would end up at the Eiffel Tower eventually. Well to our surprise we found the Arc de Triomphe.

-----> the girls in front of the Arc de Triomphe


After many photos of and with the Arc, we continued our journey. Then we finally saw it ....

------> eiffel tower!!


------> This is a picture my friend, Meghan took (candid) of how excited I was!! hahaha


-------> just gorgeous :)


Clearly the most logical way to spend your first night in Paris is to lay in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower until the clock strikes 10:00PM and the tower lights UP! So we did just that ..

------> Amanda & I laying in the grass WAITING :)


------> Jonny, Amanda, & I


And then it happened ...

------> The lights ON ..& it was SPARKLING <3


------> Jonny, Amanda, Me (scarf in the face, haha) & Scott - jumping picture!


Saturday, July 25th ..we got up and made the decision to go to the Louvre & see the Mona Lisa w/ some people from our program! We are walking through the lobby and GUESS WHO I SEE? Amy Roloff, the mom from the TLC show "Little People, Big World". I am pretty sure its my 1st celebrity encounter hahaha. Then we were walking out of our hotel and who do I see coming in? Matt Roloff and 1 of his sons, (also in Little People, Big World). I was SO excited haha. I said "Hello" to him and he smiled & waved back. They weren't famous in Paris (obviously the show isn't aired their) but I knew them and they were staying at our hotel!!

-----> For those of you who haven't seen it, this is the Roloff Family!


We eventually made it to the Louvre.

------> Me outside the Louvre.


Obviously our first task once in the Louvre was to find the famous Mona Lisa. We hung out & walked around two hours + ..admiring all of the crazy paintings & sculptures!

-----> Here she is, in all of her small glory (big glory, small picture)


After the Louvre, we walked Paris for awhile. Eventually made it back to the hotel, got ready, and met at the bar in our hotel on the 34th floor (very top). The drinks were expensive, but good and the views were amazing.

----> My cosmo (w/ a straw) BEFORE


------> And after (& yes this is me trying to be "artsy")


------> The 34th floor bar.. romantic!


We then made the decision that we were going to have a dinner picnic in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower. So we began our walk. We stopped at a wine store to pick up the beverages for our picnic (ps - if you go to Paris..drink WINE, not to get drunk but because it is cheaper than beer, soda, and even WATER. crazy? yes!). And we found an italian pizza/pasta restaurant that had take-out and we headed to the park.

------> All of us almost to our park - Eiffel Tower <3


SUCH AN AMAZING WEEKEND :)

My days in Europe are winding down (only 10 left) but I have one more weekend trip ahead of me. This weekend (actually on Thursday) Amanda, Kelly, and I are flying to Dublin for a long 3 day weekend. We already have a ton of things planned (Guinness tour, Jamesons tour, a guided tour of the countryside, etc hahaha). And we are staying in a hotel right by Trinity College and the Temple Bar District. I am already too excited. Lucky for me we leave in a day!!

last weekend in London.

I cannot believe how quickly my summer is going by. I knew it was going to go by fast, but not this fast. PLEASE SLOW DOWN. This weekend is my LAST WEEKEND IN LONDON. Next weekend (July 24th-26th) I will be venturing to Paris. And the following weekend (July 30th - Aug 2nd) I will be in DUBLIN. Then to Iowa on Saturday, Aug 8th. WOW.

Most of our friends from the program went traveling this weekend, but Kelly, Amanda, and I decided to stay in London ..go on our tour of Parliament, finally get on the London Eye, and do any other little things we have not yet gotten to. Our tour of Parliament on Friday was ..okay, I mean it was really cool to actually walk through such an important/historical building, but the tour was a little lacking. We walked the path the Queen takes when she opens parliament ONCE A YEAR. (ONCE A YEAR). exciting. hahaha. We couldn't take any pictures on the tour. But I did get ONE in the main hall while waiting for our tour guide.

-----> Kelly, Amanda, & I in our DREAMER t-shirts :)


Following our Parliament tour, we headed straight for the London Eye. They were sure to ask me a couple times, "Chelsea, do you feel okay?" hahaha. I successfully did NOT get sick this time. And we did make it on the eye. After being asked numerous times what we were dreaming about (our t-shirts).

----> The city I live in!!


-----> Supporting our stylish University of Dreams t-shirts :)


-----> Having WAY too much fun w/ the guy in the car in front of us!


We then decided that for dinner it would be fun to venture to Chinatown London. So we did. Delicious food, but I felt bad for the ducks in the window.

-----> eyeballs, beaks still VERY intact. I ate chicken!


Today we went shopping at various markets throughout London, including the two Covent Garden markets and Camden market. They had a Build-A-Bear in Covent Garden. I went in and found the CUTEST "Chelsea Futbol Club" soccer outfit ..jersey, shorts, socks, & soccer cleats. So I bought it for my build-a-bear/monkey that is back at home, but definitely NOT forgotten :) I also purchased alot of other Chelsea Futbol stuff.. it seriously entertains me. (FUNNY - Jeff is a big soccer fan and he does in fact like Chelsea soccer, sooo I found this sign that says "Chelsea Fan Sleeps Here". hahahahahhaha, funny?! A little. I got it for him! & Jeff, you better hang it up!).

-----> Boobear's (my build-a-bear) new Chelsea Futbol outfit :)


-----> HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA <3


Back to my "itchy/scratchiness" ..I went to the doctor and she told me I have hives from some allergic trigger, but that she doesn't know what caused it. She prescribed me medicine, filled it at the pharmacy, looked it up online when I got home ..said "Referred to as Zyrtec in the United States". I have been taking the medicine for 4 days now and I am yet to see an improvement in the bumps or the itchiness. If they aren't better in two weeks, she wants me to make another appointment to get allergy tests done. Lets hope they get better! The doctor suggested I was allergic to London, hilarious right?

-----> my hives. my arm. this is really minor compared to my legs.

Brussels (continued) ..& my first SICK DAY (from work).

So basically Brussels was my ideal city ..minus the slight language barrier and extremely forward/creepy guys. The city is known for waffles, chocolate, french fries, and BEER ..not to mention the gorgeous buildings! (It's the "capital of Europe").

----> One of the many amazing buildings in the "Grand Place" (or Center Square)


My advice: Visit Belgium. Drink Leffe & Hoegaarden. Eat a "traditional" Belgium waffle (w/ nothing on it), then do it the tourist way & put as many toppings as possible. Eat frites (french fries) out of a cone, pick a good sauce (spicy! yummm). & if you're brave ..try mussels in brussels (w/ fries). OH & eat Belgium chocolate :)


Now today ..Tuesday, July 14th

I must set up this story ..so during my first couple of weeks in London I noticed my skin felt really dry. And usually that's typical during the summer, so I didn't think much of it. I just continued to use lotion when I got out of the shower (that I brought from home). And even drink more water (got to stay hydrated). WELLLLLLL ..over time this "dry skin" problem has turned into much more. While in Belgium I had the constant overwhelming need to itch/scratch my arms & legs. That is when I begun to wonder what the heck was going on. This morning when I woke up ..not good. I don't really remember being 5 years old and having the chicken pox but I can imagine that the "annoying MUST scratch my arm/leg now" feeling I am having was much like it. I called in sick to work. My first time EVER in my life. Crazy, I know? So because London practices this wonderful thing called "United Healthcare" (sarcasm) ..I had to REGISTER for an appointment today and tomorrow I must "promptly" begin calling the doctor's office at 8:30 AM. Our program director told me to just keep calling until I get through. What is this a radio contest or a doctor's appointment??? Apparently ALL of the appointments for the ENTIRE DAY fill up in the first 20 minutes the phone lines open. Which means I begin calling at 8:30 AM and if I have not gotten through by 8:50 ..I have to try again the NEXT day! Seriously? I hate going to the doctor's, but I appreciate it more in the STATES. Basically I have NO idea what started all of this scratching, but I will hopefully get an appointment tomorrow and find out. Everyone is guessing it's an allergic reaction or something "different" here. Well since everything is different it's a little bit difficult to pinpoint what it could be.

But of course I couldn't just sit around all day and stare at my arms & legs wishing I could itch them ..so I went with a friend (who called in sick because of a cough) to the British Library. And then to the British Museum.

We couldn't take any pictures in the British Library, but they had A LOT of really interesting things. We saw a collection of the original pieces of paper John Lennon wrote some of the Beatles songs on, one being "Michelle" written on the back of an envelope. We also saw the original manuscript of "Alice in Wonderland". They also had a huge exhibit of the famous Henry VIII. The room was freezing cold and all of the documents (books, letters, & paintings) were in temperature controlled cases to help preserve them. I finally got all of his wives straight. (A saying about his wives: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived ..clever right?! haha).

Then we ventured to the British Museum! This is when the allergy pill I had taken began to kick in and I was getting sleepy, BUT I saw the ROSETTA STONE and my 1st real mummy!

-----> Inside the British Museum!



-----> the ROSETTA STONE (with a really bad glare)


------> a MUMMY


------> & last but certainly NOT least ..my legs covered in Calamine Lotion (had to, haha)


Discovering what I am allergic to ..TO BE CONTINUED :)

(follow-up blog tomorrow after my hopefully successful attempt at getting a doctor's appointment in London).

I am not yet finished telling about my adventures in Brussels ..I will continue after my tour of the Southbank and a half day at work :)

BRUSSELS ..waffles, chocolate, fries, & beer. my kind of place :)

I just got back from Belgium last night! We left early Friday morning (5:00 AM), got on the Eurostar at the train station right down the street from our building (my FIRST real train ride), and we arrived in Brussels around 9 AM (because of the time change). I think initially none of us expected the language barrier to be as difficult as it was. Once we arrived in Brussels, we began walking. We had a map to our hotel but these are not like USA maps. They're much more difficult to navigate. All I can say is, thank goodness our hotel was 30-stories and easy to spot from a long distance away. We checked in and dropped all of our stuff in our room and then headed for LUNCH. We made our 1st stop at a local pub that spoke ZERO english, so we had to point at what we wanted but because we spoke zero french we just ordered beer to be on the safe side.

----> Amanda, Kelly, and I drinking our 1st beer in Brussels - Hoegaarden.


Then we ventured out to find lunch. Unfortunately for us, our stomachs were overpowering our brains and we stopped at another english speaking place. Using the spainsh words we knew we figured out some of the menu ..("jamon" ham in spanish, "jambon" ham in french). We all played it safe. Either omelets or spaghetti. It was good food, but just a awkward situation. We then walked around Brussels in our attempt to find "Grand Place" (the center square). We ended up completely out of our way, but stumbled upon a yellow van selling Belgium Waffles. So we made our 1st stop for waffles. Although he called whipped cream - creme. & chocolate sauce something COMPLETELY different, once he showed us the items we figured it out. And they were AMAZING. Ahhhhhhh!!

-----> Our FIRST waffles in Belgium :)


I had THREE (& a 1/2) belgium waffles while in Brussels. I justify it to myself because 2 1/2 of them had strawberries (HEALTHY) hahaha and I didn't eat much else. Brussels has way too much stuff from the sea in shells.

-----> Amanda's food ..we watched the guy crack open the shells & lay them on her plate ..then brought it straight over to us ..ewwwwww! (she spit 1 out, swallowed 1 whole, unsuccessful).


We went to this bar called Delirium. Supposedly it has one of the world's largest on tap beer selections ..over 2,000. (they are divided between their upstairs & downstairs bar). So we went there Friday night and the guy recommended a cherry beer. Clearly the menu was too long for me to look and find something else so 3 of us ordered the cherry. Once we got it, the bartender said "Oh and that 10.2% alcohol content". WHAT?!

-----> Kelly, Jonny, & I at Delirium :)


On Saturday, it rained for most of the day. But since we're Londoners now, rain doesn't bother us! Haha. 1st things 1st ..we got another waffle! :)

-----> Looks AMAZING, right?!


And we saw what Brussels is known for, Manneken Pis ..their statue of a little boy peeing. Now when I say little, I really mean little. The statue was probably two feet tall. And it was between the corner of two buildings.

-----> All of us in front of Manneken Pis.

Dear all.

I am going to BRUSSELS, BELGIUM. I will not have my computer over the weekend, but I will update pictures and my blog when I get back on Sunday night.

Everyone - ENJOY your weekend.

the weekend of JULY 4TH :)

Hello all. It's Sunday afternoon and I cannot get over how amazing this weekend has been. (Yes, I have abused the word amazing while in london but everything is AMAZING). So I just got back from eating my 1st full english breakfast (toast, sausage, canadian bacon, scrabbled eggs, baked beans, grilled tomato, and mushrooms). I also had tea!! It's all about the EXPERIENCES :) ..In a half hour, we are meeting to go visit Kensington Palace, so I am going to write this fast!

Friday, July 3rd - We headed to a pub called "The Globe" and had our NEW favorite pub dish, sausage & mash!! (Try it, ITS INCREDIBLE!!!!) Then we went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. So crowded, but SO much fun! I enjoyed taking pictures w/ the famous wax people. Then we went out for drinks in Covent Garden. Maybe my favorite area in London!

----> Me feeling much better about my butt size next to Jennifer Lopez, haha.


----> SHREK :)


----> Too bad Prince William will never know how cute of a couple we'd be.



Saturday, July 4th (INDEPENDENCE DAY) - May possibly be one of the best nights of my life. I cannot tell you with words how much I LOVED last night. We all got dressed up and went down to the pier & boarded our boat for the evening (7 PM - 11 PM). We all got drinks on the upper floor of the boat where there was a wrap around deck. Then we had dinner downstairs. And when we came back up to the 2nd floor they had opened up the roof ..so here we are cruising down the Thames as the sun is setting, you just look up & you will never be let down by the scenery. I am kind of thinking about getting married on a boat now, hahaha :) All of us sang & danced ALLLLLL night long. IT WAS AMAZING!!

----> The girls w/ Big Ben & Parliament in the background :)


----> The DANCE FLOOR!!!


----> Kelly, Amanda, & I watching the sunset behind Tower Bridge


----> The London Eye at night <3


----> PS - I found a man w/ zebra print pants!!!!! HAD TO get a picture :)



I am OFF to Kensington Palace. I will take mucho pictures, don't you worry! And I will probably update my blog later tonight. Have a WONDERFUL day everyone. CHEERS :)

love thursdays. LAST DAY OF THE WORK WEEK :)

I love Thursdays! (I love every day here, but Thursdays mean the weekend is upon us). SO before I tell you about my jam packed weekend ahead ..I'll tell you about my day! (lucky you)..

This morning we all met at in our usual lecture hall on the University of Central London's campus for our FAVORITE activity, british life class. hahahaha. Actually I can speak for almost ALL of us when I say we dread it coming every week. Because we are American students traveling here on a visa, we are required to work 25 hours a week and have 15 hours of british life. SOO every Tuesday we have a tour of something/somewhere in London and every Thursday we have british life class. This morning our lecturer was a MP in the House of Commons (Parliament). It was pretty interesting, even though I have not yet had my tour of Parliament and I know NOTHING about the british government but nonetheless interesting.

Then I went to work from 12-6. But today something exciting happened, kind of. Yesterday I wrote a press release for my manager. His request was that it was titled "Promotional Staff Central London" and had those 'key' words within the press release as much as it would make sense (the whole point was so Google would "cached" the words so when someone searches for the phrase our company will come up on the first page). Well today we tested our google search and to his complete AMAZEMENT, we were the SECOND company listed. He was jumping up & down, yelling "UNBELIEVABLE". Then he proceeded to tell me "I pay companies SO MUCH MONEY to get me on the 1st page of Google searches and you did it for me FOR FREE". I'm like SAY FREE ONCE MORE & i'll CHARGE YOU. hahaha. No, it was honestly awesome. I loved how excited he was over my work! I was pretty excited myself. (the link to my article is .. http://www.staffwarehouse.biz/ap/promotional-staff-central-london/ ) So today he had me write another press release, titled "Brand Ambassadors". We're still waiting to see if that one gets "cached", but the link is .. http://www.staffwarehouse.biz/ap/brand-ambassadors/ . Kind of exciting, right?! :) I made another small achievement today. So over the past 3 weeks I have begun to pick up and make sense of words the British use, like rubbish is garbage, soft drink is pop/soda, etc ..well they tend to say "cheers" in place of "thanks". So today I was on the phone calling a list of people helping the StaffWarehouse side of our company staff an event next weekend. AND I USED THE WORD CHEERS. Yes, minor accomplishment to those of you in the States but I did a dance, I was so proud. Yesterday one of my coworkers, Kevin (my absolute favorite) ..him & I spent the majority of the day going over American vs. British words. Who needs British life class, I learn it all at work!! Check out my company's website (all I have is the UK link, but I know you can get to it by Google search). Google - Blazinstar Experiential .

Also - I did not take any pictures today. Obviously it was a day of lectures & work. But I have kind of decided I cannot post a blog without a picture. So I ran to the 24/7 Beer & Wine about an hour ago (in the US it would be a convenient store) and I bought some beers ..Amanda, Kelly & I are just going to stay in & hang out tonight. But I thought my beer selection was somewhat entertaining so I took a picture ..

---> Stella Artois (5.2%). Carling (4%). Fosters (4%). Carlsberg (3.8%)
dear america, catch up w/ the alcohol content. thanks!!


----> I just got off skype w/ my parents. & this is a picture from that (it might not be the BEST quality) ..but this is my MOMMA T & my little baby MEEKO :)



& real quick ..tomorrow (Friday, July 3rd) - The morning will be spent at the famous Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. (about 10 AM to 1 PM). Then we are headed to Shakespeare's "As You Like It" at the Shakespeare's Globe (where we have STANDING ROOM tickets, all 2 1/2 hrs WOOT WOOT). We will then spend the night out on the town celebrating Kelly & Gillian's birthdays, that were actually on Monday & Tuesday night. Saturday, July 4th (INDEPENDENCE DAY, not here haha) ..I am taking myself on a Beatles tour (you'll see when I upload pictures) and SATURDAY NIGHT ....ahhhhhh...our dinner & dance cruise on the Thames River. I am SOO EXCITED.

I'll keep you updated :)

To my family in Iowa - LOVE YOU ALL. Have fun @ the Cahill Family reunion. Wish I was there or better ..all of you were here!!

two posts in one day. GO ME!!

I went to ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS w/ Amanda, Kelly, Meghan, Allison, and Rachelle. The coolest part about it was that Abbey Road studios have a live camera feed on their website of the famous crosswalk 24 hours a day (the website is .. www.abbeyroad.co.uk/visit/ ). My dad & Jeff both saw me on the camera!! :) ..I am continuing my "Beatles Mania" by hitting all of the well-known Beatles spots in London this Saturday. (ALL FOR YOU DAD). Also important ..today around 4:30 PM, my boss walks into the office w/ a bunch of bottles of wine. It was one of my coworker's last day today, so we drank wine & sang for the last hour & a 1/2 of work. Never in the states, right?! Hahaha. Definitely one thing I love about over here.. they are much more laid back. Anywho ..here are some of my Abbey Road pictures :)

---> walking "thee crosswalk"


----> we kind of look like them, right?! hahaha!


----> I wrote on the wall .."for you DAD, <3 chels"