Ok, so I am going to attempt to fill you in on the past...uh...4 months. Lame, lame, I know!
I think the last time I posted was when I was in London after my classes were over and before my family met up with me in Europe. I had a fabulous time with my host family for a week, and then one day I packed everything up, hit the tube, and met up with my dad and brother at the King's Cross train station. This is indeed where Harry Potter supposedly meets the famous Hogwart's Express. However, the author got this wrong. She actually meant to say that Harry meets the Hogwarts Express at Charing Cross train station. King's Cross has no platform 10...and I'm not sure it has a platform 9 either...so therefore there can be no platform 9 3/4. Yet, the City of London had one built in for the tourists ;-)
Anyways, my dad and brother were completely exhausted, but we met up at the train station and headed for Edinburgh, Scotland. It was great to see my dad and brother, and we had a fun time together. Scotland is really beautiful, particularly the highlands. It looks a lot like the Olympic Peninsula. We spent our 5 days there exploring the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle, the Scotch Whiskey Experience, Greyfriar's, Holyrood, etc. We also spent one entire day on a tour bus to Loch Ness. It was a long drive, but the Lochs are very pretty...even though we didn't get to see any of Nessie!
After that, we went back to London where we met up with my sister, mom, and grandma Lemon. We hung out in London for a couple days and then headed for Paris. There were a few things that I had saved to do with my family, such as the Tower of London and the London Eye, which were very cool. We also went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum since Eric had been wanting to go there for quite some time. One of our favorite things to do there, though, was stroll along in the parks. I can't begin to tell you how beautiful a city London is and how well-planned out. There are gorgeous, and enormous, parks built right into the city that have been there for centuries. Whoever came up with this idea was a genious! The night before we left, Eric's girlfriend Alexandra, Alexandra's sister Victoria, and Victoria's boyfriend Olaf came down to London from Birmingham so that they could spend the day with Eric. We all went out to dinner together. Yes, Alexandra is a lovely and very nice girl and we're all glad that she makes Eric so very happy :-) The next morning we got up early in the morning to make it to the Victoria station where we hopped a train that took us under the English Channel and into Paris.
Paris was really incredible. Unfortunately, I was sick for the first couple of days and had to miss out on going to the Eiffel Tower. Luckily, I did get to see it close up when we took a boat tour along the Seine River a couple days later. We visited the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. It was really amazing to see the Mona Lisa and all of the other famous pieces of art that were there! The night before we left to come home, there was a magnificent thunder storm that took the power out at the Charles de Gaulle Airport. Luckily, the generator came back on and we were able to catch our connection in London and make it to Seattle without any problems.
And now, there is a big gap in my information for you. I just couldn't bring myself to post during the summer because I felt like all I did was work and wait for school to start. I was very excited to see my family when they came to visit, and I had fun with my friends from home and visited some lovely places since it was so warm and sunny. However, I just couldn't wait to get back to my life in Seattle. It's my very favorite place to be. I love Seattle and I love college. I realize that this is a lame excuse for not posting, but there it is. I didn't feel like I had anything particularly interesting to say...even though I probably did.
On September 13th, I moved into my apartment in Seattle. It's a really nice apartment on the corner of 42nd and Brooklyn in the University District. Like, a REALLY nice apartment. I'm lucky to be living with one of my roomates from last year, Lillian, who I am very good friends with and have a lot in common with. She was studying in Spain and I was studying in London last spring, so we didn't have to do any of the work finding and securing the apartment, just printing, scanning, and faxing our information. My other roomates are friends of Lillian's from marching band and we've gotten to be fast friends. It's also enjoyable to room with them because we often have a large portion of the mellophone section in our living room!
I am loving living in Seattle, and this quarter has been great so far. I have made such great friends here that I am often busy just hanging out. I've gotten to hang with some of my friends from London, which has also been wonderful. I am taking only dance classes, 4 of them to be exact. My Cross-Cultural Dance class is my favorite. We read about a differnt type of dance every week and have lecture and discussion about it, then we get to practice it. We started out with West African Dance, then we practiced Capoeira (a martial arts dance from Brazil), and this week we did Cuban Rumba and Orisha dancing. Next Wednesday, we get to learn a Mexican dance called Son Jarocho. It's so much fun! I also have jazz, salsa, and a somatic practices class. I'm getting lots of exercise and always have lots of energy! I also got my job back, tutoring student athletes for the athletics department. I have more students and hours than ever. Monday-Thursday I have dance usually starting at 8:30. Then I have tutoring for awhile, then dance again from 2:30-4:30 and then tutoring, often until 9:00 or so. I'm so busy, but so happy! I'm sure you all remember my tutoring stories from last winter. This year, things are going along in much the same way. It's already off to a great start ;-)!
I've also had the good fortune to see two great shows since I've moved in. On September 26th, my friend Caitlin and I met my mom, grandma Lemon, cousin Lexi, aunt Kim Lemon and her daughter Courtney, my friend Kaylie, her sister Marcea, and their mom and we all saw Wicked. It was very good, I'd highly recommend it. Then, my friend Caitlin and I saw Pacific Northwest Ballet's new Romeo et Juliet. It was also really great.
Well, that about catches everyone up...I'll try to be better about posting, mostly by hoping to make Sundays my blogging day...we'll see if I can keep that up!
1 comment:
Yay Chelsea! Glad to hear things are going well for you!
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