Cheers from Scotland!

Hey all! I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to burst into the blog but I promise that from here on out, I will be a faithful blogger!

Let's start with the basics: my name is Shelby and I am currently studying abroad in the wonderful Edinburgh, Scotland. I am doing an exchange program through the University of Edinburgh, meaning I get to be a real UK student for the semester: dining halls, dorm rooms, libraries and all.

I have now been here for almost a month and a half and have just about fallen in love with the place. I will just never get tired of walking home at night to the view of a lit-up castle or seeing a man (or men) wearing kilts ever so confidently on my way to class. I have had the fortunate opportunity to explore around Scotland and even mainland Europe so far but I will get to all those adventures in later posts. Today I wanted to take the time to introduce you to my home abroad!

Now one of the most popular tourist sites of Edinburgh is of coarse the castle.

Here are some pictures of Caroline, Abi, and I doing some exploring inside

Now one of the best views of the city is on top of one of Arthur's Seat, a hill range conveniently right behind where I live! Here are some pics of Caroline, some Scottish boys, and I climbing to the top... on a very very windy day.

... beautiful

Well unfortunately that is all I have for you all today, but get prepared for another post from your Scottish girl very soon.

I will also leave you with my top five reasons we should all be sad we are not Scottish:

1. Scottish word for scotch whiskey literally means "water of life"
2. Cheers means just about anything you want it to: hello, goodbye, thank you, etc.
3. Tea and biscuit breaks are ALWAYS appropriate, in the middle of class? yes. as a late night? yes.
4. Entire restaurants are dedicated to baked potatoes
5. Having a very legitimate reason to harbor deep-seated resentment for the English, Braveheart anyone? and who really does like the English?


I guess the only thing left to say is cheers!

x
Shelby

La Grande Roue

One of the most beautiful views I have seen since being in Paris was from the top the Ferris Wheel at Place de la Concorde.  In addition to being breath-takingly beautiful, it was very orienting to see all of the major monuments in Paris from one place.


The Ferris Wheel is 197 feet tall and is located on the northern edge of Jardin de Tuileries and rue de Rivoli. La Grande Roue (Ferris Wheel) was erected in the Place de la Concorde for it's centennial anniversary from the original ferris wheel at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1900.  The beautiful sight from la Grande Roue is something I will never forget.
 

Like la Tour Eiffel, the ferris wheel's erection has not been without controversy. Originally, it was only meant to stand for one year. After months of debate the ferris wheel was taken down and sent all around the world: Birmingham and Manchester England, Amsterdam, Bangkok, but has now returned to Paris for the time being.

"I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a ferris wheel."

--E.B. White

Still no computer, but Apple promised just 2 more days and it will be back in my hands again.  

Bon weekend tout le monde!!

Bisous bisous,

Mary

Sacred Heart

Third times a charm as many would say.  I took that to heart and after my third lifetime visit to Sacre Coeur in Montmartre I lit a candle and made a wish.  

My Candle

"My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--

It gives a lovely light."

--Edna St. Vincent Millay

Bonsoiree tout le monde!

Bisous bisous, 

Mary

Will you be my neighbor?

After a month and a half of living in my apartment building, I figured it was time to meet the neighbors.  So last night between 6:00 and 10:00, a girl on my floor was hosting a small dinner party and along with my friends Abby and Hannah, we ventured to the gathering a bit nervous with a baguette in hand.


Upon entering the dinner, we were pleasantly greeted by everyone.  The only awkward part being do we shake hands or do the traditional French kiss on either cheek?  We went for the latter and in retrospect it was a good decision.  Most of the people at the dinner party were students like us, some younger, some older, and from all different areas of France.  It was a wonderful atmosphere and great to get to know some of the people living in our building for the first time.  

My apartment on Boulevard Brune

Some people seemed to be particularly curious about the United States, especially one young French guy who had never been to the US....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK6nNOWBPs4

He kept referencing this video which at the time I had no idea what he was referring to so I had to look it up when I got home.  "Do your parents own guns?  Will you own a gun?"  My friend Hannah and I were questioned about every possible American stereotype for at least an hour last night, but hopefully we were able to set him straight on somethings about the US.

We met a 23 year-old girl named Charlotte from Marseille who invited us to a language club called "Franglish" on Thursday that has quite an exciting concept.  For a 10 euro entry fee you can do what she called "language speed dating" where you speak to a French person for 7 minutes in French and then they speak 7 minutes in English with you.

Franglish

My friend Hannah and I have been trying for the past few weeks to get into a similar language club offered by our study abroad program but it always seems to fill up before we can even reach the sign up board.  I feel at this point I am fairly comfortable understanding French but less confident in my own ability to hold a conversation, it is my hope that this Franglish club will help me with that.  I will let you know how it goes this Thursday!  Wish me luck because I am sure that I will need it!

Mercredi heureux!

Bisous bisous,
Mary

Sweden, Sushi & Skating!



Hi and Happy Mandag fra København!

This weekend was amazing for many reasons, but first and foremost, 3 days of SUN!

Saturday, Emily and I decided it was time to see what Sweden had to offer. We heard that it was an easy trip, but after a 25 minute train ride we realized they weren't exaggerating. 

Wind turbines powering Denmark from the bridge



Welcome to Malmö! 

 



After glancing at the map and not really understanding anything we decided to just venture in a random direction and see where we ended up. We found a street that led us past the beautiful Town Hall and eventually to a cobblestone walking street lined with shopping and cute cafes.



Town Hall





A large square among the walking streets

We followed the sound of music and came upon this street performer who ingeniously engineered a one man band machine of sorts. Each foot controlled a different sounding drum on his back, he played the accordian with his hands and then could blow into another instrument. We were impressed, and he gathered a huge crowd!

After a little shopping we found a quaint cafe called Café Mäster Hans and got some tea and a snack 







Emily and I




We saw many buildings like this one that differed a lot from architecture in Copenhagen



Canals ran through part of the city and reminded us of Nyhavn in Copenhagen

Back in Denmark

To continue the great day, we decided to treat ourselves to Sushi for dinner back in Copenhagen. It was amazing!



yummmmm



Sunday, we had a dorm bonding activity at a local ice skating rink. It was a very cute outdoor rink in our neighborhood and we could not believe how lucky we were to have our 3rd day of sun in a row! (never thought I could get so excited about the weather before I came to Denmark)

Here are some pictures of our day..



Gammeltoftsgade crew



Beautiful Day

First sign of water on the lakes...spring soon!? We can only hope

Hope you enjoyed hearing about my Swedish excursion. Planning a trip to the modern art museum this week, so I'll post about that soon.

Hi Hi and Godnat!

xoxo,

Kelly

Farm Show, French Style

"And thinking back on my first meal in France now reminds me that the pleasures of the table, and of life, are infinite--toujours bon appetit!"

--Julia Child, My Life in France (2006)

One of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's claims to fame is the annual, month-long Farm Show.  We have an entire building dedicated to hosting this event called the "Farm Show Complex" believe it or not that draws in farmers from all ends of Pennsylvania to show their animals, sell their products, and to enjoy the entertainement.

Friend Eleanor at the Pennsylvania Farm Show with Giant Cow

To my surprise, I found an event in Paris that puts the Pennsylvania Farm Show to shame, the Salon International de l'Agriculture.  Just a short way down my street of Boulevard Brune off the Porte de Versailles tram stop, I entered the French-style Farm Show to meet my three friends inside.  We decided to meet inside Pavilion 7, a building dedicated to showing the food of all different regions of France... little did we know this place was the size of an airport!  After a good 45 minutes of searching, we were all able to meet up and enjoy the delicious food the fair had to offer.  It was an interesting experience because for one of the first times, I felt that we were not doing something that was cliche touristy.  No one was prepared to speak to us in English which was refreshing and allowed us to ask questions and have short conversations in French. 

Fromagerie

Horse taming show

Just one of the many Pavilions filled with food from all the different regions of France

My French guilty pleasure, macaroons

The grounds for the expo were unbelievably massive; in April there will be a new event there called the Foire de Paris.  It could not be more of a convenient place to get to from our apartment so I am looking forward to it already!

On another note, I still do not have a computer, although Apple promised I would have it back by last night.  With any luck it will come in by the end of the week and I will be able to post daily again!  Sorry for those of you who have been checking the blog daily, I have so much to share oh so soon!

Bisous bisous,

Mary

ONE MONTH IN THE 'HAGEN!

Today marks one month in Denmark, and already I've had some of the most memorable experiences of my life! Thank you to my parents for supporting me on this great adventure!

"The very core of man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences; and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

-Into the Wild

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day!

Love Kelly

Paris; Ceci n'est pas vraiment ma vie!!

Un weekend chez Mary!

Oh mon Dieu! I have to say, that this was one of the best weekends of my entire life! I have been dreaming of going to Paris ever since I began taking French in elementary school, and finally I got my chance.

I think I practically ran to the airport Thursday evening from my last class I was so excited, and after a quick flight I finally arrived in the city of love. I was planning on meeting Mary at the metro stop Cité Universitaire, but as I stepped off, a bit disoriented by all of the people I heard a girl scream "McNally!!" and I was thrown back on the Metro. Mary would not say where we were going or what we were doing, but she had a surprise for me. We arrived at a stop, she led me up the Metro stairs, and then the very first thing I saw in Paris was Notre Dame lit up in all her glory towering over us.

To make the moment even better, she pulled a bottle of wine from her purse and we sat and talked about some of the wonderful adventures we had planned for the weekend over a glass of vin blanc.

After unpacking a bit, we went out for a lovely evening at her favorite little Sangria Bar in Odéon.

Santé!

The next day Mary planned out another Metro surprise, only this time instead of arriving at Notre Dame, I arrived atop the Metro stairs at the base of the Arc de Triomphe!

We then strolled down les Champs Élysées, past all of the shops and cute cafes lining the street, toward the ferris wheel and Le Louvre at the other end. Here are some pictures:





Note the Arch de Triomphe at the other end



I.M. Pei's Pyramid in front of the Louvre!



By two on Friday it was literally 60 degrees and sunny; you can imagine that I was in heaven!

We met Shelby and Caroline back at Mary's and then we headed to the Eiffel Tower!

Instead of taking the elevator, we all wanted to say we had climbed the Eiffel Tower, so we began the trek up the stairs. We got some pictures from each level...we even found an ice skating rink and an ice bar on one level..who knew!?



Le Seine



Sames girls, New continent



Eiffel Tower shadow across the city




had to get one solo shot on the Eiffel Tower




ice skating rink



Shelb, Caroline and the ice bar

Bloggers and best friends reuinited!!!

After this amazing experience we met some of Mary's friends at an authentic Parisian Cafe for dinner! We got to eat outside since it was such beautiful weather, and each got a three course meal for 10 Euros : délicieux!



My apple crisp...Oh la la!



Saturday we spent all day exploring more of the city! Thanks to Mary and her incredible navigation skills with the Metro/busses we got to see so many different parts of the city in such a short time!

Speaking of the Metro, I did have one very interesting experience. As we were getting on to one of the trains I felt a rustling against my back and turned around to find a man with his hand completely in my purse trying to pull out my wallet! I yelled Non! and pushed him in the chest. He fell backwards a few steps and before I knew it he sprinted off the Metro and disappeared all before the doors closed. Thankfully I checked and nothing was gone, but it defnitely taught me to stay on my toes and be aware of all of my belongings!

Mary, Shelby, and Caroline watched me yell and push him from afar and thought I was just getting super aggressive about securing a seat for the ride until I told them what really happened haha....seats are very valuable for the longer rides, but hopefully I will never push someone over a fold-down Metro chair...

Here are some pictures of some of our stops throughout the day...

Le Sacre Coeur!

Wahoowa!



Angelina's for hot choloate, cheese, and macaroons! A wonderful atmosphere and unbelievable food; no wonder it was Coco Chanel's favorite.




When in Paris...right?? ;)




Look what I found! Shoutout to Denmark <3



We had so many amazing moments on this trip I can't show them all, but hopefully my fellow bloggers can fill in some of the holes. I can't even express what a magical place Paris is, and I feel so lucky to have been able to spend three days there with my best friends. 

Here was the theme song to our Parisian weekend, and we felt the lyrics depicted our reunion perfectly. 

HOME by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

So excited to be back in Copenhagen for the next few weekends to continue my wonderful adventures in Denmark! Paris was incredible, but for the first time I felt like I was coming home when I got off the train in Copenhagen....thirty mile an hour winds and all :)

Hej Hej!

Kelly