my greatest hopes: sheep and gingers

leaving london wasn't too big of a deal, we were there for a microscopic amount of time but we still went to harrods and navigated the tube! i have big plans for ireland. sheep are involved in almost all of them, as are people with orange hair. i love gingers, if you know me you know that (ie, my bff nance. her ratings sky rocket because of her lovely hair) and i love all animals especially fluffy ones. 

getting to the heathrow airport was fine, until we got to check in with air lingus. FYI london to shannon is about an hour flight, apparently the people who work for air lingus think that must be the only place you're going and you're staying for a week. you're limited to 10 kilos.... mom and i had close to 100 kilos so that was the national debt & i think the girl helping us thought we were terrorists. once that fiasco was over we got through security. unlike every other airport i've been to on earth air lingus keeps gate info a secret until 45 minutes before the flight. so everyone mills around in a little cluster for an hour or so... i painted my nails and mom spilled a coke. then we walked 5 miles to our secret gate. where we were kept in a glass room like little lab rats. mom decided she needed a wheelchair so we arranged that, only the classiest. once in her barney purple trolley we went down the 8 mile ramp to our plane. just us in our row thank god since we had to move over a seat due to the demonic child kicking moms chair from the first minute of the taxi/takeoff process. also another con of air lingus, not even water is free. seriously? you're a functioning airline and can't afford some tap water for me? oh i'd love those $8 mini pringles because i'm starving. they think they're so special in their "clover green" suits. well you look stupid. like an oddly shaped asparagus. mom had to be taken off on a wheelchair which was nice because we met our first irish man. he was adorable and loving and oh so careful with dear old mum. and we got to skip lines etc so that was a treat!

buratty castle

our cab ride to the bunratty castle hotel was brief but informative. our driver has a daughter named kim. kim burke. she's going to be on the xfactor, which is a show i presume & im sure its based on talents. kim is a singer (being from nashville, who isn't?) well of course he played her songs for us & she sounds just like anyone else i've ever heard sing. good luck kim burke. i'll cheer for her because he was so obscenely excited for his pride and joy to have her hopes and dreams crushed on national television.

we got checked into our hotel for tonight (in ireland we have a new home each night, so if i don't blog it means our b&b doesn't have the internet) and decided to explore. best decision ever made. we stumbled into the castle's park. some how we got in without paying the 15 euro fee, and the park was closed so we essentially had it to ourselves. except for the animals we shared it with. now please enjoy these adorable photos.

just a small snack

i see you back there

mom meeting eeyore.          

the park had other animals, irish wolf hounds, deer, pigs and yes: SHEEP. my mission is clear, sheep love me and i love them. i'm too exhausted to try and make my sheep photo load right now, but i intend to meet a wild sheep & that will be documented. 

after the stroll in the park & nearly being caught in the rain (its very cool here so getting soaked outside would have resulted in pneumonia and subsequent death) we came home to get ready for dinner... a medieval banquet and the castle! they all dressed like their characters & sang and played music etc, so fun! the food was actually good! we sat in this hall with everyone else and thank god we were by some normal daughter mother grandmother cousin group. except across from mom was so freak lady. who mom openly made fun of... no more language barrier so this woman knew mom was laughing at how creepily she was having her husband photograph her... it was awkward to say the least, not how i wanted to start the banquet. we had wooden plates, and no silverware but a knife. i tricked them into getting me a fork when i pulled the vegetarian card. notice my soup photo, and the other human is named sheamus. he played the violin all night. sheamus was either a pedophile or recovering from a broken neck. his head was literally never above his shoulders. if i were a doctor i'd say its turtle syndrome. (this is why im not a doctor) what he lacks in posture he makes up for in musical skill. 

now my sheep hunt continues and i'm hoping i will be lucky (it is the luck of the irish) and our driver for the next three days happens to have red hair, or access to a village of people with it. 

from a boat to a backwards car

canals are to venice as streets are to normal cities and like all streets canals have traffic. apparently this traffic can be so bad that water taxis get stuck. thus forcing individuals like myself and my mother to choose another mode of transportation. oh wait...aside from swimming (which is difficult to do with 7 pieces of large baggage) there is no other option. so we had a taxi driver walk to us and with all of our luggage we walked to a larger unblocked canal. after the first 3 blocks the burning pain in my arms dulled to a tingle and i eventually lost all feeling. my fingers held onto the pain though, i literally thought they would explode. and once to the dock this man nearly tossed our belongings in the ocean. that would have been lovely... as terrifying as our first airport transfer was i may have preferred it to this man's driving style. he alternated between a normal 20 mph rate of speed and idling. so our trip took twice as long and i was sweating.

once there we chose a van as opposed to me having another mid street issue with the luggage cart. allow me to go on record as stating american airports may be overly secure but at least the tsa/airline agents know what the hell is going on. mass chaos is the venice airport. in this chaos something strange happened. we befriended an asian! granted she was a faux asian, from the bay area. she was as feisty as any red blooded american should be. we were fast friends of course. our flight was uneventful unless the time mom screamed and threw my laptop counts. she was watching the adjustment bureau which is apparently a tense movie. so that was special. also interesting was the time that i almost wet my pants. british airways deplanes from the back, via steps. we were trapped on the runway for a long enough time that i could literally NOT stand up. hello embarrassment. the loo was my first british stop.

once we got into the taxi with a potentially drunk driver (smelled of beer and had bloodshot eyes) i was in love. it was finally setting in that i'm traveling all summer since this is my first new city, maybe it was the fact that i was getting goose bumps from the cold, or just being so confused as to why the cars were on the wrong side of the road. but i love london! the ride was about an hour from airport to hotel so i had time to take in the sights.

our hotel is lovely, pablo (ironically he is english) is our top hat wearing doorman and he is such a doll. i'm torn between kissing his rosy british cheeks or smacking the suck up grin off his face, but i think he is sincere and im a lover not a fighter so i'll choose to love pablo. the hotel has the longest cocktail bar in london called zander bar. we sat there briefly while waiting on dinner at the bank--a restaurant for those of you who just pictured me eating coins and bills. FINALLY a decent meal! i was so pleased to finally be eating something delish. fish & chips-you earned a place in my heart, and i'm tempted to attribute it to being fried but i'll just give compliments to the chef. we sat by two horribly dykey looking women who were in fact obsessed with men. one was married to richard who im sure is having an affair because no one could bear this woman for more than a few hours a day. one is on a life long man hunt. her current prize is "emotionally invested" elsewhere but he said to give him two months and he'll end things... he's 48 by the way. and this has happened to her before... not that you cared about any of their drama, i sure didn't but since they were seated 7 inches from us i was forced to listen and watch them eat sickening food. the woman who is hunting men should be hunting a dentist. her teeth were rotted at the gum line. i suppose the english traded deodorant for toothpaste, no smelly folks so far!

we finished the night with fondue that was beyond amazing! and the only thing missing from my tavel day was a visit from sarah kramer the london lady. maybe we'll cross paths tomorrow... if she happens to be in harrods where i will be until my flight to ireland!! cheers yall!

ps-our hotel room views a school yard...can't wait to see what these kids are learning about what to do when someone pelts you with hotel shampoo and soaps on your walk to class if you're too loud before the person doing the pelting wants to wake up...

most needed while shopping in europe:

her hat was also pink and those purple sleeves weren't attached to her shirt

an asian person. they will ask to see every single thing in the store. they will model the bags for you and try on every pair of sunglasses. they ask nosey questions about unpriced items. they really get the job done. however one is difficult to come by because they only travel in groups of AT LEAST six, usually 10+ members. they enter lovely stores but still walk around looking like a train wreck. clearly im no fashion forward chick i prefer my yoga pants and tshirts but i know heinous like the back of my hand.

today was our one full day in venice and we made it count like no other! first on the list for me was the hotel breakfast. i love breakfast foods and italy is nothing special in terms of a buffet. i did however meet a charming couple from the d.c. area and im nearly certain they supported our current president. after our chat i met mom in the lobby where we encountered the other family who would be accompanying us on our water taxi. matthew was 15 and clearly some genius kid. i watched him do this TWICE in literally less than a 5 minute span. so his lovely family of 14 stuffed on a water taxi with mom and myself. this ride was much more calm that the last one i took. we were transported to the island of murano.

before (red because the molten glass is so hot)

after! so pretty & MINE & FREE

murano is known for its glass. the tour we shoved in on took us through the factory where they make all of these incredible glass pieces. its insanely hot in there because they have to melt and form glass. these men must be from the equator because i was dying and i was 20 feet away. they made two horse statues while we watched. they started out like the left picture and ended like the right picture. the 16 year old girl in our group asked what the did with those statues before i got around to opening my mouth... sadly i heard they would never be sold. after mom made some significant purchases and we had garnished a few free gifts with purchase our lovely italian charming man whose name escapes me but started with M and ended in elo. looked at me and announced he was giving me the two tiny horses for no reason other than he liked me. i could have kissed his olive skinned face. clearly i refrained because we were in public, mom was there, and this man had 25 years on me. the pieces they have in this gallery are literally amazing. anything you point at and say oh thats pretty they whip out a price. a zodiac cancer piece from the last collection of a dead artist that can't be more than 10 inches tall is over 36 grand.. just fyi if you wanted something that obscure. i was more at home in the gift shop where i wasn't afraid to breathe and things were more like 50 euro.

post murano we came back to venice and shopped. mom swapped out her wallet for the same wallet in a lighter leather that the paris sales girl lied & said didn't exist. we stumbled into a church dedicated to moses. accidental discoveries are often the most incredible. (after i walked out the front door i noticed the no camera sign...oops)


we continued down the lovely gucci/prada/ferragamo/burberry/louis vuitton/chanel/versace/d&g etc street and walked into valentino. i got my birthday gift! i picked up some souvenirs for pals (if you're lucky or tell me how awesome i am/my blog is or if i happen to like you you'll probably earn one). after shopping mom and i went on a romantic gondola ride. our driver/gondolier spoke minimal english so we understood about 3 of the places he tried to point out. one place he didn't point out but i understood was "the wall im inches away from hitting at all times to keep you on your toes" it was a short ride but beautiful. i love this city, partially because i like unique things and clearly venice is one of a kind but also because everyone makes an effort to help you out or make you feel included.

if only he knew the irony of his "strength in numbers" shirt

tomorrow (tuesday) we head to london for a one night stay before ireland! a side note on europe in general. aside from the obvious asian invasion, the amount of affection here is insane. age is no factor neither is publicity. one thing i will not miss about the fair cities i have seen so far are the winged rats. as entertaining as it is to snap pictures of drugged out tourists literally sitting or laying on the ground just watching and touching the birds, its taxing. people allow their children to terrifying the birds, causing a flutter fit at which time the birds fly off in any given direction. lucky me, i usually seem to be in their way. i dont need to be dusted but thank you pigeons. go poop on someone else's statue of life.

as our waiter said to me leaving dinner, i say to you venice: ciao bella.

venezia!

joke of the day:

it was michaelangelo in the canal with the licorice rope

today we sadly left paris. we came to venice 10 years ago and mom and i were excited to make the return visit today! the parisian airport once again allowed me to cheat the law and somehow go through to my flight like i was heading from nashville to dallas. i don't think i even showed anyone my passport? obviously they know me or i'm going to be locked up abroad. another fab feature of the airport was that paul (my favorite parisian bakery) came through in the end. i had been searching for my tarte du sucre the whole trip and finally got one! delish just as i remembered.

the alps 

so began our journey to the big boot! we were seated in luxurious row 33... of 35. but we made the best of it. everything was great until a family of 3 sat in front of us. the father was either just rescued from a concentration camp, or is dying of some horrible disease--literally smallest man i've ever seen. their 3 year old son was in fine physical health--his mental state is uncertain at this time. this kid literally YELLED things while tapping on the window. and it was so much worse because he would just yell the same phrase repeatedly "we're on a plane look at the sky" in high pitched little kid french. then he discovered the little part on your seatbelt you lift to unbuckle... it makes a clacking noise if you don't unbuckle, he flicked it for a good 10-15 minutes until i smashed the back of his chair so hard he'll probably have learning delays and i probably broke a wrist. all was forgiven once i looked to my right. the view was incredible! i've never seen mountains like the ones i saw today. HUGE peaks deep valleys with bright blue lakes in the middle. it was gorgeous and i managed to forget the little terror in front of me until it was time to deplane at which point i gave him a look even a 3 year old can understand.

we landed in venice and yet again i have some how entered a country with no notable consequences/customs/immigration/passport check. i'm sure someone simply called ahead to inform all of europe that im too cool for school...or customs. our walk to the water taxi was "5 minutes" the italians obviously count by 1/100 of a second because it was a good 10 minute hike. please picture me with a back pack on, small rolling bag in the crook of my arm, and a luggage cart with three ENORMOUS and one large suitcases on it being pushed in front of me. now picture me crossing a street that has a small hole the size of a luggage cart wheel. a third and final vision is all of that luggage flying forward into the street and me slamming into the cart which is stuck in the road. if you're not laughing please never read my blog again because after a small outburst of profanity i had to giggle at my own expense. once we finally arrived at the dock 17 miles later a lovely italian man escorted us to a boat.

"trapped like rats" takes on a new meaning

our taxi driver was on drugs. this man was on some sort of drug that made him want to behave in a reckless manner & endanger the lives of those in his care. i've been on a lot of boats in my life, some large, some small, some slow, some fast. this boat was of average size with a little cabin protected by sliding glass doors that were left open. (google venice water taxi photo) this crazed lunatic of a driver went faster than i think was legal and than i know was safe. he went so fast in fact that we passed every boat on the water. EVERY SINGLE BOAT ON WHAT WOULD BE THE EQUIVALENT OF A WATER INTERSTATE. i was torn between tears and vomit, so i chose neither and was content to watch the doors rattle with every wake he slammed us over and i waited for them to shatter on me. those stuffed rats would have been the last thing i saw before being blinded by shards of glass.  we also had a near death experience when he cut in front of a rapidly moving yacht, it was all i could do not to scream. once we were in the no wake waterways seeking our hotel i thought i was safe. HE HIT A WALL. literally a city that will eventually sink, he accelerated the process by chipping away at one of the buildings.

venetian masks...featuring satan

we got to our lovely accommodations "palace bonvecchiati." and were thrilled. its very modern and cool,  our key is simply a white plastic thing nothing on either side, just white. and the lights come on when we walk in the room! we did some walking around tonight before dinner but we were tired from flying. venice is famous for its masks and glass. tomorrow we're going to the island of murano where they make the glass so that will be cool. we went to st. mark's square which is close to our hotel. it is a pigeon haven. people PAY to feed them, they get them to land on them for photos and its revolting. dinner at our hotel was nice-we were on the canal which is cool. and we even saw a hooker at dinner. she had on a tiara and a fully sequin silver dress, with silver sequined shoes to match. this fine lady had even put little sequins on her face in three spots. class act. aside from her at dinner there were 42 asian people in a restaurant of about 60. i'm telling y'all if the want to take over the world the only shot we have is to dress as godzilla and scare them off.

three lovely drunk american boys just walked by screaming/singing 'stand by me' in the streets below. how i love spotting a fellow american or two. buona notte my friends. mom is fumbling around the room in her prescription sunglasses since she can't find her regular glasses so i've gotta go help ray charles before things get out of hand.

final and favorite day

sacre coeur my favorite!

so sorry for the delay on the last paris update. i was up at 7 am and didn't go to bed till 12... between those times i was on my feet. so i was dead tired and i put myself first and went to sleep-call me selfish.

our last day in france was my favorite day for obvious reasons. 1) i bought two pieces of art. 2) we went to my favorite spot in the city. 3) i saw joe cooper (a school friend). but it was also the longest which left me too exhausted to tap my fingers on my keyboard. je suis desole.

we started the day off in the louvre. we spent approximately 4 hours there and according to "them" if you spent one minute in front of each piece of art you would be there 4 months. clearly we didn't see them all. enjoy the picture of the most famous piece in this museum--the mona lisa. she is known in paris as "la joconde" and i don't like this painting at all. i've seen this chick before and she is smug and small. also she has no eyebrows. we don't get along and she really keeps herself at a distance. hey with a name like mona i would too.

after the louvre we hopped on the metro (which i have now fully mastered) and headed to montmartre. this is the artists district and my favorite spot in paris. it also happens to be home to sacre coeur. a church with a view to rival the eiffel tower. the steps could kill you so i personally am a fan of the lift to the top. my nike shorts were too short to enter so me wearing my sweater like a loin cloth was a special treat for all to see. photos are forbidden but of course i snapped some in secret. i have several mobile uploads to add soon anyway. after the church we headed further up the hill (more of a mountain in my opinion) to the artists square. everyone is painting and its amazing. i can't draw a stick figure to save my life so anyone with a shadow of talent is amazing to me. one kind woman chewed me out in french (after making sure i spoke french which sadly i said yes to) when i took a photo of only her paints (seen here) because photographing the paintings is forbidden. we made up once i explained my artsy tendencies and apologized in french... clearly you can see the colors she was painting with so obviously her work is amazing. as for the two i bought i am in love. one is a black and white/silver and grey oil of the eiffel tower, and i was also in love with the artist. and the second is a purple water color set of three paris icons: the eiffel tower, sacre coeur, and arc de triomph. i always feel successful when i haggle for a price. thats one thing american needs to pick up on NOW. additionally by the last day all of my french had come back to me and people would speak to me without trying to be nice and switch to english so i felt incredibly cool!

after that we headed to our home area and did some shopping. we saw another street show but they weren't as good and were kind of rude. some girl was at her bachelorette party and tried to dance with them, penis shaped sucker and all, and they pushed her away :( i of course captured her moment of shame on film.



we did some shopping (mom got a cool gucci wallet, which she desperately needed since the hartman one she has been carrying since they invented sliced bread is coming apart at the seams) and crawled home. we met joe cooper for dinner which made my day! i miss my school friends so much.

au revoir paris! venice tomorrow! (today actually because i'm a day behind...) i'll update later tonight on the city on the water.

URGENT NEWS: china and japan are empty

but really... all of their citizens are here, and armed with a camera and tour guide.

our first full day in paris was lovely, seeing as it is known as a lovely city i'm not surprised. however the phrase of the trip is "my dogs are barking" (if you don't know it means your feet hurt). this morning we got up early and went to the eiffel tower. mom has a fear of heights that i've never really taken seriously. the psych major in me believes in exposure therapy. so we went to the top of the eiffel tower which is 1,063 feet in the air. the very top is caged in so no one passes out and falls to their death. on the elevator ride up mom tried to lay in the floor... being by everyone's feet probly smelled better than being near their armpits. i have an overwhelming desire to walk around with mini deodorants for citizens. So the eiffel tower was beautiful and i successfully took approximately 100 photos from it or of it but hey-it IS an international symbol. on the very top i met olivia. she is my best friend and we took pictures together and she even took one of me on her fathers cellphone. god knows where that will end up. after the photo shoot and after i had entrusted my $600 camera into the hands of a 5 year old she exclaimed, "YOU'LL REMEMBER THIS!" yes olivia i will--you are a precious angel. after that we had some little croissants by the river where a bird came dangerously close to invading my space. skrams-you would actually pass out from a panic attack in this city.

leaving the eiffel tower area i finally convinced mother to take the subway! on our way we ran into two fellow texans! both from houston and very awkward high school band members. star of texas i think? their polos told me so--smokin lucky strikes those bad boys. on the metro mother broke the cardinal rule and smiled at some creep. he literally had 7 teeth in his head, and they were mostly rotten. he also either had a skin condition on his face or had recently been beaten severely. we emerged from the rat maze to see notre dame! i've been here before but seeing it again slams you with catholic pride. we sinned and cut line so we popped right in. mass was going on so we whispered and didn't take (many) photos... we donated some funding and lit candles. outside was mass avian chaos. PEOPLE FED BIRDS AND ALLOWED THEM TO LAND ON THEM! it was literally nauseating. we ran away obviously.

we headed to the luxembourg gardens by way of walking through the latin quarter. this is a highly diverse area and as a result i had enormous difficulty choosing my lunch. i went with a crepe du fromage (cheese) because i've been craving one. it was huge and i ended up giving the rest of it to a homeless man (makes up for cutting line at a church).

once in the luxembourg gardens we walked around and discovered the concert for my nerdy friends....im not kidding they played the star wars theme song. the gardens are SO pretty and everyone was semi laying out. we saw a bride! she was beautiful and looked like she was walking on air, i would be too if i was getting married in paris. attention friends someone have an epic destination wedding. after lux we headed to back down to the metro... we did much better this time. we headed to the louvre but it was packed so we've gotten a ticket for saturday morning. leaving the louvre via metro and heading home was fine except on the ticket end. we got them from some man standing there with several (most people have a card so buying one with cash isn't always easy). we popped right through and he screamed after us... nothing is free these days.

we came home and to get ready for our cruise down the seine. before we made it into the hotel we heard some bumpin tunez.... it was a street show! three men were literally breaking it down, being a dance lover myself i was enthralled. they were amazing. i gave more money to three men dancing on a sidewalk then to one of the most beautiful churches in the world. i have priorities let me tell you.







then we went on our river cruise-it was SO fun! it started under the eiffel tower. not literally of course because a cruise implies a boat which needs water and obviously the giant metal structure is on land... our boat was frequently waved at, im clearly a celeb here. there was also a pirate on board but he was very young so im not sure if anyone else spied him. i clearly am very observant so i took notes (i aim to impress johnny depp if and when we meet).

pizza for dinner because unlike what i had in my mind french people eat bugs (snails) birds with webbed feet (duck) babe & wilber (pigs) and clothed things with gills (fish, with scales). so food here is either a carb or cheese which is clearly fine with me but if i see another dead fish thrown on a plate or ham in another item i'm gonna lose it. french people are thin because they secretly hate their own food... and smoke. constantly. oh and their city is massive so they walk a collective 7 miles a day. i'd kill for a pedometer.

side notes of paris: people make out all the time here. over a table at lunch, in line for the subway, in the park and on the side of the river. love is clearly in the air. also, when i was in 7th grade if i had come to paris i would have been worshiped. abercrombie & fitch here is literally a phenomenon for tourists... the line to get into the absurdly lavish GATES to the store was longer than the line for the eiffel tower.

this was my good life reminder to keep things in perspective ;)

bienvenue a paris!

We started traveling on wednesday morning and it is now thursday around noon. the charlotte airport was filled with people watching as any airport is, a real classy joint ;) pinkberry helped pass the time (a 5 hour layover doesn't go very quickly).  The highlight was the man next to me drawing another airport dweller. i can only hope i'm not featured on the pages of his sketch book... Mom made a new friend, she's two and has a toy spoon that was thrown all over the airport.  Mom pretended to eat out of it, this game went on for hours. I also insulted a lovely couple by calling their darling Elizabeth "he" that was awkward but whatever she was in blue overalls and had no hair.

sunrise in paris from the plane

Being in 1st class from charlotte to paris was probly the most fun i've ever had on a plane. i've slept in less comfortable beds for sure and they had movies and ice cream (two very positive things in my life). Upon arriving in paris i feel quite sure we somehow skirted immigration or customs or whatever. one man took a peek at my passport for about .4 seconds so i'm sure its only a matter of time until I'm arrested or something. Anyway, we found our way to a taxi and shoved all 7 bags inside of it.  So began our cab ride from hell.  Not only are all french drivers psychopaths, but ours was asian--great combo. Traffic was almost standing still for approximately the first 47 minutes, unless of course you were lucky enough to be on a moped, then you could go 90 by the still cars and scare passengers.  When we finally arrived in the ghetto mom and I both promptly told our slope eyed driver to get us the hell out of there because it couldn't possibly be the right place. Sadly, as he attempted to assure us, it was... so we walked into our hole in the wall (a crumbling graffiti covered wall) and mom cried.  The hotel itself inside was nice looking (never made it past the lobby) but we were crushed and mom verbally assaulted our travel agent (it was around 3:30 am in america) and we walked out.  I managed to navigate us to the arc de triomphe and we took a great self pic.  I'm a fan of photography, but my passion is nothing compared to that of the asian race.  We actually observed one couple walk to all four sides of the monument and take solo shots of each other on EVERY side. Ling-pow made sure his saucy minx could see his burberry belt in every picture and tila tequila was lookin fly in the ed hardy of course.

We started to stroll down the champs elysees.  I have dearly missed paris in all of its pigeon poop glory! felt like senior year of high school was just yesterday when i was with some 25 year old brother of my exchange family in the street nearly being run over after spotting louis vuitton a block ahead. I've so far not had any run ins with motorists.  Mom on the other hand has had a near death experience already. On our walk we discovered the marriott.  We popped inside and they happen to have an exorbitantly expensive room open for us. We took it and ran.  We retrieved our luggage from the crap hotel and said we were fleeing the country due to an emergency.  Now we're happily in our room! My next task of Paris is to get mom on a metro otherwise my legs may fall off by tomorrow.  I'll let y'all know about my legs... bisous!

PS i barely know what country i'm in, let alone what time it is & I'm a tad out of it so please forgive any typos or grammatical errors.

time to travel

Finally, I'll be leaving my scintillating life in Nashville on June 22 for 52 days! I've been spending entirely too much time with my poodle this summer. However, as all animals go Rascal is a very photogenic and patient pal.  I'll miss him dearly, but it is time for me to stretch my wings! For the first 2 and 1/2 weeks of my trip my mom and I will be going to Paris and Venice, these will be return trips for me and I couldn't be more excited.  We're also seeing sights all over Ireland and Scotland and taking a few stops in London before she drops me in Oxford for 5 weeks to study! I'll be in Oxford with SMU, and a few close friends :).  This blog will hopefully be a way for y'all to keep up with my international escapades!  So add me to your tabs and hopefully I'll put up some shockingly artistic photos, entertaining anecdotes, and occasionally an educational blog post. Twitter is still a viable option for a more consistent and sarcastic update on my day to day life across the pond. cheerio my dear american chaps!

FYI my 21st birthday is July 10th.  While I will be celebrating in a country that lets 7 year olds order an ale, it is still the best holiday ever--so please, have an adult beverage for me.