July 29-Study day

Last night's Sing-Along concert in the Oude Market was so much fun.  There were about 3,000 of us crowded in to the square, singing at the top of our lungs!  The sing-along concert series travels throughout Flanders.  They handed out small newspapers with the words to the songs.  We sang Deliah, Hey Baby, Hey Jude, La Bamba, and a few Dutch and French songs, just to name a few!  Sounds kind of lame but we had a great time.

Today I slept in until about 9:30 then studied for a few hours around the house.  This afternoon, me, Jonathon, Walter, Dr. Muster, and Dr. Engler went for a bike ride around Leuven.  There are miles and miles of nice, well marked trails around the forest outside the city of Leuven.  We visited a chapel and a military graveyard, etc.  After about 2 hours of biking, Dr. Munster invited us over to his apartment for drinks.

We dropped off our bikes back at the student house then went to find somewhere to eat dinner.  We ended up walking for about an hour because nothing was open and/or it was Italian, which we're tired of!  We ended up near the train station and then it started raining.  We ran in the rain to a fast-food type place, called Quick.  I had a really good salad there and we waited out the storm.

I skyped with Mom tonight and got caught up on everything that's been happening at home.  It's after midnight now so I'm going to bed soon.  

July 28- Gent and Brussels

I decided to stay around Belgium this weekend, since we have our two midterms coming up next week.  This morning, six of us went took the train from Leuven to Gent.  It was raining when we left our dorm and the forecast predicted rain all day.  Luckily, we had beautiful weather.

When we got to Gent, we took a taxi from the train station to St. Nicholas Church.  There are about 250 stairs up to the top of the tower.  We had an awesome view of the city and it was neat seeing how the bells chimed.  We took an elevator down from the tower, and almost overloaded it with a Japanese tour group who couldn't speak English at all...  After the tower, we walked over to the river and took an hour long boat cruise.  We all had to go to the bathroom really bad, so we ate lunch at the Mcdonalds near the river.

After eating, we went to Gravensteen Castle.  Really awesome medieval castle and they had a guillotine and torture devices, so that was neat.  Going off advice from the taxi driver, we had drinks at the "Beer House" on the canal front.  I had a banana beer and it was delicious.

Since it was still early in the day and we had seen everything we wanted to see in Gent, we took the train to Brussels.  We found the famous Mannequin Piz statue (little boy using the bathroom in to a fountain), then had more beer at the Delirium, a famous place with over 20,000 beer selections.  Cherish got a little too tipsy!... 

There is a sing along festival tonight in Leuven, so we decided to come back early for that.  It's now about 7:30 and we're about to go out again.  I have to write my field trip report and study for two exams, so tomorrow and Monday are dedicated to that entirely!        

July 26-Field trip to Bruges, Belgium

I really should have been keeping up with my blog the past few days..  I've done a lot!  Tuesday night I went to see the Dark Knight Rises.  It was opening day in Belgium.  The theater was really different from American theaters.  We sat in assigned seats, and instead of a concession stand, they had this large convenience store.  They sold (somewhat stale) popcorn, candy, and beer.  About 15 of us went and a few of them were diehard Batman fans.  I don't know the story too well, but I enjoyed the movie.  A lot of it was filmed at Wallaton Hall, the place Cooper and I visited in Nottingham.

Today was the first day of our overnight field trip to Bruge, Belgium.  The field trip is funded by a USDA grant, so everything is free for us, which is awesome.  We just got to our hotel in Brugge and have been traveling in a tour bus all day.  We first toured a facility that ferments manure and biomass to generate electricity.  They gave us coffee and cake when we got there, so that was a nice surprise.  We ate lunch at this really neat restaurant, although I had no idea what city it was in.  After lunch, we visited a manure processing facility in Antwerp.  It was one of the most disgusting, worst smelling places I had ever been.  Some people couldn't go on the tour because the smell of the ammonia was too strong.  I thought it was kind of interesting...  (Manure processing is actually a super important thing here in Belgium, and it's something America doesn't even have to worry about, but that's too much to get in to now..)

We took showers as soon as we got to Hotel Ibis in Brugges.  We all smelled like shit, literally.  We have the night to go out and explore Brugge.  The weather has been really hot and sunny, which I love.  Tomorrow we are going on a walking tour of Brugge and visiting a constructed wetland before heading back to Leuven.  We have our two midterms next week, so I am planning to study a lot this weekend.  We are just making a day trip to Ghent or Brussels, then spending the rest of the weekend working on stuff in Leuven.  

July 22-23: Cologne and back to Leuven

Yesterday (Sunday) Cherish and I took a train from Strasbourg to Cologne.  We left Strasbourg around 10 am and went directly to our hotel in Cologne, which was close to the train station.  Ashley, Rob, Andrew, and Sean weren't there yet and our room wasn't ready.  Cherish and I used the Wifi in the lobby and about 10 minutes later, the TN group came in!  To my surprise, Dorina, a Ukrainian girl who lives in our dorm, was with them.  She goes back to Ukraine today but she just wanted to see Cologne (and hang out with Sean..)  Their room was ready so we put all luggage in there and started to walk around.

First we walked to the famous Dom, near the train station.  Largest cathedral I had ever been to!  We walked around and took pictures but couldn't stay too long because it closed at 5 for mass.  After that, we went down to the Rhine riverfront and had a few drinks.  Dorina invited her friend from Cologne to join us, and he was really sarcastic and funny.  We ate dinner at a restaurant on the riverfront.  My schnitzel was delicious!  We went back to the hotel and situated everything in our rooms.  Andrew and Sean were planning to go out with Dorina that night.  Around 9, Rob, Ashley, and I walked back to the Dom to see it at night and get gelato.  Beautiful weather and totally nice riverfront.  We really had fun.

We got up early this morning and had breakfast at the hotel.  We boarded a 9:15 train to Leuven and got back around 12:30.  Rob and I took our bikes back to Velo and I exchanged mine.  (Not sure if I included this, but my bike broke on Thursday!  The light fell off, then got caught in my spokes and I fell off!  Horrible.  And it was making a funny sound because some screws fell out.)  My new bike is 1000 times more comfortable!  Now I have to finish writing my field trip report and finish my Excel file and go to the grocery store and do laundry...  Yay.

       

July 21- Europa Park!

Today we met my Swiss roommate Marina, her brother Fabio, and his girlfriend at Europa Park!  Cherish and I ate a delicious French breakfast at our hotel in Strasbourg then took a taxi to the Baggerrsee tram station.  (After difficulty finding our Holiday Inn Express last night, we didn't want to go through that again so we called a cab!)  The driver charged us 23 Euro though, because he charged for his trip to our hotel...  ridiculous!  But whatever.  We were able to get on the (only) bus going to Europa Park!  We left Strasbourg around 8:10 am.

We arrived at Europa Park just after opening, and it was crowded.  We didn't see Marina anywhere and she didn't answer when I called her cell.  Cherish and I started walking around and riding rides.  I texted Marina and told her to meet us at 11 at a EuropaMur in the Russia section.  We met up with her and Fabio and Sabrina and spent the whole day together!  Europa Park is like Disney, only newer, cleaner, and better.  They have their own version of Epcot, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, etc.  There are different areas in the park dedicated to countries in Europe, so it was really neat seeing all the country's displays.  

We had lunch at the Food Loop.  The food was brought to our table on a "rollercoaster" coming down from the ceiling.  Marina recommended a traditional Swiss dish, zurigschnatzlets.  Basically, veal in wine sauce.  So delicious!

It rained on us periodically, but the rides stayed open.  We left the park around closing and caught the last (and only) bus back to Strasbourg.  We have become experts at buying tickets at train stations, so we got everything taken care of for tomorrow.  I am so disappointed Marina isn't coming back to UT next year!  She is going to Florida International University.  I LOVE EUROPA PARK!

July 20- Strasbourg, France

This weekend we're going to Europa Park in Rust, Germany.  We're staying at the Holiday Inn Express just across the French border tonight and tomorrow night.  We left Leuven this morning around 9 am, and rode the train all day.  At least I was able to finish writing my field trip report.

We got to Strasbourg around 5 pm.  This city is extremely difficult to get around!!!  They had maps on kiosks outside, but everything was in French and they were not good maps.  We eventually found our way to Le Petite France, the area I wanted to see.  It was really neat -- old buildings lining the canals, etc.  It was getting close to 7 pm, so we decided it was time to find our hotel.  The hotel emailed me directions on how to get there via the tram, and then bus.  (So, not exactly in Strasbourg...)  It took us a long time to actually find a bus stop... 

We followed the bus instructions carefully, however we missed the stop "Elise" that we were supposed to get off on.  Apparently you had to punch a button for the tram to stop.  Thankfully I saw it as we passed, then ran up to the bus driver.  He graciously stopped in the middle of the road and let us off on the spot.  We walked back to the Elise bus stop.  There was nothing in the area except a few car dealerships, and they were closed.  There is a nice bike path and cars at the intersection, but nobody else around.  Definitely did not look like a Holiday Inn Express area...  Our directions said to walk 500 m up from the bus stop to the hotel.  But, we had no idea which direction to go.  We started walking along a bike path, found some sort of school, then saw this guy and his wife and kids going in to their apartment building.  We decided to ask him.  He spoke very broken English and didn't know the area well, but he was helpful.  His wife had to call her father who told us where our hotel was.  We had to continue walking about 0.25 miles, and then we'd see it. 

Sure enough, around 8:30 now, we see the Holiday Inn Express sign!  So happy.  The hotel is super nice.  I got this delicious bruscetta dinner from the restaurant downstairs.  To get to Europa Park tomorrow, we're calling a taxi!

July 18-Time to study

We've had three of class so far, and we have quite a but of work to do already!  I really like what we're learning, but the material is difficult and I feel like I should be studying more...  We go to class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8:30-12.  We have an hour and a half for lunch, then come back and work on our homework until 5:00.  We are assigned two sets of homework problems each day, and it's due the next class day.  The homework is actually kind of difficult and we usually come back from lunch early just so we can finish the homework before 5:00.  We have heard from two guest speakers in 3 days, and we had to write a 2-3 page report on each one, blahhh.

Tomorrow we are going on a field trip and I have to write a 6-7 page report about it.  I'm planning to write it when I get home tomorrow night because I'm going to Europa Park this weekend!  We also have a "challenge problem" due for Dr. Engler's class on Tuesday.  I worked on it tonight, but I couldn't figure out all aspects of the problem.  Hopefully I can get that done before I leave for Germany, too!

In the midst of all the schoolwork, I spent about 4 hours planning our trip to Europa Park this weekend.  I looked up all train schedules, hotel information, directions, etc and made a nice itinerary.  I am soooo excited about this weekend.

July 14-July 16- AMSTERDAM!

Mindy, Ashley, Paul, Mark, and I decided to go to Amsterdam for the weekend. We left early Saturday morning because of the concert and class in Leuven Friday night.  It took almost 5 hours to get to Amsterdam and the train was packed, so we were sitting in a cramped area between 2 train cars.  It was really uncomfortable.  Our hotel took us a while to find, and it looked kind of sketchy from the outside.  Each room had a different movie theme.  We were in some room about a Princess..  I had never heard of the movie.  We had a hot pink room with 4 twin beds, and 5 people.  We took a long nap at the hotel and slept until almost 8pm. We then went out to check out the city.  We got this nice, free map with tons of things to do.  We bought tickets for the following day for a night cruise and the Ice Bar.  We went to a coffeeshop and explored Amsterdam nightlife.  We ate dinner at a really good steakhouse. Everywhere closed around 2 am and we were back in the room by then.

Paul and I got up Sunday and were last 2 people to get on the bike tour, operated by Joy Ride Bike Tours.  Larae’s website recommended the tour.  They only take 15 on each tour and they were fully booked.  However, 2 people didn't show up so we got to go!  The tour started at 10:30.  We met the group back at the hotel around 3:30.

Upon leaving the hotel, we met Walter, Scott, and some other person from Texas. Together, we walked over to the Heineken store, AJAX experience, flower market, etc. We went to the ice bar at 7:30.  We wanted to eat at this huge Chinese place, so we went in and got seated.  It was very expensive.  We planned to get to the 9:30 river cruise.  Nobody at the resteraunt took our drink order, and it was late, so we left!  We stopped at Wok to Go on the way to the train station/cruise and it was delicious.  We went out that night and possibly met Colonel Saunders grandson, Mike.  He just graduated from Georgetown, is from Louisville, and is studying in Prague.

We checked out of hotel around 11 am, after eating breakfast.  Walked to Anne Frank house, but line was absolutely ridiculously long and we did not feel like waiting.  We walked back to train station and caught 12:46 train to Leuven.  We got back to Leuven around 4:00.  Cooper texted me saying they were close to Leuven, and they were at the dorm when we got back from the train station.  We walked over to Solo Mio, a pizza place.  Cooper’s trip sounded amazing and Dad said he had a good time.    

July 13-First day of class

I woke up early for class.  For some reason, I had such a difficult time staying awake.  We heard from our first seminar speaker, Fredrik Accoe.  He talked about manure processing in Flanders.  We ate lunch at the small café on campus.  We worked on homework until about 5 then came home and wrote my seminar report.  That night, I went with Mindy, Paul, Ashley, and Mark to a Mexican restaurant and to the concert in the market square.  I went to a few bars after dinner, but came home around midnight because I was so exhausted!    

July 12- Bike rentals

We all went to pick up our bikes in the morning.  There are about 20 of us, so we went in 2 groups.  I stayed in the group with Dr. Munster and he took us on a walking tour around Leuven.  We saw where he and Dr. Engler were staying.  It’s an old area where widows and women used to stay.  Very neat, little flat.  We went to the grocery store in the afternoon.

July 11- Welcome to Leuven!

We woke up really early and arrived about one hour early for our departure from London (St-Pancras) at 8:04am.  Eurostar train was really nice.  We arrived in Brussels around 11:30.  We first got this ugly, cheap rental car, not the Mercedes Cooper thought he was getting.  He didn’t give up.  He went back in and talked to Avis.  Sure enough, an Audi was being returned as they spoke.  Cooper got the car and we switched all our bags.  We ate at the Subway in the train station.  Our car had GPS and I put in the address to the JL Vives Student House in Leuven.  It took probably just half an hour to get to Leuven.  When I got to the dorm, the RA was gone and Ashley wasn’t in our room.  Cooper carried my bags up the steps and then I said goodbye to them.  I met Mindy and Ashley and hung out with them.  Then I met my RA and unpacked some.  That night, our whole group went out for pizza.  Then we came back and booked our hotel for Amsterdam.

July 10- Westminster Abbey and London Eye

Cooper and Alysse had breakfast at the California Hotel.  Cooper had reservations for James Bond exhibit at the Barbican from 11:00am-1:00pm.  While he was there, Dad and Alysse took a guided tour of Westminster Abbey and then went to Borough Market. Unfortunately, many of the shops there were closed, but Dad enjoyed his cheese wrap.  We met Cooper at the Sherlock Holmes Museum around 3:30.  We stopped for a snack at McDonalds and went back to the hotel.  After a nap, we took the Tube to Tower Hill and walked around the Tower of London and London Bridge.  In a rush, we took the Tube over to the Eye.  We were too late to do a river, cruise, but we were able to go on the Eye and see the 4D movie.  We took the train to Kings Cross and ate dinner at a fish and chips place near our hotel.   

July 9- Weybridge and Olympic Park

Dad, Cooper and I ate a nice breakfast at the Bridge Hotel, overlooking the Thames.  Dad ordered a full English breakfast.  Then we drove around Weybridge, the area of London where Dad used to live.  We found 11 Oatlands Close, Dad’s old address, but the house wasn’t there.  We gave a neighbor our email address and she said she’d email us a local publication written about the history of the road, if she can find it. 
We drove to our hotel, the California Hotel in London and we were in horrible traffic.  Cooper dropped Dad and Alysse off with thier luggage and he took the car back to the airport.  While Cooper was returning the car, Dad and Alysse took the subway to Olympic Park.  The park itself was closed, but there was plenty of shopping and good views.  We met Cooper back at the hotel.  That night, we took the Tube to Kensington Gardens and walked all the way to the Eye.  Dad really enjoyed seeing Hyde Park along the Serpentine River, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, etc.  It was nice because it didn't get dark until about 11:30 pm or so.  We got back really late, so we picked up sandwiches at Upper Crust, a shop in the subway station, and ate in the hotel room.

July 8- Church and Warwick Castle

We woke up really early and returned keys to the Sherwood Forest Youth Hostel.  Then, we drove less than an hour to St. Leonard’s Church in Nottingham.  We met the Brits there around 9:45.  Their church is extremely beautiful and historical.  They showed us an old hymnal that had been restored by the University of Nottingham.  It had survived through the Reformation and it was now on a computer kiosk thing at the church.  After church, we had coffee with them in the fellowship hall and they introduced us to friends.  They took us to lunch at a buffet, “carvery.”  Then we walked around Wollaton Hall and the Brits took us back to our car, which we left parked at the church.  We drove about 2 hours to Warwick Castle and got there around 3:00.  Beautiful weather.  We left Warwick around 5:30 and drove to the Bridge Hotel near Weybridge.  We bought dinner from the gas station.  We took a short nap then left to pick up Dad at Heathrow around 9:30.  His flight arrived at 9:55.  However, the customs line was super long, so Cooper and I waited for him until almost midnight.  We were really worried that something was wrong.  Dad bought a sandwich and orange juice for dinner from the local gas station.

July 7- Loch Ness cruise and Eilean Donan

Ate breakfast and the Clansman hotel early and went on the one hour 10:00 Jacobite Cruise from our hotel.  It was rainy on on Loch Ness, but still really neat.  Then we toured Glen Ord Distellery.  Their "whisky" is mainly exported to southeast Asia.  The sample we tried was very sweet.  Scotch is made from malted barley, where as bourbon is made from corn.  I don't really like whisky though.  Then, we drove to Eilean Donan Castle.  It was a very awesome castle.  We began the drive back to Nottingham via Glencoe around 5pm.  We revisited the tiny Dalness Lodge road, and recreated an exact scene from the James Bond Skyfall movie trailer.  We stopped at McDonalds and used their Wifi to call the Brits and tell them we were coming to church, talked to Mom, etc.  We arrived at the Days Inn near Nottingham around 2:30 am.  I wasn't even driving and I was exhausted.  We listened to Carte Blanche, the James Bond book, and almost finished it.    

July 6- Ben Nevis

Woke up early and drove to Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK.  We bought groceries and started the climb around 10:30.  Great weather and we finished around 3:30.  After hiking, we drove roughly 2 hours to the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel. We took showers and napped in the room.  Then we had dinner at the Oakwood restaurant, with the nice Scottish owner.  

                                                                                                                                             

July 5- Edunburgh Castle, Skyfall filming location

Departed the Langstrath Hotel and drove to Kessick to return boots.  Then drove about 3 hours to Edinburgh, Scotland.  It was foggy and rainy, but we toured Edinburgh Castle.  We went on a short, guided tour then explored on our own.  We parked in a garage downtown and ate at Subway.  Mid-afternoon, we departed for the Scottish Highlands, towards Glencoe, Scotland. We found the James Bond Skyfall filming locations, including Dalness Lodge and the ski resort.  Drove down tiny, beautiful one lane roads and took many pictures. 
We ate a super quick dinner at the historical King’s House Hotel.  It's been a hotel since the 1600s I think.  Really neat inside.  We found our campsite easily and spent some time talking with the owners.  The husband worked in the agricultural tree division of the World Bank and the wife invited us in to their house.  The daughter and granddaughter were visiting.  There was only one other man at the campsite.  The bathrooms and showers werevery new and nice.  We had perfect camping weather and I really had fun.  We even went to bed before dark.

July 4- Green Gable and Great Gable

We planned to meet the Brits at 10 am for another walk.  We woke up early and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Langstrath (smoked salmon, black pudding,etc.) Then we drove in to Kessick and Alysse exchanged her boots while Cooper bought her bandaids.  However, due to blisters and bruises, Alysse decided to skip out on the day’s hike.  She spent time writing postcards, reading, napping, eating ice cream, etc around the hotel.  Cooper climbed Green Gable and Great Gable with the Brits.  Adrain, Alice, and Cooper lost Peter and Alan for about an hour, but finally met up with them at the summit.  The Brits had an early dinner at the hotel.  We talked with them and their wives briefly and bought their first round of drinks.  We also ate dinner at the hotel that night.            

July 3- Hiking with "the Brits"

The sun rises really early in the UK, so we were awake around 5.  But, we officially woke up at 7:00, packed up our tent, and drove to the Langstrath Inn near Stonewaith.   On the way, we stopped in the town of Kessick to check out local hiking trail guides.  The outdoor store we went to offered rentable boots, so we got those for Alysse.  A 3 day rental cost 5 pounds.  When we arrived at the Langstrath Inn, the doors were locked, so we parked our car about a quarter mile down the road at a pull off for hikers.  
We saw the Brits and gave a quick “hello” but didn’t say much  else.  We were planning to follow one of local trail heads from the hotel.  After a short distance, we realized we didn’t really know where we were going and Alysse was slightly freaking out because trails were poorly marked/nonexistent.  Our trail and the trail the Brits were taking met and that’s when we officially met “the Brits.” Peter (friend), Allan (father), Adrian (son), and Alice (11 year old daughter) invited us to accompany them on their walk.  We hiked up to Sergeant’s Crag and Eagle’s Crag.  We returned to the hotel around 4:30 and checked in.  We enjoyed a round of drinks on the Brits.  Alysse had bad blisters and we drove back to Kessick to see if we could exchange the boots.  The outdoor store was closed.  We had dinner at a local restaurant in Kessick.

July 2- Chatsworth House

Woke up at 7:30 and had breakfast at the Sherwood Forest hostel.  We planned to go to Nottingham Castle, but the breakfast cook told us to skip Nottingham Castle.  There would be horrible city traffic, it's expensive, and not that great.  Instead, he advised we go to Chatsworth House.  We didn't realize it at the time we left, but Cooper and I accidentally kept the room keys.  Chatsworth House was totally amazing and we stayed there almost all day.  We ate lunch at a really neat tea shop that we walked to and then walked around the lovely gardens. We left Chatsworth House in the late afternoon and started a 3 hour drive to the Lake District.  We drove to Elterwater and had trouble finding a suitable campsite.  It was near dark (around 10:30 pm probably)and kind of rainy.  We were driving on tiny, one lane roads.  This was the only night we didn’t have lodging plans.  We found a local campsite in the Great Gable.  We didn't know at the time that's where we'd be hiking.  Cooper set up the tent in the rain and we ate sandwiches from the grocery store.  Alysse was cold, wet, and not totally enjoying it, but it was fine.

July 1- Change of plans..

Unfortunately, Christ Church (Hogwarts Great Hall) at Oxford was closed until 1:30, but we toured the surrounding grounds and The University of Oxford campus.  We had a beer and cider at The Turf Tavern, where Bill Clinton “did not inhale.”  We departed the cityaround 1:00.  Planned to go to Warwick Castle, but we drove 2 hours back to London.  Our GPS led us to Warwick, London, not Warwick, Warwickshire.  Real hassle and waste of a good afternoon.  We called the Warwick ticket office to transfer tickets to Sunday, July 8^th, when we’d be back through the area. We drove from London to the Sherwood Forest Youth Hostel (3 hours.)  Alysse had a room to herself and only 2 people were in Cooper’s room.  Cooper came

to Alysse’s room.  Really strange that it was so empty.  We walked about 4 miles around Sherwood Forest at dusk.  Then, we picked up dinner and snacks at the local Co-op Food store and ate back at the hostel.

July 1- Oxford and Stonehenge

July 1

Cooper and I woke up around 7am and enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the hotel, Highfield House. Typical English breakfast of baked beans, stewed tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. Then we drove about an hour to Stonehenge. We were there around opening so it wasn't crowded. Spent less than an hour doing audio tour and taking photos.

Then we drove to Oxford. I think it was about 2 hour drive. We basically walked around the beautiful old campus. We wanted to tour the Harry Potter dining hall but it was closed 11 to 1:30 for lunch.  Everyone is so relaxed here.  We found The Turf bar, which is the famous Bill Clinton marijuana bar. I had cider and Cooper had ale. 

We are currently driving to Warwick castle as I write on my Kindle. It's almost 2:30 now so were right on schedule!