finally finals

Ok, so as always, it has been a while. I have been to Scotland and I cannot even begin to explain how much I love Edinborough. Our Hostel was right in the middle of the city and it was so easy to find wonderful things to do. We went on a three hour tour with an overly enthusiastic guide named Gaija, climbed King Arthur’s Seat (breathtaking), went to Loch Ness, and got a 12 hour bus ride full of commentary on the spending habits of the Scottish Parliament (our driver was out of his mind). The pictures show more than I could ever say. A train ride two bus rides and a horrifying Ryanair flight later, we were back in good ole’ Oxfordshire. This past weekend we tourist-ed around our little college town and had tea, saw Oxford Castle, watched Midsummer Nights Dream (the promenade theatre version) in Headington Park, and saw where Harry Potter was filmed. It was all in all a very fun filled weekend. Finals are coming up and I will say that I am eager to be done with them. I am one film editing session, two tests and one final away from my transatlantic pilgrimage.

And now for a non sequitur…

I am currently sitting in a Starbucks in Oxford, trying desperately to crank out an analysis of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s dream for my 8 am class tomorrow (one of the things that stands between me and my journey to the States). After this paper and two tests I will be on a plane home from my two month adventure…the only problem is that I am horribly distracted by a crazy woman sitting across from my table next to the window. Apparently for the past hour there has been a fly that has pushed her time and time again to furiously leap from her chair with a rolled newspaper and smash every surface in sight in hopes of ending this poor fly’s life. She looks a lot like Queen Latifa, so these furious fly swatting fits are all the more hilarious. Just now, in an action of divine irony, she has given up on the chase and the fly is simply sitting on her rolled up newspaper staring up at her from beside her coffee cup. I can only imagine her frustration- maybe its like trying to write a term paper and having someone distract you with sudden fits fly-blood lust.

Ok, back to my paper- next time you hear from me it will probably be state side.

God Save the Queen

So I have been to London, and I should be in Ireland right now, but I am terribly ill, so I am recovering slowly but surely, cooped up here in Oxford. Luckily, they sell what are essentially narcotics over the counter in this great country- God love 'em.

London was brilliant- so much to do. On top of all of the year round funsies that exist in this great city, we were lucky enough to walk into Trafalgar's Square during Gay Pride weekend. Needless to say we watched the parade and took tons of photos with drag queens. There was also the London Eye, Big Ben, phone booths, Tower of London, Tower Bridge (AKA London Bridge...the actual London bridge is rather anti-climactic), and all sorts of other England icons. Oh and Herod's- I touched a $20,000.00 designer dress. That place is out of control- they even sell fossils and dinosaur bones (for hundreds of thousands of dollars, mind you, but the people who actually shop there are so obscenely rich they don't know what else to do with their money other than buy bones...)

For now, though, I am drinking gallons of water and sleeping every few hours. And watching sappy love movies. All in all unproductive, but we all have those days.

This coming week holds midterms and a visit to Birmingham to see the platonic love of my life- Tatum. And then, hopefully disease free, I am off to Scotland!

To see the drag queens mentioned above (and other, less interesting euro- photos) go to www.picasaweb.google.com/mollybeth35/ and enjoy!

I am beginning to feel homesickness creep up on me, but I blame my drug induced drought of activities and human contact- but for now, I miss everyone at home and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks! I love England, but something must be done about this weather- hopefully they figured out something good at the G8 Summit.

That will be all for now, it is time for a nap.
Cheers,
Molly

About two days ago my Austen professor attended a morning conference with a number of hill scholars and was able to shake the hand of not only Hill himself (probably the most influential British poet of the 21st Centure), but was also able to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury (the leader of the Anglican church-- St. Augustine was the first). I find it unbelievable that two of the most influential people in the Church and in literature were in teh same vicinity of me-- though I obviously did not get to share in teh rapture of meeting them, I am still amazed. What a place I am in.
In other news, I leave for London early tomorrow morning and I can hardly wait! Next week is full of Shakespeare plays in the Oxford Castle and a performance of Wicked in London. Also- something inconsequential yet I feel the need to say-- I have fallen in love with a certain kabob stand. I am currently eating a large box of chips (french fries for those of you who are so uncultured...) covered in vinegar, salt, cheese, and garlic. mmmmmmmmm.

cheers.

Hey party people. its been a while. I am 20 years old now, and that much more cultured. I am loving Oxford tremendously. I am actually nervous that I will hate Tech when I come home (which is impossible- I am just trying to convey the greatness of England...). I have massive amounts of free time to fill and it has been lovely to catch up on reading and pretending that I am a literature major-- it is much more plausible here than back in the technical realm that is the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The weather has been surprisingly friendly- hardly and rain save today, and the hottest it has been is about 75 (though it gets wicked cold in the evenings).
This weekend I will be in foggy London town and then the next will be Ireland and then Scotland.
I am still holding desperately onto the hope of running into Colin Firth or Hugh Grant-- I will let you know what comes of that.
For now all I have to divulge is that I am incandescently happy (to steal from Austen).
That will be all for now- and Happy Birthday to my beautiful oldest sister! I love you Emmy.

Cheers, loves.

OXFORD!!

Ok, so I have neglected to post any pearls of wisdom and worldliness on this here page for quite some time. I submit, however, that it is by no fault of my own. Internet is outrageously priced in Eastern Europe. But I am in oxford now, where the interweb abounds and everyone speaks a more beautiful form of my language.
So here is the summary... After Budapest, we went to Prague, Berlin, Beilfield, and Brussels. All of which were lovely- with the exception of Berlin. I am not the person to ask about Berlin, though, due to my jaded opinions formed while laying in my hotel bad for an entire day with what I suspect was the flu. I am better now- bright eyed and bushy tailed- ready to start my next 6 hours of class and acquire an accent.
Prague was spectacular, mainly because the Czech Republic was playing in the Cup on on of the nights we were there. The entire city of Prague was in the main square all painted up and garbed in flags to watch the game on a huge screen that had been set up by some sort of festival of soccer (excuse me, football) spirit. So we all went to the square and watched the most ridiculous game of football ever played- Czech lost, for those of you who are not keeping up with the current Euro news, and I believe it was the first and last time I was able to view grown men sitting gin the street weeping. I even saw a homeless man get punched in the face for no reason.
In other news, I am at the Worchester College in Oxford and I have never felt so studious and intelligent. ;) The town around Oxford is just as charming as you have ever imagined. I am in Narnia. That is an apt description, I feel.
Well, that will be all for now - I promise I will be more thorough soon.

I have never seen such long words...

I am in Budapest, the capitol of Hungary sitting in coffee house named IF. It is quite calm here, which is a nice transition from the jet set pace I have been keeping up with for the past few weeks. We spent a night in Villach, Austria on our way to HUngary- it was a nice transition into Eastern Germany. It is fun here because of the Euro cup- a huge soccer (excuse me, football) tournament that most of us have grown accustomed to watching at an outdoor bar with liters (literally) of cheap beer. (No worries, ADX, no beer for me!) This liter of booze is usually joined with a large sausage filled with cheese and wrapped in bacon. Sooo the food is interesting, to say the least. There is something allegedly called "fruit of the forest" that I have been eating for breakfast- I have no idea what it is...

To be short (due to lack of internet and the closing of the coffeebar..) I will say that i love it here. I love you all, also.
Talk with you soon.

The drought of WiFi has been broken. We just got to Rome, but since I have been unable to access the modern technological world for so long, I will make up for lost time- consequently this may be a loquacious post…so get ready…to rock steady.

After Paris we stopped in Annecy – a beautiful provincial town in France that is all built around a huge glacial lake. Swans everywhere, clearest water I have ever seen, delicious dinner- it was a lovely evening. The next day we made the 12 hour bus drive to Florence, Italy. Needless to say, there was some serious bonding going on during the twelve cramped, crick-in-your-neck, drooling-all-over-yourself drive. Apparently I am not a very cute sleeper.
Florence was one of the most beautiful places I have been in my life. Unfortunately it rained for the first few days, but it didn’t affect much. I am still blown away by all of the artwork I have been able to see. Michelangelo’s David was about 17 feet tall, flawless, and literally breath taking. We climbed the 463 steps in tiny cave/tunnels to get to the top of the Duomo, visited the Medici Chapel, the Uffisi Museum, Del Carmine, the Acadamea, the Bargello. I was able to touch the very paint of the frescoes of Massaccio and the marble of Michelangelo. And on top of it all, I bought me some snazzy looking leather sandals.
Our last night in Florence was my favorite evening so far- it was beautiful weather and there were live bands everywhere. Florence is a river town, so the breeze off the river made for the perfect evening- and the gelato didn’t hurt either. I may be obese by the time I come back to the good ole US of A.
So those are the highlights, I suppose, and I am now in Rome. I will soon be in the Sistine Chapel and on a walking tour of the Ancient City. I am still in awe. This summer is shaping up to be quite lovely. Lots of great photos, lots of new friends, lots of good food- who could ask for more?

troisieme jour...

Tonight I was able to have some really fun interactions with some interesting Parisians- one boy outside of Starbucks (side note- starbucks in Paris is cheaper than coffee in a restaurant- perspective on how pricey things are…mon dieu!) stopped me and asked if I was from England. Upon answering that I was American he said that he loved Americans and wanted to kiss me. He also said “I would like to invite you to be my lover- I am a very good French lover…” My response? “Non, mais, merci.” Luke- no worries- Il n’y a pas mignon. ;)

Then I was able to meet a man from Argentina who spoke wonderful French- he thought it was so “cool” (an American word he liked a lot) that we could speak to each other in French even though we are from the US and Argentina. He has a lot to say- a very smart man.

Tonight we went to a jazz concert in a bar in the Parisian equivalent of Atlanta’s Midtown (a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘gay Paris’…). It was unexplainable-- fabulous. I suppose those were the highlights- and the fact that our waiter for dinner, upon finding out that we were from Georgia, professed his undying love for the Allman Brothers.

Bonne nuit, mes cheries!

Recycled air.

After a long day full of layovers and jetlag I am finally in Paris. The weather is perfect and everything is beautiful. Unfortunately, Internet is not free, nor cheap, so I will be brief. In short- I love France…I would have no qualms with up and moving here and playing my guitar on the side of the road for spare euros- better to be homeless here than studying in Atlanta, no? And I could always use the charm of my Americanized French accent to gain pity and trick people into thinking in am famous in the US. Or maybe I will stick with school, who knows?

I digress.

Paris is as lovely as it has always been painted in literature and art. I am unbelievably lucky.

Oh, and of course, our hotel is pretty fly.

I will be lounging in the lap of beauty and luxury until Tuesday when I traipse on over to Florence where I will enjoy pizza by the pound and young Italians in Speedos named Massimo.

24 hours to go...

I am finally done with the pre departure classes and this time tomorrow I will be in Paris with my three best friends- I can harly believe it. The itenerary is crazy and I will be in a new city every few days, so I am hoping for good rest and good weather so that we can all be cheery and wonderful to live with!! There is not much to say tonight except that I am beside myself with anxiety and exitement.

I am going to go watch American Idol with my mom now- welcome to my travel blog!