I cannot believe that I only have one week left! Time has flown by and I am amazed at how much I have seen and done. Taking two classes keeps me very busy with field trips and homework, but I don’t mind. Since I am taking two classes, I have been able to see double the field trips, and for my Downton Abbey class we usually do two field trips a week which is great. My all time favorite field trip has been to Highclere Castle where Downton Abbey is filmed. There was some anxiety surrounding this field trip because we didn’t actually have tickets. Group tickets have been sold out since last summer, and individual tickets have been sold out since February. That being said we were all very nervous as to whether or not they would have any tickets for sale at the gate. Our worries were for nothing though because they had plenty! We were able to walk through the gardens, go through the house and of course hit up the gift shop! Something fun that I’ve been doing with friends from my Downton class, is that we try and have tea and scones at every country house we visit. Now I can add Highclere to my list of places I’ve had tea at! My other favorite field trip so far was for my Harry Potter class. We went into Scotland to Alnwick Castle which is where they filmed parts of Hogwarts for the first and second films, and then they used it as their model for the set. We saw where they learn to fly in the first movie and then some general exterior shots. The castle itself was beautiful, but inside the state rooms and the countryside were just amazing.

This past weekend I went to Paris. I have been once before in High School on one of those spring break trips, so I was only in Paris for two or three nights. So I was very excited to go back and see it again, and see if what I remembered was the same. I remembered it being very dirty and it was. Compared to London, Paris is filthy. I don’t know if it is because the people just don’t care, or they just don’t have as good sanitation services that London has. The other thing that I really noticed was how different their metro and bus system is. London’s transportation system is very efficient, very well kept up, and very clean. Paris on the hand is very confusing. Some lines on the metro maps are really only train lines, but they are not marked so. Needless to say we got very lost and turned around the first night, but after that we had a somewhat better handle on it. But we tried to stay above ground as much as possible! One thing about Paris that I found wonderful was their youth discount. They have great discounts for anyone under the age of 24. Some places require you to show a student id, others just ask your age. Because of this discount we were able to go into the Louvre for free! We also go a discount on the Eiffel Tower and a boat tour.