This is my last post and will probably be a very long as it has been quite a while since my last one, apologies for that. I have been so busy recently!

School stuff is finished. I turned in two big assignments at the end of April, one in particular for my creative intensive writing class took a lot of work and I was very stressed about. This third term, called summer term is for turning in final assignments/assessments for some, exams for others. May has been a month of doing last minute things before leaving uni. I spent some time with my family near in London, went to Isle of Wight where my cousin lives. I  have babysat quite a bit, which is always good and I recently went to Switzerland.

An American friend here who goes to Chapman Uni in California wanted to go to another country before leaving as did I and she had always wanted to go to Switzerland so that’s what we did. We went to the French speaking part (as opposed to the German) and stayed in a city called Lausanne which is on Lake Geneva and close to the city of Geneva. It was an interesting experience. I got to speak some French which was satisfying having taken French all year. Switzerland is a very expensive country which is a nuisance but we did eat good food and see some cool sights. We were near the Swiss Alps so we went up a mountain that was 6,000 odd feet and covered in snow. I don’t think I am in a rush to go back to Switzerland but it is always good to add another country to the list of ones you’ve been to.

This is Lausanne with Lake Geneva in the background.

Lake Geneva and the Alps

Up in the Alps, Rochers de Naye

This week has some Uni events, Saturday’s being the biggest all year. It is called Summer Ball and it is an all day and all night affair. It is somewhat like a festival, drinks, music and in the evening a fireworks show and Tinie Tempah is performing this year which many are very excited about. It is tomorrow and then many are leaving to go home for the summer. I am off to Edinburgh, Scotland on the 27th to see my godmother who is currently doing a tour of Scotland. I will be there for 4 nights with her and am really looking forward to it. Last time I was in Edinburgh was almost 8 years ago and I loved it so am very excited to go back. It was also be lovely to see my godmother of course.

Then on the 2nd of June, my aunties will collect me from uni and I will spend most of the remainder of my time here in Sutton which I have called home whilst being here. I hope to go visit my best friend here for two nights or so before leaving as well. I spent a week with her and her family at the end of our Easter holiday and it was lovely.

I leave for Seattle on the 14th of June, and really have mixed feelings about it. I am not ready to leave England but of course want to see my family and friends in Seattle and I actually really miss driving.

I knew I had to come for a year to see if I could actually live in London or England in general and I have learned that I definitely can so when I graduate in two years (bloody primary ed degree) I will be back in England and this time for good.

I have loved every second of living in London and cannot wait to be back

Again sorry for the late posts and maybe not as many as there should have been, blogging was honestly harder than I thought!

Cheers xxx

Apologies for another late post!

It is the 15th of March and last week of classes. I have a French exam next week then two papers for my other modules due at the end of April.

Things are getting busier as this term is coming to an end, but luckily I am still able to go into Central.

A few weeks ago, my best friend here, Hannah, and I wanted to explore new areas we hadn’t been to so we got on the tube, took a look at the map and picked a place to start. There is a British murder mystery show called Whitechapel and the cases are about copycat murders of Jack the Ripper and the Kray brothers. The Kray’s were famous east end gangsters. We took the tube to Whitechapel and went to a pub where Ronnie Kray went in, shot a rival gang member then walked out. The pub is called the Blind Beggar and there is still a bullet hole in the wall by the bar where George Cornell was sat when he was shot. Not a overly nice place so we didn’t stay to eat. We got on the tube again and decided to get off at Kings Cross St. Pancras and we found a pub in that area for lunch. The pub is called the Skinner’s Arms and it was amazing. It was a lovely pub with good space, nice atmosphere and delicious food. We were there for three hours, eating a drinking and it was so nice 🙂

Hannah and the bar of the pub 🙂

The following weekend I went home to Sutton, as it was English Mother’s Day, I spent Saturday with just my aunties then on Sunday, had a lovely lunch with my aunties, family friend who I live with and one of her sons.

It was a somewhat busy week starting on the 7th. I have a 3,500 word portfolio due at the end of April for the creative writing class and it is a piece of innovative fiction, something that until now, I was not familiar with. I had a tutorial with my professor for the project then the class which is 3 hours long. That night it was Grand, the club in Clapham Junction. On Wednesday there was Southlands College dinner which was so cute. It was the awards dinner,and we all got dressed up and had really good food. I love that each college in the Uni have these dinners because it really feels like a community and they are so cute!

This last weekend was nice because Hannah and I went to Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street Cafe, as part of a package by parents got me for my 21st birthday. It was lovely, we had a three course meal and prosecco and we felt well posh. After, we went for a walk, crossed the river and made our way towards the City. We were headed to a little shopping centre when we saw people on top of a roof taking pictures so we went that way and turns out they were on the roof of the shopping centre we were going to. I love discovering not only new places but new viewpoints. If I could go to every viewpoint of London, I would. It was amazing.

Last night I had dinner with a Seattle friend who I have known since we were about 6, at elementary school. She is interning here in London and as we have known each other so long and both happen to be 5,000 miles away from Seattle and in the same city we thought it would be nice to meet up. It was so nice, we had dinner in Covent Garden and it was so nice to catch up.

This week needs to be productive, I have a test next week then we have Easter break for three weeks. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to catch you all up!

Cheers for now xx

Classy loo selfie in Gordon Ramsay’s

St. Paul’s Cathedral from below

As I have previously mentioned, keeping up a journal or blog is not a strength of mine. It recently came to my attention that I forgot to post a reflection following my return home! Luckily, I can say I am still reflecting and finally recovered from the reverse culture shock I never believed I would experience.

Returning home I was filled with mixed emotions. I was excited to be home with my family for Christmas, but I was also sad to say goodbye to the beautiful country that had been my home for four months and to all the friends I had made there.

After many tearful goodbyes in Italy and tearful welcomes in Oregon, I settled back into the life I left in September. The most difficult part for me has been staying in one place for so long. After traveling on most weekends while I was abroad, I still have that itch to explore new places and have new experiences. In addition to this, fall term was my final term at WOU before all my credits were completed, so, in addition to the change of environment I have also been adjusting to the change that comes after graduation with no longer attending regular classes and seeing friends regularly. With all of that said, it IS good to be home. 🙂

-Alexis

Here are some pictures from the end of my experience abroad and of my return:

Venice in December

One last look at my favorite building in Florence!

Christmas time in Florence = Singing Santas on a train

A street art souvenir for my dad!

My last tiramisu!

An evening ice skating in Florence

Our last CIS Abroad dinner!

Home sweet home!

Hiya!

Just had Reading week which means if you have a book for your module you don’t have class, it is a week for catching up on reading. I had one of my three modules which isn’t bad. Did not too much with that time unfortunately. On Wednesday I went home to Sutton to have lunch with Kath and my aunties which was lovely. I took the train both ways because it is two buses to get home and I have to say I am getting tired of buses. I bus so much more here in London than in Seattle but I suppose that is because I drive in Seattle. I also find busing more tolerable here in London because the buses are much cleaner. But I have to say I love taking the train and the tube. I know they are not always on time and are not always reliable but (touch wood) I have never had much trouble with them. I just find the journey more enjoyable on the train.

The 12th of February was my friend Jess’s birthday and to celebrate, rather than going to Bop on campus as usual, we went to a club in central London. It was so much fun. There were about 15 of us and we Ubered to Piccadilly Circus where the club Tiger Tiger is. It was so fun actually being out in central late, especially in Piccadilly which is always buzzing let alone on a Friday night. I definitely hope to go to a few more clubs  in central before going to back to Seattle.

Next week I will be meeting up with a girl I have known since elementary school. We also went to the same high school. We hadn’t really spoken in three years but when I saw she was in London at the same time as me and we’ve known each other for as long as we have I thought it would be lovely to meet up.

Nothing else much going on so cheers for now xx

This is Piccadilly Circus at night

Always harder than I think it will be to write a blog post every week, sorry!!

It is currently the fifth week of lessons, time is flying by!! My modules are slightly more interesting than last term like I said in a previous post. They are definitely more time consuming and I am a bit worried about my writing intensive module because I have to write 15-20 pages of fiction by the end of the term. I haven’t written fiction since I was probably 11 so this will be challenging.

Since my friend from Seattle left I haven’t gone into central London as much. I babysit for a family in Fulham which is quite close to Uni luckily and closer to central. The other day I went in with my good friend and flatmate Hannah. We went to Camden Town which is probably the quirkiest neighbourhood in London, very very strange. It’s hard to describe but it’s not like anything I have seen before in any other neighbourhood. We then went to Oxford Street to do a bit of window shopping. Oxford Street is the street to go to for shopping, it is always extremely busy.

It is our friend Jess’s birthday on Friday and we will be going to a club in central London which I am super excited for as we have only really gone to the clubs Roehampton has deals with like Fez and Grand.

We are already talking about Spring break which comes after the term finishes on the 24th of March. It is a three week break which is crazy! We are hoping for a little girls holiday somewhere on the continent maybe and if not I might go somewhere. I have friends in Sweden and one of them wanted us to go to Berlin together which would be amazing so thinking about that.

Not much else to report so until next week!

Cheers xx

A picture of some of the buildings in Camden Town

My Christmas holiday was four weeks long so after my parents left, I was with my really good friend Brittney, from Seattle. She had never been to Europe before so I showed her around London and we also went to Northern Ireland for three nights and I had never been there before.

The Shard is the tallest building in Western Europe that you can go up and since being here I had been obsessed with going. For my birthday as it was my 21st, my parents got me two vouchers to go up so naturally I thought taking Brittney up would make her first London experience even better. It was amazing and I was soo excited 🙂

One of my favourite pictures I took up there

The next day we flew to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. Were were there for basically three full days. We saw most if not all of Belfast but also most of Northern Ireland itself. We did a bus tour which took us along the coastline and had stops along the way. We saw Dunluce Castle remains, went to a whisky distillery, Giants Causeway (the main destination of the tour) and an actual rope bridge. It was a spectacular day, the weather was good and the places and views we saw were out of this world.

Giants Causeway is said to be the 8th wonder of the world

Crossing the terrifying Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge

Belfast’s City Hall probably beats everyone else’s city hall

I then had to get back to reality and start my lessons. Brittney went to Amsterdam for a few days and I started my lessons. I have two new modules, a writing intensive one and Sociology of Childhood. They will be more time consuming than last term modules but should also be more interesting for me.

Until next post!

Hello, long time no blog! I had a friend from Seattle staying with me so things have been busy but I am ready to catch you up on life in England.

As I am here for a year, my family came for Christmas so I could stay in England but we could still be together. It was our first Christmas in England together. We were in the London area for a bit so my family could see London at this time of year and my dad had memories of places he particularly liked at Christmas when he was growing up here. We also spent time with family and friends in the area.

We then made our way towards Gloucester where we would be spending Christmas with friends. Gloucester is in SW England but is further NW from London. On the way there we stopped off at a couple of places. Our first stop was Bath, a beautiful city famous for its Roman baths. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and we stayed at a lovely pub inn.

Bath Abbey

Just a lovely picture from a bridge in Bath 🙂

We then moved onto Glastonbury which in June is the location of the famous music festival appropriately called Glastonbury. Not as much to it as Bath but a lovely place nonetheless. We spent a night there and then slowly made our ways to Gloucester that day stopping in Wells, another adorable village that we had been to when I was about 6 and my sister 2. Then we went to two of the Cotswolds villages for a little bit.

Christmas was lovely, we were with a couple who my dad has known since we was 16 when he worked with one of them. They have two frown kids and every day we were there we spent time with their daughter and her husband and two children. It was great and very relaxing.

All of us at our friends’ house for Christmas 🙂

The day after Boxing Day we left Gloucester and went to the Isle of Wight, an island south of London. My dad’s sister, her husband and my cousins live there. We were there for four nights spending time with the family and going on lovely but very blustery walks.

A view from one of our walks

We returned to the London area on New Years Eve, picked up my friend Brittney who was visiting me from Seattle and spend New Years Eve at my aunties, my family left the next day.

It was an amazing holiday and I feel so lucky that my family came to spend Christmas with me here in England.

(Written Friday Dec. 4, 2015)

Next week is my last in Dublin and I couldn’t be more sad to be leaving or more ready to be home and see my family and friends. I’m sure it’s been used a hundred times before to describe the end of this kind of experience, but it truly is bittersweet. I could really live here, I really feel like I do, in fact, and so I feel a bit like leaving a home. I find myself with more places to call home as I get older and I absolutely love it. I’m more confident now more than ever that I am capable of making myself comfortable somewhere I never before thought possible. That’s just one of the many things I’m taking with me from Ireland.

So, my last few weeks in Ireland have been going well, but noticeably different from all the weeks before. Mainly, I’m stressed, and because I have more school work than the rest of the term combined all to do in these final three weeks. The first of those three was mostly occupied showing my visiting friend Heather around Dublin and Ireland, and the rest of the week spent recovering from those fun and exhausting five days. Now I’m at the end of the second week and can confidently say, most of my work now remains to be completed my final week here. If all else fails, I have a cushion of one week between the time I leave and the time most assignments are technically due. Thank goodness for the internet.

So between stressing about semester finals and packing three months of things back into my suitcase (I tried but did not do well “packing light” as was suggested, and I knew I’d regret it–and I do), I still want to get out and see some things, but that isn’t really happening. I’m learning to be okay with that though, and we’ve now planned our last few plays and free days. Thursday night we went to our farewell dinner with our program and program coordinator. It was nice and we went to a great new pub which made me realize, or remember that there is still so much to explore in Dublin. I think I could live here another month and never go to the same place if I tried. I haven’t decided yet whether that’s exciting, or makes me feel unaccomplished in my explorations these months.

Later, in our last week…

We visited the Rock of Cashel…

And the Jameson Distillery…

We went to the Blarney Castle (and kissed the Blarney Stone)…

Went to You Never Can Tell, and Mary Poppins, our 13th play…

Said Goodbye to Dublin and friends…

We left a little something behind…

And ended our trip with a final 7am pint at the airport. Cheers, Dublin. Till we meet again…

I’ve officially been back in the United States for 21 days, and am so glad to be home with my loved ones. Before I get to that, let’s rewind to Peru, which was AMAZING. (However, it didn’t come without its battles and panic attacks)

I left Quito on the 3rd for Lima, Peru and stayed overnight in the airport (and lived off Starbucks-I was really happy to see that place again). This is where I met up with my aunt Anna, who was told by her airlines that her bag never left Houston. She would be without it for at least three days (and during Machu Picchu).

In the morning I had a one hour flight to Cusco at 6 am, then needed a 20 minute taxi from Cusco to the Puyo train station for my 8:25 am train to Aguas Calientes. This is where me and my aunt would meet up with my friend Blake who had gotten into Cusco the day before. I immediately fell asleep on the plane as soon as I sat down. Unfortunately, when I woke up at 7 am, the plane was on the ground: it hadn’t even left yet. By this time my aunt was most likely in Cusco, by herself, looking for me, and neither one of us had a way to communicate without wifi. My plane landed at 8:05, giving me exactly 20 minutes to get through the airport, find my aunt, find a taxi, and make it to Puyo all before our train at 8:25 left. And believe it or not, we did it! It took some sprinting, and a really nice cab driver that took some interesting routes and wouldn’t let me stop for a bathroom, but as we ran up during the “last call” whistle, we were helped to our seats. And to Blake.

Aguas Calientes is the town at the base of Machu Pichhu, about a 20 minute bus ride from one of the Inca’s biggest secrets. The town was quaint and adorable, just as I had imagined. You were completely surrounded by mountains, pizza places, and little markets where everyone sold the same exact things, claiming they made it themselves.

Peru’s money is called Nuevo Soles (New Suns). One US dollar is about 3.4 soles at the moment. It was the first time I had used a different currency (Ecuador uses the US dollar), and it went a whole lot smoother than I expected.

There was a river filled with dark water (due to minerals) and massive rocks with amazing shapes to them. We think this was due to the water level previously being higher, sculpting the rocks.

Peru’s famous drink is called Pisco Sour. It’s used with Peru’s own alcohol: Pisco, and it’s blended with egg whites. It’s actually pretty good. They also blend almost everything with egg whites, like lemonade. It gives a smooth, foamy texture- I loved it.

We got into Aguas Calientes around noon and spent the whole day exploring. After dinner we all settled down to try and get a good night’s sleep before waking up at 5 am for the early bus ride to Machu Pichhu.

Which was better than I could have ever imagined.

We were there from 6 am to about 3:30 pm, and had a guide for the first 2 hours of the experience. The stone work, the architecture, the paths and bridges and trails, everything was amazing.

Even though it was a bit foggy in the morning, it quickly changed into a beautiful and warm day. If none of us were told it was Peru’s rainy season, I’m sure we all would have believed it was at least Spring. Even with putting on sunscreen twice, my neck was completely fried (not complaining, every second was worth it).

In the early afternoon we all went on an up hill hike to the Inca’s sun gate trail. There are a very few times in my life where I can say I felt that empowered. Once you make it to the sun gate you can look at Machu Picchu and realize you climbed above one of the world’s greatest wonders, and are now looking down on it. You’re standing on a trail that was used daily by an empire in the 1400’s. You’re surrounded by the Andes mountains. You realize you are so small but that specific moment is so huge. Nothing in my life has been more breath taking.

After a full day at Machu Picchu and another night in Aguas Calientes, we made our way back to Cusco. On the train we got to visit with fantastic people from all over the world — one of my most favorite things about traveling.

In Cusco we explored the city, bar hopped for the last time (until September!), and went to an artisan market. However, the NEXT day, we got to go an a four-wheeling tour around the Peruvian countryside, a beautiful lake, and Incan salt mines.

This was my first time on an ATV and even though it scared the crap out of me, I loved every second. It was a fantastic way to tour a country, especially when you want to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.

After four wheeling and dinner, it was time to get ready to go home. I had an 8 am flight to Quito and needed to be in a cab for the airport by 5 am. However, when that morning came about, everything went different than expected.

I was supposed to be boarding my flight at 7:40 and at 7:35 I didn’t have a gate number. By then I knew it would be delayed. What I didn’t know was that it would later be cancelled, and leave me stranded in the Cusco airport. The airlines were letting people from my canceled flight get on other flights to Lima if they had a chance of making their connecting flight — which I did. However, according the airlines, my flight back to Quito was full and therefor they wouldn’t give me a seat in another flight to Lima. When I asked when they’d be getting me back to Quito, they said the soonest flight they had available would be the next morning. This put me in full-out panic mode because my flight to the US was at 8 am the next day, and the airlines that were screwing everything up were not the airlines I’d be taking back home, which meant I wouldn’t be reimbursed for the three flights I’d miss.

After causing a huge scene I was offered a possibility that would get me to Quito by 1 am: Fly from Cusco Peru to Lima Peru, to Bogota Colombia, to Quito, Ecuador. With just enough time in the airport to have someone drop off my bags I’d left at Rosita’s, and take a quick nap. Then I’d wake up and go from Quito to Miami, Miami to LA, LA to Portland, and make the drive from Portland to home. So that’s exactly what I did.

I still dealt with more issues like delayed flights, the airlines printing me the wrong boarding passes, and throwing up on the plane from anxiety that I’d never get home or be able to sleep again. However, along the way I got to bond over my hatred for Avianca Airlines (NEVER USE THEM) with other passengers who were also screwed over, and meet more fantastic people from all over the world. One of the best parts: I got to have an hour long conversation in Spanish with a man next to me. At that point I realized I really had accomplished so many of my goals while in Ecuador, and I began to feel proud of myself for handling the whole experience the way I had.

After 50 straight hours of airplanes and airports, and stepping foot in 4 countries in 24 hours, I made it home to see my people. I got to take showers with hot water, hug my family, go on an actual date with my boyfriend, and go back to being vegetarian-which I missed a lot. Everything was as it should be.

Plus, the holidays is such a fantastic time to be getting to come back home.

Now that it’s been a couple weeks I’d like to think that I’m fully readjusted to the United States, although it surprisingly wasn’t very hard to do so. I’d been warned that I’d have a difficult time getting used to things, but for me this wasn’t the case. I appreciate everything on a new level, but there was no huge reverse culture shock like I’d been expecting.

I’m now preparing to start winter term next week, and moving into my very first apartment with my friend Jamie! Although I’m so excited for whatever adventure is around the corner, I’m incredibly content with getting back into the routine of school, family, friends, and work. I missed the normalcy of home and it will be nice to enjoy it for a while.

Happy New Years everyone! Hopefully 2016 brings you as much happiness as 2015 brought me.

xoxo,

McKenzie

I have been back in Oregon for a little over two weeks now. I had intended to write this post after the first week of being back, but I basically slept through that entire week so there wouldn’t have been much to talk about. I did not get sick on the plane this time so that was good. I was awake for about 24 hours straight though by the time I arrived at PDX and really just wanted to go to bed.

Being back with my Oregon friends and family is nice, but being away from my London friends is not. I miss them so much already and it is hard not knowing when I will see them again (if ever). I never imagined I would meet so many amazing people who would make it so hard to say goodbye. Hopefully I will be able to go back someday soon.

There are some things I already miss about London and some things I definitely don’t miss. I miss public transport. Driving again is exhausting and stressful. I got so used to being able to relax on my transport because the only thing I had to pay attention to was the stop I needed. My car sickness is even worse now than it was as I did not ride in a car for more than a few minutes over the last few months. I miss the people and being so close to everything. Just driving the hour and a half from Monmouth to my hometown feels like forever. One thing I don’t miss is the food, or rather my eating habits while away. I have been eating SO much better these last few weeks and it has been really lovely to actually be able to cook again. I do not miss living in a flat, although I do miss having my very own bathroom.

I am sure as more time passes there will be more things I miss and more things I am happy to have back. I am interested to see how things are once school starts. I think it will definitely have both its ups and downs, but WOU is definitely one of the things I have missed the most. I love my school and I am excited to go back.

Returning home was equally as stressful as going to London was in September because I did not know how I was going to feel about it. Being on break has definitely made it easier though because I have only spent time with my closest friends and family. Going back to school will be overwhelming I am sure. Everyone keeps asking “tell me about your trip” and I just look at them because how do you describe three months of your life in just a few sentences. Especially when you have experienced thousands of things worth talking about. I usually just respond with “It was absolutely amazing and I wouldn’t change one thing about it”. I think that sums it up pretty well. It was a once in a lifetime experience and is one I will remember and appreciate for the rest of my life. I cannot express in words how thankful I am. I now have friends all over the world and have a whole new view of the world and the people in it.

Cheers to Europe.