Paris, Ooo La La

(This is an entry that never got posted....written July 4, 2010)



Well besides visiting a delicious French bakery run by a transvestite decked out in 4^th of July attire, today was just another ordinary day in the beautiful and exciting city of Paris. Nothing can shock me nowadays, not even a masked man running through the streets around Notre Dame, scaring complete strangers half to death. One can see the most random things while walking the streets here. Today alone, I saw five different street performers playing an accordion, a bass, a saxophone, a violin, and steel drums. I love listening to them as I stroll the streets, mixed along with the noises of the hustle and bustle; tourists trying to find their way, natives speaking French, and gypsies asking you if you speak English (to which one must reply, “No,” or else they will persistently beg for money).

The view from the top of Notre Dame...

Morgyn's impression of a French Man...

The past few weeks have been incredible. A basic recap...

-Dublin, Ireland with Pops (we drove to Ballymahone, where are ancestors are from. Keep in mind that they drive on the opposite side of the road there...I basically saw my life flash before my eyes multiple times)

-Giving the family a whirlwind tour of London! Our favorite place to eat=Pret A Manger

-Our time in Florence (Firenze) included a guided tour of the Uffizi gallery by the sweetest Italian woman, Lorella, who told us that Firenze actually means "flower" in Italian. We also visited the palazzo Medici (the palace of the Medici family) and Ponte Vecchio (the famous bridge that crosses the river Arno). My favorite thing was eating legitimate Italian pizza! Oh my gosh, nothing in the US can even compare to it!

-A drive through Tuscany (this would be my mom's favorite favorite thing ever!!)

-Taking a train to Venice...You should have seen me and Lauryn's face when we arrived at the train station and looked out at the streets!! They were literally water!

-Gondola ride with the cutest little Italian man! And swimming/laying out on the roof of our hotel!

We've had a blast! But now it's time to head back to the US of A! I'm going to miss this sooooo much! Europe is so beautiful! I love it! And there is so much that I still haven't seen! I guess I'll just have to come back someday...darn! haha

Well Arrivederci, Ciao, Aurevoir, Adios....however you want to say it! Goodbye the new love of my life...Europe!

The Happy Ending to my European Fairytale

(We are famous in Ireland...these stores are everywhere!)

So after Amsterdam, my dad met Carly and I in Dublin, Ireland!! Did you know that Irish English and British English are completely different? I literally could not understand what they were saying! For all I know the Irish could have been speaking some random foreign language and I wouldn't even have known the difference!

We took a scenic drive through the Irish countryside and visited Ballymahone, a little town in Longford County where our ancestors came from.


As for the driving...did I mention that they drive on the opposite side of the road in Ireland?? Ya well, you can imagine how distressing this might be for an American tourist driving a European rental car. Nonetheless, we survived thanks to Papa Chris' excellent skills.

My two favorite parts of Ireland would have to be dinner at the Merry Ploughboys Pub and a tour of the famous Leprechaun Museum!! I mean who doesn't enjoy listening to some good ole Irish folk music and eating some good ole Irish food?


And if you haven't heard of the Leprechaun Museum, well boy, are you missing out! Not only do you get to travel under a rainbow, you also get to shrink to Leprechaun size!

Anyways, I've had so much fun the past couple of weeks, but I'm ready for my family to come over here and join me! I get to see them back in London! Woo hoo!

Tot Ziens Nederlands

Well, today was our last day in the Netherlands! Jessica took us around Haarlem and the area just outside of Amsterdam. We rode our bikes to a legit Dutch farm and tried legit Dutch cheese. Of course, I stayed clear away from that! Cheese and I have never really gotten along. But it was cool to see the farm and the cows, and the windmill! We finally got to see a windmill!! I had been hoping and waiting to see one!! It pretty much made my week...no...my life!
And, we got to try a croquette! It was basically deep-fried yumminess....Let's just say, you haven't lived until you've had one! And my new favorite sweet...stroopwaffles!! I love love love them!!




Stroopwaffles

The Finale: Goodbye London, Hello Amsterdam

Me and Carly trying to figure out how to row on our last day in London!

Well I can officially say I have lived and studied in London! This past Monday we had finals! Yuck! But then we got our last day, Tuesday, off so we could go explore and enjoy the city one last time! It was definitely a bitter-sweet ending! Everyone was so excited to go home and see their families, but at the same time, so sad to have to leave all of their friends and the beautiful city of London!
All we wanted to do the last night was be together, so we all went for a ride on the London Eye to watch the sunset and see a birds-eye view of the city we have called home for the past couple of months. Of course no one could sleep (or in that case, wanted to sleep) and instead we stayed up all night talking, listening to each other sing and play guitar/piano, packing, exchanging phone numbers, photos, etc. It was very eventful...and emotional!! One minute we were laughing, the next we were crying...it was a roller-coaster of emotion! But when all was said and done, we went our separate ways, ready to tell our friends and family all about our crazy adventures!

Here are some pictures of the BYU London Centre:

Our very clean room!!!

The bathroom all 12 of us girls got ready in every morning

The classroom by day and the movie theater by night

Formal Dining Room



The servery where we ate

Everyone hanging out in the parlor!

Final moments:

This picture was definitely taken at 3 in the morning the night before we all left!

Leaving with all of our luggage...note to self: PACK LIGHTER!!

I, of course, am not even near close to ending my adventures in Europe! I just landed in Amsterdam yesterday, the first stop of my tour abroad, and am loving every minute of exploring it! The canals, and buildings, and the bikes...Oh, the bikes!! They are everywhere! I'm pretty sure I've seen more bikes these past two days than I've seen in my entire lifetime combined! Its amazing!


This is the bike parking garage...it basically sums up Amsterdam in a single picture!

Carly and I are staying with Jessica and Edgar Harder, the cutest couple ever! They are absolutely adorable...and Jessica is a great cook! Tonight she made us yummy pasta with eggplant! It was so nice to have a home-cooked meal...haven't had one of those in forever!!

As for exploring the city, Carly and I took to the street on our sweet red bikes that Jess hooked us up with! And well....we tried not to get lost!!




Carly trying to read a map! She navigated us to the Van Gogh and Rijkmuseums, Anne Frank's House, and the park!

Oh and today, we took a boat ride on the canals!


That was fun!! And although I miss London a ton, I'm loving it here in Amsterdam....and I mean, lets be honest, I'll be back in my home city, London in less than a week!! So lets live it up while were in the Nederlands!! Woo hoo!!

Just Another Ordinary Day

So I'm in class right now...and bored out of my mind!! This is the first time we've had class in days!! We have traveled everywhere this past week. And getting dragged around to this place and the next gets extremely tiring! Its kind of nice to have a little break just to stay in London and relax a little bit.
So what is a normal "Class Day" in the life of Alyssa Carroll??
Well let me tell you...
-Its starts out by rolling out of bed round 7:55 to make it to breakfast at 8!
-Then Mythology class from 8:45-10:15
-Walk up a few flights of stairs to my room, where I then shower and get dressed!
-Then English class from 12:00-1:45 (I usually have a lot to do during this class:blog, upload pictures onto my computer, facebook chat with the girls sitting directly next to me...)
-Afterwards, we usually head straight out into the city. Sometimes we go to a museum or park or like today, we have a class field trip!
-Back to the Center by 5:15 for devotional and dinner!
-And then back out to the city at night to see a show or get dessert!

Its kind of weird because during the week we go out almost every night, but when it comes to the weekend, everyone stays home at night to do hw! Its the complete opposite of what you would imagine a school week like!

Anyways, class is coming to an end...so is my time here! We have finals next Monday :( I am not ready whatsoever! But I'm lovin' London and every little bit of time I have left here!

Lake District, Liverpool, and Brighton

The Lake District hostel we stayed in...our room was the one on the second story on the very right...beautiful, beautiful view!!


I secretly want this boat!!


Chillin' on the dock and skipping rocks after dinner!


The Preston Temple: Our director surprised us with a visit here! As soon as he told us on the coach that we were taking a little detour to see the temple, everyone cheered!! haha It was great!!


Liverpool was a blast!


Great Sign!


Castles in Wales

This one had a moat!!





The cathedral pictured below is located in Coventry and is one of the few to have survived the Blitz.


An interesting depiction of Christ...

The remains of a stained glass window...

Finally....we went to the beach city, Brighton, yesterday...



And toured the amazing Royal Pavillion...It's asian influenced architecture was very fascinating!